Sancocho (from the Spanish verb sancochar, "to parboil") is a traditional stew in several Caribbean and Latin American cuisines. Latin variations represent popular in Dominican Republic, Colombia, Cuba, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela. It usually consists of large pieces of meat, and served in a broth.
Variations
Canary Islands
Canary Islands sancocho is a dish based on salted fish (usually cherne or corvina), parboiled potatoes, sweet potato (unpeeled and in large pieces) and red or green mojo (sauce).
Colombia
Sancocho is a traditional food in Colombia made with many kinds of meat (most commonly chicken, hen, pork ribs, beef ribs, fish, and ox tail) with large pieces of plantain,
potato,
cassava and/or other vegetables such as tomato, scallion, cilantro, and mazorca (corn on the cob), depending on the region. Some top it off with fresh cilantro, onion and squeezed lime—a sort of "pico de gallo", minus the tomato. It is also served with a side of sliced avocado and a plate of white rice, which is usually dipped in with each spoonful of soup.
Dominican Republic
Sancocho is considered one of the national dishes, along with "la bandera" (the flag), consisting of rice, generally red or black beans, some root vegetables and meat. Although, Dominicans usually serve the dish with white rice and avocados. There is a variant called
sancocho cruzado or
sancocho de siete carnes, which includes different parts of
chicken,
beef,
pork, and sometimes
goat.
Sancocho de siete carnes means "seven meat sancocho" and is considered the ultimate sancocho dish.
Longaniza, a type of pork sausage, is also used. Sancocho de gallina (hen sancocho) is common as well, often made for special occasions like holidays or on weekends. While sancocho de habichuela (bean sancocho) and sancocho de guandules are common, other types of sancocho are very rare.
Panama
Also known as
sancocho de gallina, it is the national dish of Panama. The basic ingredients are chicken, ñame (adding flavor and acting as a thickener, giving it its characteristic texture and brightness), and culantro (giving it most of its characteristic flavor and greenish tone); often
Cassava, mazorca (corn on the cob) and
Xanthosoma are added. Other optional ingredients include
ñampí (as the
Eddoe variety of
taro is known), chopped
,
garlic and
oregano. It is frequently served with
white rice on the side, meant to be either mixed in or eaten with each spoonful. Hot sauce is frequently added, depending on regional and individual preferences. Regional varieties include
sancocho chorrerano (a specialty of the town of La Chorrera, which is only made with free-range chicken, onions, garlic, chili peppers, oregano and ñame
[ Un abanico de sabores panameños ]) and
Sancocho chiricano (a specialty from Chiriquí Province and the heartiest variety, containing squash in addition to all basic and optional ingredients mentioned before, having a yellowish color as a result). It is often recommended as the best remedy for a hangover. It is used as a metaphor for the country's racial diversity due to the varied ingredients that contribute their particular properties to and have an equally important role in the cooking process and final product.
Philippines
Reflecting its Spanish influence, sancocho is eaten in the Philippines, where the hearty stew is made with fish, beef shanks, three kinds of meat, chicken, pork butt, bacon, chorizo de bilbao and
morcilla (Spanish blood sausage) as well as yucca, potatoes, cilantro, corn, cabbage,
bok choy, carrots and string beans. The
Ilocano people dish
pinapaitan is also known as sankutsar (or singkutsar) is made from stewed goat (or beef) and offal flavored with its cud.
Puerto Rico
Sancocho is considered a fairly rustic dish. It is made with chicken and smoked ham (sancocho de gallina), top round beef (sancocho), pork feet with chickpeas (sancocho de patitas), beef short ribs with chorizo, or fish, shellfish and
salted cod cooked in coconut milk and ginger with rice dumplings (caldo santo). There are several versions and every household has their own take on sancocho, but a true Puerto Rican sancocho always calls for corn on the cob, a variety of tubers, squash, green bananas, and meat. The hearty stew is served with a small bowl of rice,
pique criollo, tostones, and bread.
Venezuela
Sancochos are prepared throughout the country, recognized as a typical meal of the weekend. The stew can be beef (usually in the Llanos region), chicken (usually central and western region), beef stomach and shank (simply called "tripe") or goat (here called "goat tripe", typical of western Falcón and Lara states) and fish or seafood (usually East and Caribbean coast). When mixing two types of meat (chicken and beef, etc.) is called crossover or "cruzado". Among vegetables and traditional spices for all varieties are yam, onion, garlic, salt, pepper, oregano, potato, cassava, jojoto (maize/corn), celery (celeriac), taro (mafafa/malanga), pumpkin (squash), cabbage, Chinese taro or Chirel hot pepper, cilantro, and green or topocho banana.
These soups are major Venezuelan cuisine dishes that are not usually accompanied by other foods. Consumed at lunchtime or in the evening, the stew is a common dish at celebrations, usually served during or after meals—the latter, according to popular belief, to relieve hangover. For this reason, it is typical to serve this dish for lunch on Christmas or New Year's Day.
Similar dishes
There is a similar dish in Costa Rica: it is called olla de carne (meat pot).
The Peruvian sancochado, made with meat chunks, corn, rice, and potatoes, is similar to the Colombian sancocho. It has the typical ingredients: yuca, plantain, and corn "choclo". It is usually made with beef but can also be done with hen, chicken, or fish. Fish is particularly used in the coastal regions where peanuts are also added to give their characteristic flavor. A similar dish in Chile is called cazuela.
A soup similar to sancocho is called sancoche in Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.
See also
In México the dish is called
cocifi or
caldo de res. It consists of brazed beef short ribs, ox tail, carrots, celery, potatoes, corn on the cob, squash,
chayote, garlic, onion, cilantro and garnished with lime and accompanied with tostadas. Variations are made with chicken, shrimp, or meatballs.
External links
