Fabada-Style Pork And Beans

Step 1

Fill your big pot with 8 cups water, and add the ham hock together with all its stock ingredients except the potatoes – they go in later. (So, that’ll be the black pepper, turmeric, paprika, onion, and garlic.)

Step 2

Set the pot on a high heat and bring it to the boil. As soon as that happens, drop the heat to low and cover the pot. Now let it just barely simmer on that low heat for 2 1/2 hours.

Step 3

Turn off the heat, add the potatoes, cover the pot, and let the whole lot cool for an hour. That’s important because you want the hock to sit in the stock until it’s cool enough for you to remove the rind/skin and the meat from the bone. It’s also important because it allows the potatoes to absorb the stock’s flavors.

Step 4

Add the olive oil and butter to a big skillet set on high heat. Once the buttery oil foams, add the pork belly - skin side down - and drop the heat to medium. You’re aiming to fry this side so that it crisps to a deep golden colour but doesn’t char. That’ll take about about ten watchful minutes on that medium heat.

Step 5

Now drop the heat to low and gently fry the other side for 20 minutes. Take it out of the skillet, turn the heat to medium, and add the rounds of chorizo. Fry these on each side for two minutes until they just begin to take on a little crispy colour. Remove them from the skillet and drop the heat to low.

Step 6

Add the onions and garlic to the fatted skillet. Fry gently on low with a few stirs for about 7 minutes - so that the onions soften and start to pick up a little colour. Good. Time now to assemble the stew for its final cooking.

Step 7

Remove the ham hock from the cooled stock. Peel away the skin/rind from the layer of fat beneath it. As neatly as you can, pull all the meat and fat from the bone in the largest possible chunks. Use a small sharp knife to help you here – and to cut away any tough sinews - but try to the keep the meat in big chunks. Discard the sinewy bits, and cut all the chunks into 1/3-inch slices – fat and all. Keep the bone – it’s going back into the big pot.

Step 8

Set the pot with its stock and potatoes on a high heat. Add the slab of fried belly pork, slices of ham hock, its bone, the fried onions and garlic, all the fat from the skillet, cayenne pepper, white pepper, and cannellini beans. Bring the pot to the boil, then drop the heat to low and cover the pot.

Step 9

Let it simmer gently – and I mean gently - for about 50 minutes. You want the potatoes to slowly cook through but still keep their shape. Give the pot a few careful stirs while it’s simmering away, but do take some care not to break up the potatoes or the beans.

Step 10

After the pot’s been simmering for 30 minutes, check for saltiness. You’ll probably find the potatoes have soaked up a fair amount of salt, so you may need to adjust to your taste. As soon as you are happy with the potatoes, turn off the heat. You’re nearly done and almost ready for serving.

Step 11

Remove the hock’s bone and the belly pork with a slotted spoon. Let the belly pork cool slightly on a carving board. Soon as you can, cut off the now-softened rind / skin, and slice all the rest cleanly from the bones into bite-size pieces. Return these pieces to the pot.

Step 12

If you feel the stew’s a bit too thick, by all means add some more water – not a lot, but just enough to give a consistency that suits you.

Step 13

Now bring the pot up to a bare boil, give it one last combining stir and turn off the heat. Done! Ready to serve.