What would Spanish gastronomy be without the muleteers?

Why does octopus

a feira

have paprika and oil, two ingredients that are not produced in humid and cold Galicia?

Why is it that in the Aragonese city of Calatayud, so far from the coast, that a conger eel with chickpeas called a la bilbilitana is eaten during Lent?

Why do they prepare

tiznao,

atascaburras or sardine dip in Castilla-La Mancha?

The answer to the origin of all these traditional recipes, many of them typical of the long abstinences that every good Catholic had to adhere to, lies in the work of the muleteers.

From north to south, from the 9th century until well into the 19th century, the mule factory supplied everything essential—food, cordage, wool, silk, salt, glass, pharmacy goods, tobacco or spices—to the isolated inhabitants of the Peninsula. with no other means than mules, pack oxen and ingenious conservation and transportation systems.

Without them, half of our

gastronomic

corpus would not exist.

The muleteers, also called carters, mule drivers or

traginers,

traded following a series of tortuous paths lasting several days of travel on the backs of animals, especially mule trains, the only ones that could travel without falling off a cliff.

Sometimes, when the path was widened, the huge ox-drawn carts could even carry their goods of charcoal, logs and Finisterre conger eels to travelers who could not find any other way to access isolated places.

The image of these tired and noisy beasts appears between the pages of

Don Quixote

as part of the landscape of those times: “A frightful noise was also heard, similar to that caused by the solid wheels that ox carts usually bring, whose harsh and continuous chirping is said to make wolves and bears flee, if there are any where they pass.”

More information

The legend of the dried conger eel

The stream of people, animals and basic products was incessant and gave the north access to Andalusian salt and oil, Manchego garlic, Castilian legumes and, above all, from the end of the 18th century, the valued Extremaduran or Murcian paprika that it preserved and dyed. all the great Spanish chorizos, whether Galician, Leonese or Asturian.

This new spice was the base of

alladas

, the basic sauce of garlic, oil and paprika that accompanies conger eels and

caldeiradas

.

A sauce that today is a symbol of culinary identity, but is based on exchange.

Hake stew.

Antonio Ron

But, among all the multitude of muleteers who lived along the old paths, many of them simple farmers who found in this trade a way to help in the always poor family economy, it was the maragatos who gave fame and luster to this institution for to count on the favor and benefits of the Royal Houses that entrusted these rude entrepreneurs with the honor of providing them with fish during the days of abstinence and fasting that could reach, without papal prerogative, half the days of the year.

Logically, it was during Lent when Christianity took its leave in terms of penances and fasts.

From the poor bowl of soup scalded with bread, garlic and tallow, the shepherd's crumb or the farmer's legume, everything was stripped of butter and dressed in scales.

La Maragatería was also responsible for the creation of a network of roads whose radial layout connected the capital with different points on the map, which greatly improved the distribution of goods, especially after the arrival to power of the Bourbons in the 18th century.

The so-called Calzada Real, Carrera de Galicia, Camino Real or Camino Gallego still survive, which the muleteers shared with pilgrims, soldiers, reapers, grape harvesters or migratory shepherds who moved wherever luck and the little food took them, which almost you always had to share.

Hence the saying "we are muleteers and along the way we will meet", because camaraderie was essential to survive in a world full of discomforts and dangers.

To them, to the merchants of that time and their need to find a hot meal, night shelter and rest for men and beasts, many of the sales and ventorrillos that still exist were created.

The experienced maragato knew both the post services and the places where there were snowfields or snow caves where he could place his most delicate material: fresh fish.

Some enormous conger eels left Muxía, in A Coruña, say that they arrived intact wrapped in straw to Calatayud where they would be exchanged for the rigging of the ships that were built in the artisanal shipyards of the Aragonese town, as well as the ropes and cordage that made them famous. to Calatayud in the 15th century, according to the author of

In Search of the Authentic

(Ed. Trea), Francisco Abad Alegría.

Atascaburras from La Mancha.

Antonio Ron

Quite a feat that the Madrid fishmongers and the nobles of the court paid well, so the trade gradually acquired greater social relevance, as indicated by the survival of a gastronomic formula that bears its name.

Abad Alegría points out that the primitive form of ajoarriero that appears in Martínez Montiño's recipe book (17th century) was prepared with a fish that arrived from Flanders, the

escotafix

, an "extraordinary fish that is not found in Spain", which had to be pounding to soften its meat and thorns hardened in salt.

In this old recipe, onion was fried in butter, the ground pepper was mashed in a pestle and lightened with some milk.

The Aragonese chef and friar Altamira stewed it with a little sour or vinegar.

In Extremadura, cumin, chilli and soaked bread are added, and the Galician Ángel Muro added a lot of fried garlic, paprika, oil and vinegar.

Thus, until today where the ajoarriero has been changing its rustic appearance for generous sautéed sauces with abundant onion and fresh peppers from the gardens of Aragon, Navarra or La Rioja.

A great example that in the modern era you no longer need garlic or religious prescriptions to survive.

The mule driver was taken away by the railway and refrigeration.

That incorrupt food that saved us from eternal damnation, hunger, or both, is no longer necessary, but it is convenient to remember it from him.

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