Feast in a Pot

This is perhaps the signature dish of Spain, prepared in one form or another all over the country. Chickpeas, bones, meat and vegetables are cooked long and slowly to create a two-course feast. The stock is consumed as a broth, often with the addition of rice or pasta, followed by platters of vegetables and meat.

A multitude may be fed from one pot, as I witnessed at a Shrove Tuesday festival in the Catalan town of Ponts. There the cocido, known as escudella, bubbled i