Ecco serving Madrid’s most famous dish
November 12th, 2008 by Cliff Bostock in RestaurantsI’m not sure how I missed this, but Ecco is now serving cocido on Tuesday nights. Cost is $24 with a glass of wine and, if you dine 6-8:30 p.m., you’ll also get an earful of live Spanish guitar music.
“Cocido” means “stew” and I’m not clear exactly which regional variety Ecco is offering. I’ve eaten the most famous version, Cocido Madrileño, three or four times in Madrid — but always for lunch around 2 p.m., so I could run back to my hotel room and nap for an hour or two. I have never managed to finish the entire serving. (And that’s something for someone who once prompted a server at the old Green Shutters in Clayton to say at the end of my meal, “I’ve never seen anyone eat all of it before.”)
In Madrid, the dish is usually served in two or three courses. The first course is the “caldo,” the soup, which is the broth in which the meats have been cooked. Next are the vegetables, principally chick peas, followed by the meats — chicken, chorizo, morcilla (blood sausage), ham and beef. I prefer the vegetables and meats served together.
I also ate the dish in Sevilla once. It was, as I recall, topped with scrambled eggs.
Unfortunately, Tuesday is the one night of the week dining out is just about impossible for me, so I’m unlikely to get to sample Ecco’s version. I’d like to hear reports, though.
November 14th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
[...] I mentioned earlier this week that Ecco is offering cocido on Tuesday nights and I wondered if it was the famously delicious Madrid variety. I received this email from Sous Chef Scott Keefer: Ours is indeed a Cocido Madrileño and features house-cured brisket, house-made chorizo, cured pork belly and Spanish morcilla, along with chickpeas, savoy cabbage, potato, carrot and the traditional pickles and pickled giundilla chilies. To make it easier, we serve the caldo at the same time as the meats and veggies, which are on the same plate. So far the response has been great. [...]