Pigging Out: Spanish Cuisine

It's high time that I did a post on Spanish food.  Actually, it's high time that I did any kind of post, but that's beside the point.  

Suffice it to say that they take their food seriously here, which is evidenced by the fact that meals tend to take a long time and nobody eats on the run.  I'm a little surprised that many of my classmates don't like the food here, because I'm practically in hog heaven.  Especially considering that Spaniards are absolutely crazy about anything that comes from a pig (yes, it could be said that they go "hog wild").  I suspect that whoever invented Spanish cuisine decided to come up with the least-kosher menu possible: in addition to eating ham all the time, I've also had many a dish with octopus tentacles, calamari, mussels, clams, shrimp, and other assorted seafood.  Which brings me to a little known fact: Spain is actually the second-highest consumer of seafood per capita (behind Japan, naturally).

For those of you who are interested, here are some classic Spanish foods:

Paella--It's officially the national dish of Spain, which is why I give it first billing.  Basically, it contains rice, vegetables, and meat; there's really no "right" way to make it, unless you ask someone from Valencia (they're particularly persnickety about the preparation of paella).  I've had at least five different types of paella so far, ranging from the traditional (chicken, rice, peppers, saffron, etc.)  to the unconventional (calamari, shrimp, and squid ink, which colors the whole dish black).

Jamón--You can't even talk about Spanish food without mentioning the ham.  The most famous type of ham is the jamón ibérico, which is quite simple to prepare.  All you have to do is go to the kitchen and shave off a few small pieces of ham from the giant pig's leg sitting on your counter.  Oh, you don't have one of those?  Well, I should probably warn you: quality Iberian ham can be pretty expensive (somewhere in the neighborhood of $90 per pound).  One more thing: they preserve it before they sell it to you, so you always eat it uncooked.  Over the time I've been here, I would guess that my weekly consumption of raw meat has increased by at least 98 percent.

Tortilla española--Not to be confused with a Mexican tortilla, the Spanish tortilla is more like a frittata.  You make it with eggs and thinly-sliced potatoes and you throw in other ingredients (for example, ham) as you see fit.  Oh, and in case you're curious about which came first, the corn/flour tortilla or the egg, I've been told that the Spanish tortilla is actually an imitation (don't ask me how) of the Mexican tortilla.

Croquetes--Imagine the short, fat cousin of a mozzarella stick, except filled with a creamier type of cheese.  Croquetes originally came from French cuisine, but Spain adopted them and adapted them to create a distinctly Spanish flavor.  How did they do this?  They added ham, naturally.

Chocolate con churros--It's exactly what it sounds like: chocolate + churros = yum.  You get a delicious batch of freshly fried churros and a cup of melted chocolate to dip them in.  Enough said.

Napolitano--I decided to throw this one in, not because it's a very iconic Spanish food per se, but rather because it's one of my personal favorites.  It's a flaky pastry topped with a light glaze and filled with either chocolate or cream.  Those of you who know me can probably guess which one I like better.