Top 10 Spanish Dishes (in my unbiased experienced expert gastronomical opinion)

A meal that would typically feed at least 2 or 3 in Spain, I consumed myself haha because 'Murica

     There I was, in Madrid, Spain, first time, almost a decade ago. Social anxiety at its peak. I am an introvert and there was so much going on in my travel abroad group. So many people. I had never left the US before, neither had anybody that I had ever known. I couldn't ask anyone how this would be, or how that would be. I was scared of flying in a plane, I was scared of heights, I was scared of the ocean, I was scared of people to an extent, but I was never scared of getting away. By this point in my life I had become accustomed to running away, regardless of where it might be. 

     I sat there after the 13 hour journey, having crossed the ocean, in a plane, higher than ever. surrounded by people I didn't know, thousands of miles from home. I had done my research, as much as I could anyway, prior to arrival. I had some material through my program to review to kind of prepare me for my time abroad in Spain over the next half a year. Although that material covered a lot, there are just some things writing and documents simply cant prepare you for. Experience is the only thing that might be able to prepare you for something, but well, that takes a first time, and second time, and a third.

     I ventured off on my own, as I normally do, somewhere in Madrid, near our hotel. I remembered reading about one of the national dishes, paella, and having wanted to try it. To this point, all I had ever known was food that was available in the US and what I had eaten at home; Mexican, Italian, Native and  your typical "American" food like hot dogs, hamburgers, pizza and such. I had no idea the gastronomic adventure I would be going on from this point forth...

     Upon my return to the United States after my half year study abroad program in Malaga, Andalusia, Spain, one of the first questions someone had asked me was how was the food? They then proceeded to inquire if the tacos, enchiladas and burritos were any good out there before I could begin to answer...Often times, due to the proximity of Mexico to the US, a lack of education, knowledge, outright ignorance and the confusion of language with nationality, Spanish food can get confused for Mexican food. Nothing against Mexican food, I love it almost as much as I do any other culture rich in gastronomical variety and flavors, but it is very different in several aspects from Spanish food; one being a mix of indigenous food and the introduction of European ingredients and variations through cross cultural mixing, and the other being more Mediterranean based and generally unchanged for at least a millenia sometimes going back to the Roman times. Asking how the tacos in Spain are is equal to asking how is the "toad in the hole" in America....exactly....ni puta idea...not a fucking clue...

     Paella was about the extent to which my knowledge of Spanish cuisine had went, if that. To this point, as the Spanish would say, "ni puta idea", I had no idea myself what exactly Spanish food was outside of this rice stuff I read up on. In the US, especially where I lived in Colorado, there was really only Mexican, Italian, Native American and "American" food. I had never seen or heard of a "Spanish" restaurant, and I too never even thought about it as being possibly much different than the Mexican American cuisine I would come to know. Growing up, my mom would cook what I would eventually come to realize were some variations of Spanish dishes, like empanadas with meat and sometimes mixed with fruits, and some soups and stews that resembled in some fashion some of the ones you would find in the mountains of the Basque Country and mountain regions of Spain. 

     Before I begin I want to stress some of the differences in lifestyle and other things that make a difference in the cuisine in Spain and my home country of the United States, and perhaps others. In Spain, often there is a style of eating called picar, tapear and txikiteo. This can happen in home amongst the families as well as amongst friends in the street on a night out when you go to bar, tapa or pintxo "crawls". Essentially what it is is the art of cooking or ordering many various different dishes and sharing them among everybody around. It's a stark contrast to me and what I came accustomed to in the US, as what I order there is for me and I'm not necessarily looking to share it with anyone, outside of maybe a girlfriend, which I haven't had in a decade so that's irrelevant here. Spain is much more social when it comes to sharing just about everything, whereas in the US, what we order is for us. Imagine ordering a steak and lobster, cutting up the steak and lobster and electing to put it all in the middle of the table for all to share. What's more likely to happen is everyone at the table orders their own dishes in the US. Not the case in Spain.

     Another difference would be the importance of some of the meal times. In America, breakfast is the most important meal of the day because supposedly it helps to get the brain going for work and school and yutta yutta. In Spain, the prized meal is lunch. Breakfast often is nothing more than toast with jelly and butter or sometimes tomato and cured ham with a coffee with milk AKA cafe con leche and at times with a little shot of brandy for the daring. Lunch is when you will often have many of the dishes I will list as it is the most important meal of the day and instead of being eaten around noon or one, it usually often happens later in the day around 230 or 3, preceding the world renown spanish siesta, AKA afternoon nap time. I really came to dig this part of the culture here, as you can "throw a mean grub" and then crash out for a bit.You are highly unlikely to see people log jamming drive thru fast food places between 11 and 1 on any day to try and eat with their time crunch for lunch hour or feed the children in that same manner on weekends. Something like the scenes you would likely see at In n Out Burger or McDonald's. I'm not even sure there are drive thrus here come to think of it, I haven't seen one. Not that it's bad or wrong, but it's just a whole different ball game in Spain in comparison to America when it comes to eating. I would argue that food and the social structure around it and the family is taken a little more seriously in Spain. 

     One last thing before I hop into the top 10 foods, is the regionality of Spain, if regionality is even a word. Spain is broken up into several autonomous regions which are almost like entering a different country in some cases. Often times, the different regions have their own dialect or language all together while still having the castillano as the most widely known and spoken Spanish. Along with the differences in languages comes the differences in cuisine and ingredients available as some are closer to the sea or seaside while a good portion is inland and in the mountains. There are also differences in cultural practices, for instance bagpipes are played in the northwest with kilts worn with almost a Scottish type music. Down south in Andalusia, you will find many dressed sometimes in various colorful flamenco dresses for women and a vaquero horseman look for the men singing and dancing in a style consistent with the flamenco music which has more of an eastern feel and vibe to it. So the food is as varied as just about anything else throughout the several regions of Spain, all just as rich and flavorful as the other. 

     Without further ado, here are, in my experience, the top 10 foods, as I have had the privilege to try cuisine in almost every region throughout Spain from the Basque Country in the north to the Costa del Sol region in the south and several several areas in between. I studied abroad for half year in the south in Malaga and taught English in the central region off and on for almost a year in the Madrid area and have vacationed and traveled almost everywhere else in Spain from those points. I will say I have been blessed with being able to try many things in this particular list, both from exploring on my own to having the honor of living in the homes of the Spanish who make the absolute best home made versions of several of the dishes on this list. I had trouble rounding it down to 10 and even more trouble trying to number them 10 to 1. So this actually is in no particular order, as number 1 will not correspond to the best dish in Spain in my tastes. The country, to me, is far too rich and varied to deem any one dish the best, therefore, the list is the 10 best.

     1. Paella

Paella is probably the most well known if not one of the top well known dishes in Spain. It is an amazing dish featuring rice with saffron spice which gives it its color and some flavor and varies from place to place. It can feature seafood like prawns, calamari squid, clams, mussels and other fruits of the sea. There is also a variation where the rice is stained with octopus ink and is black, called paella negra. The dish can also feature meats like rabbit, duck, chicken and even sometimes chorizo. It is more often than not served with some vegetables like peas, green and red peppers, amongst others. Every variation I have ever tried was exquisite. The first time was with rabbit and I thought it was chicken until my host mom told me otherwise, but I would have to say my favorite variation features seafood in some capacity, most especially the calamari. You can never go wrong with having paella in Spain.

     




2. Gazpacho 

Gazpacho was born, it is said, from the Roman soldiers. They would mix the ingredients together to form a cold bread soup which included water, vinegar, olive oil, bread and garlic. Today's version includes tomato and green pepper, which wasn't introduced until the new and old worlds came together, making for a mixing of ingredients from the Americas and Europe. This is seriously a dish I could eat every single day, especially in the summer or spring, when it is typically consumed as a cold soup. I in fact got the honor to learn a recipe and practice making it in a home I live in outside of Madrid. You absolutely must get some good bread to go along with this delight to both soak it in, and clean the bowl with after consumption. This is a personal favorite of mine. Its appearance looks like a creamy reddish puree, so visually it doesn't look too appealing but once all the flavor hits you, its like a firework show for the taste buds.

3. Boquerones

As I had mentioned earlier, my first exposure really to Spanish cuisine ultimately came from the south in Andalusia, in the city of Malaga. Malaga is situated on the Costa del Sol on the Mediterranean Sea, therefore is rich in food from the sea. One of the gems here is boquerones, which are essentially anchovies from this coast. You can get them in 2 styles, fried or with vinegar and garlic, both of which are excellent but different. For my taste, I prefer fried with the crunchiness along with some lemon squeezed on them. An interesting tidbit is the locals from Malaga are sometimes themselves called "boquerones", as I at times call my friends from the area. In the summer there are places along the beach called "chiringuitos" where they place stacks of boquerones on skewers and place them in mini boats filled with wood and coal and cook them right there fresh on the spot. Perfect for summer, especially with a tinto verano or a nice jarra de sangria. Paradise. 

4. Cocido Madrileno 

I will never forget the first time I tried this amazing bowl of awesomeness. It was a colder day at the base of the mountains in Torrelodones at my au pair home. It is a soup with garbanzo beans, potatoes, various meats including lacon and morcilla with vegetables. All the flavors come together and immediately teleport you to "flavor town" lol. Morcilla is a blood sausage which comes from the north in a place called Burgos, where coincidentally my Salazar side of my ancestry originated, which I absolutely love. I wasn't sure if I would like it at first when I tried either morcilla or cocido based on look and inexperience, but they both wound up being personal favorites and the morcilla makes the soup in my opinion. My host mom in house makes the absolute best cocido madrileno and sometimes we would barter good English lessons for the house in exchange for a nice warm cocido, totally advantageous to me haha. 

5. Huevos Rotos

It's about noon, and I am at my host home in Spain, and I think I am actually going to go cook me a quick huevos rotos. Back home in the US, one of my absolute favorite things to eat, was eggs potatoes and bacon. Typically a breakfast dish, it was inspired by the full English breakfast and found its way onto tables in the US in the mornings. I ate that combo for lunch and dinner often as well. Come to find out, so do the Spanish! Except they add a very nice twist depending on where you are or who you ask. Huevos rotos means "broken eggs" and that's essentially what it is over potatoes in some form or another, including cubes or fries. What separates it from any other dish that may at first appear to be just your regular breakfast mix, is the addition of the Spanish meats. You can add jamon iberico or serrano which is the Spanish dry cured ham that I will cover later, the aforementioned morcilla or another personal fav is "chistorra" which is a special type of pork sausage from the north. However, you can add just about any Spanish meat to elevate the flavor from plain old breakfast to a Spanish delicacy. I eat this just about as often as I can given my love for the combo of eggs potatoes and meat. 

6. Pulpo a la Gallega

Before ever having came to Spain, I never really tried or liked seafood outside of the traditional stuff you might get at your local steakhouse like shrimp, crab, and lobster. It had never even occurred to me that octopus was even edible. Then I came to Spain. La gente esta muy loca. haha. I tried a few variations, one of which didn't make this list but was still very good, pulpo frito or fried octopus. Then I got the chance to try the dish that held the pride of the northwestern region, Galicia. It is a dish that has a very simple list of ingredients, but the preparation of the octopus is key. It's only octopus, potatoes, paprika a little salt and some olive oil. Never did I imagine I would come to love octopus as I do now, and to pulpo a la gallega do I owe my thanks. Coming from the rocky mountains of Colorado, I really didn't get exposure much to the wonderful things in the sea that were edible, and I am ever so grateful that I have gotten the opportunity in Spain to explore and expand my personal tastes on the level that I have. I tried pulpo a la gallega in plaza mayor, an old bullring and square in Madrid with much history and culinary variation, however it is a very touristy spot. With that being said, I will make my way to Galicia to try this dish in its full glory and authenticity one day hopefully soon.

     
7. Cochinillo

I had the pleasure of spending Christmas in Madrid with my host family and their extended family one year, and my God, talk about a feast! This is where I would be exposed to dish after dish, dessert after dessert, breads, soups, meats, cheeses and then the drinks! By far one of the best Christmas nights I will ever have and have ever had. I was of course the only non native speaker of Spanish and upon them hearing of me coming, they prepared a menu of all the items to be offered this night in both Spanish on one side and English on the other. It was a way that they welcomed me in their home for this amazing night. We were all sitting around laughing, drinking, sharing hams, cheeses and everything. Next thing you know from the kitchen they bring out a small baby pig, entirely cooked! I was about to call PETA, but then the dish was explained to me in full haha and then I took a pic with it. This delicacy is most well known in a place called Segovia, northwest of Madrid. It's a suckling pig cooked in whole during large feasts and is usually prepared between the age of 2 and 6 weeks old. I had my doubts, but as soon as I was given my plate, holy cannoli it was a flavor I had never expected. The meat is super sweet, soft, juicy, and if you pair it with the crunchy succulent skin, oh my word! Definitely one of the best things I had ever tasted in all of my life. I got to again try it on a Valentines Day family retreat in Segovia a few months later. I got to see them part the meat with a plate, but sadly I didn't get to witness the tradition of them breaking the plate afterward on the floor. 

8. Cordero Asado

During this same Christmas bash and feast, prior to the coming out of the cochinillo, another amazing delicacy came from out of the kitchen. I tell you this Christmas bash was unlike anything else I had ever been a part of for noche buena, as the Spanish call it. So I guess it was technically Christmas Eve. Boy, did I ever come to know exactly why it is called "noche buena", the good night. Anyhow, this next delicacy was something that I had never tried back home. Lamb. This happened to be grilled lamb, and cooked to an absolute perfection. I would come to love this dish, and Ii began to order it when I could back home, when the funds would allow for me to. I remember coming across my first Spanish restaurant in southern California called Sevillas. They offered this dish, cordero asado, although quite a bit more watered down and more expensive. Like several other dishes on this list, I had my doubts. To this point I hadn't ventured too far off gastronomically from what I had known and grown comfortable with. I imagined lamb as having a weird taste and texture, possibly "gamey" and so I never gave it a chance. This night was a must. It exceeded far and away any expectation I had of it. If you ever get a chance, you have to try grilled lamb, but here in Spain, it is absolutely one of the best things you can possibly eat.

9. Albondigas

These last few spots were really hard to fill. In this particular spot it came down to the winner, albondigas, and the runner up of rabo de toro. Rabo de toro is bulls tail, exactly what I just said, the tail of a bull. The Spanish are not wasteful and eat every bit of whatever animal they cook up. I had recently tried rabo de toro my first time, homemade, and it was exquisite. The sauce was critical and it reminded me of ribs that are cooked perfectly, where the meat just slides off of the bone. Again, a dish I was skeptical of trying at first from the sound, but damn, turned out to catapult itself just outside top 10 in my first taste of it. Back to albondigas, which are essentially meatballs with sauce and seasoned to perfection. Back home in Colorado, anything that is super good we refer to as "chronic", I'll let you speculate as to why, and albondigas are super chronic. The father of the home I teach English at used to bring home albondigas from his mom in Madrid every once in awhile. Both of my grandmas also used to make these. They are somewhat kind of similar to the Italian American meatballs that you can find in spaghetti and meatball dishes, but are isolated, and the sauce and meat mixture far different. The first time I tried them here in Spain, it was all I wanted to ever eat. I would always ask my home father if his mom sent albondigas, just about every other day. I'm sure he got annoyed at some point haha. Like with many things in Spain, the sauce is what makes the dish, and I honestly don't know what is used outside of possibly garlic and olive oil, like everything else in Spain. As with most other things that have sauce or puree, a good bread is critical to clean up the plate after.

10. Jamon Iberico de Bellota

One can not mention Spanish delicacies without mentioning the jamon iberico. Although there exists a couple different variations of this amazing delicacy, the best and most important is the jamon iberico de bellota. I just made some huevos rotos and I instead used the cheaper version called jamon serrano. Some of the differences I have come to know between the 2 is the jamon iberico is associated with "pata negra" or black foot. The hooves on the pigs in which this dry cured meat comes is essential in knowing its quality. The blacker the hoof, the better. The darker more red the meat, the better. This is due to a dietary difference in the black wild boar pigs from which this dry cured meat comes. It is unique to Iberia, the region of Spain and Portugal. The good kind, pata negra, jamon iberico de bellota, is a wild boar with a specific diet often times including acorns and chestnuts. They are dry cured for up to 2 years before being artfully sliced and served. Outside of that, I can not say I know much more about the process by which this meat is produced, but madre mia, its a meat that is superbly flavorful, nearly buttery and moist with the perfect combo of meat and fat, and is one of the best cuts of meat on planet earth. I wasn't aware of the differences before from jamon serrano and jamon iberico prior to being schooled in home on the delicate differences. Now I know to use serrano with my huevos rotos because the jamon iberico should be enjoyed completely by itself in order to totally appreciate its flavor, texture and preparation, so as not to compromise it by mixing it with anything else, almost like using Jack Daniels for a Jack and Coke and having a glass of Glenlivet Scotch on the rocks, solo, not wasting it with Coke.

And there you have my top 10 Spanish delicacies. My 3 runner ups would be Pintxos Gilda, a basque appetizer comprised of anchovy, manzanilla olive and a green guindilla pepper. Excellent combination of flavors to all come together as do most of the artfully produced pintxos from the northern Basque Country. I mentioned rabo de toro, bulls tail, earlier and touched on it briefly and last but not least for the runner ups is pincho moruno which is a Moorish influenced pork skewer seasoned to perfection with cubes of meat. 

Not only do I hope you enjoyed reading this, but I truly hope that you have gotten to or one day get to, experience the culinary treasures of Spain in all their variations and glory. With that being said, the tacos and enchiladas in Spain are alright...