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Worn out spoons. Traditional Spanish cod. I have read much, too much, against stews, because at this time of year they seem to be everywhere. They come when the warm weather has not quite managed to chase away the lingering cold of night, when this dish should help us forget about meat, when the hunting season is over and all we have left is the sea.

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Besides the classical stew of garbanzo beans with bits of cod there is much new to try, beginning with the way the stew is cooked. As for the garbanzos, aside from soaking them overnight in lukewarm water, they can be cooked with salt, onion, a couple of garlic cloves, a few corns of pepper and bay leaf. The latter is optional because if I�aki Camba were to show up at the dining table, we'd better not have used bay leaf.

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Another option should be small ham bones so they don't go to waste; times are too hard for that. And while we're at it, some salt pork to give some body to the broth. Later we can serve the pork in pieces, spread on some country-style or Galician bread, with a bit of tomato, then all browned on top for a few minutes.

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The rice - always short grain - can be done separately, frying it a bit with garlic and saffron, then boiling it the usual 20 minutes. I always prefer this to cooking the rice along with the garbanzo beans. Later, wetting the rice with broth from the garbanzos we resolve the problem of having too many different tastes. Adding the rice at the end, right when we are ready to serve, we have at least enough for the texture to be just right.

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As for the spinach, which Eduardo Dur�n replaced with Swiss chard because he likes the sweet taste, we should always wash it and saut� it separately with oil. Don't cook them at the same time as garbanzos because the chard or spinach will end up watery. They act like a tea. When you heat up everything altogether the flavors are distributed and they don't taste stale.

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Now for the cod. Using the salted variety, break it into small pieces and soak it a bit, saut� with oil and garlic, and put it into the pot in the last five minutes. Or why not with a good-sized piece, well de-salted, then baked or done pilil style, and using the rest as a delicious side dish. Or with some cod balls, cooked inside the stew.

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We could also substitute the cod for another salted fish, such as slices of mullet or ling roe, added to the dish right before serving. In this case I do use Swiss chard, which sweeten the strong taste the of the fish eggs. Or with to�ina, which is tuna in liquid salt, and gives the dish a strong taste of the deep sea. This tantalizes the palate and urges the good company of a dry white wine and reasonably healthy conversation.

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And what it we replace the cod with another fish. We could try making the stew with a delicious sea bass, boned and baked with tomato and oregano. Add it to the stew right before serving.

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Or large-scale scorpion fish, but it has to be the real thing. This will be a true taste sensation because this rock-hugging fish will delight our palates. Of course, while we're at it we could add sun-dried or baked tomatoes and other options from the sea, only this time with shells, such as mussels or clams. Altogether, and again, in the last five minutes of cooking. We could also boil these shellfish, pour that broth into the stew and open the shells. This is the version for lazy folk.

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Or take some prawns or shrimp, which we peel raw. The heads and shells are saut�ed in oil, flamb�ed with a generous dash of brandy, then the whole mix is placed in a blender and strained. This broth will boost the sea taste of the stew.

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We can innovate further and make the stew with lobster. The first thing we have to think about is how to use the whole body. This will take some work but, not to worry. You can bake the head, and cut the tail in slices. The head is broken away from the meat, and added only at the end. The slices from the tail are fried in a pan to give them color before adding them to the stew, also right before serving.

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We can also try derivatives of pork, such as salted ear, bacon, chorizo sausage, blood sausage, etc. And what about some tripe? And we can always replace the spinach with any other vegetable we want, although not every kind works well. The one you just thought, for example, doesn't work. Pumpkin, diced or cut in strips, green beans or sugar peas all work but must be cooked separately, adding part of the broth to the stew. This is because the vegetables cook differently from the garbanzos.

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And we can always substitute the garbanzos, although the little ones that Fran brings me from Toledo are delicious. How about some beans?, in a variety of sizes and shapes, or maybe those small pinkish lentils that he brought back from his last trip to France, or whatever lentils you like most. On the other hand Basmati rice is vulgar and trivial. But wild rice or millet does give the dish an exotic air, although don't go so far as to add soy sauce.

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But if we really want to do things differently, aside from presenting the stew as a salad or turn one of these forms into a gelatin dish, we could always transform the stew into a dry-rice dish accompanied by its cod, garbanzos and spinach.