The cuisine of the Community of Madrid is an

amalgamation Amalgamation is the process of combining or uniting multiple entities into one form. Amalgamation, amalgam, and other derivatives may refer to: Mathematics and science * Amalgam (chemistry), the combination of mercury with another metal **Pan am ...

of the cuisines of various regions of Spain developed, in part, by mass migration to the capital city starting during the reign of

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

Felipe II. As the city grew, it incorporated the culinary traditions of the

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

it absorbed into the area now known as the Community of Madrid. The smell of local cooking is frequently compared to that of food fried in vegetable oil: ''

churro A churro (, ) is a type of fried dough from Spanish and Portuguese cuisine. They are also found in Latin American cuisine and in other areas that have received immigration from Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries, especially in the Sou ...

s'', '' calamares a la romana'', ''

tortilla de patatas Spanish omelette or Spanish tortilla is a traditional dish from Spain. Celebrated as a national dish by Spaniards, it is an essential part of the Spanish cuisine. It is an omelette made with eggs and potatoes, optionally including onion. It is of ...

'', '' bocadillos de calamares'', ''

patatas bravas Patatas bravas (), also called ''patatas a la brava'' or ''papas bravas'', all meaning "spicy potatoes", is a dish native to Spain. It typically consists of white potatoes that have been cut into -wide cubes, then fried in oil and served warm w ...

'', '' chopitos'', '' gallinejas'', among other traditional dishes, which can be smelled cooking no matter the time of day.

History

The culinary history of Madrid began at the end of the 16th century, when King Felipe II established Madrid as the capital city of his kingdom. From this point forward, people from all parts of the

Spanish Empire The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its prede ...

flocked to the city, bringing with them their unique customs and traditions. Some of the most famous local inns were established during these early centuries of development: Posada de la Villa in 1624 and Casa Botín in 1725. One of the earliest

restaurant A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearan ...

s is the

Lhardy Lhardy is a restaurant located at Madrid in Spain, which was opened in 1839 by Emilio Huguenin Lhardy. It was said to have introduced French haute cuisine to Madrid. It has a deli and takeaway service on the ground floor and a formal restaurant on ...

, which opened its doors in 1839, which prompted the establishment of similar locales. In 1873, entrepreneur Matias Lacasa arrived from

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and decided to open a bakery to sell his patented pastry '' pan de viena''. His establishment grew to become the base of the Viena Capellanes chain of

pastry Pastry is baked food made with a dough of flour, water and shortening (solid fats, including butter or lard) that may be savoury or sweetened. Sweetened pastries are often described as '' bakers' confectionery''. The word "pastries" suggests ma ...

shops. Today, Madrid is home to many restaurants, offering both regional Spanish dishes and international cuisine. An international culinary destination, Madrid is lauded by its foreign visitors, whose only complaint is the Spanish schedule for meals. As in much of Spain since the Francoist era, dinner is served between two and four in the afternoon, and a light supper is consumed after ten at night.

Typical dishes

Eating '' tapas'' is common in Madrid. This is the practice of visiting several

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

s and ordering a number of small, varied dishes which are then shared among the people in the group. Many of the same local dishes available as tapas can also be ordered in regular servings at sit-down

s. Some of typical local dishes include: *''

Cocido madrileño (; "Madrid stew") is a traditional chickpea-based stew from Madrid, Spain. A substantial dish prepared with meat and vegetables, it is most popular during the winter but is served throughout the year in some restaurants. Initially it was a di ...

'': A popular

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). In prehistoric times, humankind hunted aurochs and later domesticated them. Since that time, numerous breeds of cattle have been bred specifically for the quality or quantity ...

and

vegetable Vegetables are parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. The original meaning is still commonly used and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including the flowers, fruits, stems, ...

stew A stew is a combination of solid food ingredients that have been cooked in liquid and served in the resultant gravy. A stew needs to have raw ingredients added to the gravy. Ingredients in a stew can include any combination of vegetables and ...

that is frequently offered as a Tuesday special. Consisting of chickpeas (''

Cicer arietinum The chickpea or chick pea (''Cicer arietinum'') is an annual legume of the family Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae. Its different types are variously known as gram" or Bengal gram, garbanzo or garbanzo bean, or Egyptian pea. Chickpea seeds are high ...

''), meat (usually beef), vegetables, and

sausage A sausage is a type of meat product usually made from ground meat—often pork, beef, or poultry—along with salt, spices and other flavourings. Other ingredients, such as grains or breadcrumbs may be included as fillers or extenders. ...

, the dish is served in three courses. The first course consists of a broth-based

soup Soup is a primarily liquid food, generally served warm or hot (but may be cool or cold), that is made by combining ingredients of meat or vegetables with stock, milk, or water. Hot soups are additionally characterized by boiling solid ing ...

, the second includes beans and vegetables, and the final course contains meat and sausage. *'' Callos a la madrileña'': A local variation of the Asturian dish, this tripe-based dish is made with ''

chorizo Chorizo (, from Spanish ; similar to but distinct from Portuguese ) is a type of pork cured meat originating from the Iberian Peninsula. In Europe, chorizo is a fermented, cured, smoked meat, which may be sliced and eaten without cooking, or ...

'',

blood sausage A blood sausage is a sausage filled with blood that is cooked or dried and mixed with a filler until it is thick enough to solidify when cooled. Most commonly, the blood of pigs, sheep, lamb, cow, chicken, or goose is used. In Europe and the A ...

, the hoof and snout of a cow, sweet

paprika Paprika ( US , ; UK , ) is a spice made from dried and ground red peppers. It is traditionally made from ''Capsicum annuum'' varietals in the Longum group, which also includes chili peppers, but the peppers used for paprika tend to be milder an ...

, and the tripe of a

calf Calf most often refers to: * Calf (animal), the young of domestic cattle. * Calf (leg), in humans (and other primates), the back portion of the lower leg Calf or calves may also refer to: Biology and animal byproducts * Veal, meat from calves * ...

or lamb. *'' Tapas de Madrileña'': A local variation of the tapa, this bread-based dish is made with ''

salchichón Salchichón is a Spanish summer sausage that is made by smoking, drying, cooking or some combination.hummus con aceitunas kalamata and ya cortado semicurado. *'' Oreja a la plancha'': Literally "grilled ear," this common

pork Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the domestic pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BCE. Pork is eaten both freshly cooked and preserved; ...

dish is an

acquired taste An acquired taste is an appreciation for something unlikely to be enjoyed by a person who has not had substantial exposure to it. It is the opposite of innate taste, which is the appreciation for things that are enjoyable by most persons without ...

, and exists in a number of forms: with garlic ('' al ajillo''), with spicy sauce, in the Basque style (''a la vizcaína''), etc. *'' Gallinejas'': A popular dish consisting of fried

sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus ''Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated s ...

entrails. *''Gambas al ajillo'' and ''setas al ajillo'': Literally " prawns with garlic" and " mushrooms with garlic", these dishes are served piping hot and are popular appetizers for the midday meal. *'' Bocadillo de calamares'': A ''

bocadillo The bocadillo or bocata, in Spain, is a sandwich made with Spanish bread, usually a baguette or similar type of bread, cut lengthwise. Traditionally seen as a humble food, its low cost has allowed it to evolve over time into an iconic piece of ...

'' of fried

squid True squid are molluscs with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight arms, and two tentacles in the superorder Decapodiformes, though many other molluscs within the broader Neocoleoidea are also called squid despite not strictly fitting t ...

rings that can be ordered in practically every bar. *''

Patatas bravas Patatas bravas (), also called ''patatas a la brava'' or ''papas bravas'', all meaning "spicy potatoes", is a dish native to Spain. It typically consists of white potatoes that have been cut into -wide cubes, then fried in oil and served warm w ...

'': A very common dish consisting of irregularly-cut fried

potato The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...

es covered in a spicy

tomato The tomato is the edible berry of the plant ''Solanum lycopersicum'', commonly known as the tomato plant. The species originated in western South America, Mexico, and Central America. The Mexican Nahuatl word gave rise to the Spanish word ...

sauce. *''

Soldaditos de Pavía Soldaditos de Pavía (lit. Soldiers of Pavia) are a dish of fried cod wrapped in a slice of roasted red pepper. The dish is found in Andalusian cuisine and common at tapas bars in Madrid, capital of Spain. The cod is marinated in a paprika and l ...

'': Strips of unsalted '' bacalao'' which are battered and fried. *'' Caracoles a la madrileña'': A ''tapa'' consisting of snails cooked in a spicy sauce. *'' Besugo a la madrileña'': A traditional dish of

bake Bake is the verb form of baking, a method of preparing food. It may also refer to: __NOTOC__ People * Bake (surname) * Bake McBride (born 1949), American baseball player * Bake Turner (born 1940), American Football League and National Football L ...

sea bream The Sparidae are a family of fish in the order Perciformes, commonly called sea breams and porgies. The sheepshead, scup, and red seabream are species in this family. Most sparids are deep-bodied compressed fish with a small mouth separated by a ...

. *'' Carne al desarreglo'': Beef stew. *''

Huevos estrellados ''Huevos estrellados'' or ''huevos rotos'' is any of a number of dishes involving eggs fried in a large amount of olive oil or any other oil. In Madrid, ''huevos estrellados'' is a dish based on a pan-fried egg with a liquid yolk, accompani ...

'': A dish of eggs fried in olive oil served with fried

es (e.g. diced or sliced,

French fries French fries (North American English), chips (British English), finger chips ( Indian English), french-fried potatoes, or simply fries, are '' batonnet'' or ''allumette''-cut deep-fried potatoes of disputed origin from Belgium and France. Th ...

or potato chips) and often a sliced meat (usually ham or

bacon Bacon is a type of salt-cured pork made from various cuts, typically the belly or less fatty parts of the back. It is eaten as a side dish (particularly in breakfasts), used as a central ingredient (e.g., the bacon, lettuce, and tomato sand ...

) or sausage (typically ''

'' or ''

chistorra Chistorra (, eu, txistor) is a type of fast- cure sausage from Aragon, the Basque Country and Navarre, Spain. It can be considered a special type of '' chorizo''. It is made of minced pork, or a mixture of minced pork and beef, is encased in ei ...

)''.

Desserts

Madrid is renowned for its many types of traditional

pastries Pastry is baked food made with a dough of flour, water and shortening (solid fats, including butter or lard) that may be savoury or sweetened. Sweetened pastries are often described as '' bakers' confectionery''. The word "pastries" suggests ma ...

. Some of the more common include: *'' Buñuelos rellenos'': A type of stuffed fritter *'' Rosquillas tontas y listas'': Donuts finished with either a

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double ...

y glaze, dry meringue, or

almond The almond (''Prunus amygdalus'', syn. ''Prunus dulcis'') is a species of tree native to Iran and surrounding countries, including the Levant. The almond is also the name of the edible and widely cultivated seed of this tree. Within the genus ...

dust. These famous pastries can usually be found in pastry shops during the month of May and at the end of the Feast of St.

Isidore the Laborer Isidore the Labourer, also known as Isidore the Farmer ( es, San Isidro Labrador) (c. 1070 – May 15, 1130), was a Spanish farmworker known for his piety toward the poor and animals. He is the Catholic patron saint of farmers and of Madrid, El ...

*'' Huesos de santo'': Literally, "bones of the saint", these

marzipan Marzipan is a confectionery, confection consisting primarily of sugar, honey, and almond meal (ground almonds), sometimes augmented with almond oil or extract. It is often made into Confectionery, sweets; common uses are chocolate-covered marzi ...

s are traditionally consumed on

All Saints' Day All Saints' Day, also known as All Hallows' Day, the Feast of All Saints, the Feast of All Hallows, the Solemnity of All Saints, and Hallowmas, is a Christian solemnity celebrated in honour of all the saints of the church, whether they are know ...

*''

Roscón de Reyes A king cake, also known as a three kings cake, is a cake associated in many countries with Epiphany. Its form and ingredients are variable, but in most cases a () such as a figurine, often said to represent the Christ Child, is hidden inside ...

'' *'' Torrijas'': A kind of fried bread commonly consumed during

Holy Week Holy Week ( la, Hebdomada Sancta or , ; grc, Ἁγία καὶ Μεγάλη Ἑβδομάς, translit=Hagia kai Megale Hebdomas, lit=Holy and Great Week) is the most sacred week in the liturgical year in Christianity. In Eastern Churches, w ...

*'' Tejas'' and ''

barquillo Barquillo is a crispy rolled wafer pastry originating in Spain. It is made from the basic cookie ingredients of flour, sugar, egg whites and butter rolled out thinly and then shaped into a hollow cylinder or a cone. It was traditionally sold by r ...

s'': These pastries are commonly sold by street vendors throughout the city.

Beverages

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

has its own

designation of origin Designation may refer to: * Designation (law), the process of determining an incumbent's successor * Professional certification * Designation (landmarks), an official classification determined by a government agency or historical society * Designa ...

, which is divided into three zones:

Arganda Arganda del Rey () is a municipality and city of Spain located in the Community of Madrid. Geography Located in the central part of the Iberian Peninsula, the city lies at roughly 613 metres above sea level, not far from the junction of the J ...

Navalcarnero Navalcarnero is a municipality in the Community of Madrid, Spain, located about from Madrid. Sights include the church of Inmaculada Concepción. History By the end of 1499 the city of Segovia founded the location of Navalcarnero, to put an en ...

and

San Martín de Valdeiglesias San Martín de Valdeiglesias is a town of Comunidad de Madrid with a population is 8,190 people. History The Castle of Coracera was built in the fifteenth century. Geography San Martín is near to Cadalso de los Vidrios, Pelayos de la Pres ...

, comprising a total of 22,000

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is a ...

s of

vineyard A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineyards ...

. A popular anisette

liquor Liquor (or a spirit) is an alcoholic drink produced by distillation of grains, fruits, vegetables, or sugar, that have already gone through alcoholic fermentation. Other terms for liquor include: spirit drink, distilled beverage or hard ...

Anís, made of

anise Anise (; '), also called aniseed or rarely anix is a flowering plant in the family Apiaceae native to Eurasia. The flavor and aroma of its seeds have similarities with some other spices and herbs, such as star anise, fennel, licorice, and ta ...

grown in

Chinchón Chinchón () is a town and municipality in the Community of Madrid, Spain. Located 50 km south-east of the city of Madrid, the municipality covers an area of 115.91 km2. , it has a population of 5,239. Its historic centre, with a nota ...

, is a typical apéritif. The traditional '' leche merengada'', a cold

cinnamon Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from the genus ''Cinnamomum''. Cinnamon is used mainly as an aromatic condiment and flavouring additive in a wide variety of cuisines, sweet and savoury dishes, breakfa ...

- and lemon-flavored meringue; and '' horchata de chufa'', '' horchatas'' made of '' chufas'' original from the

Valencian Community The Valencian Community ( ca-valencia, Comunitat Valenciana, es, Comunidad Valenciana) is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid with ...

, are popular non-alcoholic beverages.

Bibliography

External links