Trinxat: From a Winter Pot to a Golden, Crisp-Edged Round
Drain the boiled vegetables well, and let the garlic and bacon oil carry the flavor into the mash. A cake that holds together and browns on both sides comes from these two steps, not from extra ingredients.
A large winter cabbage goes into a pot of salted water. Once the water boils, chunks of potato follow, and both cook until the potatoes begin to fall apart. Then the vegetables are drained, crushed in the pot, and bound with the oil left from frying sliced garlic and streaky bacon. Finally the mixture is pressed into a flat round in a shallow pan and browned on both sides. The bacon and a few small pieces of desalted pickled herring are served alongside.
This is trinxat as Andorra's official tourism booklet presents it, under the name Trinxat amb rosta. The booklet passes on a local saying: the best cabbage for trinxat is one that has been touched by frost in the field. It describes the dish as a traditional winter dish that is now served all year round.
For a different potato dish shaped in a frying pan, see Spanish tortilla española, which uses eggs rather than the cabbage-and-potato mash here.
This article follows that Andorran recipe only. Trinxat is found more widely in the Pyrenees and Catalan-speaking areas, and other versions are described separately further down so the Andorran amounts stay as written.
The ingredients, amounts and order of steps come from the Andorran booklet. The recipe has not been test-cooked for this article, and the state cues marked as suggestions below are practical guidance, not measured results.
Trinxat in Andorra: A Winter Starter
The Andorra tourism booklet lists trinxat amb rosta as a winter starter. It gives 4 servings and a total time of 45 minutes, and calls it a dish that belongs traditionally to winter but is now served year-round. Alongside the recipe it shares the saying about frost-touched cabbage. The booklet does not name a single place of origin or a date when the dish appeared, so this article does not claim either. The origin of the name is also not settled by these sources.
The English heading in the booklet is Trinxat amb rosta, and the method serves the cake with bacon and herring. It is not only a pork dish, and the herring is part of the Andorran plate as written.
Across the border, a Cerdanya version published by Gastroteca (credited to the Corpus of Catalan Cuisine) is built on winter cabbage, potatoes and bacon. In that version herring is not required; herring, black sausage and garlic appear as variations, and so does the choice of whether to brown it into a round. These are regional differences within the same family of dishes, not corrections to the Andorran recipe.
Ingredients: Andorra's Official Recipe for 4
These are the amounts from the Andorran booklet. It gives no weight for the cabbage, no weight for the bacon, and no measured amounts for oil, water or salt. Those cells say so rather than filling in a number.
The English and Spanish editions of the same booklet differ here: the English ingredient list names water but not oil, even though the method uses oil, while the Spanish list names a splash of oil and does not list water. This article keeps that difference visible instead of merging the two into one measured value. In practice, you need enough water to boil the vegetables and enough oil to fry the garlic and bacon and then brown the cake.
The booklet's 45 minutes is the total time for the whole dish. It is not a time for any single step, and the steps below do not split it up.
Choosing Cabbage, Bacon and Herring Outside Andorra
Cabbage. The booklet asks for a large winter cabbage. A dense winter cabbage from your local market is a reasonable choice, but this is an editorial suggestion, not a substitute named by the booklet, and no weight conversion is offered. The Barcelona Metropolitan recipe by Toni Rocamora also emphasizes using seasonal cabbage.
Bacon. The recipe names streaky bacon rashers, meaning bacon with a good layer of fat. Ordinary streaky or belly bacon is a practical choice because the rendered fat is part of what binds the vegetables. This is a suggestion, not a substitution specified in the booklet.
Herring. The booklet calls for pickled herring that has already been desalted. If you buy pickled or cured herring, read the label to see whether it is ready to eat as is or still needs desalting. Other cured or vinegared fish, such as marinated mackerel, are not the same thing and should not be treated as an equivalent. If you cannot find suitable herring, you can leave it out, but know that this changes the dish: the plate loses its salty, sharp counterpoint and becomes a bacon-centered trinxat, closer to the Cerdanya style described below.
Salt. Salt the boiling water to taste. Because the herring brings its own saltiness to the plate, starting on the light side is a sensible editorial suggestion.
This recipe contains fish (herring) and pork (bacon). For pickled or cured fish and for bacon, check the product labeling for allergens and any cross-contact or shared-facility statements.
Equipment
- A large pot for boiling the cabbage and potatoes
- A perforated ladle or skimmer for crushing the vegetables in the pot (what the booklet uses)
- A potato masher or wooden spoon (optional; handy for a large amount of vegetables, but not required)
- A shallow frying pan for the garlic, bacon and the cake
- A small dish and a plate for holding the garlic and bacon
- A large flat plate for turning the cake (an editorial suggestion)
Method: Boil, Crush, Bind, Brown
The booklet gives no time, temperature, cake thickness or pan size for any step. Move on by the state of the food described in each step. Cues marked as suggestions are practical guidance, not the booklet's instructions.
Avoiding Problems: Draining, Binding and Turning
The booklet's steps point to where trinxat can go wrong: the vegetables are drained before crushing, and the cake is held together only by mash and fat. The fixes below are cooking explanations and practical suggestions, not instructions from the booklet.
| Problem | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| The cake won't hold its shape | Too much water left in the vegetables | Drain thoroughly in step 3 before crushing; crush finer with the oil in step 6 |
| It breaks when you turn it | The round is too large or too loose for the pan | Turn it with a plate, and divide the mixture into smaller batches if needed |
| Not enough flavor in the mash | The garlic and bacon oil was not kept | Fry the garlic and bacon in the same oil and leave it in the pan for the vegetables |
| The garlic tastes bitter | Fried too long | Lift it out once it colors lightly at the edges |
| The plate is too salty | Salty water plus salty herring | Salt the boiling water lightly and check how salty your herring is |
| Pale surface | Not enough time against the pan, or not enough oil | Let each side brown before turning; the booklet does not give a time, so judge by color |
Regional and Household Variations
Each of the options below is a change from the Andorran recipe in this article, not part of it.
- Without herring, bacon-centered. The Cerdanya version on Gastroteca is based on winter cabbage, potatoes and bacon, with herring only as a variation.
- With black sausage. The Cerdanya version lists black sausage as an addition.
- Garlic through the vegetables. The Cerdanya version includes garlic as a variation; you can scatter it into the mash rather than only on top.
- Left as a crush, not browned into a round. The Cerdanya version treats browning it into a round as one of the options, so serving it as a mash is another way it appears.
- Without pork, with pine nuts. The Generalitat de Catalunya's Canal Salut site gives a separate recipe for 4–5 people with cabbage, 1 kg potatoes and garlic, with bacon or pine nuts as an option. Its amounts belong to that recipe and are not mixed into the Andorran one.
The Barcelona Metropolitan recipe by Toni Rocamora is another separate Catalan version with cabbage, 1 kg potatoes, garlic and bacon; its quantities and timing are also kept apart from the Andorran recipe.
Serving and Storage
Trinxat in Andorra comes to the table as a starter, with the bacon and herring beside the browned cake. Adjust the salt by taste, keeping the herring's saltiness in mind.
The booklet notes that the dish is good made a few hours ahead or the day before and left to rest, but it gives no storage temperature, container or time. The sources here give no further storage guidance, so no storage period is given. Do not treat the booklet's note as permission to leave the cooked dish at room temperature.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is trinxat from?
This recipe is the Andorran version published by Andorra's tourism office as Trinxat amb rosta. The dish is also made more widely in the Pyrenees and Catalan-speaking areas, including Cerdanya. The sources do not name a single place of origin.
Is the herring essential?
In the Andorran recipe, desalted pickled herring is part of the plate. In the Cerdanya version, herring is a variation rather than a requirement. If you leave it out, you are making a different, bacon-centered version, and the plate loses the herring's salty contrast.
Can I use an ordinary winter cabbage?
The booklet asks for a large winter cabbage and gives no weight. A dense winter cabbage from your own market is a reasonable editorial choice, though the booklet does not name a substitute. The Barcelona Metropolitan recipe also stresses seasonal cabbage.
Can I eat it without browning it into a round?
Yes, as a variation. The Cerdanya version presents browning into a round as one option, so serving it as a crushed mash is a different way of finishing the dish. The Andorran recipe in this article shapes and browns it.
Is 45 minutes the time for each step?
No. The booklet gives 45 minutes as the total time for the dish, for 4 servings. It gives no time for individual steps, and this recipe has not been test-cooked to measure them.
Sources
- Visit Andorra / Andorra Tourism, "Andorran Gastronomy," official recipe booklet, Trinxat amb rosta. The Andorran recipe used here: ingredients and amounts, 4 servings and a total of 45 minutes, the cooking sequence and shaping, its place as a traditional winter dish now served year-round, and the saying about frost-touched cabbage. https://visitandorra.com/content/dam/visitandorra/en/assets/documents/menjar/ENG.pdf
- Gastroteca.cat / Prodeca (credited to the Corpus of Catalan Cuisine), "Trinxat de la Cerdanya." The Cerdanya version's ingredients and preparation, and its variations: herring or black sausage, garlic, and whether to brown it into a round. Not merged into the Andorran amounts. https://www.gastroteca.cat/en/receptes/trinxat-de-la-cerdanya/
- Canal Salut, Generalitat de Catalunya, "Trinxat de col i patata." A separate Catalan recipe for 4–5 people with cabbage, 1 kg potatoes, garlic and optional bacon or pine nuts, and its boil, crush, fry and shape sequence. https://canalsalut.gencat.cat/ca/detalls/article/trinxat-col-patata
- Barcelona Metropolitan, "Recipe: Trinxat," recipe by Toni Rocamora. A separate Catalan recipe with cabbage, 1 kg potatoes, garlic and bacon, and the author's emphasis on seasonal cabbage. https://www.barcelona-metropolitan.com/api/amp/eating-and-drinking/recipe-trinxat/
