Castile-León

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Castile-León
The same as in Andalusia, the cuisine from Castile-León covers a considerable area, but it differs from Andalusia in that it is more uniform in its fare and recipes, with the exception of two areas: León and Salamanca. The rest of the provinces in the area (Burgos, Soria, Avila, Segovia, Zamora, Valladolid and Palencia) fit perfectly into the picture of the art of cooking that we are going to describe, an area which comes under the heading of the Land of Roasts.

And the first that comes to mind in the Castilian cuisine is the chickpea because, though it may seem rather commonplace, it is the element which has presided over the food in this area for centuries, especially if we keep to the popular everyday fare of the people. The fact is that this dried vegetable which was brought to Spain by the Carthaginians is the main ingredient of all the Castilian stews. Until fairly recently, it was the daily fare of all Spanish homes. It was always prepared with cabbage, and, depending on one's financial possibilities, with black pudding, chorizo and meat.

Large white beans
La Granja (Segovia) 19kb

After the chickpea, other vegetables are important in the Castilian cookery book, among them large white beans (alubias) and lentils, which are prepared with chorizo, ox tail or pig's ear anywhere in the area and are of excellent quality like the chickpea.

Bread 13kb

And after the vegetables, bread and wine. Bread is the symbol of Castile, "the land of bread", and it is tastier there than anywhere else in Spain, though it has lost a great deal of importance as staple food. This, on the other hand, is not the case of wine. Castile and León have plenty of magnificent quality wines (Rueda, Cigales and Cebreros): whites, rosés and reds which are excellent and famous.

However, there is one dish which stands out from everything else in the cuisine and fare of Castile-León, at least from the tourist point of view: the typical roast sucking pig and lamb.

The roasts are found along two itineraries in Castile-León. First, the itinerary of the lamb, cordero or lechazo, forms a magic triangle with Segovia-Soria-Burgos, in which Segovia is especially

Roast lamb 19kb

important. Castilian lamb is always roasted in a clay dish and does not require any skill other than spreading lard on it, sprinkling salted water over the skin and roasting it until it is just right.

The other itinerary of the roasts is the one of the sucking pig or tostón. It is best in the area limited by Segovia-Arévalo-Peñaranda de Bracamonte. El cochinillo is almost a new-born pig. To comply with specifications, it must be exactly between fifteen and twenty days old and weigh between three and four kilos. It should be roasted in an oven with thyme and must be tender enough to permit a nimble and spectacular act, ie the cook must be able to knock the meat into portions with the edge of a plate.

After all this, it should be remembered that although Castile is far from the sea, it has some excellent fish dishes. One of them has become popular throughout the entire country: bacalao al ajo arriero (a cod and garlic dish) named after the León mule drivers (arrieros) who took this dish to Estremadura, Andalusia, Navarre, the North and La Mancha.

In addition to cod, Castile-León has some splendid trout dishes. The species abounds in its rivers the same as river crab, another exquisite dish, especially when it is served with a very tasty red sauce. The best are said to come from the Tormes river. But it is on the Pisuerga where a festival is held every year in honour of this animal, which becomes rarer and rarer because too many are caught.

Let us complete the list of dishes from Castile-León with pepitorias de gallina (a fricassée), rice with chicken, stuffed partridge and quail, rabbit with garlic, veal from Avila and the very popular sopas castellanas which consist of bread, preferably the broth of a stew, ham, sometimes a poached egg, and garlic, of course. Garlic is the spice par excellence in Castile-León and it is used as frequently as in other areas of the country, but the difference is that here its presence is much more noticeable.

In this general picture, there are two exceptions which are the cuisines of two areas that belong to Castile, geographically speaking, but have nothing to do with it when it comes to cooking: the Provinces of León and Salamanca

León cooking

This land has a famous past going back to the Middle Ages, when the great lords of the castles and the rich monasteries of the region took the high standard of their art of cooking beyond their borders. Today there are two major trends. One centres around the region of El Bierzo, which is reminiscent of the Galician cuisine: empanadas or crusted pies, salted pork with turnip tops, and octopus prepared as it is in Galicia. The other is the Astorga region, ie the area known as La Maragatería, where the stew called cocido maragato, the vegetables called la menestra de Riaño and the cod dish called bacalao al ajo arriero are found.

Salamanca specialities

Dishes of the
Salamanca cuisine 18kb

In this province the cuisine consists essentially of meat which is mainly beef and game. The cuisine is solid and heavy, combining vegetables and meat to the best advantage. Its restaurants make a point of offering the traditional dishes and so it is easy to find chanfaina salmantina, made with rice, giblet, lamb sweetbread and pieces of chorizo. Especially outstanding are the sides of ham and the chorizos from Guijuelo. Los farinatos is a sausage which is fried and served with eggs. And there is also a great variety of meat stews, each with a character of its own, stewed calf's tail, stewed tongue, ragout, veal lips in batter, lamb stew, roast kid goat, stuffed chicken, etc..

Cheeses and sweets from Castile-León

Mantecadas (buns)
from Astorga 14kb

A description of the cuisine of Castile is incomplete without the cheeses which may not be as famous as the products of La Mancha, but they are not really far behind. In this region, there are creamy and cured quality cheeses, but there are also bland white cheeses which are less frequent in the rest of the country. Among these the ones from Villalón in Valladolid and from Burgos are famous.

Among the sweets roast almonds covered with caramel sugar are outstanding and have conquered the Spanish market from Briviesca in Burgos. Other sweets include las mantecadas from Astorga (León) and las yemas (egg yolk and sugar) de Santa Teresa from Avila.

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