← Back to Recipes
Christopher Columbus 15th Century lunch easy

Columbus's Habas con Tocino (Broad Beans and Bacon)

Simple ship's galley pot - broad beans with bacon, bay, and vinegar for warmth and calories at sea

Columbus's Habas con Tocino (Broad Beans and Bacon)
Prep: 15 min
Cook: 90 min
Serves: 6-8
#spanish #beans #bacon #ship-food #galley #seafaring #habas

Calories-Per-Cauldron Logic

Lunch is a simple pot of broad beans and bacon—the logic of the galley is calories-per-cauldron: beans or peas for bulk, pork fat for energy, bay and pepper for aroma, and a dash of vinegar at the end to wake it up. Salt pork would have been used on Columbus’s ships, but unsmoked bacon makes an excellent substitute.

The Wine Ration

A wine ration was standard in Spanish fleets (the cultural contrast is famous: Spaniards with wine and olive oil; English with beer and herrings). For long crossings, wine was measured out daily, sometimes approaching three-quarters of a litre per man.

Wine has been made in Rioja since antiquity, but in 1492 you’d be drinking rustic local table wine, not today’s long-aged Rioja. Because ports in Andalusia stocked so many expeditions, a lot of shipboard wine would have been local—austere table wine in a wooden cask is the historically safe picture.

Instructions

Prepare the Beans

  1. Soak overnight: Place dried broad beans in a large bowl, cover with plenty of water, and soak for 8-12 hours. Drain before cooking.

Cook the Pot

  1. Render the bacon: In a large, heavy pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add diced bacon and cook until the fat renders and the bacon starts to crisp, about 8-10 minutes.

  2. Add aromatics: Add chopped onion to the bacon fat and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in minced garlic and cook for another minute until fragrant.

  3. Build the base: Add the drained beans, bay leaves, black pepper, and water or stock. Bring to a boil.

  4. Long simmer: Reduce heat to low, cover partially, and simmer for 1-1.5 hours until beans are completely tender. Stir occasionally and add more water if needed to keep beans submerged.

  5. Season: Taste and add salt as needed (remember the bacon adds salt).

  6. Finish with vinegar: Remove from heat and stir in red wine vinegar. This brightens the dish and balances the richness.

Serve

  1. Ladle into bowls: Serve hot in deep bowls with ship’s biscuit or bread for dunking.

  2. Pour the wine: Serve with a cup of red wine—rough, honest, and exactly what you want if your mattress is a coil of rope.

Chef’s Notes

The pot is salty, beany, warming; the wine is rough, honest, and exactly what you want if your mattress is a coil of rope.

This is galley food at its most practical—cheap ingredients that store well, cook in one pot, feed many mouths, and provide the calories and warmth needed for hard labor at sea. The vinegar at the end is crucial; it transforms what could be dull and heavy into something that actually tastes alive.

Historical Context: For long crossings, victual lists show bizcocho, salt meat, bacalao, rice, habas/garbanzos, oil, vinegar, dried fruit—and wine. This combination of beans and preserved pork was a staple that could be prepared in the challenging conditions of a ship’s galley.