sancocho
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What is sancocho?
Sancocho is a traditional Latin American stew with fish or meat, root vegetables, plantains, and cilantro or culantro seasoning. The word sancocho comes from the Spanish verb sancochar, meaning "to parboil." Sancocho is a national dish in Panama and one of the national dishes of the Dominican Republic. It is also popular in Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and Colombia, each with its own variations.
Sancocho likely originated from adafina, a Sephardic Jewish stew from 15th-century Spain, which evolved into the Spanish cocido. Sancocho may be cocido with African influence, first cooked in the Canary Islands as a fish stew. The dish then traveled to the New World with Spanish colonization in the late 15th century, adapting to regional ingredients and tastes.
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Which countries are known for making sancocho?
Sancocho is a traditional Latin American stew with variations across many countries. It is considered a national dish in both Panama and the Dominican Republic. Sancocho is also popular in Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and Colombia, each having its own take on the dish with different ingredients and seasonings. For example, sancocho in the Dominican Republic often contains butternut squash and sweet potatoes, while the Colombian version may include beef ribs. Puerto Rican sancocho is tomato-based and includes chorizo.
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What main ingredients are found in sancocho?
Sancocho recipes vary by region and the ingredients on hand, so no two are exactly alike.
Well-known regional varieties include:
* Colombia Sancocho is prepared using meats such as chicken, beef, or goat. Vegetables include green plantains, corn, potatoes, and yuca. It is often served with rice, avocado, and ají picante.
* Dominican Republic Sancocho can be made with meats and vegetables such as pork, chicken, beef, butternut squash, and sweet potatoes. It is usually served with rice and avocado. Sancocho de siete carnes contains beef, stewing pork, goat, pork sausage, chicken, pork ribs, and ham bones, as well as vegetables.
* Puerto Rico Puerto Rican sancocho is often tomato based and made with meats like pork, chorizo, and beef, and vegetables such as corn, pumpkin, squash, plantains, and potatoes. It is often topped with pique criollo, a hot sauce and served with white rice or tostones.
* Venezuela Traditional Venezuelan sancocho contains oxtail, carrots, potatoes, corn, and yuca. It is usually served with arepas, avocado, a tomato wedge, and a lime wedge.
* Panama Panamanian sancocho includes hen, corn, yams, root vegetables, and culantro. It is typically served with white rice.1 Britannica SourceCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
How is sancocho usually prepared and cooked?
Sancocho is a traditional Latin American stew with many variations, depending on local and seasonal produce and available ingredients. It consists of meat or fish cooked in broth with root vegetables and plantains, seasoned with cilantro or culantro.
In Colombia, sancocho often contains a mix of meats such as chicken, beef, or goat. Vegetables typically include green plantains, corn, potatoes, and yuca. It is generally served with rice, avocado, and hot chili pepper sauce. In the Dominican Republic, sancocho may include pork, chicken, beef, butternut squash, and sweet potatoes, commonly served with rice and avocado. A sancocho de siete carnes includes stewing beef and pork, goat, pork sausage, chicken, pork ribs, and ham bones, along with vegetables. Families in Panama, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic traditionally cook sancocho over an open wood fire.
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How do different countries or regions make their sancocho special?
Sancocho is a traditional Latin American stew with many variations based on local ingredients and seasonings.
In Colombia, sancocho often includes chicken, beef, goat, or a mix, along with green plantains, corn, potatoes, and yuca. It's typically served with rice, avocado, and ají picante. Puerto Rican sancocho is tomato-based, combining meats like pork, chorizo, and beef with corn, pumpkin, squash, plantains, and potatoes, topped with pique criollo and served with rice or tostones. Venezuelan sancocho features oxtail or beef short ribs, carrots, potatoes, corn, and yuca, accompanied by arepas, avocado, tomato, and lime. Dominican sancocho varies widely, with options like pork, chicken, beef, butternut squash, and sweet potatoes, served with rice and avocado, or the seven-meat sancocho.
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When is sancocho commonly eaten, and why is it important in local cultures?
Sancocho, a traditional Latin American stew, is often enjoyed on Sundays and special occasions like holidays and festivals. It is also a popular remedy for hangovers, common colds, and other illnesses.
In some countries, such as Panama, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic, families traditionally cook sancocho outdoors over an open wood fire, believing the smoke enhances the stew's flavor. Sancocho is considered the national dish of Panama and one of the national dishes of the Dominican Republic. Each country, such as Puerto Rico, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic, has its own variations, depending on local and seasonal produce and available ingredients.
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sancocho, a traditional Latin American stew consisting of fish or meat cooked in a broth with root vegetables and plantains and seasoned with cilantro or culantro. The word sancocho is derived from the Spanish verb sancochar, meaning “to parboil.” It is the national dish of Panama and one of the national dishes of the Dominican Republic and is popular in several other Latin American countries, including—but not limited to—Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and Colombia, each having its own variations of ingredients and seasonings.
Sancocho is served on Sundays and special occasions such as holidays and festivals. It is also commonly consumed as a hangover cure and as a cure for common colds and other sicknesses. In some countries, particularly Panama, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic, it is traditional for families to gather outside and cook sancocho over an open wood fire pit. The smoke from the smoldering wood is known to add extra flavor to the stew.
History
The origin of sancocho can be traced back, albeit somewhat murkily, to the 15th century. Adafina, a meat and chickpea stew prepared by Spain’s Sephardic Jews in advance of the Sabbath, is believed by culinary historians to be the predecessor of the Spanish stew called cocido. During the Spanish Inquisition in the late 1400s, some Jews would add nonkosher products, such as ham, bacon, and blood sausage, to their adafinas as a way to demonstrate their conversion to Roman Catholicism. By the late 1500s such stews had moved beyond the Jewish community and were known as cocido. Sancocho is said to be cocido with an African influence and may have first been cooked on the Canary Islands, off the coast of northwest Africa. The original Canary Islands version of sancocho is a fish stew made with salted fish, boiled potatoes, sweet potatoes, and mojo (a bell pepper sauce). With Spanish colonization of the Americas in the late 15th century, the dish was introduced to the New World, where it was adapted to accommodate each region’s palates and available ingredients.
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Varieties
Varieties of sancocho are numerous and often vary depending on the local and seasonal availability of produce as well as the particular ingredients on hand. Indeed, it is said that no two sancochos are alike. Some of the well-known regional varieties include the following:
Panamanian sancocho
The most traditional Panamanian sancocho, called sancocho de gallina panameño (Panamanian hen sancocho), is prepared with gallina (hen), corn on the cob, yams and other starchy root vegetables, and culantro. It is typically served with a side of white rice.
Dominican sancocho
In the Dominican Republic, sancocho can be made with a variety of different meats and vegetables, including pork, chicken, beef, butternut squash, and sweet potatoes, and is usually served with rice and avocado. There is also a seven-meat sancocho (sancocho de siete carnes), which is made with beef and pork for stewing and includes goat, pork sausage, chicken, pork ribs, and ham bones as well as vegetables.
Colombian sancocho
In Colombia, sancocho is prepared with a variety of meats, including chicken, beef, goat, or a combination of meats. Sancocho de costilla is made with beef ribs. The vegetables usually include green plantains, corn on the cob, potatoes, and yuca, and the soup is generally served with rice, avocado, and ají picante (hot chili pepper sauce).
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Puerto Rican sancocho
Puerto Rican sancocho is often tomato based. It is made with a mix of several meats, such as pork, chorizo, and beef, and a variety of vegetables, including corn on the cob, pumpkin, squash, green and yellow plantains, and potatoes. It is often topped with pique criollo, a hot sauce, and served with white rice or tostones (flattened fried green plantains).
Venezuelan sancocho
Traditional Venezuelan sancocho is made with oxtail (beef short ribs are sometimes substituted), carrots, potatoes, corn on the cob, and yuca. The soup is usually served with arepas, avocado, a tomato wedge, and a lime wedge.