How to make an Argentinian puchero

In the picture: a “puchero” with chorizo, beef brisket, chicken, leek, zucchini, corncob, carrot, potato, sweet potato and chard.

A puchero is a meat and vegetable stew. Its ingredients vary simply according to availability. It’s similar to the French pot-au-feu or the Spanish cocido, although it does not usually have legumes like the latter.

A short interesting story as introduction:

It was the year 1939 and the International Chess Olympiad was held in Buenos Aires. During the course of the event, the war was declared in Europe and for this reason, many of the participants were unable to return to their countries at the end of the event. This was the case of the Polish grandmaster Mendel Najdorf, who, forced to seek a new homeland, was tempted by the former world champion José Raúl Capablanca to settle in his native Cuba. In addition to describing its beautiful beaches, he assured him that he would never lack a piece of bread there. But Najdorf observed that poor people in Argentina used to describe their situation as “puchereando” (kind of “eating daily puchero just to survive”). “Puchero is better than bread”, Najdorf thought, and that is how he began to be called Miguel instead of Mendel, becoming later one of the most important chess masters of Argentina.

The ingredients of the puchero:

As already mentioned, the puchero is a stew of meat and vegetables. As a typical recipe for use, there are no specific quantities or ingredients. The meat is normally beef and chicken, although sometimes a cut of pork is also added, even sausages such as chorizo ​​or black pudding. Usually the cheapest parts of the cow were used, especially the ossobuco. As for vegetables, carrots, leeks, chard, zucchini, potatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, etc. are normally used. In addition, the broth can be flavored with onion, garlic and herbs. It’s also usual to add some corncob.

How to prepare the puchero:

The most important is to have a large pot or casserole and consider the different cooking times of each ingredient.

Start by boiling the beef and pork cuts, which usually need until two hours to be tender.

When the water comes to a boil, it is important to remove the foam that will appear on the surface with a spoon. At that moment, it’s possible to add an onion, a clove of garlic and herbs to taste, to give the broth more flavor, as well as salt to taste. Then cover the pot and continue cooking over low heat.

The chicken should be added after one hour, and the vegetables in the final half hour. The chard will need only 10 minutes, the same as the corn.

Since the meat and vegetables are served separately from the broth, the ingredients are usually cooked whole or in large pieces. If the vegetable is cut too small, then its cooking time will be reduced.

It is convenient to boil the chorizos separately so that the broth is not very greasy. The black puddings only need a quick boil, otherwise they will be totally undone and lost in the casserole.

As usually happens with stews in general, the flavors will settle the next day. In that case, keep the broth separately from the rest of the ingredients in the fridge, this allows eventually to get rid of some excess of fat the next day.