Colombian · soup

Sancocho de Gallina Valluno

Sancocho de Gallina Valluno reads umami 5.4, richness 4.9 and citrus 4.9 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Colombian soup, about 2 hr 16 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

• Umami & Savory — 5.7 / 10
• Sweet & Fruity — 4.4 / 10
• Sour & Bright — 6.2 / 10
• Bitter & Earthy — 2.9 / 10
• Rich & Fat — 5.4 / 10
• Aromatic & Spice — 4.6 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Umami 5.4 · Richness 4.9 · Citrus 4.9 · Sourness 4.3 · Allium 4.3 · Sweetness 3.9 · Salinity 3.7 · Earthy 2.7 · Fruity 1.9 · Warm Spice 1.8 · Herbaceous 1.8 · Nutty 1.7 · Bitterness 1.2 · Floral 0.5

What's in it (15)

• stewing chicken — 1800 g
• water — 4000 g
• green plantains — 700 g
• yuca — 700 g
• potatoes — 500 g
• corn — 900 g
• onion — 180 g
• garlic — 24 g
• spring onions — 40 g
• cilantro cimarrón — 30 g
• cumin — 10 g
• achiote powder — 5 g
• oil — 27 g
• salt — 10 g
• limes — 120 g

Time & effort: about 2 hr 16 min (2 hr 14 min active) · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 107.3 kcal, 6.8 g protein, 3.9 g fat, 11.4 g carbs

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

How it's cooked (8 steps)

1. A sancocho in the Valle is cooked outdoors over wood, in a pot big enough to be embarrassing, and it feeds whoever turns up. A hen — an old laying bird, not a young chicken — is what makes the broth taste of something; if you can only get a supermarket chicken, use thighs and legs and accept a lighter result.
2. Break the plantain into chunks with your hands rather than cutting it. The torn faces release more starch into the broth and thicken it, which is the traditional reason and also a true one.
3. Make the aliño first: warm the oil in the bottom of the pot over medium heat, cook the onion and spring onion for 6 minutes until soft, add the garlic, cumin and achiote and cook 2 minutes more until the fat is orange and smells toasted.
4. Add the hen and turn it in the aliño for 3 minutes, then pour in the water, bring it to the boil and skim the grey foam carefully for the first 10 minutes. Drop to a slow simmer and cook 60 minutes for a hen, 30 for a chicken, until the meat is tender but still on the bone.
5. Add the plantain and cook 20 minutes, then the yuca and corn for 15 minutes, then the potato for the last 15. Adding them in order is what stops the yuca from disintegrating while the plantain is still hard. The yuca is done when it is soft and translucent at the edges and splits along its grain; it must be cooked through, since cassava is not eaten underdone.
6. Add the cilantro cimarrón bundle and the salt in the last 5 minutes. Culantro is the long serrated leaf, not the same plant as cilantro, and it holds up to long cooking where cilantro collapses — Latin groceries sell it as recao or culantro.
7. Serve the broth in one bowl and the meat and roots on a plate beside it, with lime, white rice and a spoon of ají. That division is how it is eaten in the Valle, and it makes the same pot into two courses.
8. Substitutions: a mature free-range chicken can stand in for the stewing hen; 40 g cilantro with stems can stand in for the cilantro cimarrón.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

• Slow-Roasted Greek Leg of Lamb with Lemon Potatoes — Greek
• Chicken Marsala with Mushroom Wine Sauce — Italian-American
• Suqaar (Somali Beef Cubes with Vegetables) — Somali
• Steak Fajitas with Lime and Cilantro — Tex-Mex
• Mahshi (Stuffed Vegetables) — Egyptian

Keep reading: what umami, richness, citrus 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.