99% of Tourists in Spain Won't Eat This Meal

Hola Spain food lovers and welcome to another deep dive into Spain's culinary traditions. Today we have a classic Madrid dish that's often overlooked by tourists and it is Cocido Madreleño. It's a hearty stew that is packed with tradition and a favorite of the locals here. And if you think you know Spanish food, wait until you see this dish. Let's go and sit down. So what is Cocido Madreleño I hear you asking. Well it's a Madrid style stew and it's perfect for these cold winter days. Even though it's not that cold today because I'm sitting outside around 11 or 12 degrees. But you understand what I mean right. It's a slow cooked meal. It's a mix of meat and vegetables and the meat and the vegetables cook together to create an amazing broth and that is going to be the first thing that we try today. Wash it down with a glass of Spanish red wine and you have the perfect winter meal here in Spain in my opinion. Let's wait for the first course which I think is here now. We'll put the bread out of the way because we don't want that and have a look exactly what we have on the plate here. So first with the Cocido Madreleño you start with the broth. A clear broth and it also has these noodles in it as well. What they call in Spanish fideos. And as I said before this broth is the combination of those vegetables and meats that have been slow cooking for hours. And the reason for the noodles or the fideos is to soak up all of this lovely broth. Let's try it. Wow! The broth is incredible with the depth of flavors that tells you that it's been cooking all day. Amazing! And the noodles add a wonderful texture. And this is without doubt the ultimate comfort food, the ultimate starter on a cold day like this one here in Madrid. Wowee! Now Cocido is one of these meals here in Spain that you'll find in lots of different parts of the country. Here in Madrid it's called Cocido Madreleño. But you'll also find that in other parts of the country in the south of Spain you might have a Cocido Malagueño. In the north of the country you'll have a Cocido Leones for example. So different types of Cocido, different styles of Cocido. But this one I would say is the most famous Cocido Madreleño. They also give you these chilies here or guindillas that I've shown in other videos that I've done in recent times. And the idea I think is to bite into the chili and then have some of this broth. Let's do that. That is spicy but when you have it with a mouthful of the soup the flavors are incredible. Now a little bit of a story about Cocido. When I arrived in Madrid around 25-26 years ago and met my partner's parents for the first time. In fact the first meal that I ever had with my partner's parents was Cocido Madreleño. And it was exactly like this one here with the guindillas or with the chilies the broth with the noodles in it and then the second course which is coming out in a moment. Wait for that. Absolutely fantastic and it's bringing back memories of my first meal here in Madrid or at least I think it was my first meal. Don't quote me on that. Now let's finish this off. Not sure if I'm going to eat it all because there's a big second course coming out so I've got to make room for that. So let's have another mouthful. A little bit more of this chili which as I said is quite spicy but it adds to the depth of the flavors in this soup. Wow. Some more wine. Now I've been advised by the owner of this restaurant Carlos to leave the soup here and when the meat comes out put parts of the meat in the soup. That's the way to eat this dish so here's the meat now. Muchas gracias and I reckon we'll take his advice but I'm going to show you exactly what I've got here now because this is a meal fit for a king or queen. The size, the amount of food that I've got here is unbelievable. So the typical ingredients of the Cocido Madrileño which have been slow cooking for a long long time to create this broth that we have over here. So what do we got? We've got potato, we've got cabbage which has some type of paprika mixed in with it as well I think. We've got carrot, we've got chorizo, we've got black sausage, we've got chicken, we've got beef and we've got pork in the form of pancetta and the idea as I said is to mix these ingredients in with the soup and apparently that is going to be a delight to eat. Now I'm not sure how I'm going to deal with this to be honest. I think I'm going to put that over here. I'm going to follow the recommendations of the owner Carlos and I'm going to put some of the chickpeas in with the soup. I'm going to put this chicken in here as well if I can. I'm going to put a little bit of the black sausage or black pudding in there too. The chorizo. I'm going to put the carrot in. Some of this potato as well. There we go and some of this cabbage which has been flavoured with smoky or smoked paprika. Now this I reckon is the meal that I have been waiting for and as I mentioned this is a food that a lot of people that visit this country will never try in their life and it's a shame because they should because I can't tell you how good this meal looks and how good this meal is going to taste. Let's try some of this combined. Wow So exactly what I thought. The cabbage has been flavoured with smoked paprika and it is flavoursome. The meat is so tender. Look how tender the chicken is. It just breaks away. Can you get a look at that? Amazing. Let's try some of this chicken because I'm a huge chicken fan and that just melts in your mouth. There's no other way to describe it. The carrot. Look how soft the carrot is. Look how easy my fork goes through that carrot. Again the potato perfectly cooked. In fact this carrot is not going to last on the plate long. If I told you that it just literally melted into my mouth would you believe me? Well it did and the chickpeas are also perfectly cooked and what I have on my spoon currently is an absolute treat. Now let's try the chorizo or chorizo also very well cooked. That's absolutely bursting with flavours. Amazing. The combination of all of these different things which as I said have been simmering away in a pot for literally hours. When they finally get to your plate this is one of the most unbelievable meals that you can have in this country at this time of year. Now what I didn't try is the pancetta or pancetta. Let's try this. I'm just going to try and find the meaty part if I can. I don't really want the fat so I'll put that back there. Just have the the meaty apart. Let's try it with a bit of the broth some of the chickpeas and a bit of this carrot. Again just melts away in your mouth. Wow. I'm just going to get a bit more of this blood sausage or black pudding whatever you want to call it. Now I know this is not everyone's cup of tea but here in the center of Spain especially in the Castillas which is basically where we are. This comes in a lot of dishes and to be honest I absolutely love it. I highly recommend you try it even though it might not look all that appetizing. The flavors, wow amazing and basically cocido madrileño or any of the cocidos here in Spain or basically any of the slow cooked meals here in Spain are not just meals they're experiences that need to be shared with friends and family and that's what other people here are doing. They're sitting down after a morning of work with their friends with their colleagues with their family and they're tucking into a nice meal like this a comfort meal like cocido madrileño and when you combine it with this wine this Ribera del Duero red wine from the north of Spain the combination is unbelievable. Now I'm just going to have a little bit more. I don't want to eat too much of this today because I've still got dessert to come. This is included in the menu del dia. I'll tell you the price at the end of the meal but what I've had and also the dessert that's coming up and this glass of wine you're going to be surprised with the price I'll tell you that. So let me finish this off and I'll order some dessert. Now that's me done. I've still got a fair bit left on the plate here which is going to be takeaway. Take that home for the family to eat. I think my partner's at home fairly hungry at the moment so she can knock that off and I'm going to wait for dessert. Not sure what's on the dessert menu and also the wine so let's wait for dessert. Now dessert has arrived and I know what you're thinking how are you going to fit that in Stuart after eating the cocido? Well it's going to be a struggle but I'm going to try because this dessert looks too good to refuse. It is a flan a cheese flan and according to the owner it is outstanding and made on the premises. So let's try this again a dessert that melts in your mouth. It's smooth it's creamy it's got just enough sugar it's not too sweet it's perfect and the perfect finish to the meal today and I'm going to be honest it's not going to be on the plate for long I'll give you the tip. So let's wait for the bill and my final thoughts. Okay so the bill has arrived how much do you think I paid for this feast today? Well the total price is 12 euros there's no breakdown because everything's included the soup the main course the meat the vegetables the chickpeas included and also the glass of wine and the dessert 12 euros believe it or not. So what makes the dish that I had today the cocido madaleno so special? Well basically it's the ultimate comfort food the ultimate winter food here in Spain. It's a dish that combines simple ingredients the vegetables and the meats and they're cooked slowly and that creates an unforgettable dining experience. So would you try cocido madaleno the next time that you come to Spain or if you have tried cocido madaleno let me know what you thought of it in the comment section below. Give the video a thumbs up if you liked it thumbs down if you didn't I'll see you on the next one. Buen provecho from the outskirts of Madrid