Venezuelan Sancocho (Broth)

Prepare the vegetable first by seeding, pealing, and finally dicing. Clean and cut the corn cobs. Take the outer skins off of the potatoes, pumpkin, celeriac, and yucca. Peel and slice the plantains.

Make sure all is diced 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 cobs, and yucca. Keep the water level well above the veggies. Cover, put the heat to the maximum 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, the egg (if you want to, because some of these ingredients are optional), the celeriac, 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 through 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 among the plates. Now add equal assorted vegetable portions to each plate or according to each one's preferences.

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

cook's notes

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 those 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 judgment.