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Well, sobrasada menorquina is subtler than its counterpart from the neighbor island, sobrasada mallorquina. A more delicate flavor with the spices not playing a so major role as in the latter. Compare them while you can! But the caldereta de langosta (some say that sobrasada is also an ingredient for it), really is something elsle.

We didn't ask for the recipe, but I suspected there were tomatoes as well as strawberries in the soup. ← Well, I have to confess that I wasn't totally sure about whether the gazpacho made using some kind of fruit was a creative dish or not. So, I took advantage of the weekly El Mundo's Encuentros Digitales with Abraham García , and asked Abraham about it. You can find the whole text here (question 6), but let me translate his answer: "Half a century ago, in my small village (Montes de Toledo) it wasn't infrequent to find in the gazpacho icebergs of melon, acidic morello cherries or small slices of pear. 'After Altamira . . . everything is plagiarism', cursed among brushtrokes that bald malagueño, lucid and fornicator."

Yes, they are.

To the best of my knowledge, the strawberry gazpacho is a creative adaptation. The first place where, years ago, I sampled variations on gazpacho adding some fruits (and arenque ahumado or kipper) was at Viridiana. Nonetheless, I think these variations are one of those things which can have been developed more or less at the same time in different places, which makes extremely complicated ascribing a single author to them. Regarding the balance of the dish in terms of sweetness, keep in mind that tomatoes are still used in a ratio of 1/1 regarding the weight of the strawberries.

Take a look at: Ca l'Isidre in the Guía Campsa.

What did you not like about it, Samantha?

Why not?

Don't count on finding shops open on Sunday, unless it's the first Sunday of the months (even then, you'd only find open the shops from major chains mostly).

Perhaps Mozzarella?

In many parts of the country, olive oil hasn't been used until recently (in historical terms) since the use of pork fat (manteca) to cook was a proof of being a true Christian.

Indeed there are Arabic influences in Spanish cooking. From the escabeche to a whole type of desserts, they're present in our cooking, not to mention the products and agriculture techniques introduced by the Moors. There's a book which deals specifically with the influences of Jewish and Arab cooking in Spanish cooking: http://www.derecoquinaria.com/fichagrande.asp?ID=2367 And books like M. Martínez Llopis's Historia de la gastronomía española have a chapter to cover the Arabic-Andalusian cooking.

Almass, I for one I'm interested in reading your arguments which make you thing that Parma ham is superior to Ibérico. And if no argument other than experimentation, that's it buy them and compare them, is offered, then I'm afraid that we would have to be far more specific about what's to be compared. Are we talking of making a comparison of the very best of each products, a random selection, or what? Just the fact of having 5 official D.O. for Ibérico, each one with its own nuances (feeding, climate, aging periods, . . .), makes the whole comparison process quite difficult.

That "not all iberico hams are created equal" is very good and very important advice although I don't ever recall having bad ham in Spain. Jabugo, Bellotta and Joselito are not all brands however and thinking of them as different brands or grades is bound to casue some confusion. It's unfortunate that someone seems to have trademarked the term "jabugo" in the US. It would be like trademarking the name "champagne" or "roquefort," unless that someone happens to be an association protecting the rights of those who raise pork in Spain. I don't know that is the case as the web page for jabugo.com has been taken by a web source for Spanish products. Jabugo, to the best of my knowledge, is the name given the ham from the "black foot" pata negra breed of pig. Bellotta is the Spanish work for acorns and when applied to ham it signifies the pig from which the ham is made was fed on a diet of acorns. Joselito is a brand name and its generally agreed they make the best ham in Spain, but even they make more than one quality. A jam bearing all three words should be of the highest quality found. Such hams are very expensive, even in Spain. That real jamon, cured in Spain from pigs raised and slaughtered in Spain, has not yet been available in the US may be the reasons some are shocked by prices brought by top quality ham in Spain. I'll look for one of our resident experts to edit and amend my definitions. ← Not exactly like that, I'm afraid. Let's see: There are five official "denominaciones de origen" for jamón: Dehesa de Extremadura Guijuelo Jamón de Huelva Jamón de Teruel Jamón de Trévelez Jabugo is a town in the Jamón de Huelva D.O. This town has a long tradition of producing outstanding hams and the term jamón de Jabugo has always been a synonym for the best ham in the country. The 5J of Sánchez Romero Carvajal is one of the best products of this D.O. BTW, in geographical terms, Huelva is a province of Andalucía. But Guijuelo is competing with Jamón de Huelva for the supremacy in the production of the very best jamones. Even though the Guijuelo D.O. allows for pigs coming from a number of provinces (Salamanca, Ávila, Zamora, Segovia, Cáceres, Badajoz, Sevilla, Córdoba, Huelva, Ciudad Real and Toledo; please notice that Huelva is included on that list), the elaboration is restricted to some towns in the southeastern of Salamance. Of course, Guijuelo is one of these towns. And Joselito is one of the best producers of this D.O. Which is to say one of the best in the country. Bellota, with a single 't', is the name for acorn, as Bux wrote, and he was also correct about the pata negra, or more properly, cerdo ibérico (Iberic pork), being a breed of pig. Not all the Ibéricos have to be fed with bellotas, though that combination is the most valued one. Each D.O. has its own regulations about whether the pork has to be 100% Ibérico or which percentage of blood coming from other breeds it's allowed, the food that they can eat and the classification which depends on those factors (among others).

Bux, you must be referring to boquerones en vinagre.

Good choices, no doubt about it. If you have any spots left, give it a try to a more traditional restaurant. Perhaps it'll give you some insight about where Santamaría, the Roca and Adrià brothers are coming from. Hispania, near Barcelona can be a wonderful experience to get you into the realms of traditional Catalonian fare.

Nathan, definitely not. You don't need either jacket or tie.

Is it a dialect, or a language of its own? . . . . . ← It's called bable, but probably we'd be better off leaving the debate regarding its status as a language or dialect out of a thread devoted to elBulli 2005 dining.

Ravioli de alga kombu y erizos Sesos de cordero con erizo de uva de mar Panceta iberica confitada con buey de mar a la cantonesa Ravioli of kombu seaweed and sea urchin Lamb brains with sea urchin of sea grape (probably coccoloba uvifera) Confited pork belly from ibérico with king crab Cantonese style Sort of, at least.

In Madrid, and I guess in Barcelona, Casa del Libro has a good selection of food related books. And if you happen to cross Zaragoza, check De Re Coquinaria.

The restaurant is in charge of Josean Martínez Alija, disciple of Martín Berasategui. There seem to be a consensus that Josean is doing a superb job over there.

Precisely, that was the point that I was trying to make. Neither of the sauces known as hollandaise, espagnole or mayonnaise have any relationship Nederland, Spain and Mahón respectively. Nonetheless, their names lead many people to confusion. Well, not that many among our members.

I shouldn't say that hollandaise and salsa española are the same thing. ← Ooops. My mistake. I meant to write Spanish sauce. Indeed, quite different animals hollandaise and Spanish sauce. Thanks for pointing that out, Rogelio.

Hollandaise, Spanish (salsa española) and even mayonnaise mahonesa are clear examples of that, Bux.

I've just bought some marrow bones and I need some input about how to cook them. I was thinking in doing something à la St. John (Fergus Henderson), but quite frankly, I don't know what he does with the bone. I want a dish where marrow is the main ingredient. Any ideas?

Since it will take some time for the contact information of Antojo to make it to the guides, right now is not particularly easy to get hold of its phone number. I think it will be useful to post it here: Antojo, C/ Ferraz 36 Phone: +34 91 547 40 46