There are hundreds of famous Spanish foods that run right through the menu and hit every spot along the taste spectrum. High quality ingredients are key to making Spanish food so unique and popular, not just in Spain, but worldwide, too.
We challenged Basco founder, and professional chef, Javier De La Hormaza to curate just 16 of his personal favourite 16 famous Spanish foods that span the entire menu. It wasn’t easy, but here are Javier’s pick along with recipes and key ingredients you need to recreate them yourself at home. Let’s get started…
Ajoblanco is a typical Andalucian dish of cold almond soup, known as the ‘white gazpacho’ and one of the most famous Spanish foods. Its origins are thought to be Roman or Greek, and this peasant dish is served very cold in the hot months. It can be accompanied by many different things – it can be garnished with cured anchovies with strawberries or in Malaga, served with muscatel grapes and slices of apple or melon.
Few famous Spanish foods are simpler to prepare and more delicious than Gamba Roja a la Sal. The most important thing is the quality of the ingredients, as it is the simple constituents that really sing. You need just top quality gamba roja prawns, rock salt and lemon juice. That’s it, apart from a glass or two of ultra-chilled manzanilla sherry and crusty bread.
Migas Manchegas is a humble but one of the most famous Spanish foods from La Mancha. Traditionally, it uses basic ingredients that shepherds could carry – stale bread, pancetta and chorizo. “Migas”, meaning breadcrumbs, are lightly fried cubes of stale bread tossed in garlic, smoked pancetta, chorizo sausage and choricero pepper puree. It is often topped with a soft fried egg for dipping into and green grapes.
Huevos Rotos con Jamón is one of the oldest and most famous Spanish foods. This delicious peasant dish was mentioned back in 1605 in Spain’s literature masterpiece, Don Quixote of La Mancha. Huevos Rotos con Jamón, can be made with chorizo or chistorra on their own, or with morcilla, gulas or black truffle. In Javier’s recipe, he prefers to serve them with straw potatoes rather than chips, as they provide a wonderfully crunchy texture.
Pulpo a la Gallega, also known as Pulpo a Feira, is a traditional Galician dish and another of the famous Spanish foods you must try. Interestingly, Pulpo a la Gallega is served during the patron saint festivities of the city of Lugo. Don’t be daunted by the thought of preparing and cooking octopus – you won’t need to pound it or hit it against a wall to tenderise it as Basco whole octopus arrives frozen which actually helps to tenderise the meat.
No list of popular and famous Spanish foods could be taken seriously without the inclusion of a Spanish Omlette. Called Tortilla Española or Tortilla de Patata in bars and cafés across Spain, it is the perfect tapa or appetiser. Javier’s recipe to create an extra tasty Spanish omelette, involves caramelising some onions and lightly cooking the mixture with the potato which keeps the omelette moist. Feel free to experiment too by adding other ingredients like piquillo peppers and prawns, wild mushrooms and cheese, ham and tomato.
Chorizo sausage, in itself, is not only one of the most famous Spanish foods, it can be found in many tapas restaurants here in the UK. This is a classic tapas dish that offsets the spice of chorizo with the sweetness of honey and depth of red wine. Javier reduces the red wine to a syrup then adds honey then coats the chorizo in a lovely sweet red wine syrup. Utterly delicious, these are real crowd-pleasers. For an authentic touch, serve with toothpicks.
Fish and seafood feature heavily in the Spanish diet and Salt Baked Sea Bass is one of the most famous Spanish foods involving fish. Perfect for a dinner party, Javier recommends making the salt crust and the fish in advance and then cracking it open at the table in front of your guests – very dramatic and extremely tasty. Salt Baked Sea Bass is delicious and can be served with new potatoes, a green salad and either hollandaise sauce or a mustard and honey vinaigrette.
Popular in Northern Spain for centuries, Bacalao al Pil Pil is a traditional Basque dish made with salted cod, garlic, dried guindilla chilli and olive oil. As one of the country’s famous Spanish foods, it is a big hit with tourists as well as locals. The sauce is thickened naturally as the natural gelatine in the cod is released and emulsifies with the warm oil during cooking. You need to start preparing the salted cod 2 days in advance by soaking it in water and changing the water three times. It is well worth the effort though.
If you are visiting the Basque Country, Basque Grilled Turbot is an absolute must try of all famous Spanish foods. Widely regarded by professional chefs as “The King of The Sea”, turbot is a beautiful flat fish which is perfect for grilling whole, even over ahigh heat, as its natural gelatin keeps the meat wonderfully succulent and rich. For this recipe, Javier makes a sauce from txakoli wine, cider vinegar, olive oil and salt known as ‘agua de lourdes’. This is then drizzled liberally over the turbot while on the grill. Together with the fish’s juices, it makes a fabulous pil pil style sauce.
The two standout ingredients of this fabulous and famous Spanish food are incredibly tender black Iberian pork fillet and intense Pedro Ximenez sherry. Juicy, tender and wonderfully well marbled, pork fillet is known in Spain as “Solomillo Iberico”. This free-range pork is bred in Salamanca, from an ancient breed of pig, the black hoofed Cerdo Iberico, These have roamed the woodland meadows of western Spain feeding on acorns for thousands of years giving the meat its incredible rich and nutty flavour. Served with a glossy Pedro Ximenez sherry sauce, it never fails to impress at dinner parties.
Txuleton rib steaks sit at the head of the table of famous Spanish foods in restaurants all over the country. They are enormous and originate from the small Basque village of Astigarraga, near San Sebastian. Txuleton rib steaks come from Galician beef from old cows between 8 and 15 years old. Ageing of older, chubbier cows, with a diet of natural grass, creates wonderful marbling of the meat, similar to that of Wagyu beef. The meat is then dry aged and is widely regarded as the best steak you can buy with extraordinary depth of flavour and texture. Cooked over charcoal for a lovely smoky flavour, it is classically served with a green salad with spring onions and cider dressing, chips and roasted red peppers.
Spanish suckling pig, or “Cochinillo” is a traditional dish that has been cooked in Spain since medieval times. Segovia is the area that is renowned for producing the best Spanish suckling pigs. The two main ingredients used to cook whole suckling pig are salt and water and the pig is roasted in a dish held up above the water which keeps the flesh moist. The meat is delicious and incredibly tender and the crackling is supremely crispy. Tradition has it that you carve the suckling pig with a plate as the meat is so soft. Javier recommends serving with a salad of iceberg lettuce and spring onion dressed with cider vinegar and extra virgin olive oil.
If you are ever fortunate enough to visit San Sebastian, you simply must try the famous Basque Cheesecake. This fabulous and chunky baked Spanish dessert is the first widely known sweet pintxo in Basque cuisine. When baking it, the outside is heavily toasted, almost burnt looking, whilst the inside stays soft and deliciously creamy – in fact, Javier suspects this classic could actually have been created by mistake. Scrumptious on its own, you can also serve it with a fresh blackberry compote or raisins soaked in Pedro Ximenez sweet sherry.
At first glance, you may think Crema Catalana is simply crème brûlée, however, there are distinct differences. The origins of Crema Catalana actually predate that of the French dessert by 300 years. First created in the 14th century, the other big difference is the ingredients. The French use a vanilla flavoured cream, while Crema Catalana uses milk, cinnamon and lemon and orange zest for added flavour. Once it has been allowed to cool and is then chilled for 4 hours, sprinkle a thin layer of sugar on top then caramelise with a kitchen blowtorch or a hot grill. Serve with some almond puff pastry fingers and a chilled glass of cava or an orange liqueur… or both.
The last of the famous Spanish foods featured in Javier’s top 16 is Tarta de Santiago. This traditional Spanish cake originated in Galicia and dates back to 1577 when it was also known as “royal torte”, because almonds were an expensive ingredient centuries ago. Javier’s preferred recipe is a simple one where the ground almonds, sugar and egg mixture is baked in a mould. Tarta de Santiago can be served as a dessert, for breakfast or part of an afternoon tea. Javier pairs the tarta with a dollop of clotted cream and freshly grated orange zest in his recipe.
These 16 famous Spanish food recipes are just a handful from Javier’s exquisite online Spanish Recipes and Basque Food Recipes. You can also discover blogs about Spanish Drinks, Cooking Tips, Travel and Restaurant Reviews by clicking the links. Enjoy!
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