Spanish · Catalonia · soup

Escudella i Carn d'Olla

Escudella i Carn d'Olla reads umami 7.8, richness 6.1 and salinity 5.0 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Spanish · Catalonia soup, about 16 hr 3 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

• Umami & Savory — 8.3 / 10
• Sweet & Fruity — 3.3 / 10
• Sour & Bright — 1.2 / 10
• Bitter & Earthy — 2.6 / 10
• Rich & Fat — 6.6 / 10
• Aromatic & Spice — 3.5 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Umami 7.8 · Richness 6.1 · Salinity 5.0 · Allium 3.1 · Sweetness 3.1 · Earthy 2.3 · Herbaceous 1.9 · Nutty 1.8 · Warm Spice 1.6 · Smoke 1.1 · Sourness 1.0 · Bitterness 0.9 · Fruity 0.8 · Floral 0.7 · Citrus 0.7

What's in it (20)

• pork shoulder roast — 250 g
• veal — 150 g
• fresh breadcrumbs — 60 g
• egg — 55 g
• garlic — 12 g
• parsley — 8 g
• ground cinnamon — 3 g
• beef shin — 300 g
• chicken thighs — 300 g
• botifarra negra — 150 g
• ham bone — 150 g
• chickpeas — 200 g
• carrots — 180 g
• white turnips — 120 g
• celery stalk — 60 g
• potatoes — 300 g
• savoy cabbage — 250 g
• shell pasta — 120 g
• water — 3000 g
• salt — 12 g

Time & effort: about 16 hr 3 min · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 59.5 kcal, 4.3 g protein, 2.4 g fat, 5.2 g carbs

Dietary: Contains meat · Contains dairy · Contains egg — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (7 steps)

1. This is the Christmas Day dinner of Catalonia and it is served as two courses from one pot: first the broth with the galets floating in it (the escudella), then the meats and vegetables on a platter (the carn d'olla). Do not serve them together — the sequence is the dish.
2. The night before, put the chickpeas in cold water to soak and the salted ham bone in a separate bowl of cold water to draw out salt.
3. Put the beef shin, chicken, drained ham bone and the water into a very large pot. Bring slowly to a bare simmer over 20 minutes and skim off the grey foam that rises, several times, for the first 10 minutes. A clear broth comes from skimming early and never letting it boil. Simmer very gently for 90 minutes.
4. Add the drained chickpeas and cook 60 minutes more, until they are tender but still whole.
5. Meanwhile make the pilota, the big oval meatball that marks this dish out. Mix the pork, veal, soaked breadcrumbs, egg, garlic and parsley, and the cinnamon with your hands for 5 minutes, until it is smooth and slightly sticky. The cinnamon is not a garnish — that sweet-spice note in a meat broth is the medieval Catalan signature. Shape it into one large rugby-ball shape about 15 cm long.
6. Lower the pilota carefully into the simmering pot and poach it for 25 minutes without stirring, so it holds together. Add the carrot, turnip, celery, potato and cabbage and cook 30 minutes more, then slip in the botifarra negra for the last 15 minutes only — longer and it disintegrates.
7. Lift everything solid out onto a warm platter and cover. Strain the broth, taste it and season with the salt, then bring 2 litres of it back to the boil and cook the galets in it for 8 minutes until tender. Serve the broth and pasta first in deep bowls, then the platter, sliced, with mustard and good bread.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

• Fried Rice (Nigerian Style) — Nigerian
• Beef and Barley Stew — American
• Umngqusho (Samp and Sugar Beans) — South African
• Scrapple (Pannhaas) — American · Pennsylvania Dutch
• Rabo de Toro al Vino de Montilla — Spanish · Andalusia

Keep reading: what umami, richness, salinity mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.