Caldo Puch

Caldo Puch is a family heirloom recipe from Barcelona prepared like arrozcaldo but instead of beef or chicken its main ingredients are pork, chicken breast, squid, shrimp, clams, green peas and crisped bacon in a tomato-based sauce.

You may not have heard of this dish but if you are related, a friend or know the Aboitiz family from Cebu then you might have encountered this dish, the Caldo Puch. This dish is a family heirloom recipe of the Aboitizes, a recipe that came from Barcelona and was handed down from generations to generations. I came across this dish not through the family but through my constant search for unknown and no so popular Filipino recipes, I saw this first at the Glossary of Filipino Food blog with a short description that urged me to search for the recipe. Luckily this time it was not hard as I saw this video in YouTube where it showed the whole preparation from start to finish.

The name came from a popular surname in Barcelona, Puch which may be a close relative to the Aboitiz ancestor. Basically, this dish is similar to lugaw, goto and arrozcaldo where it is prepared like a savoury rice porridge but can be easily identified due to its red orange colour due to the tomato sauce used. Apart from that it also uses tons of seafood like squid, shrimp and clams alongside other proteins like pork, chicken breast and bacon. It just comes to show that this dish comes from an affluent origin as the ingredients are quite extravagant as compared to the usual Filipino ingredients.

It’s one of the best tasting rice porridge you will ever try, the rich clam stock, tomatoes and chicken stock gives it nice flavours you can’t get with other porridges, it tastes like the ocean, with a bit of sweetness and tang from the tomatoes and savouriness from the chicken.

Caldo Puch

★★★★★ 5 from 1 review

• Author: Raymund
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 50 mins
• Total Time: 1 hour 10 mins
• Yield: 6 1x
• Category: Main Course
• Cuisine: Filipino

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Description

Caldo Puch is a family heirloom recipe from Barcelona prepared like arrozcaldo but instead of beef or chicken its main ingredients are pork, chicken breast, squid, shrimp, clams, green peas and crisped bacon in a tomato-based sauce.

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 500 ml clam stock
• 500 ml chicken stock
• 400 g can chopped tomatoes
• 1 cup rice
• 1 kg clams
• 1 cup pork belly, sliced
• 1/2 cup cooked flaked chicken breast
• 1/2 cup squid
• 1/2 cup prawns
• 6 strips streaky bacon, sliced
• 1/2 cup green peas
• 1 white onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• salt

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Instructions

1. In a large pot boil clam stock and chicken stock together, add clams and cook until all shells open. Remove from heat, using a muslin cloth separate clams and the stock. Note: you must use muslin so it will also filter out grains of sand from the clams.
2. Once clam cools off, separate meat from shells, set it aside. You might need to leave a few still on the shell for garnishing.
3. In another pot, heat olive oil then add bacon, cook in low heat until bacon is crispy, remove from pot then set it aside.
4. In the same pot, add garlic and onions then sauté until fragrant.
5. Add pork belly, bring heat to high then lightly brown pork pieces on all sides.
6. Pour the reserved liquid, add rice and chopped tomatoes, bring to a boil then simmer in low heat for 30 minutes, occasionally stirring to prevent bottom from sticking.
7. Add the clam meat, chicken breast, squid, prawns and green peas, simmer for 5 more minutes.
8. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper then served topped with crispy bacon.

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