Cocido con Pelotas Murciano

Cocido con pelotas is Murcian and Vega Baja Christmas cooking: a chickpea cocido where the pelota, the big seasoned meatball, is the reason the pot exists. Hen or turkey gives the broth body, pork bones give it salt and depth, but the pelota makes it this dish and not its neighbours'. It is meat, bread, egg, pine nuts, garlic, parsley, and hierbabuena, mint, mixed big and tender enough to sit in the spoon without turning to rubber.

The method that decides it is how you handle the pelotas. Soak the bread, squeeze it soft, mix only until the meat holds together, then poach them at a bare tremble in the broth. A rolling boil breaks them; hard kneading makes them tight. The broth should move lazily around them. That is all the cleverness this dish needs.

If you can't find blanco murciano or longaniza blanca where you are, use a mild fresh pork sausage with no smoke and no fennel. It won't have the same Murcian sweetness, but it gives the fat and seasoning the pelota needs. Good dried chickpeas matter too; old ones never soften properly, however kindly you speak to them. Soak them the night before and add them to the broth once it is hot.

Serve the broth first with a few fideos if your table likes the old order, then the chickpeas, meats, vegetables, and pelotas. Or put it all in deep bowls and don't make a ceremony of it. Pésalo, no lo adivines, and siempre sale, si lo sigues.