Location of Catalonia (dark green) in Spain andEurope. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is part of theMediterranean Basin, and its cuisine mainly belongs to the culinary tradition of this area.
Catalan cuisine is the cooking traditions and practices fromCatalonia. It may also refer to the shared cuisine ofNorthern Catalonia andAndorra, the second of which has a similar cuisine to that of the neighbouringAlt Urgell andCerdanyacomarques and which is often referred to as "Catalan mountain cuisine".[1] It is considered a part of westernMediterranean cuisine.[2]
There are severalCatalan language cookbooks from theMiddle Ages that are known to modern scholars. TheLlibre del Coch (1520) was one of the most influential cookbooks ofRenaissance Spain.[3] It includes severalsauce recipes made with ingredients such as ginger,mace powder (flor de macis), cinnamon,saffron, cloves (clauells de girofle), wine and honey.[4][5]Salsa de pagó took its name from thepeacock (Catalan:el paó) that it was intended to be served with, but could accompany any type of poultry, and was part of the medievalChristmas meal.[6]Salsa mirraust (ormirausto alla catalana as it's called in theCuoco Napoletano) was half-roasted (mi-raust) poultry that was finished in asalsa thickened with egg yolks, toasted almonds and breadcrumbs. In the version of the recipe from the 14th-centuryLlibre de Sent Soví [ast], the sauce is thickened with mashed poultry liver instead of egg yolks.[7]
Hippocras (pimentes de clareya) was spiced wine made with cinnamon, cloves, ginger, pepper, honey and wine pressed through amanega, apastry bag shaped cloth that was originally designed byHippocrates to filter water.[8]
The 17th century manuscriptEl llibre de la Cuina de Scala-Dei, written at theCartoixa d'Escaladei, contains austere recipes such as of porridges of cereals that go back toRoman times.[9]
Traditional Catalan cuisine is quite diverse, ranging from pork-intensive dishes cooked in the inland part of the region (Catalonia is one of the mainproducers of swine products in Spain) to fish-based recipes along the coast.[11] These meat and seafood elements are frequently fused together in the Catalan version ofsurf and turf, known asmar i muntanya. Examples include chicken with lobster (pollastre amb llagosta), chicken with crayfish (pollastre amb escarmalans), rice with meat and seafood (arròs mar i muntanya) and cuttlefish with meatballs (sipia amb mandonguilles).
Allioli, a thick sauce made of garlic and olive oil, used with grilled meats or vegetables, and some dishes. Allioli means garlic (all) and (i) oil (oli) in Catalan.
Acrema catalanaAxuixoA tray ofpanellets, as they are typically served
Crema catalana, the famous yellow cream made withegg yolk,milk andsugar, whose denseness is between acrème pâtissière ornatillas and aflan; used to stuff a great amount of pastries, or to make simple desserts with, for example, fruit, and that is also eaten in a small flat pottery plate, after covering the cream with white crystal sugar and burning it, in order to create a layer of solid sugar that has to be broken with a small spoon before reaching the cream.
Mató de Pedralbes ormató de monja is another kind of Catalan cream, similar tocrema catalana, originating inBarcelona.
Menjablanc ormenjar blanc, typical ofReus but eaten all over Catalonia, is a kind of white cream made withalmonds, from which a sort of milk is first obtained, followed by a cream to be eaten with a small spoon.
Peres de Lleida [ca] is a typical dessert originated inLleida composed of peeled pears cooked in a kind of lightercrema catalana and served cold, covered by meringue and decorated with cherries.
Xuixos are fried pastries created inGirona and stuffed withcrema catalana.
Pastissets, orcasquetes,de cabell d'àngel are sweet half-circle shaped pastries stuffed withcabell d'àngel (a sort of marrow jam) and covered with white crystal sugar which are eaten at coffee time.
Carquinyolis are little crunchy almond biscuits often eaten at coffee time.
Catànies are Catalan marcona almonds covered with white chocolate and powdered black chocolate to be eaten with coffee.
pets de monja [es] are small nipple-shaped and -sized biscuits also eaten at coffee time. At first they were calledpits de monja (nuns' nipples) but time has changed their name to the currentpets de monja (nuns' farts).
Sweetcoques were at first eaten only on holidays. Catalans have at least one type of traditionalcoca for each holiday and feast day of the year.
Orelletes [es] are thin fried pastries covered with sugar and eaten duringCarnival. They also exist in nearby regions in Spain or France.
Sweetbunyols asbunyols de vent,bunyols stuffed withcrema catalana orbunyols de l'Empordà are typically done and eaten on Wednesdays and Fridays during Lent.
Mona de Pasqua is a pastry richly covered with almonds, yolk jam, chocolate eggs (or, currently, large chocolate sculptures) and coloured decoration that the godfather and godmother give as a present every year to their godchildren on Easter (Pasqua). It is an ancient pre-Christian tradition which marked the passage from childhood to the adult world. At first, it has one egg for each year of the children's age, and continuing to add one egg each year until twelve, as at thirteen they are no longer considered children.
Panellets are small pastries made of pine nuts, almonds and sugar with different shapes and flavors, eaten during laCastanyada, which Catalans celebrate on 1 November instead ofHalloween. Their origin is Jewish, before the Middle Ages, but the tradition ofcastanyada is much older.
Tortell, also calledtorta orroscó in Northern and Southern dialects. It is round, it can be made of puff pastry or a mixture similar tolionesas andpalos, and stuffed withtrufa (a mixture of cacao, chocolate and cream) or withcrema catalana. It is typically bought and eaten after Sunday's lunch, in family or with friends. A common alternative is called thebraç de gitano (Gypsy's arm), that in Catalonia is always covered with yolk jam.
A specifictortell is in fact a specialcoca that Catalans only eat on the Day of the Three Kings (6 January) which is calledtortell de reis (orgaleta de reis in Northern Catalonia) a typical ring-shaped pastry stuffed withmarzipan or Catalan cream (crema catalana) and topped with glazed fruit and nuts.
The sparkling winecava, made mainly in thePenedès andAnoia regions, is the Catalan equivalent tochampagne. It is widely exported.
"Moscatell" (Empordà), is a sweet Catalan wine which have similar varieties in other countries such asFrance,Italy,Portugal,Albania,Slovenia,Greece,Romania andTurkey, as well as other regions ofSpain. However, Catalanmoscatell is thicker than French muscat and is not drunk before the meal (aperitiu) but after it, either with or after dessert.
Catalan cooks andchefs are widely renowned and critically acclaimed all over the world. Three ofThe World's 50 Best Restaurants are in Catalonia,[24] and four restaurants have threeMichelin stars. The Michelin Guide Spain and Portugal 2022 edition awarded 49 restaurants across Catalonia with a total of 64 Michelin stars.[25] Barcelona has 28 Michelin stars across 18 restaurants[26] includingCinc Sentits[27] and has been chosen as the best gastronomical city by theAmerican TV networkMSNBC in 2009, topping the list of the ten best gastronomical cities in the world.InProvince of Girona are two of the best restaurants of the world,El Celler de Can Roca, the best of the world in 2014 and 2015, andelBulli, inRoses, the best one in 2002, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2nd in 2010, before its closure in 2011.
^Mas Ferrà, Xavier i Canyelles Ferrà, Xavier:Peixos de les Illes Balears. Editorial Moll,Palma de Mallorca, 2000. Manuals d'introducció a la naturalesa, 13.ISBN84-273-6013-4. Planes 213-214.
^PLA, Josep, 1970, 'El Que hem menjat', Barcelona (Catalonia)) (this edition 1997 Premsa catalana); photographs by F. Català Roca were added for the edition of 1981 by Edicions Destino, Barcelona.
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