National Dish Andorra: Escudella (Recipe)
In this article
Escudella is a mountain stew that cooks for two hours and asks almost nothing of you in the meantime. Meat goes in first, vegetables an hour later, and the result is two courses from one pot: the broth to start, the meat and vegetables after. Andorra eats it through the winter and at Christmas.
About Escudella
Escudella is Andorra’s national dish, shared with Catalonia across the border. The name means bowl. At its fullest it becomes escudella i carn d’olla, the Christmas version with a giant meatball called the pilota, but the everyday form is what you see below: pork, chicken, a coarse sausage, beans and whatever roots the cellar holds.
The order matters more than the recipe. Meat and beans need the full two hours. Vegetables added at the start would collapse into the broth.
Ingredients (serves 1–2)
- 150g pork
- 100g chicken thighs
- 1 coarse sausage (botifarra)
- 2–3 potatoes, peeled and diced
- 1 small piece of pumpkin, diced
- 1 carrot, sliced
- 100g white cabbage, chopped
- 1 handful of white beans (soaked overnight)
- 1 bay leaf
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Water or stock for the base
Shopping for the ingredients
Botifarra is the sausage this wants: a coarse Catalan pork sausage, unsmoked, sold in Spanish delis. A good coarse bratwurst is the closest substitute. For the pork, use a cut with some fat and connective tissue, such as shoulder or belly. Lean loin contributes nothing to a two-hour broth.
Preparing the dish
Soak the beans overnight in cold water. This is not optional: unsoaked beans will still be hard when the meat is falling apart. Cut the vegetables larger than you think, because two hours in a pot reduces everything. Keep the heat low enough that the surface barely moves.
Step-by-step instructions
- Set a large pot over medium heat and add the pork, chicken and sausage together with enough water or stock to cover all the ingredients.
- Add the bay leaf and bring everything to the boil, skimming regularly to keep the broth clear.
- Reduce the heat, add the soaked white beans and let everything simmer for about an hour.
- After the first hour, add the prepared potatoes, pumpkin, carrot and white cabbage, then simmer for a further hour or until the vegetables and meat are tender.
- Season with salt and pepper to your taste, and remove the bay leaf before serving.
Gluten-free / lactose-free version
The stew contains no dairy, so it is lactose-free. For gluten, the only risk is the sausage: many contain rusk or wheat starch as a binder. Check the label or ask the butcher. Everything else in the pot is naturally gluten-free.
Tips for vegans and vegetarians
Escudella is built on meat and its broth. A vegetarian pot of the same beans, cabbage, pumpkin and potato with a piece of dried mushroom for depth makes a decent mountain stew, but it is a different dish and worth naming as one. If you want the Catalan vegetable tradition done properly, Faves a la Catalana is the better starting point.
More tips and tricks
Skim the surface in the first ten minutes and the broth stays clear for the rest of the cooking. Miss that window and it turns grey. Salt at the end, not the beginning, because beans cooked in salted water keep tough skins. And make it the day before if you can: escudella improves overnight, and the fat sets on top so you can lift it off if you want to.
Adapting the recipe to your taste
Rice or small pasta added in the last fifteen minutes turns the broth into sopa de galets, which is how the first course is usually served. Black pudding is a common addition. At Christmas the pilota, a meatball of pork, breadcrumbs and garlic the size of a fist, goes in for the final hour.
Ingredient substitutions
Any coarse fresh sausage stands in for botifarra. Chickpeas work in place of white beans. Turnip, leek and celeriac all belong in the vegetable stage and are traditional.
Drink pairing ideas
A Catalan red from Priorat or Montsant matches the richness. Cava works better than it sounds against the fat. For something without alcohol, sparkling water with lemon cuts through as well as anything.
Serving and presentation ideas
Serve it in two goes, which is how it is meant to be eaten. Strain off the broth and serve it first, with pasta or rice in it. Then bring out the meat and vegetables on a platter as the second course. Bread and Trinxat on the side.
A bit of history
Escudella belongs to the Pyrenees, where a single pot on the fire all day was the practical way to feed a household. It is one of the oldest recorded Catalan dishes, described in the fourteenth-century Llibre de Sent Soví, and it anchors Andorran cuisine alongside Botifarra amb Mongetes and the mountain roast Xai Rostit.
More recipe ideas
Summary: Escudella
Escudella is a two-hour mountain stew of pork, chicken, sausage and beans, with the vegetables added halfway. Skim it early, salt it late, and serve the broth first and the meat after.
