Eating & Drinking in Asturias and Cantabria

With Cantabria and Asturias each benefiting from long Atlantic coastlines, naturally you can look forward to enjoying a huge variety of freshly caught seafood. And of course, this is Green Spain, so there are also vast areas of lush meadows that provide wonderful cattle grazing - which in turn means absolutely delicious beef and dairy products. All these ingredients you will find freely employed in both region's cuisines. But don't imagine these common factors mean that the food throughout is all pretty much of a muchness. Far from it. Specialities abound, and they are not necessarily just regional. Quite often a product or recipe is authentically produced in only one town, village or county, and proudly bears the name of its place of origin.

Cantabria

Crabs, clams, lobsters, crayfish and king prawns are amongst the most popular shellfish with Cantabrians, while white fish, particularly sea bass and hake are also highly favoured. Anchovy sauce made with olive oil and lemon juice is very much a local speciality, and can provide an extremely pleasant accompaniment to all manner of recipes. Also, Cantabria is famous for its many varieties of stew, including some based on ingredients from the sea. Marmita for instance, a spicy, traditional sailors' dish, may well include tuna, sardines or a variety of other fish, as well as the almost obligatory potatoes, onions, peppers, tomatoes and garlic.

Nearly all varieties of meat are of excellent quality - Tudanca beef is especially noted for being lean and juicy, while the choice of game includes venison, wildfowl and wild boar. Pork is a major ingredient in many typical regional recipes, particularly stews and the spicy sausage known as chorizo. Chorizo is produced almost exclusively in and around the town of Potes, and the 25-day production process of ventilation and smoking gives it a highly distinctive smoky flavour.

Three types of regional cheeses stand out, each of which have been awarded 'protected designation of origin' due to their high quality and especial characteristics. Picón, a blue, creamy flavoured cheese traditionally matured in caves around the mountain villages of Bejes and Tresviso, has been produced here for over 1000 years. By contrast, the small cheeses of Liébana are either semi-sweet or smoked, and Cantabria cheese is buttery with a fresh taste.

Cantabrians are noted for having a sweet tooth, and most would not dream of completing a meal without a dessert. Cheesecakes from the Pas Valley, a whole variety of sweet pastries from just about everywhere in the region, and a version of our own custard slices are all rated highly. Wine, it appears, is not considered so essential, although there are a few small vineyards tucked away in the middle of the mountains. The traditional drink of the region is orujo, a potent spirit distilled drop by drop in the age old way. It is said to be an excellent remedy for indigestion.

Asturias

Monkfish and tuna are two of the most popular fish with diners in this region, and both are presented in a variety of tempting ways. Hake is another favourite, especially when served in cider. However, if you have any liking at all for seafood, one treat you really must try is another dish that gets a big thumbs-up from the locals, the velvet swimcrab. The taste of its meat is quite simply magnificent, whether enjoyed just as it is with a salad, or incorporated into a selection of various soups and recipes. Whichever way you try the swimcrab, it's an experience you'll most likely want to repeat several times before departing the region.

But no matter how tempting and tasty the seafood, if there is one dish that provides visitors with the very essence of Asturias it is the renowned fabada - a white bean stew that is infinitely more delicious than you might at first imagine. The beans (fabes) are grown only in Asturias and harvested under strict local guidelines. While fabes are a complete, high quality food in their own right, traditional fabada ingredients also include ham, bacon and black pudding, although there are also more recently created variations which instead use chicken, hare, partridge or other game. So popular is fabada, you will find it on virtually every restaurant menu throughout the region.

Asturian cheeses are many and extremely varied. The eastern part of the region particularly can claim probably the greatest concentration of homemade cheeses anywhere in Europe. Cow, sheep and goat's milk are all widely used, sometimes on their own, sometimes in combination with each other. The best known regional cheese is almost certainly Cabrales, which is produced by a limited number of family run dairies situated exclusively in the village of the same name, plus three other small communities in the nearby vicinity. While this strong flavoured blue vein cheese is often enjoyed in its natural state so to speak, it is also highly prized as a base for sauces, and is used as an accompaniment for many haute cuisine dishes.

Just like their neighbours in Cantabria, Asturians also have a sweet tooth. Consequently most consider a dessert to be an essential part of their meal. High on their list of likes are rice pudding with a caramelized sugar topping, frisuelos (a type of crepe), and les casadielles (sweet filled pastries). Without question the favoured, indeed almost compulsorary drink throughout the region is the cider made from locally grown apples.