Fabada, the most universal dish in Asturian cuisine, is an authentic jewel of traditional gastronomy that is still in full force because it knows how to combine simple and different ingredients in a tasty stew that is simple but not easy to cook. It is essential that both the humble bean (in this case we are talking about the faba, with an Asturian geographical identity) and the meat troupe (the compango) that the round be of top quality, that the cooking is done at the appropriate temperature and during the necessary time, that it has the necessary water… But above all, “we must take care of the preparation so that it obtains light, presence and delicacy,” explains Nacho Manzano, head of the renowned Casa Marcial de Arriondas, where he creates his own culinary language based on gastronomic legacy of their grandmothers.
No one better than the award-winning Asturian chef to tell us the secrets of a dish that includes soaking, resting and ‘scares’, that tells us about territory, roots, seasonality… but that in the 21st century even accepts playing with the pressure cooker or with the fresh frozen beans. Nacho – who prepares exquisite Christmas delivery boxes with his iconic fabada – knows precisely the almost romantic union that is created between water and beans, and even the exact moment of introducing the chorizo, which is not the same as that of the blood sausage. Do you want to know when? And how to ensure that the beans do not fall apart? How many hours should they cook? Does it have to have onion? Should we pour cold water on it? Should we remove the foam from cooking? Is it necessary to soak them overnight in water before cooking?
“The farmer begins to make the fabada, when he grows the beans on the farm, his work, the land and the crop are decisive when it comes to obtaining a fine legume,” explains Nacho Manzano, the prestigious chef of the Casa Marcial restaurant, who, together with her sister Esther, seeks inspiration for her own creations in the territory and seasonality.
The most important thing is to invest time in looking for the best bean, getting advice from an Asturian. “The base of a good fabada is given by a legume that you love, that is super buttery, very soft in skin, that you almost crush it with your tongue and palate and there is nothing left,” says the chef, who recommends the type Granja Asturiana, a large, oval-shaped bean of which there are several varieties, and which has a protected geographical indication.
The other main part of the fabada is the compango, which is the meat accompaniment to the white bean. The authentic fabada has chorizo ??and blood sausage, which Nacho recommends that we buy artisanal, with guarantees that they have been carefully prepared, following the different filling, smoking and drying processes in the most natural way possible.
It also has lacón and white pork belly, which have traditionally always been previously salted, and then soaked overnight to remove excess salt. “Nowadays it is also made fresh, and you save that whole process, although if you want to make the fabada well, you must follow the traditional process,” says the cook, “because this way it is redder, with more personality and flavor.”
It is very important to soak the beans in cold water the night before cooking “to hydrate them and thus make them more tender, thinner and cook faster,” says Nacho Manzano. It is interesting not to skip this step because when the faba is harvested it is then subjected to a drying process in granaries or in the sun in the last days of September, it loses water and becomes dry faba, which will be stored in cool places until used. . “We must be careful to put 3 or 4 fingers of water, about 8 cm, above the beans so that they are completely covered,” adds the expert.
Nowadays, there is a possibility of skipping the soaking and thus speeding up the preparation of the fabada. It can be made using green beans, which are not green, but just as white as the others, but in this case they are fresh. “When they collect them, they shell them, take them out of the pod and freeze them. “This way they conserve all their moisture,” says the chef. “At home you only have to worry about storing it in the freezer quickly, and when you use it, cook it without defrosting.”
From here, the process of preparing the dish is the same as that of dried beans. You just avoid soaking.
Although there are those who do it regularly, Nacho Manzano does not see any need to change the water in which the beans have been soaking (beans in Asturias) all night when it is time to cook them. “It is common sense not to throw away the water with which they have been bonded for hours if the objective is for them to be well hydrated. “Why aren’t they going to continue to the end with their first travel companion?” says the chef, giving the process an even romantic nuance. “Cooking has a lot of love,” he points out.
Now, beforehand, before they spend hours soaking, we must make sure to wash the beans well in a colander to eliminate impurities.
We will also use the same pot – a 30 cm diameter one is good for 4 people – where they have bathed all night to start cooking. And there is no need to add new water. We will only rectify the water if we notice that during soaking the beans have swelled a lot and therefore, the water we had at the beginning has decreased. “They must be covered by about 6 cm of water.”
The starting point of cooking must be with live fire. In vitro it would be 7 and high on a gas stove. And at that moment when the water and the beans begin to come into contact with the heat, is when a large part of the meat accompaniment must be added. If we have put 600 grams of beans (for 4 people) we will put 300 grams of blood sausage and about 180-200 of lacon and bacon.
Important: You do not have to cut them, they are two whole blood sausages and the lacón and the bacon in one piece. “If you cut the blood sausage, it will fall apart because you cook it for a long time for a couple of hours and it will make the broth very dirty,” explains the chef.
Has it caught your attention that we haven’t mentioned chorizo? It is not an error. It’s not his turn yet.
However, at the start we must also add a splash of extra virgin oil (about 150-200 ml). “It’s very little, enough to unite all the components and add unctuousness to the whole without taking away its prominence” and about 40 grams, a tablespoon, of sweet paprika to give color to the broth.
Likewise, Nacho introduces half a whole sweet white onion without chopping it so it doesn’t spill out in layers. “His mission is to soften the broth a little, giving it a sweet touch,” he says. That onion will not be served on the plate, when its function is finished, it will be discarded.
There are those who continuously remove the foam that forms on the surface, and even change the water each time to eliminate waste and also avoid flatulence (the oligosaccharides from the skin of the legumes end up in the water), but Nacho Manzano advises against this practice. . The bean expert only removes the first layer of foam that contains impurities from the beans and does not do it again, although continuing to remove them or not, “is not a determining factor in the final result,” he says.
The chef does not change the water either, which, as we already know, is the “travel companion” of our beans.
Our preparation has started with high heat. Once the first boil begins, we lower the intensity (to 3 on a ceramic hob). Slower and longer continuous cooking begins. “I put the lid a little off like the grandmothers did so that a trickle of steam comes out and the boil is not too strong,” the cook tells us. It will be a gentle cooking throughout the process, which will help to achieve a good texture and also to prevent the beans from breaking, “something that greatly enhances the aesthetics of the dish.”
During this process it is important to monitor the broth. The fabada does not ask that you be on it continuously but it does ask that you not lose sight of it. We must check how the cooking is going every quarter of an hour. “We remove the lid and check how much water evaporation has occurred,” says Nacho Manzano.
If we lack liquid – remember that we must always keep two fingers of water above the beans – we add a glass of cold water. “That’s called scaring the beans because it seems like you wake them up from their slumber in the middle of the warmth,” says the cook. That little bit of cold water will not cause any trauma, nor will they lose their skin, or anything like that. On the contrary, we will prevent them from becoming dry and falling apart. Furthermore, “the broth will go very well, as it will be more blended.”
When we check how the broth is going to see if we should add a glass of water, after uncovering the pot, “we will shake it lightly in a circular manner, holding it by the handles, as we do with cod pil-pil”, but very carefully so that the fabrics do not fall apart or break. “You should never stir the interior with a ladle or spoon, or put any other container in,” warns the chef of Casa Marcial, a restaurant with an enviable setting, which boasts two Michelin stars and three Repsol suns. “The fabada only requires slow cooking, circular movements, control of the water…”, summarizes the chef.
What we do need to add to the cooking, when it has been chup chup for an hour, are the two chorizos, which we put in whole. “I like to put them in later than the rest of the compango because that way they are juicier, although nothing serious would happen if they were put in at the beginning.”
Half an hour later, we add saffron, an Arab touch in Asturias that will give it an unmistakable flavor. After an hour and a half of cooking, we test the broth to see how salty it is. “The compango is already salty but now it will need about 4-5 or 6 extra grams of fine white salt, the more artisanal and less adulterated, the better.”
It is important to taste the beans before finishing cooking, which can last from two to two and a half hours. We remove the pot from the heat and leave them outside to rest. They have to rest quietly for an hour, finishing off the residual fire: “In traditional dishes, this last step is common because it helps to set flavors and allow the various elements to blend together,” says Nacho Manzano, who leaves them covered “so that “The heat is kept better.”
When they are ready to be plated, with tongs the chef extracts the meat part and each of the pieces is cut into four parts, distributing one for each diner on the plates. “Then I heat the beans a little more before serving them,” says the chef, who has a Michelin star and two Repsol soles at the La Salgar restaurant in the heart of Gijón, which he opened with his sister Esther in 2004 to offer a traditional and renovated kitchen in an urban environment.
If you make fabada to eat and save the leftovers for the night, “no problem, they hold up very well,” Nacho Manzano tells us. You can also put them in the refrigerator and eat them the next day. “There are those who even prefer to drink them that way because the broth thickens a little more, but for me the fabada has to be eaten the day it is made to prevent it from losing shine, presence and delicacy.” If we eat them a day after cooking, we must reheat the beans: “Although the legume has lost a little starch and is no longer perfect, it can be eaten without problems.”
Can we freeze the leftover bean stew? “Yes, packaging it well and following the defrosting rules,” says the cook. “It is not what I recommend, I am in favor of cooking and eating, but if we have leftovers it is better to freeze than throw away.”
For this Christmas, Casa Marcial has prepared several gift boxes with various menus to eat at home, ready to heat and plate, which are even sent outside Asturias. In one of them, as it could not be otherwise, the fabada is the star (along with croquettes and rice pudding). And transportation doesn’t make it lose that shine I was talking about. “It is done with great immediacy, following all the quality parameters,” he explains. “They are packaged in vacuum bags, with the completely perfect strained broth, with an equal proportion of broth and fat… At home, the bag is heated unopened, with its broth, in a water bath. There is no reduction, the broth does not thicken, there is no evaporation…”
Thinking that we can make a good fabada in a pressure cooker is not outrageous. “You have to do a lot of tests to get the right point, to get the hang of it so that the beans don’t fall apart,” explains Manzano, who prefers the traditional way but knows people who also make it very delicious in the slow cooker. “It occurs to me that there is a way to achieve a good result. Cook the compango in the pot an hour beforehand and then let it cool in that same water, add the beans, close the pot and finish the process by giving it about 40 minutes of cooking.”
The main advantage of this method is that it greatly shortens the time, although our chef, a lover of pampering and romanticism, is in favor of dedicating all the hours necessary to making a dish as iconic as this one shine, have light, presence and delicacy.
