Barcelona Travel Guide » Gastronomy

Crema catalana

admin — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 20:38:47 +0000

Crema catalana (Catalan for “Catalan cream”), also known as Crema de Sant Josep, is a typical dessert of Catalonia, consisting of a custard base crème caramel and a caramelized, crisp sugar topping. It is usually served on Saint Joseph’s Day, March 19.

Catalans claim that their Crema catalana is the predecessor of France’s crème brûlée, though many regions lay claim to the origin of the dessert. The main difference between the two is that crema catalana is not baked in bain-marie as crème brûlée is. Another chief difference is that crème brûlée is made dominantly with heavy cream, while crema catalana is made with both milk and heavy cream.

Crema catalana is made with egg yolks, sugar, lemon and orange zest, cinnamon, milk and flour, forming a custard-like base. Just before serving, sugar is sprinkled over the top and caramelized with a red-hot specially-made iron or blow torch, creating a hot, crunchy contrast to the cool custard underneath.

Barcelona Gastronomy (I)

admin — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 20:37:03 +0000

Pa amb tomàquet (literally bread with tomato in Catalan) is a typical preparation of Catalan cuisine, that consists of bread – optionally toasted – with tomato rubbed over and seasoned with olive oil and salt. Sometimes garlic is rubbed on the bread before rubbing in the tomato. In many Catalan restaurants, the tomato mixture is pre-made and is brushed on the bread. This is to meld the ingredients better, so you taste the mixture, not the individual tastes one after another.

Samfaina is an exuberant vegetable mixture widely used in Catalan cuisine as a sauce or base for meat, fish and fowl dishes. It’s a succulent vegetarian dish that you can eat as a first course or side dish too.

I eat it often as it is delicious, healthy, and in fact easy to cook. It adds a bright touch of color to meals too.

Traditionally, the Catalan ratatouille recipe includes onion, peppers, eggplants, and tomatoes. And as usual, there seems to be as many variations as households.

Fideuà or Fideuada, from fideu, catalan for “noodle” is a typical dish of Northern region of Spain. It originated in the 1960s in the city of Gandia when noodles were used instead of rice in the popular dish paella.

There are many variations of it with different ingredients, but it is usually made with seafood and fish, and optionally served with allioli sauce.

Barcelona Gastronomy (II)

admin — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 20:33:26 +0000

Esqueixada (Catalan): salt cod salad. This appears in many guises, the essential is that the fish should be shredded (from the verb esqueixar, to shred) so it can apply to other ingredients, chicken for example, and then marinated in oil and vinegar. It often appears as a tapas.

Canalons a la Barcelonesa is the classic version originating from Italian immigrants during the nineteenth century, it is also worth noting that Sardinia was once part of the Catalan ‘empire’ (Catalan can still be heard in Alhero) although it would be highly pretentious to suggest earlier antecedents for this dish.

The stuffing is based on pig’s liver and turkey meat and contains no tomato whatsoever, the dryness is made up for in an abundance of béchamel sauce and the dish is gratinated and always served red hot – so beware. A delicious spinach version, canalons d’espinacs , is also popular and suitable for vegetarians. You will see Canalons de l’àvia or ‘granny’s cannelloni’ in some menus but it’s effectively the same and doesn’t contain even the tiniest bit of the proprietor’s ancestor! Canalons are traditionally served on the feast of Sant Esteban, i.e. Boxing Day.