Food Production, Culinary practice and food preparation

1. CHAPTER 36: THE COOKING OF SPAIN AND PORTUGAL.
Like the people of the Iberian Peninsula the cooking of this region is a blend
of many ingredients. The blend is complex at times, but the ingredients are
not disguised and never spiced to alter basically simple tastes. The strength
of Iberian cooking is natural and its subtlety is derived from the
combinations of ingredients. Iberian food is easily recognizable. It is usually
plain looking and attractively appetizing in simplest possible way. It is rarely
over decorated; it is fresh and it is more concerned with good quality
ingredients and their proper combination. One of the false accusations made
of Spanish cooking is that it is “hot and highly spiced”. The truth is exactly
opposite – Spaniards tend to shy away from spicy food. It is one of Spain's
paradoxes that a country largely responsible for providing pepper and other
spices to the western world should have produced a cuisine that uses so
little spice. Portugal on the other hand does make use of a myriad of spices
and it is here that the difference between the two cuisines lies. Portugal is
the land of explorers and of the explorers’ kitchen. The use of spice and
butter and cream in traditional Portuguese cooking not only makes it spicier
but also richer than its neighbour. New flavours brought back from Angola,
Mozambique, India and Brazil (all once Portuguese colonies) have been
incorporated into the national cuisine. In short, Portuguese food may seem a
florid, exotic art that has made use of its many conquests to import and
experiment with unknown tastes and which at times may even seem gaudy!
THE REGIONS
Continental Spain is divided into 13 regions whose boundaries are roughly
those of its ancient kingdoms and ethnic regions. The regions are divided
into provinces. The regions of Spain include Galicia, Asturias, Basque and
Navarre in the north. Catalonia Valencia and Murcia in the East, Andulosia in
the South with Aragon, new and old Castile, Extremadura and Leon in the
center. Portugal is divided regionally by geography into the mountainous
sometimes-humid north and drier more gentle south. These two regions are
divided into 11 provinces, which include Minho, Tras-os-montes, Douro
Litoral, Beira Litoral, Beira Alta, Beira Baixa, Estremadura, Ribatejo, Alto
Baixo Alentejo and Algarve.
But do all these regions really differ from each other as far as culinary
customs go? And for that matter does Portugal in any way consider itself
related to Spain? It is in their kitchens that some of these answers lie.
These people share the uses of ingredients such as olive oil, garlic and
parsley, almonds appear frequently both raw and in cooking. Egg and egg yolk
sweets are often seen. The range of fresh fish and shellfish from the
waters of two seas (Mediterranean and Atlantic) is tremendous and cooking
methods such as slow simmering in earthen ware dishes are shared by all.
But the differences are as important as ate similarities. The central region
of Spain is the zone of roasting and the hunt. Andalusia is the zone of frying

2. and has also produced the excellent cold soup the Gazpacho. The eastern
seaboard is the region of rice; above it, the zone of sauces; in the north the
zone of fish (from the Bay of Biscay and the Atlantic ocean).
THE TAPAS
In the evenings, Madrilenos like to stop in at bars and cafes to enjoy a drink,
usually sherry and a choice of tempting snacks called ‘Tapas’. The word tapa
literally means lid, and the first tapas were pieces of bread used to cover
wine glasses to keep out the flies! Today tapas are appetizers but of a
variety that is unknown in other countries and range from eels to omlettes.
These snacks are so popular, that at tapa time, the bars and cafés in
Madrid (and other cities where the custom has spread) are filled with
customers and some of them spend the whole evening nibbling, skipping the
evening meal altogether. A sample of tapas served at a Madrid café would
include
- Ham chunks garnished with red peppers
- Roast pork with a sauce of olive oil, garlic, vinegar and spices
- Kidney beans, parsley, onions and peppers in a vinegar sauce
- Boiled baby potatoes with garlic, parsley and mayonnaise
- Broad beans with ham and sausage
- Potato omelette
- Mushrooms garnished with garlic and parsley butter
- Fish and crabmeat in brandy sauce with carrot
- Kidneys sautéed in white wine sauce with onions and peas
- Shrimp in hot olive oil with garlic and parsley
- Chicken livers in meat sauce with egg slices
- Salt cod with red peppers
- Meatballs in gravy with peas
- Black olives marinated with onions and oregano
- Croutons of fried bread
- Stewed salt cod with garlic and cayenne
- Tuna fish pies
- Fried green peppers and sausage
- Pickled cauliflower
- Stewed quail
- Tripe stew
- Snails in hot sauce
- Pickled beets
- Pigs feet with tomato, olive oil, garlic and onion
- Stuffed green peppers with chopped veal in meat sauce
- Sautéed stripes of baby eel
- Clams with parsley
- Small squid in their ink
- Stewed chicken with boiled potatoes and mushrooms
- Stewed partridge

3. PAELLA
The colorful paella, the Spanish culinary triumph best known outside the
country, is from the eastern coast of Spain. The dish draws on a number of
possible ingredients, lobster, shrimp, clams, mussels, squid, chorizo,
sausages, chicken, rabbit, beans, tomato peas and peppers (red, green and
yellow). However only rice, olive oil and saffron are always used and the
paella will appear in various guises and forms depending on the supplementary
ingredients that are used. The first paellas were always cooked outdoors
over small fires and most Spaniards believe this is still the best way to cook
paella.
The home of the Paella is the east coast of Spain starting in the south at
Cabo de Gat and winding northward along the warm Mediterranean waters.
Although it has many other names, the region is traditionally known as the
Levante (Levantae in Spanish means to rise – the sun rises in the east). This
region is called the Land of Rice and rice plays an important role not only in
the preparation of Paella but in a number of dishes in the region. Paella is
the most important Levantine dish as well as the most famous like many
dishes, Paella is a poor man’s food that has become a rich man’s treat. The
original Paella came into being near La Albufera close to the city of Valencia.
From this simple beginning there is now a myriad of Paellas. It is said if you
ask 100 Spaniards what goes into a Paella, you will get a hundred different
answers. But if you ask the same question to 100 Levantinus, you’ll probably
get 300 different answers (each man giving one for himself, one for his wife
and one for his grandmother). But the true answer to what goes into paella is
Rice, Saffron and Olive oil. Plus whatever is available local and fresh and
cheap in the market, far from being complicated, paella is actually easy to
prepare. It needs no special equipment except for a skillet type pan and an
open fire.
GAZPACHO
Gazpacho is a traditional Spanish soup from the Andalusian region in the
south of Spain. It is made of chilled vegetables, wine vinegar, olive oil, ice,
garlic and a tinge of bread. The term gazpacho is a derivative of the Arabic
term which means soaked bread. Many people add various other ingredients
ranging from fried croutons to pitted cherries. As a rule, different parts of
the country make this dish in different ways. In Jerez de la frontera
chopped raw onions are used, in Sanlucar de Barrameda, mayonnaise is added
and in Malaga it is called ajo blanco con uvas (white garlic with grapes) and
has a base of almonds. There is even a hot winter gazpacho from the region
of Cadiz. But it is the city of Seville that has made the plain, summer version
of gazpacho famous throughout the world by keeping the simplest and
lightest formula.

4. PORTUGAL
In the southwestern corner of Europe lies Portugal, 260 miles long and 140
miles wide. It is isolated from the rest of the continent by Spain and is
isolated from Spain by rugged mountains. To its west it lies totally exposed
to the harsh Atlantic Ocean. Portugal stands alone – related to Spain but
separate from it.
It is important to understand that Portuguese cooking is not Spanish
cooking. It is rather another type of Iberian cooking. Like all Iberian food
it’s basically simple and a food of the people. Spices and herbs are more
widely used here and taste combinations used here would be astonishing to
most Spanish palates are common in Portugal. From North to South, the
kitchens of Portugal share a wide variety of ingredients, fresh herbs like
coriander as well as preserved foods such as salt cod are often found. Fresh
lemon juice, traditionally used with fish is squeezed onto meat over here.
Fresh and dried figs, nuts, rice egg yolks, vanilla and even curry powder are
used through the country. More noticeable is the number of ways in which
ingredients are used. The diversity of taste combinations is what makes
Portuguese cooking most special.
The three northern provinces – Minho, tras-os-montes and Douro contain
some of the poorest and most ragged land as well as some of the finest
cooking in Portugal. Minho’s Caldo Verde is to Portugal what onion soup is to
France. It has become a kind of national dish. The river waters of the region
provide Lamprey for the traditional deep yellow gravied Lamprey stew. This
often tastes and smells of curry, an ingredient brought back from India by
Vasco da Gama in 1947. Curry is used as a flavour rather than a spice and it
blends well with the dark, almost meaty flavour of the river Lamprey. Minho
also produces a variety of fine rice dishes, combining rice with rabbit, duck
or partridge a short distance from minho down the coast is Porto, the capital
Duoro Litoral famous the world over for Port wine. Porto is equally fomous as
the place to eat Tripe. The citizens, in fact are known as Tripe eaters in the
rest of the country. There are several legends to explain this, the most
famous being prince Henry the Navigator in 14th
slaughtered all the cattle of
the region to feed the troops of his crusader fleet leaving only the tripe for
the citizens of Porto. The region is also famous for its yolk and sugar
sweets. The most famous of which is jelly like confection called Sao Goncalo.
There are literally thousands of egg yolk sweets in Portugal offset by a glass
of ruby port.
In the South of Portugal lies its capital Lisbon, one of the loveliest and most
conveniently forgotten capitals. Here, one can find the finest coffees from
Angola, Mozambique and other Portuguese missions overseas. Also from
Brazil, Colombia and the Orient. The national sweet Pudim Flan is a rich
caramel custard, very popular in Lisbon and is the perfect accompaniment to
coffee. It is creamer, heavier and sweeter than the one found in Spain and
often is Portugal is flavoured with a liqueur.

5. Vernon Coelho
Ihm mumbai
2008-09

6. Vernon Coelho
Ihm mumbai
2008-09