Two ways to a sancocho cream: from a packet of soup mix with potato, or by blending leftover sancocho with its own broth. Fifteen minutes either way.
The second method is the real one
This page gives two routes and they are not equal.
The first uses a packet of soup mix, water and some potato. It works, it takes fifteen minutes and there is nothing wrong with it.
The second is why the dish exists. Sancocho is a Sunday pot that always leaves something over, and blended with its own broth it becomes a completely different soup on Monday: thick, golden, tasting of everything that went into the original.
Take out the bones and any meat first, which the instruction says. Bones do not blend and meat turns stringy and unpleasant in a blender.
Cold water for the packet
Powdered soup mixes are starch, and starch dropped into hot water gelatinises where it lands and forms lumps with dry powder inside them.
A cup of cold water, whisked until smooth, and then that goes into the pot of hot water. The result is smooth and it takes ten seconds longer.
Four cups of water in total: three hot in the pot and one cold for the packet. The ingredient list said four and the method said three, and this is where those two numbers meet.
Keep stirring
The fourth step is a single line and it is the difference between a good soup and a burnt one.
Anything thickened with starch, whether from a packet or from blended sancocho, sinks and settles on the bottom of the pot. Once it has caught, the burnt taste is through the whole thing and there is no way back.
Stir with something that reaches the bottom corners.
Adjusting it
The traditional version is as thick as the sancocho it came from, which varies enormously. If it comes out too heavy, more broth from the same pot is the right thing to add, not water.
The packet version thickens as the potatoes cook and again as it cools, so aim slightly looser than you want it.
More sancocho
- Sancocho de pescado — the fish one.
- Beef sancocho — with ribs.
- Chicken sancocho — the most common one.
- Sancocho for breakfast — the other way to use it up.
Sancocho Cream FAQ
Blending leftover sancocho with its own broth. Take out the bones and any meat first, blend for a minute, and loosen it with more broth if it is too thick. It is the better of the two methods and the reason this page exists.
Because powdered soup mixes lump instantly in hot water and the lumps never break up. A cup of cold water first, then into the hot pot.
Four cups: three heated in the pot and one cold to dissolve the packet. The instructions used to say three while the list said four, which is where the confusion came from.
No. The old instruction said slow cooker and it was a mistranslation of olla, which is just a pot. This soup takes fifteen minutes.
No. The packet has all the seasoning in it, which the second step says explicitly. Taste at the end if you want, but it is usually salty enough.
Anything thickened with starch settles and scorches on the bottom of the pot, and a scorched taste goes through the whole soup.
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
Quick Sancocho Cream Soup
- 1 packet of La Sopera or Maggi soup mix
- 4 cups water (three hot in the pot, one cold to dissolve the packet)
- 1 cup potatoes (chopped into small cubes, optional)
Traditional Sancocho Cream Soup
- 3 cups traditional sancocho with its broth
Notas
Instructions
Quick Sancocho Cream Soup
- Put three cups of water in a pot over medium heat.
- Dissolve the packet of La Sopera or Maggi in the remaining cup of cold water, then add it to the pot of hot water. There is no need for any other seasoning, not even salt: the packet has it all.
- Add the chopped potatoes and carry on cooking for another 15 minutes, until they are soft.
- Stir constantly so the cream does not stick to the bottom of the pot.
Traditional Sancocho Cream Soup
- Put the sancocho in the blender, without any meat or chicken bones, and blend for a minute or until it has the texture you want.
- If the cream is too thick, loosen it with more sancocho broth.
Comments
No Comments