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Papua New GuineaFlavors · Cantábria
Bean stew with kale and pork chorizo, blood sausage, ribs and bacon, born in the mountain valleys of inland Cantabria. It is the community’s dish and is served throughout the region, especially in winter.
Traditional dish from Cantábria
Also known as: cozido montañés, cocido cántabro
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
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Cocido montañés — Cantábria, Spain
Cocido montañés is the dish chosen to represent Cantabria in the postal stamps series created with the Royal Academy of Gastronomy. The name comes from La Montaña, how the region’s interior is traditionally called, and the recipe originated in the mountain valleys, among shepherds and peasants, before spreading through the whole community.
Unlike the stews of central Spain, made with chickpeas, the montañés uses white beans. The beans cook slowly with the compango, the pork meats: chorizo, blood sausage, ribs and bacon. In a separate pot, the kale, or berza, is cooked on its own and only then is it combined with the rest, with a sauté of garlic and paprika.
The result is a thick spoonable dish, served hot. At the table it is usually brought in a single serving dish, with the meats cut and placed on top or served alongside.
The dish is celebrated in festivals and competitions across Cantabria. The Fiesta del Cocido Montañés de Ucieda, in Ruente, in the Cabuérniga valley, is a Festival of Regional Tourist Interest and brings together cooks from several villages around large cauldrons.
White beans, kale (berza), chorizo, blood sausage, pork ribs and bacon, garlic, paprika, olive oil, salt.
Hot, in a deep dish, as a main course. The meats are served cut on top of the beans with kale or served separately. Bread to accompany.
An autumn and winter dish, available year-round in Cantabrian eateries. It has its own festivals and competitions in several villages.
Your questions
Montañés uses white beans and kale; madrileño uses chickpeas and is served in stages.
Because it was born in La Montaña, the traditional name for Cantabria’s mountainous interior.
Yes. The Fiesta del Cocido Montañés de Ucieda, in Ruente, is a Festival of Regional Tourist Interest in Cantabria.
Flavors of Spain
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Cooked octopus in a copper pot, cut with scissors into rounds on a wooden plate and seasoned with coarse salt, paprika and olive oil. It’s the dish of inland Galician fairs and was chosen to represent Galicia.
Sweet leavened and laminated dough, rolled with a cream filling, fried and coated in sugar. It is the typical sweet of Girona, linked to the historical Puig pastry shop in the early 20th century.
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Sweet made from ground sweet almonds and sugar, shaped into figures and baked, with Protected Geographical Indication. The most cited tradition places its origin in a convent in Toledo in the 13th century.
Partridge braised with onion, garlic, bay leaf, thyme, wine and, in some versions, vinegar, in a sauce known as Toledo-style. It is the chosen dish for Castilla–La Mancha and one of the symbols of Toledan cuisine, land of hunting in the Montes de Toledo.
Fishermen’s stew layered with potato and fish, topped with allioli, born on the boats of Tossa de Mar. The name recalls the movement of the pan during cooking, and the town dedicates a gastronomic campaign to it every September.
Spring vegetable dish from the Ribera of Navarra, such as artichoke, broad bean, pea and asparagus, cooked separately and brought together with ham. It is the dish chosen for Navarra and the specialty of Tudela, which celebrates the garden in the Fiestas de la Verdura.
Cooked rice in a wide, shallow pan — paella — with chicken, rabbit, green beans and garrofó bean, tomato, saffron and olive oil. It was born in the garden plots and the Albufera of Valencia and was declared an Intangible Cultural Heritage by the Generalitat Valenciana.
A meal centered on calçots — white spring onions roasted over embers until the skin is charred, peeled by hand and dipped in a sauce of almonds, tomato and pepper. It originated in Valls, which celebrates the calçotada festival at the end of January.
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