Asturian fabada

• Typical Spanish
• Dishes & Drinks
• December 4, 2019

The Asturian fabada (fabada asturiana) is one of the most typical dishes from the northern and beautiful Spanish region called Asturias. It is a tasty dish to be eaten with spoon and especially during the cold seasons such as winter due to its tasty but high calories content.

The way to cook the Asturian fabada is simple, but not easy. Several factors can spoil the recipe: do not desalinating the meat properly, cooking with too high heat or using water that does not meet the required conditions.

It is a simple recipe where it stands out the high quality ingredients (if you can, buy them with the designation of origin of Asturias) and a fairly slow cooking time.

If you follow this recipe with care and the right ingredients, it will make you feel like if you were in Asturias! 😊

Ingredients

• 500 g / 1 lb of beans
• 250 g / 0.5 lb of cured bacon
• 2 chorizos
• 2 black pudding sausages
• Water
• 200 g / 0.44 lb of ham bone
• Salt (to taste)
• 3 strands of saffron

Before cooking the Asturian fabada

1. We spread the beans on a flat surface and wash them to remove impurities.

2. We leave the beans in a bowl with cold water in order to soak them during 12 hours. It is not necessary to add salt. The next day we take them out of the bowl and set them aside.

3. We soak the cured bacon and the ham bone in warm water in another bowl during 12 hours as well.

Preparing the Asturian fabada

1. We add the beans in a casserole, which if possible should be low and wide (it will be even better if your casserole is made of clay). Cover the beans with water until there are a couple of centimeters of water above them.

2. Heat the casserole until the water starts to boil.

3. When the water starts to boil, put the bacon, the chorizos, the ham bone and the black pudding sausages (previously pricked to prevent them from bursting) in the casserole with the beans.

4. Make sure that the black pudding sausages and chorizos always remain at the top; on this way we can avoid possible breakages that would spoil the Asturian fabada.

5. Remove the foam that normally contains impurities; when doing it we are degreasing the broth a little too.

6. When it has been around half an hour cooking over high heat, we add the strands of saffron.

Cooking the Asturian fabada

1. We lower the cooking temperature and add salt to taste.

2. We cook the beans slowly at low temperature for 2 hours. We keep stirring them occasionally with a wooden spoon without breaking them. During these two hours, we add cold water twice, which helps to cook them perfectly.

3. We taste the beans in order to check if they are tender enough, and if necessary we rectify the flavor with some additional salt. As soon as the beans are tasty and tender, we take the casserole off the heat and set it aside for approximately one hour.

4. We remove the chorizos, black pudding sausages, bacon and ham bones. Afterwards we prepare the meat, cutting the sausages in big slices. Then we chop the bacon and take the meat from the bone. Now the Asturian fabada is ready to be served.

You will love the Asturian fabada!

5. ¡Buen provecho!

Some more pictures