Hungry?

Barcelona has a variety of traditional dishes of its culture that make your mouth water.

Thanks to its location on the Mediterranean Coast and the combination of mountain and coast that surround the city of Barcelona it is possible to find a diversity of dishes; lots of them called “Sea and Mountain” due to the mix of ingredients from these two places.

As an important fact, the fisrt cook book in Spain was printed in the city of Barcelona in 1477, reason why we guess that it has a wide gastronomic tradition which we can certify that meets all taste and high quality expectations. Neither we may be surprised that it has the most known creative cooks of the world.

Now, as part of “The 5 3 1 Combination” of this week we present five traditional dishes of Barcelona.

The classic Pa amb tomàquet

Taking notes is not necessary for this simple but sacred dish for the Catalans. It consists on a bread (preferably rustic bread) toasted or not on which a ripe and raw tomato is rubbed. Later, it dresses with olive oil and salt and Voilà! It is ready to be tasted alone or with some tapas or dishes such as the followings.

The Escalivada

Its name comes from the Catalan verb escalivar which means ¨to grill over wood¨. It consists on a salad made with grilled vegetables dressed with olive oil and salt. The vegetables used are onions, eggplant and capsicum. It is usually eaten at room temperature, alone, with bread or as a side of a main dish.

The Calçots

They are long chives cooked on the grill joined with a traditional sauce of Catalonia called romesco. It is a dish that takes the most time during the preparation of the diners to taste it. It stands out since it is necessary to use a bib (offered by most of the restaurants when ordering this dish) and gloves from which you learn the technique to peel off the exterior burnt layer to eat the tender and soft interior.

The Coca

Nope. It is not the type of coca that produces hallucinogic effects. The Coca is a toasted bread that can be sweet or salty and with different shapes: rounded with a hole, better known during the Three Wise Kings celebration as Roscón (King´s cake) or long with vegetables or other combination of salty ingredients. The most famous you can find in Barcelona is Sant Joan´s Coca which is the main dessert during the celebrations on June 23rd which are usually more celebrated than Christmas holiday parties.

The Crema Catalana

The most famous dessert wordlwide from the Catalan culture and the most ancient from Europe on its category consits on a custard that is boiled on a small casserole on which sugar is burnt on top of it using a blowtorch.

By the way, take a look at our “Ready to Order!” article to learn about three restaurants where you can enjoy this dishes.

There is nothing more to say than Bon Profit! (Have a good meal! in Catalan).