Chilean cazuela de vacuno — clear beef broth with potato, pumpkin and corn

The best is a bone-in cut with plenty of collagen that stands a long simmer without drying out: shank (osobuco, cross-cut leg with the bone in the middle), short rib or brisket. The bone gives the broth body and gelatine, and the meat turns tender without falling apart. Avoid lean cuts like rump or loin: they go stringy and dry, and the broth comes out bland. Count 250-300 g per person, bone included.

Three causes: not skimming the broth at the first boil, boiling hard instead of simmering, and peeled pumpkin that dissolves. The fix is built into the recipe: brown the meat, skim as soon as it boils, keep the heat at minimum with the water trembling, and leave the skin on the pumpkin. If it still came out cloudy, strain it through a fine sieve before serving; the flavour is the same.

The structure is identical: clear broth, potato, pumpkin, corn, rice and green beans. What changes is the protein and the time: the beef version uses bone-in beef and needs 45 minutes of simmering before the vegetables; the chicken version (cazuela de ave) uses chicken pieces on the bone and 20-25 minutes is enough. Some homes put angel-hair noodles in the chicken one instead of rice. Both are eaten all year, but the beef cazuela is the dish of 19 September, made with what is left from the barbecue.

Yes, and it cuts the time a lot: brown the meat and soften the onion in the open cooker, add the water, close and cook for 25 minutes from full pressure. Release the pressure, add the potatoes, pumpkin, corn and carrot and cook 8 minutes more under pressure. Finish uncovered over low heat with the rice and green beans for 12-15 minutes. The broth ends up slightly less clear than in a normal pot because you cannot skim under pressure.

Covered in the fridge it keeps 3 days, and the next day it is even better. To freeze, separate the broth and meat from the vegetables: broth and meat freeze for up to 3 months without trouble, but frozen potato and rice turn mealy and the pumpkin collapses. The practical way is to freeze the broth with the meat and add fresh vegetables when reheating, which takes 25 minutes.

Every region and family has its version: in the south a piece of bell pepper and sometimes cabbage; in the north, chuchoca (toasted cornmeal) instead of rice, which thickens the broth slightly; many homes add a piece of courgette or a few chard leaves in the last minutes. What defines a cazuela and does not change is the trio of potato, pumpkin and corn in large pieces, served whole in the bowl.