Cocido Madrileño

We had an authentic cocido on Wednesday, prepared by my aunt Loli. Cocido is one of the most traditional of Spanish dishes. It is comprised of three main ingredients: the caldo (broth), which is eaten first, garbanzo beans, which are cooked in the broth along with the other main ingredient: meat. There are usually three kinds of meat in the cocido: salt pork (a big chunk of bacon and a big chunk of cured Spanish ham), sausages (chorizo and morcilla), and some kind of fresh meat. These fine meats are poached in the broth and can be eaten after the garbanzo bean portion of the eating experience. Or, if you are like me, you will eat your meat together with your garbanzos after the caldo. My cousins eat everything all mixed together. It's up to you.

For extra seasoning, there are some vegetables cooked into the broth, too. Like leeks and carrots and potatoes. Spices are minimal. Pepper, bay leaves, maybe a little garlic. That's about it.

We were so hungry that we ate all the cocido before we thought of taking a picture. So we have had to steal this image from the internet. My aunt's cocido looked better, and she didn't put any chicken wings in hers.

While we were looking for images of cocido to steal for this blog, we stumbled upon an excellent blog all about Madrid. Makes our little blog look like a piece of poo. Here it is: Boom. De Madrid al cielo.