2024 Author: Jasmine Walkman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 08:29
Hospitality and generosity in Spain are shown with the hearty meals prepared for friends even in the poorest families. Spanish cuisine should not be judged by simple dishes, but by their wonderful appearance.
Basic ingredients
Fresh fish dominates, but chicken and game (especially partridges and quails) also take their rightful place along with pork. Gazpacho soup is perhaps the most famous in the world, but the Spanish fame undoubtedly belongs to the "sopa de pescado", made from fresh fish caught early in the morning. In Spain you can always eat paella, a great combination of good products cooked over low heat.
A wonderful tradition
Eating tapas (small snacks) is one of the best Spanish culinary traditions - juicy olives, spicy chorizo sausage with a taste of real meat, cold corn cakes called tortillas, with a memorable salty taste.
Products
Ham and sausages
Spain has its wonderful ham, dried in the wind - ham serrano. Because it is expensive, it is cut into thin slices and served on a loaf like a minisandwich. The Spaniards make delicious salami (salchichon), blood sausage (morsilla) and several types of sausages, the most memorable of which is the orange chorizo sausage. Rich in garlic and paprika, it is an important ingredient in many classic dishes. It is eaten alone, sliced, cold or fried.
Cheese
Good cheeses are made in Spain - both fresh and ripe. The most popular is manchego - creamy and firm. Manchego in olive oil is soaked in olive oil for 6 months. Cabrales is found in many varieties; it is a blue-veined cheese wrapped in chestnut leaves.
Salted cod fish
Dry and hard as wood, this fish (groceries) is the basis of many Spanish dishes. Look for thick white pieces of fillet, avoid thin ones with a yellow tinge. Before cooking, the fish should be soaked in water for at least half a day and the water should be changed frequently. After blanching and boning, it is ready for cooking.
Saffron
This is the most expensive spice in the world, and the best saffron comes from Spain. It is made from tender crocus leaves, bought in dried or crushed form; gives a beautiful yellow color and flavor to various dishes, such as paella.
Techniques and tips
Spanish cuisine is not distinguished by specific culinary techniques. It is preferred to bake in the oven, fry in a lot or a little oil, slow stew, grill or barbecue, fast frying on a heated metal sheet called plancha. A popular way to prepare shrimp is to roast them on a plate with a lot of garlic or to roast them on a barbecue.
Eating habbits
Part of the pleasure of traveling to Spain is the constant availability of plenty of food and drink. Even in the most remote areas of rural Spain you can always find restaurants where at any moment someone is ready to prepare you the desired cold drink and a selection of tapas. Even if there is no display case with food on display, there will always be something to eat if you are hungry.
The restaurants are open until late, opening between 1pm and 4pm, which is lunch time, and then again between 8pm and midnight for dinner. But in the meantime you will not stay hungry. Local bars and cafés serving tapas, sandwiches and pastries are open all day.
Tapas
Eating tapas is such a pleasure that tapas bars quickly became very popular. These snacks come from Andalusia in southern Spain and are now eaten all over the country.
There are various tapas (small portions of almost any dish, hot or cold), from a bowl of olives or small biscuits, to large portions of an omelet, which is almost a main dish.
Each bar has its own specialties, but you can usually find cold and fried meats, stews and fish, small pieces of breaded fish, salads, skewers and seafood. You can eat them as a side dish to whet your appetite or as a light dish.
Fish and seafood
Situated between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, Spain enjoys a remarkable selection of fresh fish (pescado) and seafood (mariscos). Hake and monk fish are the most common on the market and in restaurants. Black mussels and pectin mussels, cuttlefish and shrimp are plentiful, and more exotic Spanish dishes include octopus (pulpo), young eels (angiyas) and anchovies marinated in vinegar (bokerones). Fresh fish is usually prepared quickly and easily, fried and served with lemon. It is the basis of the most delicious and memorable Spanish dishes - sarsuela (giant portion stewed with fish and seafood), cuttlefish in its own sauce (stuffed cuttlefish in a sauce of its own "ink"), rich mussel soups cooked together with its shells. In general, these are some of the most delicious seafood dishes.
Marzipan and turon
When the Arabs conquered Spain, they planted almond orchards in Andalusia, and today's most popular Spanish pastries, marzipan and turon, are almond-based. Spanish marzipan is similar to that used in Northern Europe for glazing Christmas cakes, but has a more delicate taste. It is made from white almond-sugar paste in various forms, baked, dipped in sugar syrup and dried. It is often colored with natural food dyes and served in paper wrappers such as chocolate. Turon is a nougat of almonds and honey, with a variety of flavors. Both cakes are popular Christmas temptations.
Sherry
This is a popular and highly respected drink in Spain. The sherries are divided into the following categories: fine and mansania are light and dry, amontiado is medium dry, with a nutty taste and quite enhanced. Oloroso is dark, soft and often sweetened. Fine and mansania are served chilled and oloroso is served cold. Store the opened sherry bottle in a cool place. Fine and amontiado should be consumed within 3 months.
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