Asturian-American Migration Forum

1 pound beans, dry (fabes de granja, if possible)
10 cups water
1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
8 oz serrano ham, chopped
8 oz chorizos, chunked
6 oz morcilla, chunked
1 Tbsp Spanish olive oil
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 heavy pinch saffron

Soak the beans for 8 hours in cold water or bring to a boil and let sit two hours. Drain. Add beans and water to a large pot or casserole dish. Bring to a boil and skim the foam. Add the saffron and paprika.

Cook on a low boil for 2 to 3 hours. While the beans cook, add the olive oil to a heavy skillet. Add the onion, garlic, ham, chorizo and morcilla. Brown for a few minutes. Reserve.

When the beans are ready, remove 1 cup of cooked beans. Mash the cup of beans and stir into the pot. Add the onion and meat mixture. Simmer for 40 minutes. Add salt to taste.

Take off heat and let sit for 30 minutes to allow the juice to thicken. Serve warm with bread and butter.

Bob ,estupenda receta de fabada, yo iba a poner unas recetas sobre fabes pero es mejor qué entres en ésta página web,es una tienda qué hay en Cangas de Onís qué vende productos típicos asturianos y fué fundada por ELÍAS GONZÁLEZ AMOR , después de haber pasado por la HABANA ,la página es www.la-barata.com tiene varias recetas sobre les fabes,si alguna vez vienes a ASTURIAS y pasas por CANGAS DE ONÍS ,es una tienda qué te gustará y sobre todo no dejes de ir a COVADONGA (COMO DESCENDIENTE DE ASTURIANOS ,SIEMPRE QUÉ SE PUEDA HAY QUÉ IR A COVADONGA), yo creo qué no hay ASTURIANO qué no halla ido por lo menos una vez al año a COVADONGA ,bueno esto va para todos los Asturianos y descendientes de Asturianos. saludos

HI Bob,
This is (from my point of view) a funny way of cooking fabada. Mine is totally different. The main difference is that after soaking the fabes I put all the "compango" (chorizo, morciella, etc....) at the base of the pan, add the beans + the onion and the rest is the same.

My cooking time is longer, once I had one for more than 6 hours unders a very low heat..... (it is very important to add cold water as there cant be any beans on the surface of the liquid, or the skin of the beans will peel off.

One question: Do you find Asturian chorizo or morcilla in USA? Here in Dubai apart from being haram (forbidden) is too hot to eat fabada, but I remember when I was living in Uk to bring with every trip compango and fabes so I could make my own fabadas

Sometimes I also cooked pote (this is a dish of west part of Asturias) but it was difficult to find berzas (greens) in UK as there are not stocked by any supermarkets.

Hola Granda,

We make and smoke our own chorizos (and it's time to do so again) several times a year, so that is not an issue. Last year, our daughter Kathryn's partner became the chief chorizero, and he he's a country boy from North Carolina. Sixty pounds is a lot of chorizos. I just watched and said "a llttle more pimiento", etc. We use smoked pimiento from Spain.

As for morcilla, I buy from http://www.tienda.com/ in Virginia (and have become very friendly with the owner, Don Harris), always the ones with onions rather than rice. I leave putting rice in morcillas to the montañeses. I have no local source of blood, or I would make my own. I stll remember going from Niagara Falls to Buffalo (about 25 miles) to get blood for my grandmother at the Polish market. Los polacos always had good pork blood for morcilla, and duck blood for their own specialty, chornina (duck blood soup). Fabes - always from Asturias, other ingredients either local or imported.

Although I have posted a recipe, it's all a matter was watching,smelling, tasting, etc. Nothing formulaic. One batch of fabes is different from another.

Fortunately, berzas are not hard to find here in the EEUU.

Bob

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Well, the entire house here in Washington DC has that smell of a slow-cooking fabada right now. I managed to get 2 chourizos de Tineu and 2 morciel.las de Salas through customs this last time.

The fabes are the ones Bob told me I could order through La Tienda (www.latienda.com). I also found sidra Mayador at a small Salvadoran shop, along with anchovies and a bottle of Martin Codax (Galician wine from Rias Baixas, $14.99; sorry, but there is no 'vino de Cangas/Narcea' around here). I'm waiting for my Breton friend, Alain, and his wife Glicinia, from the island of Sao Tome. They are used to hearty Portuguese feijoadas.

Anyway, it's amazing how comforting smells can be to an exiled Asturian like myself. I also made fabada at my brother's wedding in Seattle last year and he made the same comment as he walked down the staircase: 'It smells like Asturias!"

Ye que tamos feitos unos probetones...

Ias pesain, eh DonPeska? Asina somos nos, asturiano-americanos ya nada mas. Nin 'spics' nin nada que pueas tu maxinar dende l'aldeona de Xixon...

I made "pote asturiano" from Bob's recipes today. Unfortunately, i haven't made chorizo asturiano yet. I used 'deer brats" instead. It was still great. I used the deer brats last week to make "sopa de fideos." One pot of soup can last a bachelor like me a whole week.

I will with 100% certanty be making Chorizo this weekend. I will post pictures. I have my income tax refund and will place my order with the butcher tomorrow.

¡Puxa la comida asturiana!

Ias pesain, eh DonPeska? Asina somos nos, asturiano-americanos ya nada mas. Nin 'spics' nin nada que pueas tu maxinar dende l'aldeona de Xixon...

A los hispanoamericanos tamién vos llamen "spics" porque faláis el español como mexicanos, puertorriqueños, etc.

Supongo que los americanos englobarán a toos.

Don Pe$ka wrote:A los hispanoamericanos tamién vos llamen "spics" porque faláis el español como mexicanos, puertorriqueños, etc. Supongo que los americanos englobarán a toos.

Andas mal informau, Don Peska. Seique los periodicos n'Asturias (El Comercio de Xixon sobretou) siempre tan falando de lo muitu qu'exercen los descendientes d'asturianos n'America del Norte d'espanoles. Pero nun ia verda pa nada. Cumo vieras n'outros filos, eiqui seguimos siendo astur-americanos, ou norteamericanos d'aniciu europeu ya non 'hispanos'. Por ciertu, el nomatu esi de 'spic' nin ia mui considerau pa cona xente d'aniciu nos paises llatinoamericanos, asina que deixa d'utilizalo que tas insultando a muitos nesti foru.

La permanente 'grandoneria' de la xente n'Asturies, que ia un fiel reflexu de lo que quier espardir la FSA (Federacion Socialista Asturiana) ia que Asturias (=el Principau) ta a la vanguardia de tou: el cervantismo, los premios Principe, la llucha escontra el cambiu climaticu. Tu que vives ya trabayas ou estudias n'Asturias deberias sabelo meyor que nos, que Asturies ta xustamente a la cola de medria economica n'Espana, a la cabeza en desemplegu ya emigracion moza. Cuando sal Areces perehi falando sua propaganda barata, davezu ia precisamente tolo contrariu.

I'm just sayin, Don Peska...

Eric Smith Fernandez wrote:I made "pote asturiano" from Bob's recipes today. Unfortunately, i haven't made chorizo asturiano yet. I used 'deer brats" instead.

I think others might also be in the dark about your 'deer brats', Eric. I have no inkling what you're referring to here in relation to pote asturianu or putaxe, as it is often called in West Asturias. So, at the risk of sounding utterly uninformed, what are 'deer brats'?

Also, do post pics of your chourizos. You may have competition out of the state of Connecticut...

Deer brats are a mystery to me too, but I once had what was called venison sausage in Texas. As I recall the recipe called for one deer and one pig, and resulted in a huge batch of sausage.

And, by the way, I agree that in the EEUU "Hispanic" is not usually used to refer to people of peninsular origen, such as asturianos. Spic is generally considered a term of insult akin to wop, dago, hymie and polack (a pollack, on the other hand, is a kind of fish), at least when used by anyone outside the same ethnic group to which is it being applied. A lot of things just don't translate well across languages.

But, for very Asturian that you feeling ... the Asturian continue being Spanish and Hispanic ... and probably ... "spic"

But already I know that the descendants from Spanish in the USA are made be called Spanish Americans, or spaniards to differ from the (Latin-American) HISPANICS ... shame gives you that they confuse you???

Not really, it's just that the category"Hispanic" is one created by the government for its various forms and agencies, and it is generally not taken to mean someone of Spanish descent. Paradoxically, someone born in Puerto Rico of Spanish parents would be Hispanic, as would a Spanish speaking Mexican of pure Mayan ancestry, or a Spanish speaking Quechua.

In my opinion, ancestry and language should be nothing but a source of pride for one and all, but some of the labels don't make logical sense.