Andean hominy stew with white corn, white beans, pumpkin, beef, pork belly and chorizo, slow-cooked into a thick warming bowl and topped with a paprika-and-scallion oil (quiquirimichi).

Locro predates Argentina; Quechua-Aymara cultures cooked maize-based stews across the Andes for centuries. Spanish colonisation added pork and beef. The Buenos Aires version is eaten on national-feast days (25 May Revolution, 9 July Independence, 17 August San Martin) and at the Sunday Mataderos fair in winter.

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Make it at home

Serves 85 hrIntermediate

Ingredients

  • 500g white hominy corn (mote), soaked overnight
  • 300g white beans, soaked overnight
  • 500g beef shin or osso buco, cubed
  • 400g pork belly, cubed
  • 2 chorizo sausages, sliced
  • 1 piece bacon (panceta), 200g, cubed
  • 500g pumpkin or butternut squash, cubed
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 2 leeks, sliced
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 tablespoon ground cumin
  • 1 tablespoon sweet paprika
  • 3 litres water or stock
  • Salt and pepper
  • For the quiquirimichi: 4 spring onions, sliced; 2 tablespoons sweet paprika; 100ml olive oil; chili flakes

Method

  1. Drain the soaked hominy and beans. Place in a large pot with 3 litres water and bring to a boil. Simmer 1 hour.
  2. Meanwhile, in a separate pan brown the beef, pork belly, panceta and chorizo in batches. Add to the hominy pot.
  3. In the same pan cook the onion, leeks and garlic until soft. Stir in cumin and paprika. Tip into the pot.
  4. Add pumpkin. Simmer gently 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally, until the stew is creamy and the meat melts.
  5. Adjust salt and pepper. The locro should be thick enough that a spoon stands in it.
  6. Make the quiquirimichi: heat olive oil, take off heat, stir in paprika, chili and spring onions. Spoon over each bowl at the table.

Editor tip. Locro improves the next day. Cook a big pot, eat half, eat the rest 24 hours later thicker and deeper.