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Posts: 1812
Joined: Nov. 8 2010
From: London (living in the Bay Area)
Cooking in Spain
Friends of mine in Córdoba have asked me to send them some recipes, particularly low-carb. I don’t want to send them stuff they can’t get the ingredients for.
Can any Spanish residents here (Spaniards or otherwise ) tell me if there is anything hard (or expensive!) to get in the following list?
If you go to a Mexican market in California you can buy spices in good sized cellophane bags for less than half the price of a small bottle of spices in the Supermarket. For about 15- 20 bucks you could just about every dried spice on that list. They don't know from Jalapenos in Spain as the Spanish are deathly afraid of them.
P.S. Sorry, just realised I should have posted this in Off Topic rather than General
We've discussed that before in the Antonio Rey plays Andalusian Guitars thread and came to the conclusion that cooking and food are very very flamenco so this can be discussed in the general section.
Can any Spanish residents here (Spaniards or otherwise ) tell me if there is anything hard (or expensive!) to get in the following list?
I do a lot of gourmet cooking, and have to go to specialty shops for many things. Spaniards are not adventurous in their eating habits…when I moved to Spain there weren’t even Chinese restaurants or pizzerias except in the biggest cites like Madrid and Barcelona.
Of your list, the items below will generally not be available in a standard grocery store…and it’s important to get the right Spanish names, it took me decades to realize that allspice is “pimienta de Jamaica”. One item, curry leaves, I’ve never seen anywhere in Spain, so I brought some back from India a few months ago. Other grocery items I bring from abroad are wild rice, Sazón Goya, bulghour wheat and dried chiles of all varieties.
Mexican food is a little popular here…very little…usually not very good since Spaniards hate hot stuff. Indian food is extremely rare.
Not easily available in standard shops: Allspice Bouquet Garni Cardamom pods Chili powder Curry leaves Garam masala Jalapeño Sage
Of your list, the items below will generally not be available in a standard grocery store…and it’s important to get the right Spanish names, it took me decades to realize that allspice is “pimienta de Jamaica”.
Thanks. I’ve been double-checking the dictionary by finding the corresponding Wikipedia entry and clicking the Español button, which seems to work fairly well.
quote:
One item, curry leaves, I’ve never seen anywhere in Spain, so I brought some back from India a few months ago. Other grocery items I bring from abroad are wild rice, Sazón Goya, bulghour wheat and dried chiles of all varieties.
Mexican food is a little popular here…very little…usually not very good since Spaniards hate hot stuff. Indian food is extremely rare.
Curry leaves are a problem. I get them in packets from an Indian grocery here, but they used to go off before I could use them all. A friend recommended freezing them, which seems to work fairly well.
Dried chiles, good thinking; I could send those easily. On the other hand, my friends are Spanish, and if they really don’t like spicy food, there’s not much point.
However, one time when I was over there I made chili for then as best I could, and everyone liked it; so for now I think I’ll send my chilli recipe and some chilli powder, there’s a really good kind you can get at Whole Foods here (Los Chileros)
However, Indian spices are very common in the UK as we love hot stuff, so your friends could order them online?
I actually don't know any Spaniards who'll eat Indian food, they really dislike hot stuff. For myself, I've been buying curry paste from a specialty shop down in Cádiz, it seems to be much better than dry spice which loses flavor after a while.
Next year the La Unión flamenco festival and contest is going to be held in New Delhi...y'know...India. That ought to be a hoot.
For myself, I've been buying curry paste from a specialty shop down in Cádiz
The trouble with commercial curry paste is that it’s usually made with crappy oils.
We use curry powder occasionally, but mostly we stick to recipes that used the above-mentioned individual ingredients.
Many things are tough to get even here (California). A few years ago I gleefully bought this big fat book called The Spicy Food Lover’s Bible, only to find that I couldn’t get the ingredients for most of the recipes
I actually don't know any Spaniards who'll eat Indian food, they really dislike hot stuff.
I made some friends in Ronda and one took me to go eat caracoles, he kept wincing, sipping his beer and fanning his mouth from the TABLE PEPPER! It was the funniest thing I'd ever seen. After growing up where I did table pepper doesn't even register in my mouth. There is good food in Spain for sure but they do need a little more spice......
all the locals were sat there with sweat pouring down their faces. To me it tasted about the same heat as rice pudding.
I know what you mean about that...when I cook for my Spanish in-laws it's comical how they react to the smallest pinch of pepper, fanning their mouths and drinking water. I've learned never to use any pepper or hot-stuff of any kind for them.
And yet, Americans think Spanish food is hot and spicy...
And yet, Americans think Spanish food is hot and spicy...
I've always thought that was odd, too, Estela. I wonder if it is because many Americans mistakenly consider Mexico (and thus Mexican food) a reflection of Spain? After all, Mexicans speak Spanish!
Cheers,
Bill
_____________________________
And the end of the fight is a tombstone white, With the name of the late deceased, And the epitaph drear, "A fool lies here, Who tried to hustle the East."
I wonder if it is because many Americans mistakenly consider Mexico (and thus Mexican food) a reflection of Spain?
Plenty of Americans don't know that Spain and Mexico are two different countries on different continents. That's why souvenir shops in Spain sell big sombreros with pom-poms, and in Hollywood westerns the señoritas dance flamingo.
That's why souvenir shops in Spain sell big sombreros with pom-poms,
That's outrageous! The Spanish, then, are complicit in perpetuating the fraudulent conflation of things Mexican and Spanish!
Cheers,
Bill
_____________________________
And the end of the fight is a tombstone white, With the name of the late deceased, And the epitaph drear, "A fool lies here, Who tried to hustle the East."
There's people in all three cultures that are guilty of ignorance I think.
When a cousin of mine visited years ago, she called to ask what part of South America Spain was in, because she couldn't find it on the map. She was a travel agent.
I know Mexicans that think Spaniards eat tacos and menudo and what not. There's people in all three cultures that are guilty of ignorance I think.
I think you're spot-on, Lenador. Ignorance transcends national frontiers and geographic limits.
Cheers,
Bill
_____________________________
And the end of the fight is a tombstone white, With the name of the late deceased, And the epitaph drear, "A fool lies here, Who tried to hustle the East."
No, but from their Wikipedia entry they [Blair’s sauces] look like fun. I must try some — if the ingredients seem decent, that is.
Not looking good right now, that’s for sure: Corn Syrup, Natural Pepper Flavor (Contains Soybean Oil) […] and Spices — the last of which, owing to US labelling laws, can, and often does, mean MSG.
Of course, since (if the reviews are to be believed) you only need one drop of it in a mountain of food, I suppose it doesn’t matter much.
When a cousin of mine visited years ago, she called to ask what part of South America Spain was in, because she couldn't find it on the map. She was a travel agent.
Just following the lead of Columbus, I suppose; he didn’t know which hemisphere he was in either.
It's one of the biggest-selling souvenirs. Shop-keepers just give people what they demand I guess.
It becomes a self-reinforcing feedback loop. The American thinks Spaniards wear big Mexican sombreros (conflating Mexico and Spain); the Spanish shopkeeper sells him a big Mexican sombrero; the American leaves the shop confident in his "knowledge" that Spaniards wear big Mexican sombreros. Unfortunately, that is how both sides contribute to distortions in perception of national characteristics. I hope it doesn't go much further than food and sombreros!
Cheers,
Bill
_____________________________
And the end of the fight is a tombstone white, With the name of the late deceased, And the epitaph drear, "A fool lies here, Who tried to hustle the East."
It becomes a self-reinforcing feedback loop. The American thinks Spaniards wear big Mexican sombreros (conflating Mexico and Spain); the Spanish shopkeeper sells him a big Mexican sombrero; the American leaves the shop confident in his "knowledge" that Spaniards wear big Mexican sombreros. Unfortunately, that is how both sides contribute to distortions in perception of national characteristics. I hope it doesn't go much further than food and sombreros!
It goes much further than food, sombreros and even cultures. Spaniards who know I'm from New York regularly associate fish n' chips, umbrellas and similar British clichés with me.
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