John Dipalo's Recipe

Venezuelan Sancocho (Broth)

Category: Recipes

Preparation time: 20 to 30 minutes
Cooking time: 60 minutes
Difficulty: 2/5
Serves: 12

2 pounds large veal or beef shanks, with bone (about 4)
3 potatoes, large
2 carrots, large
1 sprig cilantro
1 scallion top, whole
1 tomato, cut into eighths
1 onion, small, whole, and cut in half
3 garlic cloves, minced
6 corn cobs, cut into 1 to 2-inch thick slice
12 ounces pumpkin, diced large
12 ounces celeriac
12 ounces yucca root
1 sliced red and/or green bell pepper, cut in half
1/2 head green cabbage, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons rice (optional)
2 tablespoons pasta (optional)
1 whole raw egg (optional)
2 green plantains, cut each into 3 pieces (optional)
1-1/2 teaspoons salt, or to taste
3 liters water, or the necessary amount

Now here is a real exotic plate of soup for you and the family, that makes up an entire meal. Have a plate of this for lunch, but I recommend you do so on a sunday, so you can spend all the day in bed. This is a typical Venezuelan dish, and if you're an OSSO BUCCO lover, you will really like this, since these famous veal shanks are one of the main ingredients! If you want, use spare ribs! If you like hot dishes, add all the peppers to your personal taste! Cooking is a wonderful art. That means recipes are guides, and this particular menu is very flexible. You can add or remove ingredients, and vary subjectively all the proportions at your whim, taste, and judgement.


Prepare the vegetable first by seeding, pealing, and finally dicing. Clean and cut the corn cobbs. Take the outer skins off of the potatoes, pumpkin, celeriac, and yucca. Peel and slice the plantains. Make sure all is dice into 1-1/2 inch squares. Wash everything and place all vegetables in a pan and fill with water.

In a large 5 quart pan, start to cook the 4 beef shanks.

Add the seasoning: garlic, bell pepper, onion, tomato, cilantro, scallion, and salt.

Add the hard vegetables: the carrots, corn cobbs, and yucca. Keep the water level well above the veggies.

Cover, put the heat to max. and boil. Set to low and simmer for 1/2 hour.

By this time, the vegetables should start to soften or cook; add the rest of the (soft) vegetables, such as the potatoes, and at this stage, add also the rice, pasta, the cabbage, and the egg (if you want to, because some of these ingredientes are optonal) the cleriac, plantains, and the pumpkin, last.

Cover and simmer for another 20 minutes until all vegetables soften and cook. Don't overcook because some of the vegetables will dissolve and their taste will be lost. Add more water and salt as you go throught the entire process so the pan will not dry and the level is always kept above the vegetables.

TO SERVE: Put the broth in a separate serving dish.

Fill 1/2 of the individual soup plates with the broth. Cut the meat into large pieces and divide amongst the plates. Now add equal assorted vegetable portions to each plate or according to each one's preferneces.

Some people like their soup in one plate and the veggies in another one.