

If I tell you that Spain is a paradise for the senses, I guess I am not discovering anything new to you all. But in this post I am not going to talk about the beautiful beaches in Spain, nor the excellent wines, neither the amazing museums or arquitechture all over the country. In this post, I am going to share with you the 10 traditional dishes you should try whenever you go to Spain, apart, of course, from the jamón ibérico de bellota, the tapas or the churros.

When Spaniards discovered America, they brought to Europe lots of things and among them, potatoes, tomatoes and pepper. Nowadays, those are the main ingredients of the first dishes I am going to talk about!

1. Tortilla española

According to some Spaniards, the tortilla de patatas should be in the Spanish flag. I guess there are as many preferences of how it should be cooked as people in Spain. For some it has to have onion, for some others, no onion. For some is has to be well done, some others prefer more it less cooked and more juicy. The way of cutting potatoes is also a topic of conversation if cubes or slice. The thruth is that regardless this interesting issues, if you try a freshly cooked piece of tortilla de patatas, you will love it!





2. Salmorejo

This is DELICIOUS cold soup! It is typically from Córdoba but I tried it for the first time in Granada. Its main ingredients are tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and bread. Depending on how much bread it’s added, you have a lighter or thicker salmorejo, delicious in any way. A bit different cold soupfrom salmorejo is the very famous “GAZPACHO ANDALUZ”, which is not as thick as salmorejo and it has a bit of cucumber, pepper and onion (often also vinager is added). Gazpacho is known as an isotonic drink and, in fact, it is excellent to drink it cold as it is an easy and healthy way to rehydrate.

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3. Paella

I am sure most of you, reading this blog, know paella. Probably the best known Spanish dish in the world. The main ingredient is rice and the very expensive saffron, sometimes also some green beans and red pepper. In the perfect paella, rice has to be loose and “al dente”. You will able to order many different paellas: paella valenciana should have some pieces of chicken and duck; paella marinera, should have squid and prawns; and paella mixta is a mix of the two previous ones.

There is many more rice dishes in Spain such as arroz negro, arroz a banda or arroz rossejat, some of these will be difficult to find unless you are in Valencia area.

4. Cocido madrileño

If you go to Spain, Madrid is a must. And here in the capital, they cook one of my favourite dishe: cocido! Its main ingredient are chickpeas, vegetables, chicken, chorizo and bacon. If you manage to finish cocido, you will be full for the rest of the day, I can asssure you, but you will be sooo happy! Many visitors that go to Madrid, have the chance to go to El Escorial (50 kms far from Madrid), in this village you will have to eat so, close to the Monasterio, you have an excellent option to try cocido, in the restaurant El Charolés, they use chickpeas from Fuentesaúco (village known for the best chickpeas in Spain). If you stay in Madrid, my favourites, and I highly recommend them, are Taberna la Daniela or Casa Carola (if you want to spoil yourself, try Casa Lhardy). If you eat in any of them, you will not regreat!

5. Fabada asturiana

Is another excelent Spanish dish. If you are in Spain in winter, preferably Madrid and north of Spain, do not forget to try fabada. It is a bean dish but it also contains, chorizo, morcilla and pieces of pork. Is a marvellous and very buy accutane cheap caloric winter dish. Combine it with a nice glass of red Ribera del Duero wine and you will enjoy it even more!

6. Caldereta de langosta

This is a typical summer dish from the Baleares islands, particularily from Menorca, but you will be able to try it in other islands too. If you like lobster, this is your dish, the rest of the ingredients are mainly seasonal vegetables. Spaniards say that to recognize if a lobster is fresh you have to grab it by the boy and it moves its tail strongly, it is fresh, not a bad advice to buy lobster on the market!

7. Cochinillo asado

This dish comes from the Romans when they conquered Hispania. The trick of this dish is to clean the inside of a piglet, once clean, they put in marinade for some days and they bake it in the oven in a clay tray until the meat is tender and juicy and the skin gets really crispy. It is a delicacy in Spain. In Segovia, where the magnificent Roman acueduct is, there is a very famous restaurant, casa Cándido, known for cooking such tender cochinillos that the waiters are able to cut them in portions without a knife, they use instead (and they do it infront of you), the edges of the plates.

8. Sopa de ajo

Another winter dish. We all know these winter days, freezing cold outside, lots of wind, cold feet, scarves and gloves. An excellent option for freezing cold days would be to warm yourself up with “sopa de ajo”. Don’t worry, you will not smell of garlic for the rest of the day.

The soup has to be served extremly hot. It contains bread, paprika, bay leaf, garlic, olive oil and poached egg. In some villages in Castilla (center of Spain) they eat this dish during Easter time.

9. Rabo de toro

For me this a is a really tasty dish! I would have never imagined that the tail of the bull could be eaten and that it would be so tasty. It should be served in a clay plate and it tastes better matching with a good glass of red wine. The meat has to come off the bone easily, with no effort at all, if this is the case, the “rabo de toro” is well cooked and you will be able to taste it in all its flavour!

10. Pulpo a la gallega

I am not a great fun of octopus but I have to admit that this dish is yummy! According to the people from Galicia, the trick to have a very tender and buttery octopus is to frighten it 3 times in boiling water before leaving it to boil. You shoul match pulpo a la gallega always with white wine, Albariño or Ribeiro are the best options, no doubt!

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Finally I will recommend you to try two other dishes I like: callos (guts) – in Madrid the dish is stew-like, really tasty (ohh, I guess some of you put funny faces now) and migas: sheperds’ dish, in some places they cook migas with melón and grapes. When you try them, let me know your thoughts… One final recommendation is not a proper dish but an interesting way of eating tiny green fried peppers with a trick… I will give you a clue, Spaniards say “Pimientos de Padrón, unos pican y otros no”! It is like a food mine base.

Spain has so many more dishes to offer and we cannot forget the tapas, therefore I am also preparing for you a list of best tapas to try in Spain, so stay tuned.

Thank you for visiting, I hope you that you’ll be able to try at least some of the dishes once in Spain as they will guarantee you a real spanish experience.

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