What are the Primary Flavors in Spanish Cooking?
Spanish cooking is filled with traditional favorites that are comprised of flavorful spices and decadent meats, fish, and cheeses. Many of the flavors are unique to Spain, but some are adopted from the surrounding countries, often centuries ago. Some flavors are more popular in certain regions of Spain than others, usually depending on the primary source of food in a given region. For example, the coastal areas focus more on fish and the agricultural areas focus more on vegetables.
Spanish cooking is filled with traditional favorites that are comprised of flavorful spices and decadent meats, fish, and cheeses. Many of the flavors are unique to Spain, but some are adopted from the surrounding countries, often centuries ago. Some flavors are more popular in certain regions of Spain than others, usually depending on the primary source of food in a given region. For example, the coastal areas focus more on fish and the agricultural areas focus more on vegetables. The Central Plains of Spain is overwhelmingly dominated by lentils, beans, chickpeas, garlic, saffron and paprika. Spanish dried lentils, beans, and chickpeas are amazingly creamy and flavorful after they are cooked. Smoked paprika has a special color and an unforgettable flavor – it can be sweet, bittersweet, or hot. Saffron is expensive; but can be worth the price, as a little goes a long way. Saffron comes in threads that can be pulverized into a powder. Spanish cooking based off of the ingredients from t
Spanish cooking is highly influenced by Jewish and Moorish traditions. These foods are still eaten by them. Some of the features of Spanish cooking are: use of olive oil for cooking, use of sofrito to being cooking dishes, use of onion and garlic, serving wines during meals and serving bread, eating salads, serving desserts such as tarts and cakes, or fruits or dairy products. Few Spanish cuisines are potato omelette, gazpacho, paella, stews, migas, sausages. Some of the Spanish desserts are flan, custard, rice pudding.
