I suppose that the idea that you could cross Spain jumping from tapa de casquería to tapa de caquería without touching the ground has already been said, because it is true: one of the characteristics of traditional Iberian cuisines, although we often tend to forget it, is the passion for entrails and offal.
It is a culinary trend that has been declining in recent decades;
partly due to a certain rejection of the younger generations to the -sometimes powerful- flavors and the particular textures of these pieces.
More recently, also due to concern about a healthy diet, in which many of these products do not fit well.
Although we are not going to defend their daily consumption here, we do believe that many of these preparations are worth it.
Firstly, because they avoid food waste by giving away parts of the animals that would otherwise be wasted.
But also because they are our gastronomic legacy, in many cases unique local recipes that represent and identify us.
That is why we believe that we must reclaim the cuisine of these less noble meats, and the best way to do it is through the bars and taverns on a tour of Spain, like the squirrel that jumped from tree to tree, but going to look for specialties where they are still preserved.
Madrid, Madrid, Madrid
Madrid is a city that you can't get enough of no matter how many times you think about it, and one of its great gastronomic charms is an offal that ranges from the zinc bar of the neighborhood bar to star-studded restaurants, suitable for any time and in any area.
Here are some basic proposals to get you started exploring:
To start, La Casa de los Minutejos (Antonio de Leyva, 19. Mapa), a Carabanchel classic for more than half a century, is the perfect place.
For its minutejos, a pressed ear sandwich with a touch of the house's brava sauce, which is already part of the gastronomic history of the neighborhood.
But, while you're at it, order a skewer of blood sausage, which is not offal in the strict sense, but since it is essentially made with blood, we are going to validate it for you.
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From there to the other side of the city, to El Mordisco (Avenida del Monasterio de Silos, 20. Mapa), in Montecarmelo, where they offer some wonderful boneless pig's trotters and a very good grilled ear, although if you want to browse a little more, maybe you will find some kidneys or some lamb trotters, depending on the day.
We finish the game at the only restaurant in Spain specialized in offal and recognized with a star by the Michelin Guide: La Tasquería (Modesto Lafuente, 82. Map).
Their fried suckling pig's head is already a classic, but their entire menu is a casquero paradise: the pork tail with eel and cheese, the morro and pickled taco, the veal liver salad with almonds and mustard, the rooster crests with squid and egg or the
focaccia
of beef tendons and cockles with lime mayonnaise.
Barcelona has power
(
and
cap i pota)
Barcelona offers enough play to be able to design one or several traditional routes for itself, but we cannot resist adding some references of this specialty, present both in traditional preparations and in more innovative proposals.
A place that never fails in this is Senyor Vermut (Provença, 85. Mapa) which serves an addictive
cap i pota
and where I have tried a fried morro that is a danger.
They also usually have some good tripe with chickpeas among their slate dishes.
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Can Vilaró (Comte Borrell, 61. Map) is also highly recommended, a classic with Montalbanian reminiscences where I remember having had a memorable liver with onions, and there are usually dishes such as the mixed tripe and
cap i pota
, the breaded brains or the kidneys in the sherry.
We finished at Granja Elena (passeig de la Zona Franca, 228. Mapa), whose tripe “are pure finesse due to how perfectly clean they are and the balance of use of species,” in the words of our editor and queen of the slope Mònica Escudero.
If we add a wonderful
cap i pota
, we already have two reasons to go there.
Salamanca, rugged city
With the tradition of raising Iberian pigs that the charro countryside has, it was logical that Salamanca, in addition to an entire recipe book dedicated to the meat of this animal, ended up developing a taste for offal tapas, mainly pork, although not only.
A very good stop to introduce yourself to this tradition is La Viga (Consuelo, 14. Salamanca. Mapa), a traditional tavern renovated a few years ago that has maintained the recipe book that made it popular.
It goes to the beam for its roasted jeta (pork's mask) and returns for the kidneys with sherry, the tripe, the tongue or the snouts, both battered.
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Not far away is Hostería Casa Vallejo (San Juan de la Cruz, 3. Mapa), one of my favorite bars in the city, where the sangria encebollada tapa cannot be missing.
Just 50 meters away is the Río de La Plata restaurant (Plaza del Peso, 1. Mapa), with 65 years of history, a classic bar with a bullfighting atmosphere where you have to find a place to enjoy its famous Roman-style brains. , stewed tongue or grilled kidneys.
In portions, yes, so better go with company.
Duero up
If you like traditional bars, in Zamora there is a magical intersection, that of Alfonso de Castro and Las Flores de San Torcuato streets, one of the zero kilometers of traditional Spanish tapas.
Here you can find traditional specialties of all kinds, but since today we are talking about offal, we are going to stick with the Bar Caballero (Flores de San Torcuato, 4. Mapa), where there is always something to choose from: ear, tongue, kidneys, tripe, nose... although If I have to stick with a tapa, I go for the crests in sauce.
Our colleague Almudena Ávalos also recommends her favorite crests, those from the Casa Chicote bar, in the Zamora town of Bermillo de Sayago (Herreros, 23. Map): they put them with a spicy sauce that she loves (and they don't say what they make it with) .
From here, going up the Duero to Toro, which is barely half an hour and is worth it for the charm of the town and for getting a table at the Café Imperial (Plaza Mayor, 19.Mapa), where you have to order a portion of cachuelas ― chicken gizzards cooked Zamoran style, with a paprika sauce - and let time pass.
The cachuelas of Café ImperialJorge Guitián
From Zaragoza to the Mediterranean
Let's take a route along the A-23, from Zaragoza to Valencia.
Let's start at Bar Cervino (Ainzón, 18. Zaragoza. Mapa), in the La Almozara neighborhood, one of my reference casquero temples.
Start with its famous ear and if you want more, try the flan de manitas or the timbale de hanejas.
And if you still need more options, be sure to try other skeins - lamb intestines, if you don't know them - at La Bodega del General (Catania, 5. Zaragoza. Map).
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To the road, there is still a long way to go.
We stopped in Teruel;
So, if you're left wanting more skeins, we'll remedy it at Pura Cepa (Joaquín Costa 4. Map).
While we are there, we add a foie toast ―which is also offal― and we continue to Valencia, where the Marvi bar awaits us (Sants Just i Pastor, 14. Map).
“We make the ear in two ways,” explains Tino Fernández, the owner of the establishment.
“In my father's (Galician) region it is cooked, with garlic, paprika and oil.
Here, not everyone liked that texture, so we threw that same ear on the grill to make a crust and served it with a sauce.
We keep them both on the menu and we have gone from selling a kilo or two a week to moving between 10 or 12″.
The south: offal of land and sea
Jaén maintains an enviable atmosphere of traditional taverns, so the supply of offal there is well assured.
We could do a broader tour, but we are going with two of the essential ones: Casa Domingo (Melchor Cobo Medina, s/n. Mapa) and its fried crests with good garlic and Bar Montana (Cerón, 2. Mapa), a step of the cathedral, with those battered criadillas with a touch of lemon that you have to return to whenever you are in the city.
Marching one of criadillas at Bar MontanaJorge Guitián
Next stop: Seville.
When I lived there, years ago, the photographer Manolo Manosalbas recommended me the Menudo (tripe), finely chopped and with chickpeas, from Bodega Consolación (Virgen de La Consolación, 15. Mapa), a classic from the Los Remedios neighborhood.
Another clue that doesn't fail is the Taberna Sol y Sombra (Castilla, 147. Mapa), where I tried pork castanets (salivary glands) for the first time and which has among its most popular specialties the Oloroso kidneys.
We are going to the bay of Cádiz, because if we are talking about offal, in general, it is only fair that we include the marine, which although it tends to be relegated and is more difficult to find, it also has its little gems: monkfish liver, stomach and tuna heart, roe or mullet livers.
We stop at El Puerto de Santa María, to try two classics, on the one hand, the roe dressing served at the La Dorada bar (Bajamar Avenue, 26. Map) and on the other, the magnificent eggs (a reproductive gland) from choco from Bar Gonzalo (Micaela Aramburu de Mora, 26. Map).
To refocus the game on meat, we closed the Portuense route in Er Beti (Misericordia, 7. Mapa), to make room at the bar and ask for their onion blood.
This is what the choco eggs at Bar GonzaloJorge Guitián look like
If you plan to make a casquera stop in Extremadura, perhaps Zafra is a good destination.
If you opt for this town and more traditional tapas are your thing, Bar Taxi (Cestería, 1. Mapa) is a great option with an offer that highlights pestorejo (mask) and kidneys.
On the other side of the city you have the Metro (Adolfo Díaz Ambrona Moreno, 5. Mapa), with its Madrid-style tripe and its low-temperature mask.
And in Mérida, since we are in the area, make a space on the terrace of Bar Salas (Plaza de Santo Domingo, s/n. Mapa), one of the usual ones, and order a tapa of tongue with lemon.
The North
We finished this Vuelta a España offal in the north, and we started in Logroño, which in terms of offal could not be left out.
Oreja at Perchas (Laurel crossing, 3. Mapa), to choose between battered and spicy, or embuchado - again, rolled lamb intestines - at EntreTapas 941 (Laurel, 25. Mapa), grilled pork snout in the Ribera (Laurel, 10. Map) and we continue.
The Leonese mountain is a paradise of gastronomic force, as you can see at Entrepeñas (José Álvarez González, 15. Map) in Geras, a small town at the foot of the Aralla port, where Rosi and his team prepare a beef tongue " Entrepeñas style” and some stewed sweetbreads that are worth the detour.
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We ended up in Ferrol, which is so often unfairly left out of guides and recommendations and which, in matters of offal, has a lot to say.
An address that does not fail: O Cabazo (Sol, 87. Map), with grilled kidneys, tongue with tomato or a ferrolanism that awakens love and hate in equal parts: the pork tripe cooked and seasoned with oil and paprika, perfect to finish the route with the same forcefulness with which it began.
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