Extremaduran cuisine
Encyclopedia
Extremadura
, Spain
is known for the different ways of preparing the Iberian pork
and the mutton. The main characteristics of the traditional Extremaduran cuisine were its simplicity, its lack of clutter and its low cost. It is also a cuisine reflecting a generous spirit, for many of its preparations used to be cooked in large pots to share with visitors, friends and neighbors. The resulting dishes are eaten with local bread
.
The preferred spices in Extremaduran cuisine are pennyroyal
, garlic
, bay leaves
and anise
. Olive oil
is used for frying and as an ingredient in many dishes.
with pig's feet), caldereta de cordero (mutton stew), cabrito en cuchifrito, frite de cordero (mutton fry) and the cabrito a la hortelana (lamb stew with vegetables).
The chanfaina in Extremadura has nothing to do with similarly named dishes in the Iberian Peninsula
, like the Catalan
Xanfaina, which is a Spanish version of the Occitan Ratatouille
. The Extremaduran chanfaina is a rich stew of mutton liver, brain, heart and kidneys cooked with a mixture of bay leaves, garlic, bread crumbs and boiled eggs.
Traditional Extremaduran gastronomy includes other meats, like hen
(gallina), which is one of the main ingredients of the emblematic cocido extremeño stew, hare
arroz con liebre (rice with hare) and frogs
ancas de ranas fritas (fried frog legs). It also includes local fishes like the tench tencas fritas (fried tenches) and trout
truchas con jamón (trouts with ham), and even a certain large lizard in a regional speciality known as lagarto con tomate. This dish is made by frying slices of lizard in olive oil
, after which they are stewed with tomato
es and onion
s on a slow fire in an earthenware
pot.
Among the basic popular dishes the ones based on chick peas are dominant. Other main ingredients are, habichuelas (beans), potato
s, pumpkin
, chestnut
s, onion
s and bell pepper
s. The most famous dishes of Extremadura are the cocido extremeño, the potaje de garbanzos y judías blancas (chick pea and bean soup), the sopa blanca de ajos (white garlic soup), the potaje de castañas secas (chestnut soup), the olla con "asaura" (a stew with offal and blood), the Ajoblanco extremeño and the gazpacho extremeño (a variant of gazpacho
with ham). There is very little in the way of vegetarian dishes in the traditional cuisine.
Some of the ancestral dishes of Extremadura are fast disappearing, like the migas
and the gachas
. These are very ancient dishes, one of the most prominent being the migas con torreznos. Vegetables like cardoon
and borage
were formerly widely used in soups.
Certain dishes of the Extremaduran cuisine show the influence of neighboring Portugal
, like the lentejas estofadas (stewed lentil
s) and the sopa de perdices (partridge
soup).
s are usually left to roam in relative freedom and their main diet are the acorn
s falling from the local oak
trees. Their meat is highly valued throughout Spain, especially their ham
.
Extremaduran embutido
s (pork preserves) have a local flavor, like the morcilla «Felisa» (based on blood and onion), morcillas de cabezá (head innards morcillas), morcillas patateras (potato morcillas), as well as morcillas prepared with pumpkin. Dry cured pork products include the chacinas,and the local ham
, longaniza
and chorizo
.
, honey
, pork fat, milk, sugar and olive oil. The most well-known are the buñuelos
, magdalenas (anise-parfumed muffin
s), perrunillas, galletas, rosquillas de vino, roscas fritas (fried doughnuts), coquillos de miel, hijuelas, gachas extremeñas, bollos fritos (fried buns), floretas, socochones hurdanos and the jeringas.
Extremadura
Extremadura is an autonomous community of western Spain whose capital city is Mérida. Its component provinces are Cáceres and Badajoz. It is bordered by Portugal to the west...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
is known for the different ways of preparing the Iberian pork
Pork
Pork is the culinary name for meat from the domestic pig , which is eaten in many countries. It is one of the most commonly consumed meats worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BC....
and the mutton. The main characteristics of the traditional Extremaduran cuisine were its simplicity, its lack of clutter and its low cost. It is also a cuisine reflecting a generous spirit, for many of its preparations used to be cooked in large pots to share with visitors, friends and neighbors. The resulting dishes are eaten with local bread
Bread
Bread is a staple food prepared by cooking a dough of flour and water and often additional ingredients. Doughs are usually baked, but in some cuisines breads are steamed , fried , or baked on an unoiled frying pan . It may be leavened or unleavened...
.
The preferred spices in Extremaduran cuisine are pennyroyal
Pennyroyal
Pennyroyal refers to two plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae. For the American species, see American pennyroyal. The European pennyroyal, Mentha pulegium, , is a plant in the mint genus, within the family Lamiaceae. Crushed Pennyroyal leaves exhibit a very strong fragrance similar to spearmint...
, garlic
Garlic
Allium sativum, commonly known as garlic, is a species in the onion genus, Allium. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, and rakkyo. Dating back over 6,000 years, garlic is native to central Asia, and has long been a staple in the Mediterranean region, as well as a frequent...
, bay leaves
Bay Laurel
The bay laurel , also known as sweet bay, bay tree, true laurel, Grecian laurel, laurel tree, or simply laurel, is an aromatic evergreen tree or large shrub with green, glossy leaves, native to the Mediterranean region. It is the source of the bay leaf used in cooking...
and anise
Anise
Anise , Pimpinella anisum, also called aniseed, is a flowering plant in the family Apiaceae native to the eastern Mediterranean region and Southwest Asia. Its flavor resembles that of liquorice, fennel, and tarragon.- Biology :...
. Olive oil
Olive oil
Olive oil is an oil obtained from the olive , a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin. It is commonly used in cooking, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and soaps and as a fuel for traditional oil lamps...
is used for frying and as an ingredient in many dishes.
Representative dishes
Among the pork or mutton-based dishes, some of the most well-known are the callos con manos de cerdo (tripeTripe
Tripe is a type of edible offal from the stomachs of various farm animals.-Beef tripe:...
with pig's feet), caldereta de cordero (mutton stew), cabrito en cuchifrito, frite de cordero (mutton fry) and the cabrito a la hortelana (lamb stew with vegetables).
The chanfaina in Extremadura has nothing to do with similarly named dishes in the Iberian Peninsula
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
, like the Catalan
Catalan cuisine
Catalan cuisine is a Mediterranean cuisine from Catalonia. It may also refer to the shared cuisine of Roussillon and Andorra, which has a similar cuisine to the Alt Urgell and Cerdanya comarques, often referred to as "Catalan mountain cuisine"...
Xanfaina, which is a Spanish version of the Occitan Ratatouille
Ratatouille
Ratatouille is a traditional French Provençal stewed vegetable dish, originating in Nice. The full name of the dish is ratatouille niçoise.- Origin :...
. The Extremaduran chanfaina is a rich stew of mutton liver, brain, heart and kidneys cooked with a mixture of bay leaves, garlic, bread crumbs and boiled eggs.
Traditional Extremaduran gastronomy includes other meats, like hen
Chicken
The chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...
(gallina), which is one of the main ingredients of the emblematic cocido extremeño stew, hare
Hare
Hares and jackrabbits are leporids belonging to the genus Lepus. Hares less than one year old are called leverets. Four species commonly known as types of hare are classified outside of Lepus: the hispid hare , and three species known as red rock hares .Hares are very fast-moving...
arroz con liebre (rice with hare) and frogs
Edible Frog
The Edible Frog is a name for a common European frog, also known as the common water frog or green frog . It is used for food, particularly in France for the delicacy frog legs...
ancas de ranas fritas (fried frog legs). It also includes local fishes like the tench tencas fritas (fried tenches) and trout
Trout
Trout is the name for a number of species of freshwater and saltwater fish belonging to the Salmoninae subfamily of the family Salmonidae. Salmon belong to the same family as trout. Most salmon species spend almost all their lives in salt water...
truchas con jamón (trouts with ham), and even a certain large lizard in a regional speciality known as lagarto con tomate. This dish is made by frying slices of lizard in olive oil
Olive oil
Olive oil is an oil obtained from the olive , a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin. It is commonly used in cooking, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and soaps and as a fuel for traditional oil lamps...
, after which they are stewed with tomato
Tomato
The word "tomato" may refer to the plant or the edible, typically red, fruit which it bears. Originating in South America, the tomato was spread around the world following the Spanish colonization of the Americas, and its many varieties are now widely grown, often in greenhouses in cooler...
es and onion
Onion
The onion , also known as the bulb onion, common onion and garden onion, is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Allium. The genus Allium also contains a number of other species variously referred to as onions and cultivated for food, such as the Japanese bunching onion The onion...
s on a slow fire in an earthenware
Earthenware
Earthenware is a common ceramic material, which is used extensively for pottery tableware and decorative objects.-Types of earthenware:Although body formulations vary between countries and even between individual makers, a generic composition is 25% ball clay, 28% kaolin, 32% quartz, and 15%...
pot.
Among the basic popular dishes the ones based on chick peas are dominant. Other main ingredients are, habichuelas (beans), potato
Potato
The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...
s, pumpkin
Pumpkin
A pumpkin is a gourd-like squash of the genus Cucurbita and the family Cucurbitaceae . It commonly refers to cultivars of any one of the species Cucurbita pepo, Cucurbita mixta, Cucurbita maxima, and Cucurbita moschata, and is native to North America...
, chestnut
Chestnut
Chestnut , some species called chinkapin or chinquapin, is a genus of eight or nine species of deciduous trees and shrubs in the beech family Fagaceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce.-Species:The chestnut belongs to the...
s, onion
Onion
The onion , also known as the bulb onion, common onion and garden onion, is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Allium. The genus Allium also contains a number of other species variously referred to as onions and cultivated for food, such as the Japanese bunching onion The onion...
s and bell pepper
Bell pepper
Bell pepper, also known as sweet pepper or a pepper and capsicum , is a cultivar group of the species Capsicum annuum . Cultivars of the plant produce fruits in different colors, including red, yellow, orange and green. Bell peppers are sometimes grouped with less pungent pepper varieties as...
s. The most famous dishes of Extremadura are the cocido extremeño, the potaje de garbanzos y judías blancas (chick pea and bean soup), the sopa blanca de ajos (white garlic soup), the potaje de castañas secas (chestnut soup), the olla con "asaura" (a stew with offal and blood), the Ajoblanco extremeño and the gazpacho extremeño (a variant of gazpacho
Gazpacho
Gazpacho is a cold Spanish/Portuguese tomato-based raw vegetable soup, originating in the southern region of Andalucía. Gazpacho is widely consumed throughout Spain, neighboring Portugal and parts of Latin America...
with ham). There is very little in the way of vegetarian dishes in the traditional cuisine.
Some of the ancestral dishes of Extremadura are fast disappearing, like the migas
Migas
Migas is the name used for a dish in Spanish and Portuguese cuisine and a significantly different dish in Tex-Mex cuisine.-Spanish migas:...
and the gachas
Gachas
Gachas is an ancestral basic dish from central and southern Spain. Its main ingredients are flour, water, olive oil, garlic and salt.- Origin :Gachas are based on a very ancient Iberian flour-based staple food preparation....
. These are very ancient dishes, one of the most prominent being the migas con torreznos. Vegetables like cardoon
Cardoon
The cardoon , also called the artichoke thistle, cardone, cardoni, carduni or cardi, is a thistle-like plant in the aster family Asteraceae. It is the naturally occurring form of the same species as the globe artichoke, and has many cultivated varieties...
and borage
Borage
Borage, , also known as a starflower, is an annual herb originating in Syria, but naturalized throughout the Mediterranean region, as well as Asia Minor, Europe, North Africa, and South America. It grows to a height of , and is bristly or hairy all over the stems and leaves; the leaves are...
were formerly widely used in soups.
Certain dishes of the Extremaduran cuisine show the influence of neighboring Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, like the lentejas estofadas (stewed lentil
Lentil
The lentil is an edible pulse. It is a bushy annual plant of the legume family, grown for its lens-shaped seeds...
s) and the sopa de perdices (partridge
Partridge
Partridges are birds in the pheasant family, Phasianidae. They are a non-migratory Old World group.These are medium-sized birds, intermediate between the larger pheasants and the smaller quails. Partridges are native to Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East...
soup).
Embutidos
Extremadura's Iberian pigPig
A pig is any of the animals in the genus Sus, within the Suidae family of even-toed ungulates. Pigs include the domestic pig, its ancestor the wild boar, and several other wild relatives...
s are usually left to roam in relative freedom and their main diet are the acorn
Acorn
The acorn, or oak nut, is the nut of the oaks and their close relatives . It usually contains a single seed , enclosed in a tough, leathery shell, and borne in a cup-shaped cupule. Acorns vary from 1–6 cm long and 0.8–4 cm broad...
s falling from the local oak
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
trees. Their meat is highly valued throughout Spain, especially their ham
Ham
Ham is a cut of meat from the thigh of the hind leg of certain animals, especiallypigs. Nearly all hams sold today are fully cooked or cured.-Etymology:...
.
Extremaduran embutido
Embutido
An embutido , enchido or embotits is a generic term for sausages found in Spain, Portugal, the Philippines, and Central and South America....
s (pork preserves) have a local flavor, like the morcilla «Felisa» (based on blood and onion), morcillas de cabezá (head innards morcillas), morcillas patateras (potato morcillas), as well as morcillas prepared with pumpkin. Dry cured pork products include the chacinas,and the local ham
Ham
Ham is a cut of meat from the thigh of the hind leg of certain animals, especiallypigs. Nearly all hams sold today are fully cooked or cured.-Etymology:...
, longaniza
Salami
Salami is cured sausage, fermented and air-dried meat, originating from one of a variety of animals. Historically, salami has been popular among Southern European peasants because it can be stored at room temperature for periods of up to 10 years, supplementing a possibly meager or inconsistent...
and chorizo
Chorizo
Chorizo is a term encompassing several types of pork sausages originating from the Iberian Peninsula.In English, it is usually pronounced , , or , but sometimes ....
.
Desserts and sweets
Extremaduran desserts and sweets are mostly prepared using the local wheat flourWheat flour
Wheat flour is a powder made from the grinding of wheat used for human consumption. More wheat flour is produced than any other flour. Wheat varieties are called "clean," "white," or "brown" if they have high gluten content, and they are called "soft" or "weak" flour if gluten content is low...
, honey
Honey
Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans...
, pork fat, milk, sugar and olive oil. The most well-known are the buñuelos
Buñuelos
A Buñuelo alternatively called bimuelo, birmuelo, bermuelo, burmuelo, bonuelo; ) is a fried dough ball. It is a popular snack in Argentina, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Spain, Peru, the Philippines, Turkey, Greece, Morocco, and is a tradition at Christmas, Ramadan and among Sephardic Jews at...
, magdalenas (anise-parfumed muffin
Muffin
A muffin is an American English name for a type of quick bread that is baked in small portions. Many forms are somewhat like small cakes or cupcakes in shape, although they usually are not as sweet as cupcakes and generally lack frosting. Savory varieties, such as cornbread muffins, also exist...
s), perrunillas, galletas, rosquillas de vino, roscas fritas (fried doughnuts), coquillos de miel, hijuelas, gachas extremeñas, bollos fritos (fried buns), floretas, socochones hurdanos and the jeringas.