⚓Discover Traditional Catalan cuisine: the best addresses

Traditional Catalan cuisine has become a culinary example and dishes such as escudella i carn d'olla (stew), xató, suquet de peix or coca (pie) de recapte or tomato bread are recognized everywhere.

Traditional Catalan cuisine: the best addresses

The quality and the great variety of its products as well as the effort of so many cooks and cooks, known or anonymous, not to lose this culinary treasure, allow us to enjoy wonderful traditional recipes and one of the most most exquisite and brilliant in Europe.

RICE AND PASTA

Throughout Catalonia we find typical dishes made with rice. In the Ebro Delta, for example, you can taste good black rice, paella or rossejat at the Restaurant l'Estany and during the Gastronomic Days held in July in Deltebre. In this same village, the rice harvest festival is celebrated in June and in September, the planting festival.

The Rice Days, which take place in October in Amposta, and the Rossejat Day, around August 20 in L'Amettla de Mar, are also a good opportunity to taste these dishes. In Pals there are many restaurants where you can taste Empordà brown rice, especially during the “Pals and Rice Cuisine” days. The Mediterranean Rice Fair is also held there in June.

Special mention should be made of the famous Parellada rice, with fish and meat, from the restaurant Les Set Portes in Barcelona and, in the Pyrenees, it is essential to taste the mountain rice, made with pork, rabbit, chicken and sausage.

From rice, we move on to pasta, where we must distinguish dishes as traditional as cannelloni, noodles a la cassola and vermicelli rossejats or fideu ada.

SALADS AND APPETIZERS

Esqueix ada de bacallà is, along with empedrat, one of the classic starters of Catalan cuisine. On the other hand, xató is exclusively made in Garraf and Alt and Baix Penedès. A good xató should contain escarole, onion, salted anchovies, cod, tuna, tomato and hot pepper, and it is often accompanied by omelettes.

From January to March, the popular xatonades take place in Vilanova i la Geltrú, El Vendrell, Vilafranca del Penedès and Sitges. These villages have an interesting gastronomic offer, the Xató route, which allows you to go sightseeing and taste this so Catalan dish in the best restaurants.

FRESH VEGETABLES AND PULSES

Traditionally, in the region of Cerdanya, we had a good dish of trinxat for breakfast, prepared with cabbage and potatoes and a little salty pork. Today, it is a dish reserved for lunch or dinner. The trinxat can be tasted in several establishments in the region and at the Trinxat Festival in Puigcerdà. Other traditional dishes made with vegetables are escaliv ada and samfaina.

Traditional Catalan cuisine: the best addresses

SOUPS

The most traditional soup in Catalonia is escudella i carn d'olla. On Christmas Day, the tradition is to serve a good dish. The olla aranesa, made in the Vall d'Aran, can be tasted in the restaurant Casa Irene, in Arties.

The Catalan festive calendar signals some dates to taste the most traditional soups of the country, such as the day of the Olla Barej ada, which is celebrated in the month of January in Artesa de Lleida (Segrià), or the Escudellada Popular which takes place in February in Pineda de Mar (Maresme).

POISSON

The king of Catalan fish dishes is the suquet, which was usually prepared on the boat, with the freshly caught fish. It can be tasted in various places, but especially during the Suquet de Peix Calero Contest which is held in February in L'Ametlla de Mar.

Another type of marinated casserole is the ranxo, made with the least sold fish on the market.

The reballa, on the other hand, is an assortment of fried fish that takes its name from the daily catch that belongs to each member of the crew.

We must not forget the all cremat, a pot of fish that can be tasted, among other places, at the Peixerot restaurant, in Vilanova i la Geltrú.

Traditional Catalan cuisine: the best addresses

MEAT

Apart from the typical sausage with beans, it is worth mentioning the cap i pota, normally veal, very typical in Manresa and throughout the Bages region.

We should also mention the pig's trotters, which can be tasted at the Pork and Beer Festival which takes place in October in Manlleu, the duck with pears or the veal with mushrooms, dishes that can be tasted in many restaurants in the city. hinterland of Catalonia.

Traditional Food Route

BARCELONA (Barcelonès)

• Restaurant The set doors – D

Pg. of Isabel II, 14

Tel. 931 930 033

Parellada rice specialty

COSTA BRAVA

PALS (Alt Empordà)

• Gastronomic days:

Pals and Rice Cooking – D

Tourist Office of the Town Hall of Pals

Pl. Major, 7