When you mention Spain, most people probably picture the turquoise waters of the sun-kissed Mediterranean, accompanied by fine Spanish wines and fantastic food.
Tapas and paella are possibly the eating pleasures most synonymous with a historic country that takes its cuisine very seriously.
In fact, Spain has more Michelin-starred restaurants than the United States. Yet a typical meal in Spain costs nearly half that of its American equivalent. What’s more, some of the delicious delights in Spain are free. Just buying a drink in some establishments is enough to earn you the chance to taste cooking of the highest quality.
While you might not be heading to Spain just yet, you can accompany us through the ancient streets of the Iberian Peninsula on this gastronomic tour of two examples of Spain’s finest culinary creations: tapas and paella.
The Essence of Spain: Tapas and Paella
Tapas and paella are excellent starting points to understand and enjoy Spanish food. There is usually something for all tastes, from meat eaters to spice lovers to vegetarians, with a growing vegan tapas scene.
It’ll be no surprise to hear that tapas and paella are enjoyed alongside the country’s outstanding red and white wines. Word soon spreads about chefs producing beautiful dishes. Reservations must be made many weeks in advance for the most popular places.
But tapas and paella are very different beasts. Let’s start, as is customary, with an appetizer-type dish called a tapa.
Amazing Spanish Food: What Are Tapas?
A tapa is a small dish of food served hot or cold. When free, it accompanies an alcoholic or soft drink, but not tea or coffee. When paid for, a tapa comes on a small plate, often with enough to share. Think French hors d’oeuvres or Russian zakuski. Tapas may be eaten formally at a table or enjoyed while standing beside a bar.
Quality, size, and price vary significantly within cities and regions. Workday cafés might offer some free olives or crisps, others a mouthful of something tasty like a Spanish omelet called a tortilla. Conversely, some establishments have taken the tapa to haute cuisine levels.
Often, a tapa is a small portion of a main dish. If it’s free, the tapa is often for one person. Ordered tapas tend to be slightly larger and should be shared between all present. But be quick! Spaniards don’t waste time tucking into their favorite dishes; the fastest fork wins.
In many places, locals go tapeando (tapa-ing) or a chateo (chatting), moving from place to place and enjoying a free tapa with each drink. Increasingly common is heading to one establishment and ordering several tapas from a menu, also called tapeando.
This relaxed approach to dining has spread, with tapas bars popping up worldwide.
What Are Classic Tapas in Spain?
Spain’s local fresh produce is among the best in the world. Locals are proud of their traditional ingredients and recipes.
Here are some classic must-try Spanish tapas:
- Slices of jamón with bread
- Cheese, usually a manchego cheese, made from sheep milk and served with bread
- A piece of tortilla, an omelet with potatoes — debate rages for hours about whether a tortilla should be made with potatoes or potatoes and onions — but both are divine
- Patatas bravas are cubed and fried potatoes slathered in a delicious spicy sauce
- Croquetas — there’s even a championship to find the nation’s best croquette
- Shrimp in garlic sauce (gambas al ajillo)
- Olives
- Albondigas, which are meatballs in tomato sauce
- Fried sardines
Drink red wine, white wine, beer, or water with your tapas — the choice is yours. Locals enjoy the famous sangria on occasion, but, in reality, it has become a symbolic drink for tourists rather than something most Spanish people order.
What Are Classic Tapas from Across Spain?
The good news for visitors is that different Spanish regions serve tapas in distinctive styles.
For example, Barcelona in Catalonia is well-known for its patatas bravas and white bread rubbed with fresh tomatoes and drizzled in olive oil, called pa amb tomaquet in the local Catalan language. Free tapas are rare in Barcelona — you’ll most likely have to pay. Streets and bars are usually busiest on Sundays between noon and 2 p.m. when people drink a vermut or two with tapas of tinned anchovies or mussels before their main meal.
The northwest of Spain is chorizo and black pudding land, called morcillas. The hearty red wines of this region complement the strongly flavored sausages, which may be served with bread or warmed through. Leon is a great city for this type of tasty tapas. Head a bit further east to Asturias, and the Spanish chorizo may undergo a little sauté in cider for an extra punch.
The famous Camino de Santiago hike ends in the historic city of Santiago, renowned for its seafood plucked straight from the nearby Atlantic Ocean. Mussels and calamari are popular, but the star plate is pulpo, octopus slices covered in paprika, which deservedly gets local people’s taste buds wagging.
The Basque country is where tapas are served atop a small slice of white bread. Here, this style of tapa is called a pintxos. The tapa is secured to the bread with a small cocktail stick. Undoubtedly, the Basque capital, Bilbao, is a must for food lovers. Some pintxos are works of art.
The capital, Madrid, has an incredible tapa reputation, with many places offering free tapas. Favorites include callos, a sticky stew with a heavy but beautiful taste, usually made with beef tripe, chickpeas, tomato and red peppers. Fried calamari is a wonder, especially if served as a sandwich between warm white baguette slices. Further south, in Andalusia, you might get a cold tomato soup called gazpacho.
And, being Spain, not only is there a best tapa competition, but the country also hosts a World Tapa Day every June 16. Veggies need not miss out, either. Some 25 cities participated in Spain’s Vegan Tapa Route in November 2023.
Where Do Tapas Come From?
The tapa’s origin has been lost in time, but that hasn’t stopped people from creating legends and myths.
Tapa literally means lid in Spanish. A typical tale involves King Alfonso X of Castile in the 13th century ordering all drinks to be accompanied by food to reduce rowdy behavior.
Alternatively, King Alfonso XIII stayed in the southern seaside city of Cadiz in the early 20th century. A wind blew sand around the inn he was visiting. The quick-thinking barman saved the king’s drink by placing a slice of jamón over the glass, called it a tapa or lid. So taken with this ritual was the king that he ordered another drink and received another tapa. News spread and the tapa was born, according to this version.
Understanding Spain’s Varied Rice and Paella Dishes
Reaching further back into Spain’s rich culinary past, we find its most famous dish — Spanish paella. Pronounced pi-yay-ya, this rice-based delight traces its roots to the Mediterranean coast. Nowadays, it’s mainly associated with the Valencia region.
Chefs around Spain are highly prized for their rice dishes, of which there are several — there are now more than 200 different paella recipes. Let’s find out more about these saffron-spiced rice dishes.
Where Does Paella Come From?
Rice has been growing along Spain’s Mediterranean coast for centuries. Valencia, a natural port, was at the center and remains so today. Just outside the city lies La Albufera, a vast expanse of flooded land dedicated to rice production.
Paella began as a lunchtime meal for farmers and laborers. So-called bomba variety rice was thrown into a pot with whatever ingredients came to hand, from tomatoes and onions to seafood and snails. People ate with their own wooden spoons straight from the pan. But it wasn’t until the 18th century we found the first recorded paella recipes.
The name paella comes not from the food but from the name of the large, shallow paella pan used to cook the rice called a paellera. If you’re curious, it’s worth learning more about how rice is cooked in different countries — it’s quite fascinating.
What Is the Traditional Way to Make Paella?
A traditional paella is made outdoors over a wood fire. The pallero/pallera has to control the cooking time, ingredients, and the fire’s heat.
There is a fundamental skill in judging the temperature to ensure the paella comes out perfectly. A master pallero/a can deliver tender-to-the-bite rice with a thin layer of the coveted socorrat underneath. This delicate and crunchy layer of lightly burned rice at the base of the dish is how the best palleros/as earn their fame.
Of course, due to time demands, many restaurants use gas stoves to balance cooking times and meet customer demands.
Top tip: The best paella restaurants require notice to prepare the ingredients and stock. Make reservations where you have to pre-order your paella.
What Ingredients Are in Classic Paella?
Open this debate at your peril! The original ingredients of the first paella have yet to be discovered. Some accepted base classics have developed over time, albeit every chef has their variation.
These both feature bomba rice cooked alongside paprika, saffron, tomatoes, olive oil, onions, garlic, and herbs (later removed) with these additional ingredients:
- Rabbit, chicken, green beans, and garoffon (lime beans), often called the Valencian paella
- Seafood paella includes squid or cuttlefish, prawns, clams or mussels
Peas, vegetables, and other meats can garnish any paella. Different towns and villages have specialties, from pork to cauliflower to onion-based paella recipes. South of Valencia, in Alicante, they cook seafood with a meat broth and call that the paella Alicantia. To the north of Valencia, in Castellón, they specialize in mixed meat and seafood paellas, called a mixta.
A Spaniard with a relaxed attitude to their paella might call the dish “rice with things.” But be warned: this phrase could provoke a lengthy debate about what goes into an authentic paella.
What Type of Rice Is Typically Used in Paella?
The most typical rice used for paella is bomba rice. This short-grained rice absorbs more water than most other varieties while maintaining its bite. In Spain, people want to feel the form of the rice and not eat mushy paella.
What Are Some of Spain’s Most Famous Rice Dishes?
Paella is one of many rice options in Spain. Indeed, many people prefer these rice variations to the traditional paella.
Arroz negro is similar to a seafood paella with squid, prawns, and rice. Its black color comes from adding squid ink to the paellera. Eat this with garlicky aioli and bread for a real treat.
An alternative Valencian paella may come with duck, snails, and the garoffon beans. Mixed paella is as it sounds; you’ll find meat, seafood, beans, and vegetables — a rice-based surf and turf. Vegetarian paellas often feature peas, red peppers, eggplant, and zucchini.
The warming and deliciously dribbly arroz caldoso is soupy rice cooked in a seafood broth. To describe it as a watery paella does this dish a disservice. Its other name, arroz meloso, means pleasing rice, encapsulating its hug-on-a-plate winning factor.
And finally, anyone a little squeamish or nervous about ordering could ask for arroz del senyoret, which translates loosely as rice for the little sir or gentleman. The seafood in these paellas comes without shells, leaving only rice and seafood.
Top Tips for Making Paella at Home
Even if your culinary skills need some sharpening, you can still create a delicious paella. Here are a few top tips to help you make the best paella at home:
- You must use a specialized paellera dish to get the cooking right.
- Understand the cooking temperatures. Start by using gas stoves for your first few paellas before moving to the tricker wood-fired method.
- Ensure your onion, garlic and tomato base, called a sofrito, is cooked properly before proceeding to the following step.
- A paella is like a risotto. Don’t stir the paella after adding all the rice to the other ingredients.
- Keep checking how it’s cooking. Turn the pan if one side cooks more quickly than the other to ensure an even finish.
- Ensure the rice remains moist and add a little more stock if necessary.
- The rice furthest from the heat cooks slowest; check the outer rice grains for a tender but firm bit to know when your paella is ready.
Tapas and Paella: At Home and In Spain
Paella and tapas are two of Spain’s finest food exports. They’re enjoyed by millions who visit the country every year. Whether you prefer the small plates of tapas or the entire meal of paella, both are for sharing.
Moreover, you don’t have to travel to Spain to enjoy the taste of the Mediterranean. Texans could pop into BCN Taste & Tradition in Houston for winning paellas and tapas. Or you can follow the tips from above and give it a go at home. ¡Buen provecho!
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