Sancocho

Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, and throughout the Caribbean/Andean region — sancocho has Spanish and Indigenous roots; the stew format is colonial-era cooking; regional variants proliferate across all of Latin America

The definitive celebratory stew of Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, and throughout the Andean and coastal regions — a long-simmered broth of bone-in chicken, beef, pork, or all three with yuca (cassava), potato, plantain, corn on the cob, and aromatics that produces a hearty, nourishing, golden-broth soup. Sancocho is Sunday family food — cooked in a large pot over a wood fire in traditional households, or a large gas burner in modern kitchens — and is the dish served at birthdays, baptisms, and funerals across Colombia. Its identity varies by region: coastal sancocho de gallina uses old hen and ñame (yam); Caribbean sancocho uses coconut milk; inland sancocho trifásico ('three-phase') uses all three meats. The common element is the long-cooked bone broth and the starchy tubers.

Sunday and celebration food — cooked over a wood fire; served with white rice, avocado, and hogao (tomato-onion sauce) on the side; aguardiente or fresh fruit juice alongside; the communal large-pot cooking is as important as the eating