P
Latin American
Sancocho
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.
‹Swipe for the next dish›
I
The Market List
The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.
1.5 kg
bone-in chicken pieces
legs and thighs preferred; skin on
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
500 g
bone-in beef
short rib or shank, cut into large pieces
Your own market
500 g
bone-in pork
rib or shoulder, cut into large pieces
Your own market
500 g
yuca (cassava)
peeled and cut into 6 cm chunks
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
400 g
2
green plantains
peeled and cut into 4 cm rounds
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
2
ears of corn
husked and cut into 4 cm rounds
Origin · MexicoNot yet stocked in British Columbia
1
whole red onion
unpeeled
Your own market
1
1 handful
fresh corn kernels
stripped from cob, for toasting
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
2.5 litres
cold water
Your own market
to taste
salt
added and adjusted throughout cooking
Your own market
For the hogao
4
2
spring onions
finely sliced
Your own market
2 tbsp
neutral oil
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
To serve
as needed
cooked white rice
Your own market
2
ripe avocados
halved and sliced at the table
Your own market
Each tap is counted, so the stockist sees the demand Provenance sends them.
II
The Method
1
Place all three meats in a large pot. Add the cold water, the whole unpeeled red onion, and the halved tomato. Bring to a boil over high heat. Skim all grey foam from the surface as it rises. Season with salt. After 30 minutes of vigorous simmering, remove and discard the red onion and tomato. The broth should already carry a warm golden colour and perceptible body.
2
Reduce the heat to a steady, uncovered simmer. Continue cooking the meats for a further 45 minutes to 1 hour. This is where the dish lives or dies: only the sustained, uncovered extraction of collagen from the bones over a minimum of two hours total produces the gelatinous body that separates sancocho from a thin broth. Taste and adjust salt. The broth must be visibly reduced, deeper in colour, and coat the back of a spoon with a faint richness.
3
Add the yuca chunks to the pot. Simmer uncovered for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, toast the handful of fresh corn kernels in a dry pan over medium heat, stirring, until golden at the edges. Set aside.
4
Add the potato pieces and the corn rounds. Simmer for a further 15 minutes. The potato should offer slight resistance at the centre when pierced with a knife tip.
5
Add the plantain rounds and the toasted corn kernels. Simmer for 10 minutes more. Taste and adjust salt. The yuca must be fully tender but hold its shape — press a piece between thumb and finger; it should yield cleanly without dissolving into the broth. Collapsing yuca indicates overcooking and renders the broth undesirably starchy.
6
While the stew finishes, prepare the hogao. Warm the oil in a small pan over medium heat. Add the spring onions and cook until softened. Add the chopped tomatoes, season with salt, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is jammy, reduced, and a deep terracotta red. The hogao should smell sweet and caramelised, not raw.
7
Ladle the sancocho into deep bowls, ensuring each portion receives pieces of each meat and each tuber. Serve immediately with white rice, sliced avocado, and the hogao in small dishes on the side.
III
Quality Hierarchy
01
Reserve — Old hen (gallina de campo) for the chicken element; grass-fed beef shank with abundant marrow; free-range pork rib. Yuca cut from a whole, fresh root the day of cooking. Hogao made from vine-ripened tomatoes only.
02
Estate — Free-range chicken thighs and legs, bone-in. Good-quality beef short rib. Fresh yuca from a market with reliable turnover. Spring onions and tomatoes from a trusted greengrocer.
03
Market — Standard bone-in chicken pieces from a butcher counter. Supermarket beef and pork ribs, bone-in confirmed. Yuca from a well-stocked ethnic-foods section; inspect for grey or fibrous flesh before purchase.
04
House — Any bone-in chicken cut available. A single meat rather than all three. Vacuum-packed yuca is acceptable. Canned crushed tomato may substitute in the hogao at a loss of freshness.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Sight. The broth is golden, visibly reduced, and slightly translucent — not pale or watery — after the first two hours of simmering.
◇Touch. A spoonful of broth, cooled briefly on the back of the hand, feels faintly viscous — the sign of collagen conversion from the bones.
◇Touch. Yuca pressed between thumb and finger yields cleanly and completely without any chalky or fibrous resistance, but retains its shape in the broth.
◇Smell. The hogao smells sweet and roasted rather than sharp and raw — the signal that the raw tomato acidity has cooked out and the sauce is ready.
◇Where it lives or dies. Only the sustained extraction of collagen from bone-in meats over a minimum of two hours of uncovered simmering produces the gelatinous broth body that defines sancocho; boneless meat or a short cook produces a thin, colourless liquid that is not the dish.
Pillar V
Cross-cuisine parallels are part of membership.
The dishes this one teaches you, across the cuisines — on every recipe.
Enter · from $49 a year
VI
What to Pour
Aguardiente (Colombian anise spirit), served neat alongside; alternatively, fresh fruit juice — lulo, maracuyá, or tamarind — for a non-alcoholic accompaniment suited to the communal register of the dish.
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.
Enter · from $49 a year
Sourced through Provenance