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| Find the perfect wine to go with your favorite foods |
Spanish cuisine offers a great variety: from heavier, meat based dishes of the meseta, to the lighter, more subtle tastes of Mediterranean cooking along the coast and in the south. Perhaps the most famous, typically Spanish, culinary delight are tapas, offering just the right excuse to go from bar to bar, tasting different specialties of the house, drink in hand. Each region has its own local dishes of course, and perhaps the most well known is the paella: the Valencian rice dish with as many variations as there are creative cooks. All these culinary creations are best accompanied by local wines - look for the DO designation, or DOC if you really want to treat yourself to something special. Sangría makes the perfect summer drink, and a good companion for the lighter Andalusian dishes, but for a real taste of the south, have some vino de Jerez - this is what Spaniards call sherry, their protected national brand.
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| Vegetarian survival - due to fresh and plentiful fruits and vegetables available year-round, there are also plenty of choices for vegetarians: salads, legumes, vegetable soups and vegetarian tapas are readily found throughout Spain |
When dining out in Spain, it is good to keep in mind the locals' eating habits. Do not expect to find American style breakfasts served in restaurants at 7am: first, because this is just not the type of food that Spaniards eat in the morning, second, because Spaniards are not early risers and most places do not open by 8am, or even later on weekends. The main meal is eaten between 1:30 and 4pm and this is also the time you have the greatest choice of dishes, including the reasonable menú del día and the even more affordable plato combinado. Count as well on the fact that the evening meal is eaten quite late - from 9pm onwards, and your only options are ordering de la carta, which can be quite pricey, or having tapas, which can also be eaten at lunch. Should these meal times not correspond to your personal eating times, there are always plenty of snacking options.
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| Tortilla española can be served as tapas |
Spanish cuisine offers a spectacular variety of taste and smell, making it one of the finest western cuisines. Due to its history of merging peoples, each bringing something new, its varied geography offering different ingredients, and specific climate, thousands of recipes have developed, with many regional dishes and Iocal specialties. Roughly, Spanish cooking can be divided into northern, continental cuisine, which is much heavier and meat-based, and southern, more Mediterranean and fresher tasting cuisine. However, certain foods are absolute institutions. Chorizo, the pork sausage seasoned with Spanish paprika; the Spanish version of prosciutto - jamón serrano - without which no tapas bar is complete; the tortilla española, which though basically an omelette with onions and potatoes can send Spaniards far away from home into rapture; the ubiquitous and much loved cocido, a hearty meat stew; the Sopa de ajo which was originally a simple peasant food, but has become quite a classy dish with the addition of eggs, croutons and ham; the calamares en su tinta which are really yummy despite the fact that the name actually translates into squid in their own ink... However, a couple of culinary delights cannot be glossed over for they deserve a section of their own!
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| Gazpacho is a perfect food for the hot Iberian days |
Though its roots reach far into the lands of 1001 nights, the gazpacho is now the quintessential Spanish food. This cold soup of onions, peppers, tomatoes, and garlic is so refreshing and light, it is the absolute perfect food for the hot Andalusian climate, and easily made anywhere in the Mediterranean, where its ingredients are also the most readily available summer produce. But this simple soup has also had a silver-screen debut: in Almodovar's Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. Who can forget the carnivalesque drama unfolding as an impeccably dressed woman keeps sipping on spiked gazpacho, all the while tracing the events which pushed her to the edge... Certainly one of cinema's better moments. The gazpacho most frequently encountered is tomato based. Occasionally, a restaurant offers a white gazpacho, Ajo Blanco, which is not the poor country cousin of the more familiar version, but the original - tomatoes are a New World fruit that only made their way to Spain after Columbus. Ajo Blanco preceeded it by centuries. Like many simple yet satisfying dishes, it probably originated with poor, yet creative cooks, needing to feed a family without too much at hand. So it was essential to look around and see what could be used... some day old bread, garlic of course, some olive oil and... well, look at that, almonds seem to be in season!
The Valencian grandmother's secret recipe
The three main sine qua non ingredients are rice, saffron, and olive oil. Then you have to have a large, shallow, flat pan to cook it in, and make no mistake about it, a regular wok won't do the trick! The basic flavor comes from saffron (which also gives it the lovely yellowish color) and the sofrito - the fragrant sauce made of tomatoes, garlic and peppers, sautéd in olive oil. First the meat is cooked, then the vegetables; water is then added and brought to a boil. Seasoning is checked and this is when the rice is added. When the rice is almost cooked, remove the paella from the heat, so it can absorb the remaining water. Just before serving, it can be garnished with vegetables and meat or seafood. Do not be alarmed if the rice has stuck to the bottom of the pan - this crispy, caramelized, toasted bottom is actually considered a delicacy. Trust your Valencian grandmother!
The Paella is one of the most typical Spanish dishes and Valencia is the area most famed for its paella. In fact, the name of the dish itself derives from the Valencian word for frying pan, in which it is made. Far from the posh dish of choice in Spanish restaurants worldwide, the paella actually has modest roots (as so much good food does). Originally it was a workers' meal, cooked in the fields over an open fire with whatever ingredients were available and eaten directly from the pan. Initially and for the same reasons of economy, snails used to be the most common protein addition to the paella, since that was what was most readily available. At the time, rabbit or duck were also added on festive occasions, and the rich elite could also afford to put some chicken in it. Since seafood is not exactly a commonality in the fields of Valencia, the original paella did not have it. Seafood was a modern addition to this traditional, still evolving food.
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| Tasteful paella |
Paella is still a very popular dish, but now with slightly haughtier aspirations, featured at festivals and competitions and even record-breaking attempts. However, freshness is not such a huge issue: it can be cooked in copious quantities and served the next day or even the day after. Good thing at that, since its preparation is no small task! This also makes it a perfect restaurant food precisely because of this reason. For the restaurant owners, it's highly practical to make a large batch and have it available, and for restaurant goers, it saves them the time and hassle of having to make one at home.
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| Tapas can be very simple snacks |
The word tapas perhaps needs no explanation since the emergence of tapas bars all over North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Now, although this may be synonymous with Spanish cuisine, there is still a lot to be discovered... Tapas is a generic term that covers a wide array of Spanish appetizers and more specifically, the manner in which they are eaten - tapas for instance are not an appetizer eaten before a main course. So, they can be cold and simple, such as chunks of cheese, olives or jamón serrano, or warm, such as stuffed mushrooms, fried calamari, meatballs in a spicy sauce or a variety of prawn dishes. The term itself derives from the verb tapar - to cover, the most plausible origin of this tradition being the fact that in order to prevent flies from falling in, drinks used to be covered with a slice of bread, which were then enhanced by bits of food by some innovative soul, and hence tapas were born. In many parts of Spain - León, Granada, Madrid - this tradition persists in bars which offer free tapas, yes, you read it right - Free! tapas (or pintxos in the Basque Country) along with your drink. Sure, the drinks may be slightly pricier than in other bars, but this truly Spanish experience more than makes up for it. In other regions, tapas have evolved into a stand-up meal, which is really more a chance to socialize: ir de tapas which is like bar hopping, but the difference being in that you go from bar to bar, tasting the particular dish each tasca (tapas bar) is famous for. This can be done during the longish gap between the main meal of the day and the very late dinner (usually served between 9pm and 11pm), or before lunch on weekends, or in places like Seville, instead of dinner, where you can also get bigger portions, or even ones to be shared among friends... Whichever way you look at it, hopping from bar to bar tasting the local specialties is certainly one fun way of getting to know a place!
