One of the main reasons we love Spain that much is its culinary offer. If you travel to different regions of the country you will see how different each one of them will be in terms of typical food, and how incredibly delicious each dish is.
Some are common in most of the parts of Spain, as patatas bravas, tortilla de patatas, paella and turrón. These dishes are famous all over the world, and every travel guide will tell you what they are and how to eat them.
When it comes to the specific dishes that are common in some certain areas of Spain, they are not so well-known among travellers. One of the regions that is rich on all kinds of delicious food in Catalunya.
Here is the “not so short” list of the typical dishes you should look for in the menu when deciding on a restaurant.
Table of Contents
1. Pan amb tomàquet
Pan con tomate, is probably the most classic dish there is in the Barcelona’s typical cuisine. It dates back to the 19th century!
What a great and simple invention?
Nothing can be as easy and effortless as some fresh bread with olive oil, salt and tomato that is cut and rubbed on the bread and olive oil.
The trick is to have it made with very good and fresh ingredients. Like this:
Some people like to add some garlic as well, and sometimes you can see variations of this dish with some Spanish jamón. But in our opinion, the easier the better.
If you want to try a really good pan con tomate, always look for a place with fresh bread, or search for “pan de vidrio” (one of the most delicious ones here) because this is the most important part of this simple dish.
2. Crema Catalana
As you can see from its name, this dessert has its origin in Catalonia and has something to do with cream.
The dessert is also known as la crema quemada, which literally means “burned cream”. As you can see here:
The dessert is made of egg yolk, sugar, wheat or corn flour, milk with cinnamon and lemon/orange peel.
It is served in a clay round pot and has one of the best flavors, scents and textures a dessert can have.
So, what’s the story behind the favorite Catalan sweet dish?
Back in the 18th century a bishop made a visit to a Catalan convent and the nuns wanted to give him a tasty flan for the dessert, but the recipe wasn’t working out and the flan was too liquid.
So, they began to look for a solution to this situation and one of the options was to add burnt sugar to it.
It turned out really good, so they offered the dessert to the bishop.
What they didn’t know and didn’t tell him was that the sugar was still very hot.
So, when he tried it, he exclaimed “Crema”! Which from Catalan can be translated as “Burns”. This is how the dessert got its name. And today this accident became one of the favorite desserts of the region and other parts of Spain.
In order to try a good one, we reccommend you to order it in a typical restaurant.
3. Botifarra
Another important and very recognizable Catalan dish is this type of sausage made of raw pork and lots of spices, following some ancient recipes.
There are two types of Botifarra: white botifarra and black botifarra.
It does not need to be cooked normally.
But it sometimes acts as an ingredient of Escudella I carn d’olla, where it is boiled with vegetables and fava beans.
If you are a meat eater, this dish should be number one on your list when you are in Barcelona.
4. Escalivada
This traditional Catalan dish is one of our personal favorites.
In fact, every tourist guide or culinary book will give you pretty much the same recipe to follow.
The peppers and aubergines are roasted in the barbeque (the first one with more fire but during less time, and the second one – the opposite), while the onions and potatoes are wrapped in aluminum foil and are cooked under the ashes.
Afterwards, once served, it looks like this:
When everything is ready, you peel the ingredients and season everything with olive oil and pepper.
You can play with this recipe and add roasted tomatoes, black olives, garlic, anchovies, etc.
You can be really creative, that’s the idea of this dish after all. Isn’t it the healthiest dish EVER?
5. Calçots
If you have ever come to Barcelona somewhere between winter and spring, you have definitely seen this somewhat peculiar big onions, or at least know their amazing scent.
At that time of the year you can see it in every other corner of Barcelona. Basically, it is a variety of onions that is very common in Catalonia, and only in that moment of the year.
You can prepare them various ways, and normally you need to add some romesco sauce or salvitxada.
It is very healthy and delicious, but not that well-known by the general public.
6. Arroz negro
First thing to note when going for the arroz negro, or “black rice”, is that this typical Catalan dish is not paella, although it is made in a similar way.
Paella has Valencian roots, while the Catalan rice dish is literally known as “arroz”, which means “rice”. And the most typical and popular of the area is undoubtedly the “black rice”.
And if you’re wondering how it looks, it’s like this:
The difference between the Valencian paella and Catalonian rice dish is that the rice is not cooked in the same way paella is cooked, but in a special cast iron casseroles known as “cassolas“.
The black rice is cooked with a mix of garlic, onion, cuttlefish and a lot of squid ink, the last ingredient being responsible for the color of the rice. You can usually get the black rice with prawns or sauteed clams.
7. Bikini
You have definitely seen this one on the menu many times and have wondered what it was.
And once you found out, you were wondering why something like this would be called like that?
We know, it is kind of confusing, we have all been there.
For those who don’t know and are intrigued by now, we are talking about the “Bikini”, which is a Catalonian sandwich, made with cheese and jamón york.
It is called like that because of its shape, that somewhat looks like a bottom part of a bikini. It is only called like that in Catalonia – in other Spanish regions it is just known “mixed sandwich”.
That’s what actually is…
What’s funny is that it is named after a night club of Barcelona.
Back in 1953 Sala Bikini was a club with a big terrace that was a very popular meeting point among young people of the city. One of the food offerings was this sandwich, that was so good that the similar versions of it began to be called “Bikini”.
You can easily prepare your own bikini sandwich at home. Just get some bread, put some butter on both sides, stuff the sandwich with ham and cheese and toast it all in a sandwich maker.
What can be easier than that?
Then cut it into 2 pieces and enjoy your crusty bread and melted cheese. There is no need to reccommend you a place to try it in Barcelona: you can find bikinis everywhere around the city.
8. Cocas
This particular dish has so many varieties that it deserves another post to be dedicated just to it.
There are cocas for every taste: sweet and salty, with fruits and nuts, with veggies and anchovies, etc.
In Barcelona it is mostly consumed as a dessert, especially during the local holidays such as Sant Joan festival.
The dish tastes somewhat like sweet bread with some sweet ingredients added on it. The most typical coca is the one with candied fruit.
Just like this:
Pan de Coca is a very interesting invention, because in the end, you can eat it literally with anything.
Concluding, these are not all the things you should remember to try when you are in Barcelona.
The cuisine is pretty varied, and there is a great number of desserts and tapas to explore. But these, in our opinion, are the most characteristic dishes of Barcelona, and should be on your list before everything else.
But this is, of course, also a matter of taste.
Enjoy these delicious dishes and tell us what you think!
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