Sancocho
A multi-meat stew, tougher cuts like goat and beef going in first and delicate chicken added later, root vegetables staged in by cooking time and finished by mashing a piece of starchy vegetable back into the broth to thicken it naturally rather than with flour. Traced to Spain's Canary Islands and adapted across Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, and the Dominican Republic, the Dominican version is genuinely distinct for its "sancocho de siete carnes," seven meats, a richer, more meat-heavy dish than the single-protein sancochos typical elsewhere, and the country's national dish, especially for Christmas and New Year's.
Meat
Ingredients
- 1 lb beef stew meat
- 1 lb goat meat, bone-in
- 1 lb pork stew meat
- 1 lb bone-in chicken thighs
- 1/2 lb smoked ham or salted pork, optional
- 2 ears corn, cut into pieces
- 1 lb yuca, peeled and chunked
- 1 lb name (yam), peeled and chunked
- 1 lb yautia (taro), peeled and chunked
- 2 green plantains, chunked
- 1 lb auyama (calabaza/pumpkin), chunked
- 2 potatoes, chunked
- 1/4 cup sofrito (cilantro, garlic, onion, aji, oregano)
- 1 tbsp adobo
- Lime juice
- Salt and black pepper, to taste
- Cilantro, for garnish
Steps
- Season all the meats except chicken with adobo, sofrito, and lime juice, and marinate 30 minutes to overnight.
- In a large pot, brown the beef and goat in a little oil, then add water to cover, bring to a boil, and simmer 45 minutes.
- Add the pork and smoked ham, and continue simmering 30 minutes.
- Add the yuca, name, and yautia, the longer-cooking roots, and simmer 20 minutes.
- Add the chicken, plantains, auyama, and potatoes, and simmer another 25-30 minutes until all the meats and vegetables are tender.
- Mash a piece of the cooked auyama or yautia against the pot side and stir back in to naturally thicken the broth.
- Adjust seasoning with salt, pepper, and more sofrito or lime as needed, and garnish with cilantro; serve hot, often with white rice and avocado on the side.