Chef Isabel
Aguaillo de la Sierra de Cadiz
Aguaillo is from the Sierra de Cadiz: cold water, stale bread, garlic, oil and vinegar, closer to a field drink than a bowl of soup, and sharp enough to wake you in the heat.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Fabes con Perdiz
Created by
Asturias gives this spoon stew its fat fabes and autumn partridge: a slow sofrito, a cold start for the beans, and a bare tremble until bird and broth taste of the same pot.
Soups & Stews
Spanish
Comfort Food
Special Occasion
Make Ahead
30 min
Active Time
3 hr 15 min cook•15 hr 45 min total
Yield4 to 6 servings
Fabes con Perdiz is Asturian, a hunter's cocina de cuchara, spoon food, where fabes de la granja take the deep taste of partridge instead of the cured compango of a fabada. Esto es de Asturias, no de "España" a secas. The beans stay the center: large, pale, creamy, and whole, carrying the bird's dark broth without turning into paste.
The method that decides it is the pace. Brown the partridge enough to give the pot a roasted edge, then cook the onion, leek, and carrot low until the sofrito, the slow vegetable base, is dark gold and sweet. After that the soaked beans start in cold water and never rise past a bare tremble. Boil them hard and you break the skins; rush the sofrito and the game tastes separate, sitting on top of the beans instead of inside the broth.
If you can't find perdiz roja where you live, use a small pheasant or four quail. Pheasant is close in character but larger, so cut it into serving pieces; quail is milder and cooks faster, so add it only for the last half hour. No hace falta haber pisado España. You do need good dried beans, a real soak, and patience.
My Margin for this one is short: don't stir with a spoon once the beans are tender. Move the pot by its handles and let it rest before serving. Siempre sale, si lo sigues, it turns out if you follow it.
Fabes con perdiz belongs to the inland Asturian hunting table, especially the central valleys and mountain foothills where bean pots met caza menor, small game. When there was partridge from the autumn shoot, the bird could replace the compango of a fabada and give the beans a darker, leaner broth. The dish shows another side of Asturian bean cooking: not the matanza pork larder, but game stretched with a bean good enough to carry it.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
dried fabes de la granja or large dried white beans
Quantity
500g
soaked overnight and drained
whole partridges
Quantity
2, 450-600g each
cleaned and patted dry
fine sea salt
Quantity
12g
divided, plus more if needed
extra virgin olive oil
Quantity
60ml
yellow onion
Quantity
250g
finely chopped
leek
Quantity
120g
white and pale green parts finely chopped
carrot
Quantity
120g
finely diced
garlic
Quantity
4 cloves
finely chopped
sweet pimentón de la Vera
Quantity
2g, about 1 teaspoon
dry Asturian sidra natural or dry white wine
Quantity
200ml
bay leaf
Quantity
1 dried
thyme
Quantity
1 small sprig
black peppercorns
Quantity
6
cold water
Quantity
1.7 litres, plus up to 300ml more as needed
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| dried fabes de la granja or large dried white beanssoaked overnight and drained | 500g |
| whole partridgescleaned and patted dry | 2, 450-600g each |
| fine sea saltdivided, plus more if needed | 12g |
| extra virgin olive oil | 60ml |
| yellow onionfinely chopped | 250g |
| leekwhite and pale green parts finely chopped | 120g |
| carrotfinely diced | 120g |
| garlicfinely chopped | 4 cloves |
| sweet pimentón de la Vera | 2g, about 1 teaspoon |
| dry Asturian sidra natural or dry white wine | 200ml |
| bay leaf | 1 dried |
| thyme | 1 small sprig |
| black peppercorns | 6 |
| cold water | 1.7 litres, plus up to 300ml more as needed |
Equipment Needed
- •Large bowl for soaking beans
- •Wide heavy pot or cazuela, 5-6 litres
- •Skimming spoon
- •Tongs and carving knife
Instructions
- 1
Soak the fabes
Put the fabes in a large bowl, cover them with plenty of cold water, at least 8cm above the beans, and leave them 12 hours. Drain them just before cooking. This soak is not decoration; it lets the beans swell evenly so the centers soften before the skins split.
Do not add bicarbonate. It makes old beans seem helpful for ten minutes, then the skins loosen and the stew loses the clean, whole-bean finish it wants. - 2
Brown the partridges
Season the partridges inside and out with 4g of the salt. Warm the olive oil in a wide heavy pot over medium-high heat and brown the birds well on all sides, 8 to 10 minutes in all. Take your time here, but don't burn the oil; you want a roasted edge in the pot, not bitterness. Lift the partridges onto a plate.
Using four quail instead of partridge? Brown them now, but keep them out of the pot until the beans are almost tender. Quail is smaller and dries if asked to cook as long as perdiz. - 3
Build the sofrito
Lower the heat and add the onion, leek, carrot, and 2g of the salt to the same oil. Cook slowly for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring now and then, until the onion is dark gold, sweet, and almost jammy. Add the garlic and cook 3 minutes. Pull the pot off the heat, stir in the pimentón for 20 seconds, then add the sidra or wine and return the pot to the heat. Let it bubble down by half, scraping the browned bits into the sauce. That slow sofrito, the vegetable base, is where the sweetness enters. Rush it and the game tastes separate from the beans.
- 4
Start the beans
Add the drained fabes, bay leaf, thyme, and peppercorns to the pot. Nestle the browned partridges on top, breast side up, and pour in 1.7 litres cold water, enough to cover the beans by about 2cm. Bring everything up slowly over medium-low heat, 25 to 30 minutes, skimming off the grey foam that rises. Start the beans gently and cold; a hard jump into heat cracks them before they have a chance.
- 5
Hold a tremble
Once the pot is moving, lower the heat until the surface barely trembles. Cover it partly and cook 1 hour 15 minutes. Check the partridges: when the legs give easily and the thigh is cooked through, lift the birds out and cover them. Keep the beans at that same bare tremble for another 45 to 75 minutes, until they are creamy inside but still whole. If the liquid drops below the beans, add 100ml cold water down the side of the pot, asustar las fabes, to settle the boil. Do not stir with a spoon. Shake the pot by its handles.
If you use a thermometer, the thickest part of the thigh should reach 74°C before the birds rest. - 6
Finish and rest
Cut each partridge in half for four generous servings, or pull the meat from the bones in large pieces for six. Return the bird to the pot for the last 10 minutes. Add the remaining 6g salt, taste the broth, and correct only if it needs it. Remove the bay and thyme. Take the pot off the heat and let it rest 20 minutes before serving, so the broth thickens around the fabes. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.
Chef Tips
- •Buy fabes de la granja if you can. If not, use judión or a good large cannellini, and know what changes: the broth will still be good, but the bean will be a little less buttery. Old dried beans are the real enemy; buy from a shop with turnover.
- •Perdiz roja, red-legged partridge, is the bird this dish wants. Farmed partridge is milder and reliable, wild partridge tastes deeper and may need a little longer. If you cook wild birds, check carefully for stray shot when carving.
- •No chorizo, no morcilla. Fabada has its compango; fabes con perdiz has the bird. Add cured pork here and it shouts over the partridge, and then you have made another stew.
- •Partridge belongs to autumn and winter. In warmer months, don't force it; Asturias has fabes con almejas, beans with clams, for the lighter side of the same bean.
- •Salt has a number here because beans hide blandness until the end. Use the 12g, then adjust after the rest. Pésalo, no lo adivines, weigh it, don't guess.
- •This is better the next day. Chill it once cool, reheat it gently, and loosen it with a little water if the broth sets too thick. More stock will muddy the flavor you already built.
Advance Preparation
- •Soak the fabes 12 hours ahead in plenty of cold water; drain them only when you are ready to cook.
- •You can brown the partridges and cook the sofrito 1 day ahead. Chill them together, then start the beans cold the next day.
- •The finished stew keeps 3 days in the refrigerator and improves after 1 night. Reheat it slowly over low heat, shaking the pot now and then instead of stirring hard.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 475g)
Calories
540 calories
Total Fat
14 g
Saturated Fat
3 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
11 g
Cholesterol
90 mg
Sodium
870 mg
Total Carbohydrates
61 g
Dietary Fiber
15 g
Sugars
5 g
Protein
45 g
Where cooking meets culture.
Culinary guides, cultural storytelling, and the editorial depth that makes cooking meaningful.
Discover Culinary ExplorerMore from Fabes Asturianas
Browse the full collection
Chef Isabel
Ajilimojili de Jaen
Ajilimojili is Jaen's tomato-free cold soup: potato, roasted red pepper, garlic, olive oil, and vinegar pounded into a cool, silky spoonful.
Chef Isabel
Ajo Carretero de Soria
Ajo carretero is Soriano, from the pine country of Soria: lamb cooked in a plain garlicky broth, then served the old way, meat first and bread-soaked soup after.
Chef Isabel
Ajoblanco Extremeño
Ajoblanco Extremeño is the poor-kitchen cold soup of Extremadura: bread, garlic, oil, egg yolk, vinegar, and icy water, with no almonds. Whisk it slowly and serve it bien fresquito.