Escudella

Medium·45 min active + 2 hours 15 min resting

The great Catalan-Pyrenees winter pot — mixed meats, sausage, chickpeas, and vegetables slow-boiled with a giant spiced meatball (pilota), served in two courses: first the broth with pasta or rice, then the carn d'olla of meats and vegetables.

Escudella i carn d'olla is the festive national dish of Andorra (and Catalonia), a two-course boiled dinner traditional at Christmas with the pilota meatball.

First comes the broth — golden, deeply meaty, thick with little galets pasta shells. Then the carn d'olla platter: tender beef, soft chicken, slices of botifarra, creamy chickpeas, sweet cabbage and carrot, and a wedge of the giant pilota meatball. Bite: pure, slow-built savory depth from hours of gentle boiling, the pilota fragrant with garlic and parsley. The Pyrenean Christmas dinner, a whole meal from one pot.

Long, gentle boiling of mixed meats and a ham bone extracts a deep, clear broth while keeping the meats tender. Serving in two courses (broth-and-pasta, then meats-and-vegetables) is the Catalan tradition. The pilota — a large bound meatball — poaches in the broth, flavoring it and providing the centerpiece.

Variations

With more sausages (botifarra negra/blanca). With rice instead of galets. A leaner everyday version (escudella barrejada). With turnip and parsnip. With a pork trotter. Vegetarian-leaning with extra legumes.

On the Palate

Where Escudella sits in the Andorran flavor cloud

Cook to learn

Keep the pot at a bare, lazy simmer the whole time — a rolling boil clouds the broth and toughens the meats, and a clear broth is the whole point of escudella.

Techniques

Simmering Poaching

Ingredients

Serves 8

1 quarterChicken

300 g shinBeef

100 g botifarraSausage

for pilotaBreadcrumbs

How it's made

8 steps · 45 min active + 2 hours 15 min waiting

1
8 min
Put 1 chicken quarter, 300 g beef shin, a ham bone, and 100 g botifarra sausage in a large pot with 3 L water.
2
6 min
Bring to a simmer, skimming, and add 150 g soaked chickpeas.
Watch out
Skim off the grey foam as it rises before adding the chickpeas — this keeps the broth clear.
3
76 min
Simmer gently 75 min.
4
12 min
Make a pilota: mix 300 g minced beef and pork with 1 egg, breadcrumbs, garlic, and parsley; shape into one large meatball.
5
42 min
Add the pilota, 2 potatoes, 1/4 cabbage, and 2 carrots; simmer 40 min more.
Watch out
Slide the pilota in gently; keep the heat low so it poaches whole instead of breaking apart.
6
5 min
Lift out the meats, pilota, and vegetables and keep warm (the carn d'olla).
7
12 min
Strain the broth; cook 120 g small pasta (galets) or rice in it 10 min.
8
4 min
Serve the broth-and-pasta first, then the carn d'olla platter as the second course.