Three Spanish recipes that cannot be eaten in Madrid

The tendency to take the part as a whole is what pollutes originality. And with pretentious sentence I just meant that there are recipes that can be eaten in the whole country, even in Manila if you want, but, are not original from the place. And so, if you happen to go around Madrid, you can pretend you know well the city, that you are a sybarite and thus, impress someone and all thanks to me! MUAHAHA! Sorry, just joking.

Let’s get straight to the point: paella wouldn’t be Madrid’s speciality. You can eat it in Valencia, in Catalonia, in Murcia or Andalusia and in Galicia. But, sincerely, all times I’ve seen (and tasted) paella during the year I spent living in one of the  apartments in Madrid it’s not been, let’s say, satisfactory. I’ve even seen them cooked in huge deep casserole. Instead of this: try Cocido Madrileño in a cold day. A bomb for your senses.

Second recipe: gazpacho. This is typical cold, liquid meal from Andalusia and it’s very refreshing and tasty. Well, although in Madrid they cook very well, I don’t know why the hell they cook much better salmorejo (which is quite similar to gazpacho and also from Andalusia, Cordoba concretely) than gazspacho. And they don’t cook gazpacho wrong, let me say, it’s just that salmorejo is just spectacular. So, if you doubt between one and the other, bet for salmorejo in Madrid!

Third one: don’t expect to eat pintxos in Madrid. You may find them at some Basque tavern, but they will never be like in the Basque Country. Nowhere in Spain are pintxos prepared as in the Basque Country. So, if I were staying at any of the Madrid apartments I would definitely make it for the traditional tapas, which are yummy (sorry, it love how this word sounds, I would always say it twice, like “yummy yummy”, but forget it, never minds) and don’t look for other regions’ typical food.

Photo Credit:http://www.absolutmadrid.com/

* Maria Climent is a 27-year-old Catalan lady currently living in Barcelona who, after studying translation, decided her life was odd enough to study humour scriptwritting. This is how now she works as a blogger and lives hidden after this nickname @noparoporcasa