Some aspects
of
Spanish Food

 

First of all it has to be made clear that one cannot speak of Spanish food or Spanish cooking in general. With Spain being made up of 17 regions, it is obvious that there exists a wide range of different tastes and styles of cooking.


The diversity of the Iberian peninsula is reflected in the recipes of the different regions, where people have tended to stick to the resources of their land and they still do so. In addition to that the Spanish history has had its influence, too. All the peoples that settled there left their traces, and very important influences came from the Moors and the Spanish discoverers, who brought back home numerous plants and spices from the New World.All these melted into the recipes, which often differ in other regions and even towns or cities.

In recent years a number of Spanish chefs has gained international attention and reputation because of their attempts to create completely new ways of cooking.

A culinary trip around Spain can be a really thrilling experience, no matter whether you prefer the traditional style of cooking or go the more adventurous way and try the new signature cooking (or on Spanish: cocina de autor). There is just one thing to avoid: restaurants that try to attract tourists with a display of photos rather than a real (printed) menu.
As we cannot give you a detailed guide, we want to concentrate on some aspects which are usually associated with Spanish food and give you some background on these.

Tapas

Foreigners often associate Spanish food with tapas and think it is a normal meal. To the Spanish people ‘tapeo’ or ‘tapear’ is more than that, it is part of their way of life. Before lunch and especially before dinner they meet at a bar to eat a few small snacks to fight the first feeling of hunger, and to have drink or two while chatting with friends. In the course of the evening they move on to other places where different tapas are on offer and where they meet more friends, before settling down to the real dinner at about 10 pm.

The list of these tapas seems endless: rolls with ham, cheese, or anchovy, deep fried squid, mussels and other kinds of seafood, fried mushrooms, Russian salad, fried peppers, croquetas, tortilla … Apart from these there is also a number of small warm dishes which also count as tapas.

You will find them neatly arranged on the bar of the restaurant, and so ordering is quite easy even for a foreigner – just point at what you fancy… The warm dishes are listed on a board behind the bar, but this requires some knowledge of Spanish. If you understand some Spanish you can ask the waiter for his recommendations.

Tapa means ‘lid’ and the origin of this expressions goes to Andalusia in the 18th century, where it became a custom to cover Sherry or wine glasses with a piece of bread, ham or cheese to protect the drink from dust and flies. This developed into a small snack to go with a glass of wine and it prevents you from getting drunk too quickly. When ordering a glass of beer or wine you will often get a small bowl with nuts, crisps, olives or even tapas (free of charge). Today they are served everywhere in Spain – from Andalusia in the South to the Basque Country in the North.
Usually you eat your tapas with a toothpick. In some restaurants you have to collect them on your plate in order to pay your bill. In other restaurants you just throw them along with your napkins into a bin in front of the bar. As people tend to miss the basket you are likely to find an unusual amount of rubbish on the floor. However, this is by no means a negative sign! On the contrary – beware of such restaurants where the floor is immaculately clean and where there are hardly any customers. There must be a reason why locals avoid this place.
Tortilla

Tortilla is a Spanish omlette. The real tortilla de Espana (tortilla de patatas) is made from eggs, potatoes and onions. The ingredients are fried in olive oil.

The origin of the tortilla is not exactly known. It was first mentioned in 1817 in an anonymous letter to the Spanish Parliament, to illustrate the bad living conditions of the people. Now it has become one of the most popular dishes in Spain, which can even be found among the precooked convenience meals in supermarkets. You will get it in most bars and restaurants, too. You can eat it warm or cold.

At parties it is common for the housewives brings her own special tortilla. It is cut like a cake and taken with a kind of toothpick or a small skewer. Quite often you will get it on a piece of bread (baguette).

The basic recipe tortilla consists of eggs, potatoes and onions but you can vary it with almost any ingredient that you fancy or that you happen to have in your kitchen.

Here are some examples of the variations:

  • Tortilla de ajetes: with garlic and leek
  • Tortilla de atún : with tuna
  • Tortilla de espárragos: with green asparagus
  • Tortilla de espinacas: with steamed spinach
  • Tortilla de mariscos: with seafood
  • Tortilla de chorizo: with Spanish pepper bangers

Mind the difference between the Spanish tortilla and that Mexican sort of bread which has the same name
Paella


Paella is not the Spanish national dish - as many people think - but a typical dish from the region of Valencia. However, people all over Spain love this rice dish. Paella is a Catalan word and means ‘flat, circular pan’, in which it is cooked and served.

 

It is also important to know that the traditional paella, paella valenciana, is not only a fish dish but it contains chicken or rabbit. If you add seafood, it is called paella mixta, mocked by the locals as paella de turistas .
Of course there are more variations of the paella:

• Paella de mariscos: with seafood
• Paella de verduras: with vegetables

Of course you are free to invent your own paella recipe.


These are the most important ingredients of the paella valenciana:

• rice
(round-grain or
paella rice)
• green beans
• tomatoes
• rabbit or chicken
• red pepper
• saffron
Modern Spanish Cooking

Ferran Adria


If you read about the latest developments in the field of gastronomy, you will soon come across the name Ferran Adria, a cook whom TIME-Magazine counts among the 100 most significant personalities in the world and who is considered as the most important chef of our time. He is the first cook to be invited to take part in the documenta in Kassel, the most important art show in the world, and now even those who usually are little interest in gastronomy begin to talk about him.
His restaurant el bulli is located in a small village on the Costa Brava, seats only 50 people and is open from April through September only. The other half of the year Ferran Adria and his team work in their laboratory in Barcelona to develop new techniques of preparation for the dishes of the following season.

  

On his ideas on cooking

 

It is not Ferran Adrias aim to simply improve and develop established recipes and techniques of fine cooking. With his dishes he wants to appeal to all senses, to address them, stimulate them and confuse them. An important idea is to refine the sensations and the pleasure while eating. The meals that you find on your plate will definitely taste completely different from what you expect.

 
The method which is applied here could be called ‘deconstruction’. That means that the ingredients are first split apart and
reduced to their components in order to be reassembled in a new form. On a ‘plate of vegetables’, for example, you will find a number of sticks in different colours that look like different kinds of jelly from a dessert. In fact it is a kind of jelly, but made from the respective juices of these vegetables. We expect to eat a sweet dessert, but we are having a plate of vegetables! So you not only concentrate on the taste of the food, but also on how it feels in your mouth.
For this play with flavours, textures and temperatures Adria sometimes looks back to older techniques, develops these in a scientific way and manages to invent completely new methods of preparation and presentation.
This style of cooking is by no means just a modern way of toying in the fine kitchen, as most of the important chefs agree, that Ferran Adria will have a crucial influence on the habits of cooking and eating of the 21st century.

Most likely hardly anyone of us will ever get a chance to dine at el bulli, but Ferran Adrias ideas have already influences many cooks.
At least try and read more about Ferran Adria and his ideas and his way of cooking – it is fun and you start thinking about what you eat and you will find more pleasure in eating.

Photos by kind permission of el bulli

  

HomepageThe project content Meetings!The people involved in the projectComenius BACK surveysThe project products Go to Moodle!