Tapas – a great Spanish invention

What was the inspiration for the Spanish custom of serving a snack with every drink you order in a bar or café? – The word tapa literally means “a lid”. Peasants going out to toil in the fields would take with them a jug of wine sealed by a piece of bread bearing a slice of cheese or ham, covered by muslin. This food became known as the tapa, and since peasants also frequented bars the practice caught on there, and since in the case of Granada there are over 60,000 students the idea of charging for the tapa is unthinkable! However, reader please note: free tapas is an indulgence granted only by Granada and a handful of other cities in eastern Andalucia. Elsewhere in Spain you have to order and pay for them separately, but they are seldom expensive and often of high quality.

Naturally, this largesse on the part of bars and cafés has given rise to a whole culture of eating and drinking in Spanish cities which makes for one of the simplest of pleasures of life in this decidedly hedonistic country. In Spanish the verb to tapear means to spend an evening going from bar to bar trying out the tapas in each – an enjoyable evening of social, culinary and geographic discovery is ensured. In Granada, where there is a bar/restaurant for every 106 inhabitants (!), you inevitably find a fair degree of variety. Depending on where you frequent you may find that the emphasis is on quantity (bread rolls, bocadillos and roscas, filled with ham and cheese, is a favorite of bars catering to the university students) or quality, sometimes both, and occasionally neither… Some establishments allow you to choose ( – often only a few choices per group, so allegiances must be formed with your drinking partners as to which tapa you want), but the general rule is to serve one particular tapa with each round of drinks, the quality escalating as an incentive to stay there all evening. This seldom happens, though. Unlike in colder climates people do move on from one place to another, and this mobility is an essential part of an evening spent tapeando.

Some of the tapas you may encounter on your travels in Granada are:

• Albóndigas – Meat balls (pork, breadcrumbs and herbs) often in a tomato sauce
• Aceitunas – Olives, of which there are many, many varieties… Andalucia produces one-fifth of the world’s supply
• Boquerones – Marinated fillets of minnow-size fish (literally “big mouthfuls”)
• Berenjenas – Lightly-fried slices of aubergine, often served with molasses, a delicious savory-sweet combination
• Calamares – Deep-fried squid rings – and a slice of lemon
• Caracoles – Spicy snails! A speciality of bars in the Albaicín area, the old Moorish quarter
• Chorizo – Pork sausage flavoured with paprika & spices
• Gambas – Shrimp – often fried in garlic (al ajillo)
• Jamón – Ham, king of the tapa, usually slices of mountain-cured jamón serrano
• Lomo – Pork loin, prince of the tapa, - in Andalucia at least, where in the centuries of The Inquisition eating pork was an outward sign of irreproachable Christian faith
• Migas – Quintessential peasant food: fried breadcrumbs with left-overs…
• Morcilla – Better not to ask which parts of the pig go into this richly-spiced sausage, just enjoy, it’s delicious!
• Patatas pobre – Slow-fried potatoes with green peppers – from the nearby Alpujarra mountains
• Pinchitos – Kebab skewers of pork or lamb
• Piquillos – Red peppers, often stuffed with cod (relleno de bacalao)
• Pisto – Stew of tomatoes, peppers, aubergine, courgettes
• Salchichón – Cured sausage, comes in many shapes and forms
• Tortilla – The famous Spanish omelet: eggs, potatoes and onions

Granada’s rich cuisine

As varied as the province itself

The great array of local cuisine in Granada and its surrounding province is attributable to two principal factors. One is the huge range of food grown in the many different climatic zones of the province. From the terraced fields of the high Alpujarra to the Tropical Coast, Granada has something of everything. Wheat, olives, almonds, mountain-cured hams and meats, market garden vegetables, cherries, apricots, apples, sugar cane, avocadoes and all manner of tropical fruits are grown here; goats, sheep, poultry and pigs provide fresh meat; and the Mediterranean yields a large array of fresh fish and seafood.

The other key influence in the rich diversity of Granada’s cooking is the region’s long-lived contact with the Arab world. Indeed, many of the crops cultivated in the area owe their existence on Spanish (and European) soil to the more than seven centuries of Moorish dominion. Among those brought from the Middle East and North Africa are rice, sugar cane, figs, dates, almonds, apricots, lemons and oranges (- but only the bitter variety, known as “Seville Oranges”, were imported by the Moors; the sweet variety were introduced by the Christians of 16th century Spain, from China), together with many vegetables previously unknown, such as artichokes, egg plant and spinach, and spices such as cinnamon, cumin and saffron. Perhaps the most emblematic import of all was the pomegranate, a fruit which has come to symbolize Granada – and which some claim to be the derivation of the city’s name: the Spanish call it the granada.

Local specialties you should try

In homage to the great culinary innovator of 10th century al-Andalus, al-Ziryab of Baghdad - the man credited with having first introduced to Europe a fashion for eating meals in a set sequence - we present some local delicacies you may find in Granada, starting with the soups and moving on through to the desserts.

Sopa de Ajo

The typical poor man’s dish, this now respectable soup consists of nothing more than bread, olive oil, garlic and water. Garlic soup, though, is far better than the sum of its parts, and is a unique contribution to the world’s culinary delights. Found all over Andalucia, with many local variations, it is one of the dishes associated with Granada.

Remojón

A salad of cod, black olives, oranges, spring onions and tomatoes in a vinaigrette marinade. One of the specialities of the Lecrin Valley, a beautiful valley famed for its citrus groves and quiet streams.

Pescaito Frito

Literally “little fried fishes”. Wonderful when eaten on the beach on a bright, sunny winter’s day, washed down with a cold glass of beer.

Moraga de sardines

Sardines prepared with white wine, garlic, olive oil, parsley and lemon juice. Simplicity itself.

Habas con Jamón

Broad beans are a favorite winter crop, as they are frost-resistant. From February onwards they are served in this traditional dish with pieces of jamón serrano (mountain-cured ham): a delicious combination.

Tortilla Sacromonte

This omelet is named after the Abbey of Sacromonte in Granada, where it is the dish of honor in the festivities for San Cecilio, on the first Sunday of February. WARNING: the authentic version contains lamb’s brains and testicles (…), although the restaurants of Granada are usually savvy enough to replace these ingredients with chopped ham and kidneys.

Alboronja

A typical dish of Moclín, a small village with an imposing ruined Arabic castle, to the north of Granada. It combines chicken, almonds, garlic and white beans.

Choto al ajillo

Kid (or lamb) braised in white wine and lots of garlic. A mountain village would be the place to try this, after a satisfying hike.

Granadina de Ternera

Veal cutlets wrapped in jamón serrano, fried with mushrooms, sherry and garlic.

Olla de San Antón

A big casserole of lima beans, blood sausage, pig’s head or ear, bacon, dripping, thistles – whatever comes to hand in the cold weeks of mid-January when villagers gather together to celebrate the fiesta of San Antón. – Also acts as a rather late hangover cure after Christmas and the New Year…

Piononos

From the town of Santa Fe, on the outskirts of Granada, come these delicious desserts, based on sponge cake, cream, burnt sugar, cinnamon – and a jealously guarded secret ingredient! One explanation for their strange name is that someone once remarked “these are as good as Pius Noveno” – Pius IX, a 19th century pope of legendary good works.

Torta Real

A specialty of Motril, the main coastal port of Granada Province. It is based on almonds – a star ingredient in desserts here, influenced as they were by the Moors.

Tocino de Cielo

This curiously-named dessert – “heavenly bacon” – comes from Guadix, a city of cave dwellings and some fine monuments, and is based on egg yolks, as with so many Spanish desserts.