National Spanish dishes. Dishes of national Spanish cuisine - a variety of tastes

From delicious tapas to excellent seafood and traditional grilled meats, it's all Spanish cuisine with only products of Spanish origin.

Don't leave Spain until you've tried the following dishes:

1. Gazpacho

Red, ripe tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, bread, peppers and cucumber are mixed until a silky smooth mass is obtained, which is then cooled and poured into plates or glasses. This summer soup is so delicious, so refreshing! In Andalusia in southern Spain, people eat it every day during the summer. At the same time, there is always a dish with an appetizer, or tapas, on the table.

Salmorejo

Also try the salmorejo soup from Cordoba, definitely its thick version - it is often served separately with pieces of ham, which must be scattered over the surface of the soup.

In the Valencia region, locals say that rice can be eaten every day, and so all year round. Valencian paella consists of chicken or rabbit meat, saffron, green beans and lima beans. But the most important ingredient of the dish, of course, is rice, which grows on the east coast of Spain. It is good because it absorbs the aromas of all products added to it.

Eggs, potatoes, onions… This food combination is so perfect! True, you need to eat all this not separately, but as part of a delicious Spanish omelette. Potatoes and onions are slowly sautéed in olive oil, then mixed with a beaten egg to blend their flavors together. Then chorizo, ham, spinach, zucchini, or whatever is on hand are added.

4. Gambas al Ahiyo, or garlic prawns

Imagine walking into a tapas bar and the bartender serves you an earthenware dish filled with sizzling fried shrimp, the tantalizing aroma of which excites your senses. Well, how can you resist and not order at least a couple? To cook something similar at home, you need to fry finely chopped garlic and green chili peppers in olive oil, throw shrimp into it for a few minutes and add a small amount of parsley. Nothing could be tastier and easier!

5. Toast with tomatoes and jamon

In the western part of Spain, black pigs roam among the oak trees. They are used for food. Marbled Spanish pork has a nutty flavor that is distinct from other types of meat. Cut off a thick piece of the roll, fry it in the toaster, now put the slices of tomato and the pieces of chopped garlic, drizzle with a little olive oil and put the pieces of jamon. A quick and tasty snack is ready!

6. Patatas Bravas

Perhaps the most common tapas snack is patatas bravas. It varies in its ingredients and taste in different parts of the country, but absolutely all options include fried potatoes. In Madrid, bravas sauce is made with sweet and spicy bell peppers, olive oil, flour and broth, but never tomatoes. Some fans put garlic in it, while others add their own ingredients, which they keep in the strictest confidence.

7. Poyo Al Ahiyo

Any Spaniard will tell you that the best garlic chicken is the one made by their grandmother. Of course they are all right. The unpeeled garlic cloves are fried in olive oil for flavor, then removed and the chicken laid out. When the meat is ready, the chicken is seasoned with rosemary, thyme, and some dry sherry or white wine. However, this recipe is not final. There are many variations on this theme.

8. cochinillo asado

People may claim to go to Segovia to see an amazing Roman aqueduct, a fairy tale castle or a beautiful cathedral. In fact, they go there to eat. Segovia's specialties are roast lamb or pork. The meat is cooked in huge wood-fired ovens, and it turns out so tender that it literally melts in your mouth.

9. Pisto

The Spanish version of ratatouille is very popular throughout the country. Pisto contains onions, garlic, zucchini, peppers and tomatoes. They are all slowly fried in olive oil. Haste won't help here. The dish is prepared slowly, with taste. It is often served as a first course, sometimes with scrambled eggs or chorizo. True, it is good in and of itself.

Spaniards eat huge amounts of turrón, or almond nougat. Usually this sweet is eaten at Christmas, although it is sold all year round. The vast majority of nougat is made in the small town of Gijon in the province of Alicante. This is where local almonds are mixed with honey and egg white. There are two main types of nougat - soft and almost hard. The latter is so because it contains pieces of almonds.

Here are the most popular Spanish dishes. If you go to Spain, be sure to try them.

Spain is a great Mediterranean country, distinguished by its peculiar color and unprecedented picturesqueness. Tourists from all over the world flock there and discover something new. And gourmets in Spain have a place to roam. Even the daily menu of local residents is replete with unusually tasty and healthy food. The Spaniards have an amazing ability to successfully combine products, turning unpretentious dishes into real masterpieces.

It is noteworthy that each region of Spain is characterized by specific eating habits. But in the aggregate, all local residents are united by a love for seafood, herbs and olive oil. Not the last place in Spain is given to meat. It is prepared in a wide variety of forms.

It is believed that even a lifetime is not enough for a person to get acquainted with the cuisine of this country - it is so diverse. Many tourists go to Spain for the gastronomic purpose, no matter how strange it may sound. Of course, one tourist trip will allow you to try far from everything that Spanish culture can surprise you with. But there are the most popular dishes that you need to pay attention to first of all in order to understand the concept of the country's national cuisine.

1. Paella

This amazing dish has already taken a place in the hearts of many housewives around the world. Even in Russia, women try to master the basics of cooking this dish in order to surprise their loved ones. Having tried paella at least once while in Spain, you will never be able to refuse it. It is a rice dish, in addition to which seafood, vegetables or meat can be used. Most often, Spaniards cook paella with chicken or rabbit meat.

2. Gazpacho

Traditional Spanish soup served cold is not only delicious, but also insanely healthy. The fact is that gazpacho is made from fresh raw vegetables that do not lose their rich value during cooking. Often, under the influence of heat treatment, this happens. Previously, the consistency of the soup was not so homogeneous. In some villages in Spain, to this day, gazpacho is served, in which quite large pieces of vegetables come across. But over time, the traditions of cooking the dish have changed a bit, and it has become a puree soup. Very often Spaniards use gazpacho as a thirst quencher during hot weather.

This dessert got its distribution from a certain region of Spain - the province of Catalonia. The sweetness is a bit like the well-known creme brulee. However, there are differences in their preparation and the ingredients used. The basis of the Catalan cream is milk. A distinctive feature of the dessert is the presence of a large amount of spices, and in particular, cinnamon,

4. Jamon

The meat national dish jamon is of interest to almost every tourist, if he is not a vegetarian. The technology of making jamon requires a lot of time and effort. It is a pork ham cooked with a lot of salt. The process of turning a ham into a finished product can take a period of six months to three years. Therefore, it is especially appreciated by both visitors and locals. The technology of slicing meat implies compliance with special rules. It is believed that mechanical impact can spoil the taste of the dish, so jamon is cut by hand using special devices.

The Spanish tortilla is similar in name to the Mexican, but is a completely different dish. In Mexico, a tortilla is a wheat or corn tortilla, while in Spain it is an omelette-like dish. Tortilla is very often eaten for breakfast. The main ingredients are: potatoes, onions and eggs. Of course, all this is cooked in olive oil, which is very much appreciated in Spain.

6. Chorizo

This dish is a sausage based on pork meat. It is usually presented in large cuts, but it happens that the meat is ground very finely. The main distinguishing feature of chorizo ​​is the presence of paprika in the composition. It not only gives the dish an interesting flavor, but also colors the sausage in a red tint. The piquant taste of chorizo ​​can be appreciated by a real meat-eater.

A traditional breakfast in Spain cannot be complete without churros. It is a type of pastry made from choux pastry. The shape of the churros is oblong and elongated. Products are prepared using deep fat, they can be either completely without filling or with chocolate or cream inside. Churros are always present in the diet of the Spaniards in the morning.

Spaniards love seafood most clearly. This is not surprising, because the country is spread out on the Mediterranean coast. Gambas al Ahiyo is a dish, the main part of which is shrimp. Paprika and garlic sauce are a great addition to this base. For cooking, only earthenware is required. It is believed that it is she who retains the original taste of the dish better. Gambas Al Ajiyo turns out to be spicy, but insanely tasty, not without a characteristic Spanish food note.

In Spain, they like to serve potatoes with spicy tomato sauce. This dish is called Patatas Bravas. The highlight of potatoes cooked in this way is hot pepper. Spaniards are very fond of this spicy dish, and they use it along with beer or wine as a snack. Patatas bravas is not considered a complete dish, it is called a warm salad.

In Spain, they love to pay attention to table setting and the way food is served. So, Pulpo a la Gallego always appears before those wishing to dine, on a special wooden board. The dish consists of body parts of an octopus generously flavored with paprika and cooked in olive oil. Sometimes potatoes are added to the dish.

This is not a complete list of those dishes that you should definitely try in Spain. At every step you can find various restaurants and cafes offering their guests a lot of intricate dishes of national importance. Staying hungry while in this colorful country is almost impossible.

If you have already visited Spain, you will certainly agree that traveling around this country is incredibly exciting and interesting. Your tourist trip was filled with visits to countless museums, significant historical sites, acquaintance with the monuments and architecture of the country. And, for sure, from the first days of your stay in this country, you have included Spanish national cuisine in the list of attractions in Spain.

Spanish Cuisine Basics

Spain is one of the Mediterranean countries, for this reason, many believe that it is based on the "Mediterranean diet", consisting of vegetables, fruits, rice, cereals, herbs and, of course, seafood. However, the reality is that meat dishes predominate on the Spaniards' table. A typical representative of them in the traditional cuisine of Spain is the jamon ham, which is so fond of the Russians.

In general, the national cuisine of Spain has incorporated ancient Roman and Moorish traditions with elements of French and even African cuisine.

The basis of the traditional cuisine of Spain is greens, sweet peppers, onions, garlic, sage and, so typical of the Mediterranean, olive oil. Basic cooking techniques include grilling, stewing in wine, and baking with sheep's cheese.

Regional culinary traditions

Despite the fact that the general attributes of cuisine for all regions of Spain are the same, yet each region (and there are seventeen of them - decide for yourself) has its own culinary traditions and stands out with some kind of its own dish. By the way, one of the dishes of Spanish cuisine (which is undoubtedly associated with this country by everyone who is at least a little familiar with its traditional dishes) - paella, has about three hundred different recipes for its preparation!

The North Atlantic coast of Spain is famous for its delicious sauces and interesting soups. Cantabrian cuisine pleases travelers with sardine, trout, maluska dishes, as well as Santander rice (this is a dish of rice and salmon). But Asturian cuisine is famous for its thick white bean soup with ham and sausage (“Fabada”). Basque cuisine combines the traditions of French and Spanish cuisine, it is considered the most refined in Spain. You will certainly want to taste glass eel fried with chili and garlic (Angulas) or sea snails (Karakelas) more than once. You will certainly find a chili sauce made from tomatoes, onions and peppers in Aragonese dishes, but in Richa and Navarre you will have to try vegetable sauces and side dishes. Pork legs with swede leaves, whiting fish stewed in a clay pot and boiled octopus are all representatives of Galician cuisine.

Sauces are the basis of Catalan cuisine. There are four main ones: picada (garlic, roasted almonds and herbs), sofrito (onions, garlic, tomatoes, peppers, herbs), samphiana (peppers, eggplant, tomatoes) and ali-oli (garlic with olive oil). Bright representatives of Catalan cuisine are also: stew of pork legs and pig's head, monkfish ear, fried pork sausages with white beans in boiling lard.

Andalusia is famous for its olive oil and deep-fried dishes. Murcian cuisine is unthinkable without hearty coskidos, Murcian meat pie and various rice dishes.

Extremadura and Castile are considered the "hot zone". In Burgos and Soria, try roast lamb, and in Segovia, roast suckling pig. You will definitely be amazed by Salamanca's delicacy - stewed veal tail. The cuisine of Madrid is famous for cocido - thick pea soup and tripe with black pudding morcilla. Cheese lovers should head to La Mancha. But for marzipan - in Toledo.

Tapas ritual

Spanish cuisine is unimaginable without tapas - appetizers that are always served with beer and wine.

There are two versions of the origin of this tradition. According to the first, it is believed that it originated in one of the bars in Seville, where a glass was covered with a piece of ham, which was served free at first, but as new and varied snacks appeared, for a fee. According to another version, glasses with beer and wine from annoying flies were covered with small plates, into which, over time, they began to put various goodies, mostly spicy, so that the drinkers would like to re-order. One way or another, the Spaniards clearly do not intend to abandon such a pleasant tradition - to consume strong drinks along with tapas.

Favorite snacks include olives - plain or stuffed with tuna, lemon or almonds. Also in tapas bars you will find various sandwiches, for example, with squid. Fried shrimp, squid, jamon, potato tortilla, marinated pork, and cheeses are also popular with the Spaniards as snacks.

Spaniards also include pies stuffed with fish, meat or vegetables as tapas. Of course, each region has its own ways of cooking. So, in the Balearic Islands, an open pie, shaped like a bird, stuffed with tuna, sausage or sardines, has become widespread. But the "modest" Catalans stuff their pies with lobster meat.

Salads in Spain

As in many other countries, the Spaniards start their meal with salads. They are made from boiled or fresh vegetables, beans and seafood. They are usually dressed with olive oil (sometimes diluted with vinegar).

Seafood salad is one of the most popular. Shrimps, pieces of boiled squid, mussels and other “sea ingredients” are the “backbone” of this dish, but its composition may vary depending on the region and season. Also in the sea salad you can sometimes find capers or mushrooms.

The Spaniards could not do without a salad consisting of their favorite ingredients - tomatoes and garlic. They are sprinkled with herbs, seasoned with olive oil. And it has a completely original name - “tomatoes with garlic”.

Malaga salad has a refined and unusual taste, which includes dried cod, olives, orange slices and onions.

Remijon, which also contains orange slices, also belongs to the traditional dishes of Spain.

First courses - not by number, but by value

A light salad is usually followed by soup. The most famous Spanish soup is the Andalusian gazpacho. This is a vegetable cold soup that is prepared without heat treatment, and sometimes even served with ice cubes. It is prepared very simply: soak the bread in cold water, mix it with tomatoes, chopped garlic, olive oil and other seasonings and it is ready.

But in another cold soup-puree, tomatoes are not added, it is called ahoblanco.

• Rice "everything is the head"

Particular attention should be paid to Spanish rice dishes. Paella was already mentioned at the beginning of the article, and there are a lot of recipes for its preparation. The classic paella includes 6-7 types of seafood and fish, chicken, herbs, spices and white wine. In some areas of Spain, paella is made from beans.

Rice is also cooked with various vegetables (tomatoes, artichokes and beans), tuna, and black rice is cooked with cuttlefish ink.

• Meat dishes

The most famous meat dish in Spain is jamon. This is a dry-cured ham, which forms the basis of Iberian cuisine. Jamon is famous not only for its taste, but also for the fact that this dish does not contain cholesterol. To prepare it, they take a ham (by the way, the Spaniards believe that the meat will be good if you feed the piglet with acorns), salted, dried and dried under strictly defined conditions. This traditional Spanish dish can be found in almost any restaurant or bar.

In Spain, there are two main types of jamon - Serrano and Iberico. They differ in the method of preparation, as well as the breed of pigs and their "diet". Jamons can be distinguished by the color of the hoof - in Iberico it is black, and in Serano it is white.

In Spain, sausages are also loved. One of the most favorite types is the black pudding morcilla. In different regions of Spain, the recipes for its preparation are different, but the most famous is the morcilla from Burgos. Smoked pork sausage with garlic and paprika is also popular. It's called chorizo. But in Mallorca they love sausage sobrassada made from dried minced pork.

As for poultry meat, an ordinary chicken is held in high esteem in Spain. In Spain, there are several dozen original recipes for its preparation. Chickens are fried on a grill or spit, stewed in cider or sherry, stuffed with seafood and vegetables, baked, etc. Among the variety of recipes, chicken stands out: in sherry, stewed with vegetables in wine sauce, in tomato sauce and with chilindron sauce.

In Galicia, they love the meat of a fattened castrated rooster - a capon. Its meat is considered more tender than chicken. Be sure to try the capon stuffed with chestnuts or oysters.

But in Navarre, they prefer duck (probably, the neighborhood with France influenced). Traditional duck dishes from the area include duck pâté, duck liver in plum sauce and smoked duck legs.

Desserts and sweets

Of course, you will not find your favorite delicacy here, but this does not mean at all that the Spaniards have nothing to serve you for dessert. On the contrary, judging by the amount of sweets in the traditional cuisine of Spain, the inhabitants of the country are the real sweet tooth.

Tourists like to buy turron and polvorona as sweet souvenirs. Both of these desserts were once prepared for Christmas, but due to the popularity they enjoy among tourists, they have been made year-round. Turron is nougat with nuts. The secret of its production was inherited by the Spaniards from the ancient Arabs, now, in addition to traditional ingredients (honey, nuts and egg white), puffed rice, chocolate and dried fruits are used in the preparation of turron. Polvoroni - crumbly cookies, the name of which, by the way, translates as "gunpowder, dust." It consists of roasted almonds, ground sesame seeds, cinnamon, and it is prepared exclusively on pork fat.

No less popular among the Spaniards are various creams (for example, Catalan or almond cream) and puddings (Canarian milk pudding, rice pudding).

The Avila area is famous for its special dessert - St. Teresa's yolks. In Galia, they like chestnuts in sugar glaze and meringue with coconut.

In Spain, cheese skating championships (which is one of them) are not held and cheeses are rarely used in the preparation of complex dishes, but this does not mean at all that cheeses are not popular in this country. Simply, as a rule, they serve it sliced, or with slices of bread.

Each region of Spain has its own variety of cheese. So, in Galicia - this is cow's milk tetilla, among the Basques - idiazabal, which is made from sheep's milk and smoked on beech coals, in Castile they also produce cheese from sheep's milk, and it is called "Manchego", in Catalonia they prefer cheeses made from goat milk, etc.

But perhaps the most famous variety of cheese is cabrales with blue mold. Once, for its preparation, cheese was covered with animal excrement and wrapped in maple leaves, but modern cheese producers have abandoned such an extreme tradition.

Traditional drinks of Spain

The most consumed drink in Spain is, of course, wine. In 2011, it became the third country in the world in terms of wine production, and the first in terms of vineyard area. About 90 grape varieties are grown here in 60 wine regions. The wines of Spain are valued all over the world.

The most famous alcoholic drinks include sherry and sangria. Sherry is a fortified wine made from three grape varieties. Sangria is made from dry red wine with the addition of spices and various fruits.

Also among alcoholic beverages, cider, beer, various liqueurs and aguardiente (the strongest drink in Spain) are very popular.

Traditional non-alcoholic drinks include horchata - a drink made from peanuts and almonds, which has a peculiar sweetish aftertaste. And, of course, the Spaniards also appreciate tea.

Top 10 Spanish Dishes

Yes, Spanish cuisine is incredibly diverse, and it is simply impossible to try all the dishes presented on it. We have made a selection of dishes that every tourist in Spain must try.

Top 10 Spanish Cuisine Recipes:

• Paella - a rice dish with various fillings (such as rabbit and seafood)
• Jamon - dry-cured pork ham
• Tapas - various snacks
• Gazpacho - cold soup
• Chorizo ​​- cured pork sausage with paprika
• Zarzuela - assorted seafood with fish broth
• Malaga salad
• Crema Catalana - sweet soufflé with caramel
• Seafood salpicon
• Churros are donut-like desserts.

And as a bonus, I give you a couple of recipes for traditional Spanish cuisine.

Classic gazpacho

To prepare it you will need:

• 450 gr tomatoes
• 1 head of onion
• 1 cucumber
• 1 canned pepper
• Half cup cilantro or coriander
• 0.3 cup red wine vinegar
• 1.4/ cup olive oil
• Tabasco sauce (add to taste)

Cut into small pieces half of the tomatoes, cucumber and onion. We shift them into a processor, add red pepper to them and mix until mashed. Then transfer the mixture to a bowl and add the tomato juice, chopped cilantro, vinegar, a few drops of Tabasco and olive oil. We mix. Remove the seeds from the remaining tomatoes and cut them into small cubes. We also cut the cucumber and onion. We add it all to the soup. Salt, pepper and put in the refrigerator for a short while before use.

Dorada in Spanish

This fish is very much appreciated in Spain for its delicate taste. To prepare the dish we need:

• 1 kg gilthead
• 6 potatoes
• 1 head of onion
• 10 tbsp olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves
• Parsley
• 0.5 tsp saffron
• 0.5 chili peppers
• 2 lemons
• Salt - to taste

Clean and gut the fish. While the fish dries up, we prepare a marinade for it: in a blender, mix parsley, garlic, 5 tbsp. olive oil, 4 tbsp. water. Add the juice of 1 lemon to half of the resulting mixture. We mix. Then salt, pepper the fish and grease it with marinade.

In the left mass of parsley and garlic, add salt, crushed saffron leaves and 3 tbsp. water - and now we have a marinade for vegetables ready. Then we cut the potatoes into slices of 0.4 cm, the onion into rings of 0.2 cm. Mix the chopped vegetables with the marinade and put them on a greased baking sheet (or other dishes). We put in an oven preheated to 180 ° C for 20 minutes. Then we spread the dorado on the vegetables. Spray it with olive oil. And put the rest of the lemon on top. We cook another 15-20 minutes. Make sure the fish is juicy. Then we take the fish out of the oven and sprinkle it with thin strips of lemon peel and chili pepper.

Traditional Spanish cuisine is a curious mixture of Christian, Arabic, Jewish culinary traditions. Most often, meat and seafood are used in cooking: oysters, shrimp, mussels.

As in and, fresh vegetables and olive oil are very fond of here. Snacks and soups, various sausages are very popular. And the main dishes are a completely different story!

So, what should a tourist in Spain try? What is cooked from, when and with what is the main national food served?

Tapas

Traditional Spanish dishes are served as an appetizer for wine or. We can say that the concept itself is dimensionless. Any light food falls under it: from chips, olives and nuts to pork skewers. But most often these are still small sandwiches, and they are special for each institution. The Spaniards even like to have fun like this: visit as many bars as possible during the evening, drinking a glass of wine or beer in each and eating a signature snack.