Catalan Stew Step-by-step Recipe (Escudella) 🥘

Ingredients

🐔 1/2 hen
🍗 2 chicken hindquarters
🥩 500 g veal shank
🦴 1 chicken carcass
🍖 2 pork spine bones
🍖 2 ham bones
🐖 1 pig’s trotter
👂 1 pig ear
🐷 1/2 pig’s face
🌚 1 black sausage
🌞 1 white sausage
🥓 200 g pork belly
🥬 1/2 cabbage
🥔 4 medium potatoes
🧅 2 onions
🌿 1 parsnip
🌱 1 piece of celery
🥒 1 leek
🥕 4 carrots
🍠 1 turnip
🥫 400 g dried chickpeas
🍝 400 g of large Galets (sharks)

Ingredients for Meatballs

🥛 200 ml milk
🍞 2 slices of hard bread
🧄 2 cloves of garlic
🌿 A few leaves of fresh parsley
🥩 300 g minced meat (half beef, half pork)
🧂 5 g fine salt
⚫️ 2 g freshly ground black pepper
🌰 25 g pine nuts
🥚 1 egg M
🌾 Flour for coating

If there is one recipe that is repeated in practically all the autonomous communities, even though it is different it is basically the same, that is the stew. Throughout Spain we find stews in multiple variations.

The escudella is, together with the cannelloni of San Esteban , the most traditional Christmas dish in Catalonia, present in many homes at this time, and often also during the rest of the year. It is a recipe full of tradition and flavour that is usually prepared in winter, especially at Christmas when it is served with a soup of larger than usual galets (sharks). When it is not Christmas, the galets are usually smaller or even noodles can be used.

The escudella, along with the cannelloni de San Esteban (which used to be prepared with the leftovers of the Carn d’olla de la escudella) are the most traditional dishes in Catalonia. As is often the case with such old dishes, there are many versions and variants depending on each area and each house, but in this recipe we have tried to prepare it in the most traditional way.

Other delicious stew recipes on the blog: From the Galician stew , the Basque one, this traditional Catalan escudella , the Asturian pot , the famous Madrid stew , the mountain stew, the olla podrida, the Canarian puchero , the Andalusian puchero or pringá , the Maragato stew , the gypsy pot from Murcia , the preacher’s presa in Aragon, and some other ones that I’m sure I’m forgetting… all variants of the same idea, the stew.

This is especially true if we take into account the definition of this dish given by the RAE Dictionary. A dish prepared with pork or beef, legumes and vegetables, almost always chickpeas and potatoes. To which we sometimes add some sausage, which is cooked together.

Preparation of Catalan Escudella and Meat

🧂 Step 1: Prep the Meats in Salted Water

We submerge the chicken, the backbone and ham bones, the pig’s ear, foot, and face in containers with salted water (25 g of salt per liter of water). This helps to whiten the meat and prevent it from bleeding. We leave it in the fridge overnight.

🌰 Step 2: Soak the Chickpeas

We soak the chickpeas in water, using 3 parts water to 1 part chickpeas. Adding a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda helps the skins hold up during cooking. The chickpeas soak overnight (about twelve hours). The next day, we wash and drain the meat that was left to blanch.

🍲 Step 3: Fill the Pot with Meat and Water

Fill a large pot with 6 liters of water. Add the hen, chicken, shank, bones, carcass, ear, pork hoof, and belly into the pot.

🔥 Step 4: Bring to Boil and Skim the Broth

Turn on the heat (medium) and wait for the water to boil. Once boiling, lower the heat to minimum and cook for an hour, removing foam and impurities from the surface. This skimming is essential for a smooth broth without a greasy taste. Continue skimming occasionally throughout the cooking time.

🧺 Step 5: Add the Chickpeas

Wash and drain the chickpeas thoroughly. Place them inside a tightly tied mesh bag to keep them contained in the pot. After the pot has been cooking for an hour, add the chickpeas and let them cook for another hour on low heat, without stirring, skimming as needed.

🥕 Step 6: Prepare and Add Vegetables

Wash and peel the vegetables, leaving the potatoes unpeeled. Larger pieces of vegetables hold up better during cooking and retain texture. After two hours of cooking from the start, add the vegetables (except potatoes) to the pot, letting them cook for another hour. If the broth reduces too much, add boiling water to maintain the cooking process.

Preparing the meatballs

1. While the vegetables are cooking, we can prepare the meatballs. Dip the bread in the milk and let it soak for 5 minutes.
2. In a bowl, mix the minced meat, the egg, the finely chopped garlic and parsley, the well-drained bread, the pine nuts, salt and pepper. Mix well with your hands to combine all the ingredients. Shape the dough into a rugby ball. You can make just one large ball, but it is easier for it to break, so it is ideal to make 2–3 medium-sized balls.
3. We coat the balls with flour, tap them a few times to remove the excess and store them in the refrigerator.

Final preparation of the Escudella

1. Peel and wash the potatoes. After 3 hours of cooking from the start, add the whole potatoes, the two sausages and the meatballs. Cook for another 40 minutes.
2. Remove the meat, vegetables, sausages, meatballs and chickpeas from the pot. Strain the broth and allow it to cool completely. Remove the layer of fat that remains on the surface of the broth. Heat part of the broth and allow it to boil.
3. When it starts to boil, add the galets and cook following the manufacturer’s instructions like any other pasta. When it is ready, turn off the heat. Meat, vegetables, chickpeas and galets soup are usually served separately so that each person can fill their plate as they wish, with the soup being the first course.
4. We serve the escudella on individual plates, adding some of the sliced ​​pilotas. We will also put a plate on the table with the rest of the pilotas, others with the meats that we can use and the sausages and another with the vegetables and chickpeas.

Tips for a perfect Catalan Escudella and Carne d’Olla

• There is a belief that it is not necessary to use high quality ingredients to add to the pot, on the contrary, the only key to making the Escudella perfect is to use market ingredients of the best possible quality.
• If we live in a place with hard water or water that has a bad taste, it is best to use mineral water so that the taste does not affect the cooking.
• Slow cooking and patience. The pot with all the ingredients already cooked can even be left overnight in the refrigerator and the next day heated, strained and prepared the galets soup. This way all the flavours have settled and it is even better.

Curiosities about the escudella

• A recipe for a stew typical of Catalonia , especially at Christmas time, called escudella catalana , escudella i carn d´olla .
• This is a broth prepared by cooking a series of vegetables, chickpeas, sausages and different types of pork, beef and chicken for a long time. Accompanying this broth and as part of its essence, a pilota is prepared, a kind of large, elongated meatballs that are cooked in the soup.
• To top off the dish, we serve gallets, pasta similar to classic sharks but larger in size. All of this is part of the escudella, but on one side we serve the soup with gallets, on the other side the vegetables and chickpeas and on the other side the pilotas with the rest of the meats.
• This dish is served with the accompaniment of the meats used to prepare the escudella. It is called escudella i carn d´olla, literally with the meat from the pot.
• There are many variations of this traditional dish. Some people prepare small meatballs instead of 3 or 4 large ones. Some serve them in the soup and others serve them separately. Others add roasted peppers, cooked over embers, and others cook the meatballs in the gallets. And that’s how they serve it, small variations all with the same essence.

Want more Chicken Recipes? 🍗

Try our flavorful Garlic Chicken Recipe for a simple yet delicious meal, or dive into a hearty Andalusian Stew Recipe rich in traditional flavors. For a comforting bowl, our Chicken Minced Meat Soup is perfect, while the classic Catalan Stew Recipe offers a taste of authentic Catalan cuisine. And if you're craving something with a Middle Eastern twist, don’t miss our Chicken Shawarma Recipe and Grandma's Chicken Sauce, perfectly spiced and ideal for a quick, satisfying meal.

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Chicken Pepitoria Recipe  |  Chicken Döner Kebab Recipe  |  Chicken Stir-Fried Rice Recipe  |  Chicken Mushroom Stew Recipe

Catalan Stew Step-by-step Recipe (Escudella) 🥘