Since this was my first night in Asturias, I was pretty nervous to live in a new country and town. Everything about the environment was new, but the warm nature of these dishes was extremely comforting. I knew as soon as I saw the fabada, it would become a favorite dish of mine. My friend handed me a spoon, and we dug in. I immediately loved the fabes de la Granja (beans). By looking at them, I was reminded of baked beans I eat back home for barbeques, but when I tasted them, they were unlike anything I had ever tried before. The beans were larger, softer and were soaked with flavor from the meat broth. The hot dish warmed us up perfectly on that cold evening. We saved the restaurant location on our phone so we could come back for more, and spoke to some locals who recommended other restaurants in the area that serve it. The cachopo came out to the table next, and made me feel a similar way- warm and excited. The outside was crispy like other fried dishes I have tried before, but the flavor of the meat and cheese was entirely unique. The cachopo was paired with pedrino peppers, which are local to Spain. I expected them to be spicy like jalepeños, but instead they tasted mild and smoky.
To make fabada, the beans first need to be soaked overnight to soften them. Then they are simmered together with the three different meats- chorizo (spiced sausage), morcilla (spiced blood sausage), and lacón (dry-cured ham) for a long period of time. Cachopo is prepared by carefully layering the different components in bread before frying it.
