Spanish bean stew (Fabada asturiana)
Ingredients for 4 servings: 500 gr of Asturian white beans (fabes de la
Ganja), soaked in water the night before; 2 Asturian chorizos; 2 Asturian blood
sausages (black pudding); 100 g of shoulder of pork (a salted presentation of
this piece of pork meat that is soaked in water to desalt it and which can be
replaced by 1-inch slice of bacon it) 100 g of cured de tocino (replaced by
100 g of bacon), 1 onion, 2 garlic cloves, some parsley, and salt
Preparation: The first step is to have the beans soaked in cold water for
at least 12 hours. They first become wrinkled but rehydrate again in no
time. Also soak the meats in another bowl, but in lukewarm water. Next day
place the meats first and the beans in a pot using the same soaking water;
add the onion, the parsley, and the garlic cloves. Put the pot on a medium-tohigh heat, and start to skim off the fat bubbles resulting from the boiling
process. From time to time, add some cold water (not in excess) to cut the
boiling process. This is called "frightening the beans" (asustar las fabes); it
stabilizes the stew, or so they say. Next, lower the heat to a minimum level
until it gets to a boiling point again and keep this rhythm of boiling for 3 hours,
while checking that the beans get soft. Add the salt only at the conclusion of
the recipe, never at the beginning as the meats used were salted; if the broth
is too liquid, mash some beans in a mortar and add them to the broth.

This dish and the Fabada Asturiana are indeed hyper-caloric, and their content of fats is also high. This type of recipes were designed to feed people with the ingredients that
were at the disposal of peasants and rural people. All the meats used come from pork preparations as these animal were easy to rear and could be fed with the leftovers
coming from the domestic use. They provide a lot of energy and are not very healthy with regard to the present parameters of our modern and sedentary life-style. However,
beans are excellent as an anti-aging food, and are known to be a good source of proteins.
The following link will add more info about beans: