As my travel amigas and I walked back to our hotel, we wondered if the hotel restaurant would serve us the local specialties we had heard so much about like the Morcilla de Burgos (pork blood pudding stuffed with white rice), Queso de Burgos (fresh cheese with a slight goat-milk flavour), the local yemas (dessert made with egg yolks and sugar), and the Vino de Ribeira del Duero (the local wine).
We heard that on the very year that we were there (2013), Burgos was declared the "Spanish Capital of Cuisine," and that it is the city where one can taste the best of Castilian cuisine. It was also mentioned to us by our Tour Director that the best restaurants and bars in the city were centered around the Old Town next to the cathedral and that the restaurant in our hotel had a good reputation for excellent local Burgos dishes.
Our special dinner did not feature the blood pudding, nor the goat cheese, but we did have the yemas and the wine. I am guessing that with a big group, with most in their senior years, there must have been a number of people with special dietary needs or preferences, so the restaurant opted to stay on the safe side and serve the more familiar Spanish dishes. After all, I was, by far, the lone food adventurer who had been willing to try “exotic” local fares from the places we had visited. My amigas are foodies too, but were less willing to try the unfamiliar.
I was, however, not disappointed at all with our meal. We had two kinds of scrumptious paella – Paella Valenciana and Paella Marisco.
Even though we were in northern Spain, the most popular southern-style Paella Valenciana was served. We were told that it is not only a regional, but a national dish. Said to be the traditional and authentic paella, it was born among the orchards, gardens, and groves of the Valencia region and draws on ingredients from the fields - chicken, beans, artichokes, peppers, rosemary and rich saffron-colored rice. The ones from Valencia even have rabbits and/or snails. The one we had that night, only had chicken, but in generous pieces...and oozing with saffron flavour.
The Paella Marisco, on the other hand, is the seafood version. Our dish was brimming with assorted seafood, all large and fresh - fish, shrimps, squids, mussels, and clams, plus fish broth - and these sea treasures provided a stunning visual presentation. As a seafood lover, I personally preferred this over the other paella. This is also a usual summer favourite in Spain, we were told.
We were also served Ensalada de Cangrio, Lechazo de Burgos, Bacalao á la Burgalesa, slices of Jamon Serrano and Jamon Iberico, fresh bread, and of course, bottles of the Vino de Ribeira del Duero and pitchers of sangria.
The Ensalada de Cangrio was a truly refreshing salad that featured the local river crabs that thrive in the Arlanzon River. It was mixed with lettuce, onion, avocado, bell pepper, jalapeño pepper, then flavoured with olive oil, lime juice, mayonnaise, and topped with cilantro.
The Lechazo de Burgos is the region’s specialty and the signature dish of Northern Spain - suckling lamb slow-roasted in a wood-fired oven. The server explained that for a lamb to be considered a true lechazo (from the Spanish word, leche for milk), it must weigh between five and seven kilograms, must be between 20 to 30 days old, and must have been fed only on its mother's milk. He assured us that their version is authentic. This was indeed the highlight of our special dinner.
The Bacalao á la Burgalesa is another Burgos icon: poached cod cooked with strips of onions, red peppers, garlic, and lots of good olive oil. Cod is a highly-prized fish in Spanish cuisine, both for its exquisite flavour and for it nutritional benefits. This is best paired with a fruity white wine.
Of course, no visit to Spain is complete without some ham indulgence. Spain is known for its Jamon Iberico and Jamon Serrano.
Jamon Iberico is a premium Spanish ham made from black-skinned Iberico pigs, said to be descendants of the Mediterranean wild boar that feed on acorns. High in fat, they are so soft and creamy, and almost on the verge of melting at room temperature. Jamon Serrano, on the other hand, is the most common type of ham in Spain. They come from white pigs with white or light brown hooves. It is characterized by broad strips of pink meat alongside strips of pure white fat, with no marbling, mainly due to the pigs’ grain-based diet.
The Vino de Ribeira del Duero is, of course, their famous wine from the vineyards of Castille-Leon within the strip of the Duero River. Their main grape variety is the Tempranillo, and it is said that the ones grown near the Duero River produce wines with a distinctive depth and complexity not found in other Tempranillos. They describe it as rich and full-bodied with a spicy, fruity, and smoky flavour that pairs well with roasted and grilled meats, as well as tomato-based dishes. I am not a wine connoisseur, but I must say this went really well with the lechazo, the bacalao, and the ham. For those who did not want to drink wine, there was overflowing sangria available as well. The dessert selection was also to die-for, with a variety of milk-rich goodies.
Everything tasted so delicious and I was genuinely impressed. For such a low-key hotel, their kitchen could certainly whip-up an exquisite array of dishes, worthy of a Michelin-star rating.
Towards the end of the meal, our server had a nice surprise. He brought a small plate of the Morcilla de Burgos and a small serving of the Queso de Burgos for those adventurous enough to try. Guess who did? Hahaha!
The morcilla did not disappoint. Despite being called "sausage," it does not actually have any meat, but the main ingredients- onions, rice, lard, blood, butter, paprika, and other spices - were so flavourful and had that spicy kick. The server said that they use the local horcal onions, which makes it special. To be honest, it was so yummy that I forgot it had blood as an ingredient.
The queso, shaped like a wheel with ridges, looked so pretty, served with walnuts and slathered with honey. It was silky, creamy, and surprisingly mild in flavour.
After dinner, I decided to retire for the night. I was exhausted from a full afternoon of walking. Besides, Ms. Lady Ringleader, who was sitting two tables down, was relating her day’s adventures to her gaping audience in her more-amplified-than-usual loud voice accompanied by her signature hoarse cackle. I wasn’t sure if she had too much wine or was just experiencing some tourist high at this point, but I sure was getting a splitting headache from her not-so-amusing monologue. My amigas agreed and said they'd call it a night as well. Amidst this one-woman show, there had been no mention of Lourdes, but I was sure that it was at the back of everyone’s mind.
I said my “good nights” to the group and gave Ms. Lady Ringleader a toast as I exited the dining hall.
Photo Credits:
Hotel Corona de Castilla Burgos Facebook page, eatingwell.com, wikibooks.org, bestfoods.com, Xavier Bejar (Wikipedia), Tomas er (Wikipedia), tasteatlas.com
Коментари