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Note from the host: This discussion started in the Fabada thread. I think the issues discussed deserve their own thread I really like José Andrés' restaurants in DC--and respect him as a chef--but I don't quite agree. I think the pork products (and fish and shellfish) available in the US are quite inferior to what is so easily available here. The best items from Spain are not imported. It is possible to source decent alternatives for some items, but you will have to look hard at small suppliers and pay quite a premium. All the more reason to come for a visit...

I recently spent some time in Spain, including several days in Asturias, and was privileged to have a lunch of Fabada Asturiana at the restaurant La Maquina in Lugones, which specializes in this wonderful dish. Always nice to start at the top. For the edification of those who may not be familiar with fabada -- sadly, most Americans have never heard of it -- it is a deceptively simple dish. In the most classic version, white beans (fabes in Asturiano) are cooked low and slow with saffron, black morcilla, chorizo and lacón (the salt-cured foreleg of a pig). A large bowl of beans in liquid comes to the table and a plate with a few small pieces of each of the three meats. That's it. But that's only really the beginning. The white beans I had were of a wonderful local variety (granja variety?) -- similar in appearance to the familiar Italian cannellini, but significantly longer and creamier in texture. The beans were all whole. Not one single one was split or broken, nor did they break apart on the way to our bowls or up to our lips. And yet, upon the slightest pressure from the teeth it was as though they immediately transformed into creamy softness. Some of this was the quality and variety of the beans, no doubt, but I can only assume that some of it was also the result of many decades of experience and expertise. This fabada was by no means a light dish, and yet it was certainly less rich (and less meaty) than other well-known bean dishes such as cassoulet. Really, it was all about the beans. The few small bits of meat that came along with the beans seemed more like condiments for the beans than fundamental structural elements of the dish. Since that eye-opening lunch, I have come to understand that there are many different versions and styles of fabada. I have heard good things about fabadas with clams and also what sounded like a very interesting fabada with centollo (giant spider crab). As will be apparent to our Spanish members, and those more familiar with Spain than I, my knowledge and experience in this area is very meager at this point. But I'd like to learn more! What can you tell me about fabada? Is there any possibility of approximating this dish back here in NYC? What are some favorite recipes and variations?

Dear Friends, Kindly take a second or two to become aware of my serious condition and its remedy. I have just finished a leg of Joselito's Gran Reserva. It was 7 1/2 kilos and lasted almost a year. At the same time, another blow hit my larder. With tears in my eyes I had to cook the last four remaining pieces of bacalao, the pil-pil cut. As my travel plans will not take me to Spain for a few months, is there any decent e-shop you know that I could buy joselito and bacalao from? I hope there is at least one noble and able soul, who will help me resolve the urgent condition I am confined in. Thank you

I thought I'd share my version of The Hirshon Gambas al Ajillo (Garlic Shrimp). To my palate, this is the best version, let's see if others agree with me - and share their recipes as well for a cookoff by some enterprising eGulleteer. The gauntlet is thrown down! cheers, JH ______________________________ The Hirshon Gambas al Ajillo (Garlic Shrimp) 1/2 cup butter (one stick) 1/2 cup extra virgin Olive Oil 12 cloves Chopped Spanish Purple Garlic 2 lbs. medium shrimp, peeled, soaked in salty water for 20 minutes, washed and drained 1/4 cup beef broth 1/3 cup lemon juice 1 tsp. smoked Spanish Paprika 3 T. crushed dried chili peppers, (I prefer cascabel for this recipe) 2 Bay (laurel) leaves 1/2 cup Fino Sherry wine Salt and Black pepper, to taste 1/3 cup Chopped Parsley 1/4 cup chopped fresh Thyme leaves 1. Melt together butter, olive oil, and garlic and simmer until light brown; set aside on low heat. 3. Simmer together beef broth, lemon juice, paprika, bay leaves, chili peppers; set aside on low heat. 4. Heat oven to 500 degrees F. with large terra cotta cazuela or ceramic dish on oven shelf. 5. When the cazuela becomes very hot, remove to the top of the stove. 6. Bring butter and olive oil solution to a boil and add immediately. Add shrimp and stir with a wooden spoon until they turn pink. Add sherry and broth (which has been brought to a boil). 7. Stir, add in parsley and thyme, stir again and return to oven for 5 minutes. 8. Serve with rice or bread to absorb the juices!

I've been doing a lot of Portuguese cooking lately, and the famous chili sauce, piri-piri, seems to be compatible with virtually everything. I'd like to make the stuff, but it seems that every recipe I can find is quite different; some include olive oil, others just vinegar; some use fresh chilis, others dried. I'm quite surprised by the wide variation in recipes, and am not sure where to start, nor which is the "real" piri-piri. Can anybody out there with knowlege of Portuguese food tell me how to make the real piri-piri that is found in restaurants and homes in Portugal? (Cross-posted at the Cooking forum). Thanks! Austin

I have returned to the Pyrennes and I am living in a small village called Puigcerda on the french Boarder and I am working for the second winter for Josep Maria Masso. I am going to explain a traditional technique for preparing chicken in the winter in the Cerdanya Valley. The chickens from Pages are an extordinary animal. Not your typical ''Free-range organic chicken'' these chickens are wild animals. The chickens are hung in our walk-in for about a week to dry out a little and concentrate the flavor of the meat. Slices of black truffles are inserted between the skin and meat of the chickens. They are as well stuffed with an mixture of bread crumbs foie gras, milk and black truffles. The chickens are then wrapped in linen. On the morning of Christmas Eve, we drove them to a forest where truffles grow. A whole is dug and in go the chickens. They will stay here for 2 weeks. Depending on the tempurature. (0 - 4 degrees celcius) A little cava for good luck! This is a very old recipe that has been practiced here in the Pyrennes. It was believed that when you rebury the truffle in the ground it will continue to release its perfume in to the meat of the chicken.

any one have any suggestions

This one is another typical portuguese dessert. Along with the Custard Tarts this is one of our most well-known pastry items. It has its origin - along with almost every egg dessert here - in the old monasteries and convents. Click here for the recipe

Has anyone tried them? This is one of the most famous pastry items here in Portugal. Feel free to check my recipe and tell me what you thought of them.

After spending Christmas in the UK and being reminded how good real, hung, organic beef can be and after reading Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's "River Cottage Meat Book" I'm determined to seek out the best carniceria in town. I know that first-rate, free-range chicken is widely available so that's not a problem. I have also seen exorbitantly-priced organic pork, chicken and beef in El Corte Ingles. What I am looking for, however (if such a thing exists) is a carniceria where they know the origins or their meat and can provide: properly-hung, mature beef from bred-for-meat not dairy herds; non-intensively-reared pork and also a good shop for caza (game). I have seen that some organic farms offer meat by mail-order but I'd rather shop locally if possible. Does anyone here know where I should be shopping? I'd rather not have to interview every stallholder in the boqueria

The Week of January the 2nd, 2006 El Mundo's Metrópoli magazine Metrópoli starts the year with their traditional Madrid dinning awards 2005, being the winners: Restaurant of the year Winner: LA BROCHE. Finalists: El Mesón de Doña Filo (Colmenar de Arroyo) and Casa José (Aranjuez). Best newcomer Winners: (Ex Aequo) El Antojo and Zaranda. Finalists: Asiana and El Patio de Leo. Tradicional Restaurant Winner: Asador Imanol. Finalists: La Lonja (Pozuelo) and Asturianos. Foreign restaurant Winner: Yuán. Finalists: Boccondivino and Petit Bistrot. Outskirts of Madrid Winners: (Ex Aequo) El Mesón de Doña Filo (Colmenar de Arroyo) and Casa José (Aranjuez). Finalists: La Lonja (Pozuelo) and Urrechu (Pozuelo). Up-and-coming chef Winner: Ricardo Sanz (Kabuki) Finalists: Fernando del Cerro (Casa José) and César Rodríguez (El Antojo). Best maitre d' Winner: Leoncio González (Txistu) Finalists: Fernando González Ortiz (Yuán) and Ángeles Giménez (Nicolás). Best sommelier Winner: Juan Antonio Herrero (Lágrimas Negras). Finalists: Manuel Rosell (Bodegas Rosell) y Gerardo Giménez (Gaztelupe). More than a restaurant Winnerr: Nueva Fontana. Finalists: Asiana and Lavinia Espacio Gastronómico. interior decoration Winnerr: Lágrimas Negras. Finalists: Arola Madrid and Europa Decó. Tapas / Wine bar Winner: El Quinto Vino. Finalists: El Fogón de Trifón and El Gorro Blanco. Gastronomic shop Winner: Raza Nostra. Finalists: Pastelería Internacional and Supermercados Nativo. Fernando Point ends the year discovering Sudestada the new Madrid branch of this asiatic-argentinian restaurat. And acording to the critic the food is authentic, fresh and terrific. Point also visites new and young fussion restaurants like the promising Sushi Olé and Nagoya, and the not so convincing Assia in Wok . Alvaro Lerena visites Prado Cuatro a classic café turned into a tapas bar. Top Metrópoli goes for the best restaurants serving Oriental Lobster El País' El Viajero Jose Carlos Capel discovers Loft 39 a faraonic bistro in the Salamanca area of Madrid. La vanguardia 5 a taula visites Magatzem to discover that is much more than a traditional food house. El Correo Rafael García Santos pays a trip to Torrijos in Valencia to prove that the restaurant is moving in the good direction. Lo Mejor de la Gastronomía Rafael García Santos revisites Mugaritz in Rentería, Guipuzcoa and explains the downgrade that this restaurant has suffered in his guide. Xavier Agulló writes about Fabian Martín a surprising pizza restaurant in Llivia, a catalonian city located in France.

Could anyone here supply me with the names and addressess of some Asian retail stores please? May be Indian, Chinese or South East Asian Thank you

Hello everyone, I wanted to introduce my new cookbook, The New Spanish Table, just out from Workman Publishing. I've been covering Spain for the last ten years for publications like Food&Wine, Travel+Leisure, and Los Angeles Times. The New Spanish Table is packed with 300 recipes ranging from traditional to the avant-garde, color photos, and essays on regional ingrdients, interesting chefs, history, and traditions. There are recipes from chefs like Arzak, Adria, Dani Garcia, and Carles Abellan, as well as from more traditional tabernas and tapas bars--all tested and retested and adapted to the American home kitchen. Provecho!

I found a great wine shop in Spain. In San Sebastian, about an hour (or two, depending on your route) East along the coast from Bilbao. It's Vinos Ezeiza, on Prim 16 (+34 943 46 68 14). (Finding it was not accidental. I asked the sommelier at Akelare to recommend a wine store in San Sebastian.) It's a dusty old shop, filled with interesting wines. Mostly Spanish, mostly Riojas, but lots of other stuff as well. (He had a bunch of Vega Sicilia wines that were outside my price range.) And older stuff: wines from the 50s, 60s, and 80s. Some French, even. The old guy who runs it speaks no English, but he's great. He definitely knows his stock. This is what I left with. (I flew to Spain with an empty 12-bottle wine shipper.) 1 x 1964 Vina Albina Rioja 2 x 1982 Montecillo Gran Reserva Rioja 3 x 1991 Vina Real Gran Reserva Rioja 2 x 1994 Vina Real Gran Reserva Rioja 1 x 1995 Vina Real Gran Reserva Rioja 2 x 1994 R. Lopez de Herdia Rioja 1 x 1995 R. Lopez de Herdia Rioja And he gave me a bottle of local Basque white as a gift. I'm going to buy some cod to have it with. Most of the bottles were 20 or 25 euros, with the older three being as much as 50 euros. (My total bill for the 12 wines was 330 euros.) I have no idea how often anyone gets to this part of the world, but if you do happen to get there this shop is worth a trip. He said that he's open from 8:00 to 8:00, without a siesta.

I've never seen fresh cranberries in Spain, but then again I've never looked before... We've got a guiri gathering planned for Thanksgiving and I would like to make cranberry sauce from scratch if I can get my hands on some... Has anyone seen fresh cranberries lately at their local market? I asked around at our market (Mercado de la Cebada) and our usual fruterías and no one has them or knows what they are. I have been referring to them as arándanos agrios (trying to distinguish them from the somewhat more available blueberry/arándano)? Is there another name for them? Or is this a lost cause? Thanks! Here's a picture of the fruit in question, if that helps:

Adria is now hawking Lay's potato chips (I am not making this up). Now, don't get me wrong--the potato chips were delicious, and I would never turn down an opportunity to dine at El Bulli, but does anyone else think that Adria's pushing the envelope of overexposure? He has truly become the "Wolfgang Puck" of Spain: [edited for typo] Note from the host: This topic has been split from elBulli 2006 reservations

Anyone here willing to share recipes for frango no churrasco? I've heard that in Algarve they do make tasty chickens that way thanks

Wonder what type of toppings and how porras are served? Is there any savoury porras or just sweet tooth things? thanks

Can someone tell me the best place to buy Moroccan "supplies" (ie. olives, spices etc.) in Madrid? Believe it or not, I will be carrying them back to Mexico (along with everything else).

I know in Sicily couscous is still prepared and there is even an International festival. I'm invovled in a discussion about Brazilian cuzcuz elsewhere with a Brazilian woman who tells me that cuzcuz in Brazil is mainly consumed during the Junine Feast. She tells me that there are Portuguese, African and Italian recipes.

I had the menu planned, than realized that one of the guests was allergic to seafood so I've re-hashed the whole thing at one in the morning to a Spanish tapa's menu (as we have Spain on the brain) sort of. Still one seafood tapa on the menu, but he can avoid that one. All the white wine drinkers in the group prefer "oaky chardonnays". Any rec's (and no razzing about the oaky chardonnay drinkers ) for Spanish whites around the $15.00-20.00 dollar range? I've never really drank that many Spanish whites (not my cup of tea), so I have no clue. I'd appreciate any input on this. Here's the menu, such as it is. Best I can do late night for a party tomorrow, starting at 4 or so. -Roasted Tomatoes with Thyme & Goat's Cheese on Puff Pastry -Lemon/rosemary/roasted garlic with sun-dried olive marinated BBQ'd chicken skewers (marinated, BBQ'd, cooled and then marinated in fresh marinade till serving time, to be flashed before serving, or maybe I will serve them cold depending on the weather and the time line) -Prawn Skewers done in the same way as above with a different marinade...any Spanish type ideas are welcome. -Roasted Asparagus wrapped with Serrano Ham -Portobello and Crimini Mushroom Pizza with Porcini Powder and some sort of cheese that I can't remember, before I froze it two weeks ago....maybe pecorino? Blueberry Limoncello Tiramisu made of course with home-made, egullet approved, Limoncello For the red I'm going to go with Las Rocas, Garnacha, 2003 (good cheap plonk and if it's good enough for Parker, it's good enough for the family)! My family wouldn't know the difference however, except if no oak was involved in their whites. cm

I just bought some queso valdeon cheese from the supermarket (although it was labelled queso valdon) . the cheese counter guy there couldn't tell me much about it. our exchange was as follows: me: wow, what kind of cheese it that? clerk: it's blue cheese. me: I can see that. what can you tell me about it? clerk: nothing. it's from spain, and it's wrapped in grape leaves *awkward silence* Anyways, I bought 100 grams and tried it as soon as I got home. I love it! It's very strong and complex, but not overpowering. Can anyone tell me anything about it (typical age, what sort of milk etc..)? Any other Spanish cheeses I'm missing (I'm sure there are lots)?

In Cucina Paradiso the heavenly food of Sicily by Clifford Wright he discusses cucina arabo-sicula. Is there a similar sort of folklore about Arabic or Moorish influences in Spanish or Portuguese cooking? Are there any books on the subject? Tommaso d'Alba, a Sicilian writer wrote La Cucina Siciliana di Derivazione Araba. Are there any books or articles about the Moorish influences in Spain or Portugal? I consider Oran, Algeria to be very Spanish influenced. The Spaniards came in in various stages of history and of course many Moors and Moriscos settled there. We have Spanish loan words in our derja (dialect). Sometimes it gets a bit confusing because an Arab loan word into Spanish came back to Algeria in it's Spanish form and became part of the local derja rather than the original Arabic word. Oranian Rai music has Andalusian influences.

I will be in Barcelona and elBulli in the end of this month. Of course I would like to bring a few food items back with me. What should I bring back? Cheeses, chocolates, wine,...? What shops are a must-visit? Thanks Elie

HI! I've thought about a fun idea those from us who live in Barcelona could undertake... How about taking 30 € to La Boqueria market each and seeing what do we cook out of it? I don't know, I think this might stretch out culinary muscle. Then we can write the menu each one of us cooked so that everyone else at the forum can have a look. Would anyone be interested in this? How do we go about it --- are everyday, back of the pantry groceries like flour and oil included? What do you reckon? Just think aloud. Mar