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WINTER 2007
Discover the Pleasure of Dining Out , by jeff koehler
Discover the Pleasure of Dining Out , by jeff koehler
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The influence of Spanish cuisine in the U.S. and around the globe in the last decade has been tremendous. Star-chefs such as Juan Mari Arzak, Ferran Adrià, and Joan Roca have led a charge of unceasing experimentation, often using a scientific approach to culinary creativity. They are purveyors of food–as-art-butalso-surprise. Their faces cover magazines greenand their ideas (and recipes) fill them. Chefs from the corners of the globe make pilgrimages – there is no other word for it – to Arzak, El Bulli, El Celler de Can Roca, Martín Berasategui’s eponymous restaurant, Quique Dacosta’s El Poblet, and the like, and translate some of that dazzled inspiration into their own cookingback home. As well, more and more people are traveling to Spain with a culinary interest – or at least with their appetites firmly in place – and are discovering the pleasures, diversity and, especially in certain regions, sophistication of cooking around the country. To satisfy the growing American interest in all food things Spanish, there has been along with an increase in authentic Iberian delicacies being imported into the U.S., a rise in the number of places to eat Spanish food across America. For the most part, these fall into two categories, tapas bars and “Spanish restaurants.” In Spain, of course, the division of eating establishments is more complex. There are many types, each with its own traits, dishes, and regional variations. Here are five favorites to start. COCINA DE MERCADO What is more enjoyable than a plate of fresh white asparagus in late spring, the thick stalks grilled and drizzled with fullbodied olive oil? Or fresh summer figs with jamón Ibérico as an appetizer and with fresh cheese for dessert? Or, best of all, a feast of wild mushrooms in autumn. Entire menus are created around different varieties of mushrooms, and include anything from pale, meaty gírgoles (king trumpets) grilled with garlic and parsley to a homey soupy rice with duck and trumpet-shaped yellow camagrocs (yellow-footed chanterelles) to layers of filo pastry stuffed with ceps (porcini mushrooms). For me, cocina de mercado peaks inside covered markets themselves at small bars, often with a handful of counter stools and an open kitchen. This is perfectly exemplified by Bar Pinotxo in Barcelona’s La Boqueria market where ingredients are bought in the surrounding stalls. (Need more artichokes? Tender garlic shoots? Just call out to the green-grocer across the aisle.) There are always a handful of Pinotxo classics available – small white beans flash-fried with baby squid; chickpeas with blood sausage, pine nuts, and raisins; cap i pota (a rich head and foot stew) – but, as with all cocina de mercado, you always have to ask, What’s cooking today? CHIRINGUITOS AT THE BEACH On Galician beaches, there are chiringuitos that specialize in pulpo (octopus) and serve tender pieces of pulpo a feira (also called a la gallega, with olive oil and paprika) and pulpo con cachelos (atop thinly sliced potatoes). In Catalunya and Valencia some chiringuitos prepare paella or fideuà (similar to paella but made with short fideo noodles instead of rice) while in Andalucía some do superb pescadito frito (small fried fish). The beaches around Málaga are famous for espeto de sardinas – six or eight fresh sardines skewered on poles that are driven into the sand and leaned over embers. They are delicious, smoky and earthy, but also simple, inexpensive (tourist season roughly coincides with the peak of the sardine run), and something not done at home. Festive finger food perfect for a hot day at the beach. CASA DE COMIDAS Prominent are dishes that need a spoon to eat – caldos, estafados, cocidos, potajes – made with inexpensive cuts of meats, cured sausages, lots of vegetables, and plenty of legumes, all long-simmered to coax out every last bit of flavor. This is where cooking still feels distinctly regional and classics are as hearty and familiar as mama’s patatas riojana (potatoes with chorizo, in La Rioja) or fabada (white bean stew with chorizo and morcilla, in Asturias). Cocido is found around Spain but peaks in Madrid where it’s called cocido madrileño. Essentially a multipart stew, the chickpeas, onion, cabbage, carrots, turnips, morcilla, chorizo, pig’s feet, etc. are simmered for a few hours and then removed; the broth is eaten as soup first followed by the vegetables and legumes and then the meat. Perhaps the best compliment is walking out of a casa de comidas saying, “It was just as good as mama makes!” COCINA DE AUTOR The cult of the chef has superseded that of the designer – restaurantes de diseño peaked around the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games. These days it’s about name chefs preparing contemporary cuisine with a distinctive fingerprint de autor, of the author. The most famous (and creative) is Ferran Adrià, but countless other Spanish chefs are creating more user-friendly dishes while keeping an emphasis on the complexities of tastes and transformed textures, on ingredients (whether from the depths of the Amazon or the restaurant’s own organic garden), and on surprising combinations. While Asian cuisine continues to be hugely influential and foie gras, so daring in the 1980s and 1990s, remains almost mandatory – say, pan seared with caramelized apples, stuffed into zucchini blossoms, or, as its so perfectly served at Venta Moncalvillo near the La Rioja-Basque border, in the shape of a cork with a Pedro Ximénez reduction, a few sultanas, and warm toasted raisin bread – Spanish chefs are drawing widely on global products. Ruscalleda at Sant Pau on the Costa Brava and Raúl Aleixandre at Ca’ Sento in Valencia are both obsessive about the ingredients they use – simply the best quality, usually very local, always seasonal. They work largely from a traditional base, reworking regional classics with distinctive, poetic touches – her whole pigeons stuffed with salted cherry tree leaves and fresh sweet-and-sour cherries, his turbot with tapioca and natural tomato. Creating such culinary fingerprints is difficult, demanding and, ultimately, rewarding – for the chef, but, most of all, for the diner. BAR DE TAPAS Most tapas bars, though, maintain a more traditional line. But what exactly is traditional? The bars themselves come in every shape and size, sometimes alone, other times attached to a dining room (such as the incomparable El Faro in Cádiz, one of the best seafood restaurant in Andalucía). They can be under lit, historical tabernas with colorful tiles and bullfighting memorable or minimalist places with a DJ and imported beers. And what do they offer? There are thousands of tapas, perhaps tens of thousands. Every village has its specialties, every bar, and every chef. To start with there are numerous favorites across Spain: tortilla de patatas, patatas bravas, tinned berberechos (cockles), fresh boquerones in vinegar, chistorra (fried paprika-laden sausages from Navarra), stuffed pimientos del piquillo, slices of Manchego cheese or jamón ibérico or mojama (dried, salted tuna), anchovies… But also countless regional ones, often paired with a local drink. In Andalucía, deep-fried fish or a tortilla de camarones (shrimp fritter) go perfectly with fino (sherry). In Galicia, it’s octopus or prawns or mussels with crisp white wine from the Rías Baixas, in Asturias, morcilla (blood sausage) with a glass of cider. In the Canary Islands papas arrugadas con mojo picón, golf ball-sized “wrinkled potatoes” broken with the fingers and dipped into a spicy garlic, oil, and vinegar sauce, are eaten with locallybrewed Dorada or Tropical beer. At their simplest, going back to their roots as a nibble with a drink, tapas are often at their best. Jeff Koehler is the author of La Paella: Deliciously Authentic Rice Dishes from Spain’s Mediterranean Coast. His website is www.jeff-koehler.com. |
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