P
Spanish · Catalonia
Escudella i carn d'olla
Catalonia's defining feast dish and the ancestor of cocido madrileño — a three-stage boiled dinner where meats, vegetables, and legumes are cooked together in a vast pot of water, and the resulting broth is served first with large pasta tubes (galets) filled with a meat and egg mixture (pilota), then the solid ingredients are served as a second course with salt cod, blood sausage, and pork. The dish is traditionally eaten on Christmas Day and New Year's Eve, and the preparation begins the night before. It represents the Catalan philosophy of resource transformation: the same pot produces multiple courses over 3-4 hours.
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I
The Market List
The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.
For the broth
500 g
veal bones
chopped by the butcher
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
1
whole chicken
or boiling fowl, jointed
Your own market
400 g
pork ribs
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
1
pork trotter
split
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
200 g
salt cod
soaked overnight, drained
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
150 g
250 g
dried garbanzos (chickpeas)
soaked overnight in cold water
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
2
carrots
peeled, halved
Your own market
2
parsnips or turnips
peeled, halved
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
2
leeks
trimmed, halved lengthways
Your own market
3
celery sticks
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
1
head of garlic
halved crossways
Your own market
fine salt
added only at the end
Your own market
For the pilota
400 g
ground pork
Your own market
2
eggs
beaten
Your own market
2
garlic cloves
finely chopped
Your own market
1 small handful
flat-leaf parsley
finely chopped
Your own market
fine salt and black pepper
Your own market
For the first course
300 g
galets (large shell-shaped pasta tubes)
uncooked
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
To serve (second course)
extra-virgin olive oil
for drizzling
Your own market
Dijon mustard
on the side
Your own market
pa amb tomàquet (bread rubbed with tomato and olive oil)
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
Each tap is counted, so the stockist sees the demand Provenance sends them.
II
The Method
1
Place the veal bones, chicken, pork ribs, and pork trotter in a very large pot. Cover generously with cold water and bring slowly to a simmer. As foam and fat rise to the surface, remove them with a ladle or flat spoon — this must be done diligently and repeatedly. The broth is ready to proceed when the surface runs clear and only a faint, clean steam rises.
2
Add the root vegetables, leeks, celery, and halved head of garlic to the pot. Maintain a gentle, steady simmer — never a rolling boil — for 2 hours. At the midpoint, drain the soaked garbanzos and add them directly to the broth. The vegetables should be yielding but not collapsed; the garbanzos tender to the bite, with no chalky centre.
3
While the pot simmers, prepare the pilota: combine the ground pork, beaten eggs, chopped garlic, and parsley. Season with salt and pepper. Work the mixture briefly until cohesive, then form into one large oval ball or several smaller ones. Refrigerate until required. The mixture should hold its shape when pressed — firm, not slack.
4
This is where the dish lives or dies. In the final 30 minutes of cooking, lower the salt cod and blood sausage gently into the broth, then add the pilota. Maintain a quiet simmer: a vigorous boil will break the pilota apart and turn the salt cod to rags. The pilota is done when it is firm throughout and shows no pink at its centre when cut — test with a skewer, which should meet no resistance.
5
Lift all the solid ingredients from the broth and keep them warm, covered. Taste the broth now for the first time and season with fine salt — it will have concentrated through the long cook. Ladle the broth into a clean pot, keeping it at a brisk simmer. Add the galets and cook them directly in the broth until al dente; they must not be pre-cooked or held. The pasta is ready when it offers slight resistance at the centre.
6
Serve the broth with the galets and sliced pilota as the first course. The finished broth will carry a golden, slightly fatty surface — this is correct and should not be skimmed away at service. Then bring the meats, vegetables, salt cod, and blood sausage to the table as the second course, with olive oil, mustard, and pa amb tomàquet alongside.
From the canon — Catalan bread rubbed with ripe tomato and drizzled with olive oil — the daily act of eating in Catalonia. Pa amb tomàquet: the Catalan bread technique →
III
Quality Hierarchy
01
Reserve — A boiling fowl (gallina) in place of a young chicken, aged and fat, gives the broth its deepest body; veal knuckle bones with marrow; artisan botifarra negra from a Catalan charcutier; garbanzos from Fuentesaúco or Pedrosillano, soaked 24 hours.
02
Estate — Free-range whole chicken; a mixture of veal and pork bones; good-quality dried garbanzos from a specialist grocer; salt cod that has been desalted at home over 48 hours with three changes of water.
03
Market — Standard supermarket chicken and pork ribs; pre-soaked or tinned garbanzos (added later and cooked for less time); packaged salt cod; dried galets from a Spanish delicatessen.
04
House — Any cut of bone-in pork or chicken; tinned chickpeas rinsed and added in the final 20 minutes; any large pasta shell in place of galets; commercial fish that can withstand brief poaching.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Sight. The broth surface runs clear and calm after repeated skimming before the vegetables are added.
◇Touch. A garbanzo pressed between thumb and forefinger crushes without a chalky, resistant core at the midpoint of the cook.
◇Touch. A skewer inserted into the centre of the pilota meets no resistance and withdraws clean, with no pink flesh visible at the puncture.
◇Sight. At service, the broth carries a golden, lightly fatty sheen — a clear, brown-tinged colour signals the broth has cooked correctly and not scorched.
◇Taste. The broth, tasted only after all solid ingredients are removed, carries full, rounded savour without sharpness — salt is added at this point only.
◇Where it lives or dies. The pilota and salt cod must poach at a quiet simmer, never a boil — a violent bubble will dissolve the pilota and shred the cod beyond recovery.
Pillar V
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VI
What to Pour
The pairing
Fortified wine
From British Columbia
Wine
Without alcohol
GT's Synergy Organic Kombucha — Gingerade
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
Non-alcoholic
Why each one works is part of membership — Enter · from $49 a year →
The whole pairingPillar VII
Origin and lineage are part of membership.
Where the dish comes from and how it came to be — on every recipe.
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Sourced through Provenance