Asturian Black Pudding

Morcilla Asturiana is blood, onion and fat, smoked dark inside its skin. Don't be put off by that colour — cut one open and you'll find pieces of fat and onion through a dark crumb; that's just how it's made.

Choose it by nose and by feel. Press the skin — it should give slightly but stay firm, not squashy, not dry and shrunken. Smell it: woodsmoke, not a damp, sour smell from the back of the fridge. The skin itself should be unbroken, no cracks weeping fat.

Some people say morcilla is just filler, something to stretch fabada cheaply. No! Taste the broth after it's simmered with the beans a while and you'll know better — it carries real smoke and real depth into the pot. Treat it as an afterthought and you'll drop it in at the end for a few minutes, like a garnish, and the stew will taste thin. Put it in whole, early, with the beans, and let it simmer gently alongside everything else. Only then does the broth taste the way fabada is supposed to taste.