Ajiaco

Name: Ajiaco
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Colombian
Ingredients: 2 lbs chicken (bone-in), poached and shredded; 3 kinds of potato if you can — including small waxy ones that dissolve to thicken it; 2 ears corn, cut into rounds; A big handful of guascas (the traditional herb), or substitute a little oregano; heavy cream; capers; sliced avocado; rice

Serve when

Serve it at the big family table, everyone spooning in their own cream, capers, and avocado — the meal the Madrigals gather around on the night everything starts to change.

In the movie

Theatrical

00:31:55 When the whole Madrigal family sits down together before Isabela's proposal dinner, ajiaco — the Bogotá chicken-and-potato soup — is on the table, the dish a big Colombian family actually gathers around.

Ajiaco is a gathering dish — the thing a big Colombian family cooks when everyone's under one roof — which is exactly why it belongs on the Madrigals' table on a night the family is trying, and straining, to stay whole. The film knows that the meal everyone shows up for is where a family's cracks and its love both show.

Ingredients

2 lbs chicken (bone-in), poached and shredded
3 kinds of potato if you can — including small waxy ones that dissolve to thicken it
2 ears corn, cut into rounds
A big handful of guascas (the traditional herb), or substitute a little oregano
To serve:
heavy cream
capers
sliced avocado
rice

Method

Simmer the chicken with onion and garlic until the meat is cooked through and the broth turns golden and rich, about 45 minutes, then shred the meat.
Return the broth to the pot with the potatoes and corn. Cook until the small potatoes break down and thicken the soup while the others hold their shape, 30–40 minutes.
Stir in the guascas and the shredded chicken; season well.
Ladle into bowls and let everyone finish their own with a swirl of cream, a spoon of capers, avocado, and rice on the side.

Substitutions

Guascas: this Colombian herb is what makes ajiaco taste like ajiaco. Look for dried guascas at a Latin market or online — a little goes a long way. With none at all, a small pinch of oregano plus a bay leaf gives a faint echo, but it's an approximation, not a match.