Local Cuisine

Local Cuisine

Be prepared for tongue-twisting specialties such as the minimandonguilles amb tomaquet concassé (mini-meatballs with crushed tomato) and the llom de xai al cardomom amb favetes a la menta (lamb with cardamom and broad beans with mint). Menus in Catalan are as musical as they are aromatic, with rare ingredients such as salicornia (seawort, or sea asparagus) with bacalao (cod) or fragrant wild mushrooms such as rossinyols (chanterelles) and moixernons (field agaric) accompanying dishes such as mandonguilles amb sepia (meatballs with cuttlefish).

Four diverse sauces come to the classical Catalan table: sofregit (fried onion, tomato, and garlic used as a base for nearly everything); samfaina (a ratatouille-like sofregit with eggplant and sweet red peppers); picada (a paste of garlic, almonds, bread crumbs, and olive oil, that can also include pine nuts, parsley, saffron, or chocolate); and allioli (pounded garlic and olive oil).

The three e's deserve a place in any Catalan culinary anthology: escalivada (roasted red peppers, eggplants, and tomatoes served in garlic and olive oil); esqueixada (shredded salt-cod salad served raw with onions, peppers, olives, beans, olive oil, and vinegar); and escudella (a winter stew of meats and vegetables with noodles and beans).

Universal dishes, if somewhat old-fashioned, are pa amb tomaquet (toasted bread with squeezed tomato and olive oil), espinacas a la catalana (spinach cooked with raisins, garlic, and pine nuts), and botifarra amb mongetes (pork sausage with white beans). The mar i muntanya (sea and mountain, or Catalan surf 'n' turf), such as stewed chicken and prawns or meatballs and cuttlefish, has been a standard since Roman times. Rice dishes are called arròs and range from the standard seafood paella to the arròs a banda (paella with shelled prawns, shrimp, and mussels), to arròs negre (paella cooked in cuttlefish ink), to fideuà (paella made of vermicelli noodles) or arròs caldoso (a brothy risotto-like dish made with lobster).

Fresh fish such as llobarro (sea bass, lubina in Spanish) or dorada (gilthead bream) cooked a la sal (in a shell of salt) are standards, as are llenguado (sole) and rodaballo (turbot). Duck, goose, chicken, and rabbit frequent Catalan menus, as do cabrit (kid or baby goat), xai (lamb), llom (pork), and bou (beef). Finally, come desserts, the two Catalan classics, mel i mató (honey and fresh cream cheese) and crema catalana (a crème brûlée, sweet custard with a caramelized glaze).

A typical session à table in Barcelona might begin with pica-pica (hors d'oeuvres), a variety of delicacies such as jamón ibérico de bellota (acorn-fed ham), xipirones (baby squid), pimientos de Padrón (green peppers, some piquante), or bunyols de bacallà (cod fritters or croquettes), and pa amb tomaquet (bread with tomato). From here you can order a starter such as canelones (cannelloni) or esqueixada(shredded salt-cod salad served raw with onions, peppers, olives, beans, olive oil, and vinegar), or you can go straight to your main course.

Wines from Catalonia's 10 DO (denominación de origen) wine-growing zones begin at the Penedès region just west of Barcelona, famous for cava, the local méthode champenoise sparkling wine. Bottles to look for include reds such as Gran Caus, Coronas, Gran Coronas, Raimat, Oliver Conti, and all of the Priorats; whites such as Costers del Segre, Raimat Chardonnay, Abadal Picapoll, Gran Viña Sol, and Marques de Allella; or cavas including bruts and brut naturs from Agustí Torelló, Gramona, and Juvé & Camps Reserva de la Familia.