Mar Calpena

I'll leave one before I leave (this is getting too addicting!) Stinking bishop cheese

Last tango in Paris...?

This isn't exactly what you are asking for, but it will probably help. This page features different meat cuts along their photographs, with their name in Spanish... At the same time, someone once told me that meat cuts are not the same here and overseas, so it might be a bit difficult. What were you exactly looking for? If you describe it to me I can probably find out about the translation... Mar

I can't seem to get this topic out of my mind... When I was trying to bridge the gap between being a journalist and a PR I found this book and this other particularly helpful. Keep in mind they are somewhat "American" (if you know what I mean) in its approach, so some of their tactics might be a bit over the top. I've been looking through your webpage, too, and without wanting to sound cruel, I have to say it's not particularly eye catching or informative. And what I find unforgivable is it's not yet finished, if the restaurant is already open. Also, try offering a little extra to your web visitors. Maybe an easy recipe. Or have you thought about blogging about your restaurant? I know it sounds like a lot of work, but that would probably help people visit your page more often, and biting their interest about your food. Mar

First of all, I have to say I only worked in a restaurant for a week... But I have worked both as a journalist and a PR, so here's my two cents. Also, I want to state I work and live in Spain, so what applies here might not apply over there. But there you go: Another good tip, specially for smaller magazines, is sending a CD with professional quality high resolution photos of your restaurant. They might not have a photographer available but still need to fill a stray half column the day before their deadline, and that's when your pics can make a critical difference. A photograph of yourself, particularly if it makes you look charismatic or warm, should also be included. Try and get a media directory and locate every paper's person in charge for the food section. Don't overlook magazines where that job might fall in no one in particular (fashion and travel magazines might not have a food editor and the job may rotate among their staff). Don't ignore local and amateurish papers, you need every publicity you can get. Just remember you are not obliged to give them free food (often, the more amateur the journalist, the more he or she seems to think they are entitled to it). Your press release shouldn't be too long (one page at best, excluding the menu), and you should go straight to the point from the beginning. Think what makes you newsworthy. Are you doing a week devoted to mushrooms? Is there an special event in your area you can tie in with? Have you redecorated? Did a local celebrity choose you to celebrate their wedding? Have you written a cookbook? Consider offering special prices for companies hosting their events in your place, specially if they will be working hard for their PR. I used to work for a fashion magazine, and a lot of the restaurant reviews often were the idea of someone who had been there originally while covering something else entirely. Don't forget to put in every page of your press release your contact data. This must include the name of the person who will be acting as a liaison. Journalists really hate calling somewhere and having their call bounce from one person to another. One tip I really swear by (but other people may find worthless) is always sending our press releases inside a brightly coloured folder (ideally in the same colour and style as the rest of your graphics). Why? Journalists receive LOTS of press releases and tend to have not very tidy desks. A garish folder is easier to fish from inside a pile. I hope this helps, Mar

In Barcelona (and in most Catalonia and some other parts of Spain), you have Pans&Company, which is a fast food franchise specializing in baguette sandwiches. In Madrid, there's the ubiquitous Rodilla sandwich franchise. While both Pans&Company and Rodilla are decent outlets (i.e. for a fast food chain), I'd recommend trying Lizarran, which is yet another franchise specializing in Basque Pintxos, which are slices of white bread topped by a variety of roasted vegetables, cured meats, brined anchovies or seafood, or, even better, going for a real tapas experience in a warm, real, down-to-earth bar.

www.allrecipes.com Not exactly the most refined site ever -now and then you will encounter a monstruosity that calls for canned soup, barbecue sauce, molasses and spam- but definitely comprehensive, easy to use, and with lots of good info and recipes, plus a user-friendly interface.

After just starting my food blog, I've read your discussion and it's really got me thinking on why I had started it and what I want to achieve. My first impulse was creating a space for me to write personal prose about my food adventures, in Catalan. I'm hooked on food literature (damn, I forgot my volume of Best Food writing'06 at my mother's) but, as a journalist -though currently working as a comic book editor- I know that food journalism is really small in Spain and probably off-limits for me. Besides, it's mainly based on restaurant reviews or interviews with great chefs, and it takes very little from newspaper space. Spanish food journalists seem to often be detached from their own eating or cooking experience, probably as a result of editors guidelines and readers tastes. So, I'm not as much wanting to fill a market gap or expose my writing to prospective editors as trying to make myself write the food writing I love reading. And, yes, I expect to catch a few new readers along the way, as I suspect I'm not the only one who feels like this. To me, my food blog is a very personal kind of writing, although I strive for quality. And it will give me a playground of sorts to delve into the food world. Mar

In 2007, I will eat at a Michelin-starred restaurant I will make cookies I will find a way not to overload my freezer I will learn all of my mother and my aunts' old recipes. This is the year I will try to publish my food writing I will taste frog legs I will use my wok more often I will give food related gifts I will stop buying cookbooks, and try and use the ones I own We will join more often for family gatherings My kids might come into existence (or they may get postponed yet another year) I will teach a certain friend how to cook something without deep-frying it. I will read Nestor Lujan's work

I found a photograph of Mafe, taken during my trip. If this works, Mafe is the stew on the right... Taken in Kedougu, Senegal, August 23, 2005.

There's a web page (in Spanish) about Jamón de Teruel Funnily enough, they mention they were the first Ham D.O. (Denominación de Origen) to be approved in the country, but they do not mention breeds. It's usually on the expensive side of the spectrum (I'd probably put this down to their production being smaller) but still cheaper than Jabugo. And if you ask me, there's a better quality/price rate. However, I've found some info somewhere else and they say: El tipo de ganado a emplear será el procedente de cruces entre las razas Landrace (tipo estándar) y Large White, en lo que respecta a la línea madre; y Duroc para la línea padre Which means: The breeds to employ will a cross between Landrace (standard type) and Large White, on the motherly line, and Duroc for the father one. Hope this helps, Mar

I traveled around Senegal in the summer of 2005 -the photo in my avatar was taken in Ziguinchor- and Mafe was one of the things we encountered most often. It was always served (at least, to us) over rice and had no carrots in it. Meat was goat or lamb. Most ingredients were undistinguishable once they had been cooked for quite a while, and definitely the peanut flavour was not a side note but central to the dish. This post brought memories of Thie Bou Dien (fish cooked over rice with root vegetables) and Poulet Yassa (grilled and served with lemon, pepper and onions). Onions seemed to be a central part of Senegalese food. An onion omelet was the most common breakfast, and they seemed to pop in every other dish. Edited for annoying typos.

Docs, Thanks, thanks, thanks for your wonderful reviews. I've been salivating profusely while reading them... Just two side notes: Whereas the most famed Serrano and Ibérico area is Extremadura, I'd say that for Teruel ham is just as good... And as for calçots: Now you know what a wonderful feast they are... Going to a "calçotada" in winter is as much as social event as a food feast, pretty similar in significance to what barbecue might be in the South of USA. There is an annual Calçots fair in Valls (in the Tarragona area of Catalonia) which is so much fun -there's even a calçot eating contest-, and it takes place at the end of January. Can't wait till the calçots season begins... Mar

I don't know if this has already been said, but if you own a slowcooker, it yields the most luscious fabada ever... provided you have the right ingredients and that you soak the beans the night before. Actually, this is one of my favourite uses for my crockpot.

Tom, This is brilliant. And I don't speak as a foodie but as comic books'editor. The graphic line is very reminiscent of "Linea clara", a style of comics that was very popular in Barcelona in the early eighties. I wonder if your artist was aware of this, but at any rate it's really well suited to the story you are telling (and the food part is great, too, I can hear my stomach rumbling). I'll definitely be showing this to my boss when I get back after the holidays. Mar P.S. I just talked to him and he thought it was great, too. Expect an email from me at the end of August, there might be a longer project in all this...

Try this one, after the first couple of minutes it's really representative. In the sketches, Ferran Adria is always with a sous chef he calls "mindundi" (catalan slang for underdog). Adria's sketches are called "The best cook in the world". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0PMNkhAD3w

Funny you mention the spheres! There's this political humor show on Catalan TV these days, where the only non-politician character they regularly spoof is Ferran Adria. He is shown in a high tech kitchen, the highlight of which is so-called "sferificating oven" (forn esferificador or, as Adria pronounces, ejferificador). His sketches normally include throwing some kind of foodstuff into the air, from which it comes back in a completely different, absurd form. Once they spoofed Carme Ruscalleda, too, and it was so good I remember crying tears of laughter. And on another day they had the real Ferran Adria over and interviewed him. He seemed to take it with a grain of salt. If by chance you are over here and can get to see it (the show is called Polonia), by all means wait until he appears, even if you don't speak Catalan. It's that good! (Excuse the aside, I didn't think it was worth opening a new thread for this... but I thought you would find it funny)

Well? Did they burn? Don't worry about stock cubes, it concentrates down along with the onions. Or wait, did you mean a dry boullion cube or a homemade stock ice cube? ←

Hi guys, I hate you and love you all at the same time. Yesterday I arrived early at work determined to look up a crockpot onion confit recipe. I should have known better and checked eGullet first. I just know that I ended up reading the 18 pages iof this forum between assignments, and that at the moment of writing this my confit is reaching its 13th hour of cooking in my old, fruit enameled crockpot. I've left it on low because I won't be home until half past three. When I left, the onions were a middle to dark brown and they smelled really good, although not sweet at all. I'm a bit afraid they'll burn, but in the back of my mind I know it's the same fear I always have when leaving my crockpot unattended. My recipe is more or less the basic one everyone mentions, but with a stock cube instead of a demi glace (I can hear the sirens of the foodie police closing on me!!!!). I'll let you know how it goes... Can't wait until the afternoon!

I fill my avocadoes with dill and canned tuna in oil for a quick salad... Salt maldon is optional, but nice. A friend of mine serves them with steamed mussels, and the combination is actually quite tasty.

You can find two fairly accurate recipes for fabada here and here- These days most people buy canned "fabas", like in recipe number one, because they take so long to prepare, but I'm definitely going to give traditional fabada a try once I receive my crockpot (and the weather gets colder). By the way, regardless of what the first recipe says, "Fabas" is the term people use in Asturias, where the dish comes from, to refer to big white beans. In Spanish they would be called "judías", as opposed to "habas", which are the Catalan Faves and Italian Favas. As for escudella i carn d'olla, I have to say this is a very forgiving recipe, and each family cooks it in a slightly different way. I also found two versions of it - along with a great explanation - here and here- , but my mother's doesn't include chicken's livers, lamb, onions or pork feet, while she may throw in some slices of Catalan sausages (botifarra blanca, botifarra negra, or fuet) and a quartered chicken or chicken carcass. What you definitely don't leave out is the huge meatball, the veggies and the chickpeas in stock. It's lovely winter fare... In terms of plating, you are supposed to drain the stock you get at the end, and then boil some pasta (galets, no idea what the italian term for this is) or rice in it. In the unlikely case you have leftovers, you make caneloni out of the meat and eat them on Boxing Day (San Esteve). However, due to my families' appetite and the fact we often have roast turkey filled with sausages, prunes, dried apricots and pine nuts in Christmas (another Catalan classic), my aunt has to make them from scratch every year. I'll try and post my mum's recipe soon, but the crockpot experiment will take longer with this, as it is a bit too labor intensive to cook only for myself. Edited to includ the "faba", "haba" explanation.

My favorite soup is... thyme soup! My mum makes it every winter, when we go to my ancestors' village in Lleida (west Catalonia) to get some wonderful Garrigues extra virgin oil. Put some dry bread in a plate and scald it with water in which you've boiled a sizeable sprig of thyme. Add some olive oil and maybe a bit of cheese or garlic or an egg and you are set for something I wouldn't exchange for lobster bisque... It's a poor man's soup but oh so delicious.

Hi, thanks to everyone for pointing me on the right direction. Silly me, I managed to miss the wealth of info available on Egullet. My mother suggested trying fabada, which is a white bean stew typical from the north of Spain, and also escudella i carn d'olla, which is stock and meat and veggies we Catalans often eat on Christmas day (we cook it all together but then have the stock with some pasta as hors d'oeuvre and the meat - chicken and chuck and butifarra- and the veggies as main).

After hearing from some American friends about the advantages of a crockpot (apparently it's simply a matter of dumping everything in, going to work and having a complete meal afterwards) I succumbed and I've just paid for one from Ebay. Slow cookers aren't used in Spain, where I live, but there is definitely a long tradition of slow cooking. Trouble is, I've been looking for slow cooker / crockpot recipes on the web and mostly they seem to be bland casseroles made out of canned soup and chunks of meat. Is any of you giving this appliance a more gourmety type of treatment? Could anyone give me some tips on what I can do with the my new kitchen toy? Thanks a lot, Mar

Hey, we had almost the same menu, but instead of the valdeon-toasted brioche, white truffle honey, pear we had the cheese selection... Thank you for the photos, they've brought back such a lovely experience. Mar