COPPERWhat is the national dish of Andorra?
Andorra has no official national dish, but the one most often cited is escudella i carn d'olla: a slow-simmered pot of beef, chicken, sausage, chickpeas and winter vegetables built around the pilota, one large garlic-and-parsley meatball. The broth is eaten first with pasta, then the meats on a platter. The dish is Catalan, shared with the valleys on the Spanish side of the border.
Does Andorra really have its own national dish?
Not an official one, and it is better to say so plainly. Andorra's kitchen is essentially Catalan. Its closest relatives are the cooking of Cerdanya and Alt Urgell, the Catalan valleys just over the border, with some French and Italian habits added, such as sauces with meat and fish and the use of pasta.
When lists name a single Andorran national dish, it is escudella i carn d'olla. The Andorran government's own list of typical dishes for Andorra la Vella includes escudella, alongside trinxat and trout cooked the Andorran way, which it calls the best known and most prized of all. So escudella is the most cited answer, not the only possible one.
What is in escudella i carn d'olla?
Escudella means "bowl" in Catalan, and carn d'olla means "meat from the pot". The name describes the two halves of one dish. What makes it escudella and not just a boiled dinner is the pilota: a single oversized meatball of ground pork, egg, garlic and parsley, poached in the broth and sliced at the table.
Our escudella i carn d'olla recipe uses:
- beef shank and chicken, cooked on the bone for the broth
- botifarra, the Catalan pork sausage
- chickpeas, soaked overnight
- potatoes, carrots and cabbage
- the pilota: ground pork, egg, garlic and parsley
- galets, large snail-shaped pasta shells cooked in the strained broth
How escudella is made and served
The meats go into cold water, are brought to the boil and skimmed, then simmered about 1 hour 30. Chickpeas and vegetables follow for another 45 minutes. The pilota and the botifarra go in last, for 30 minutes at a bare tremble: any harder and the big meatball falls apart.
The broth is then strained and the galets are cooked in it for 10 to 12 minutes. That soup is the first course. The carn d'olla comes second: meats, sausage, sliced pilota and vegetables on a platter. When everything is served mixed in one bowl, it is called escudella barrejada or escudella de pagès, the form named on the Andorran government's list.
In Catalonia the version with galets is the traditional first course of Christmas lunch, and it is a winter dish on both sides of the border.
Where escudella comes from
Escudella is old. The 14th-century Catalan writer Francesc Eiximenis already described it as something Catalans ate every day. It belongs to Catalonia and Valencia as much as to Andorra, and Andorra's claim rests on its Catalan language and culture, not on a separate recipe.
The same is true of Spain's wider food map, where stews of chickpeas, meats and sausage exist in many regional versions. For Spain's own answer, see our article on the national dish of Spain.
The other candidates: what Andorrans call typical
Because there is no law or decree naming a national dish, it helps to know what Andorra itself puts forward. The government's list of typical dishes for the parish of Andorra la Vella reads like a short tour of mountain cooking, with game, preserved duck and forest produce:
- truita de riu a l'andorrana, river trout cooked the Andorran way, which the list calls the best known and most prized
- all-i-oli de codony, garlic sauce made with quince
- duck with winter pear
- roast kid with a picada of nuts
- civet of wild boar
- escarole with confit duck gizzards and mushrooms
- spinach with raisins and pine nuts
- morels stuffed with pork
- escudella de pagès, the mixed form of escudella
Other dishes to know from Andorra
Trinxat is the dish most tied to the high valleys: winter cabbage and potato boiled together, chopped and mashed in the pan with garlic, pressed into a cake and fried until crusted, then topped with crisp cured pork belly. Its name means "chopped", and it is eaten in Andorra, Cerdanya and Alt Urgell. It is sometimes served with salt herring, or simply with bread. The one rule in our recipe: drain the vegetables and let them steam dry, because leftover water ruins the crust.
Canelons are the 26 December dish: the Christmas roast, minced fine with chicken liver, rolled in pasta and baked under bechamel, with no tomato sauce at all. The meat is roasted for 1 hour 30 with onion, then minced twice and bound with a little bechamel so the filling holds in the roll.
You will find all three, with full methods, on our page about the food of Andorra. For the wider family of kitchens around it, see our guide to Western European food.
The recipes
- Escudella i carn d'olla🇦🇩 Andorra · 15 hours and 20 minutes
Trinxat🇦🇩 Andorra · 55 minutes
Canelons🇦🇩 Andorra · 2 hours and 45 minutes
Questions people ask
Is escudella from Andorra or Catalonia?
It is a Catalan dish, eaten in Catalonia and Valencia as well as Andorra. Andorra shares it because its culture and language are Catalan; it is not a separate Andorran invention.
Does Andorra have an official national dish?
No. Escudella i carn d'olla is the dish most often named, while trinxat and Andorran-style river trout are also presented as signature dishes.
What is the pilota in escudella?
The pilota is one large meatball of ground pork, egg, garlic and parsley, poached in the broth and sliced to serve with the other meats.
What is trinxat?
Trinxat is cabbage and potato boiled, mashed together in the pan and fried into a cake, topped with crisp cured pork. It comes from Andorra and the neighbouring Catalan Pyrenees.
How do you pronounce escudella?
Roughly "es-koo-DEH-lyuh", with the stress on the third syllable.
Keep reading
- Traditional food of Andorra: 13 dishes to know
- What is the national dish of Austria?
- What is the national dish of Belgium?
- What is the national dish of Cyprus?
- What is the national dish of France?
- What is the national dish of Germany?