''Polbo á feira'' (literally meaning "

fair A fair (archaic: faire or fayre) is a gathering of people for a variety of entertainment or commercial activities. Fairs are typically temporary with scheduled times lasting from an afternoon to several weeks. Fairs showcase a wide range of go ...

-style

octopus An octopus (: octopuses or octopodes) is a soft-bodied, eight-limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (, ). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttlefish, and nautiloids. Like oth ...

", ''pulpo a la gallega'' in Spanish, meaning Galician-style octopus)', is a traditional Galician dish. The provinces of Ourense and

Lugo Lugo (, ) is a city in northwestern Spain in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia. It is the capital of the Lugo (province), province of Lugo. The municipality had a population of 100,060 in 2024, ...

have a reputation for good octopus cooking. Fair-style octopus is the totemic food of the patron saint festivities of Lugo (San Froilán). Some Galician cooks specialize in this dish. They are usually women, known as ''polbeiras''. After the modern decline of traditional rural fairs, many ''polbeiras'' (octopus restaurants) have sprouted across Galicia. They tend to be rustic eateries rather than fancy restaurants.

Origins

Its name is due to being traditionally prepared and eaten at rural fairs and '' romerías.'' It was a very common dish at a time when slow means of transportation made fresh seafood only available near the coast, which meant inland towns had to make do with

stockfish Stockfish is unsalted fish, especially cod, dried by cold air and wind on wooden racks (which are called "hjell" in Norway) on the foreshore. The drying of food is the world's oldest known preservation method, and dried fish has a storage li ...

(mainly

cod Cod (: cod) is the common name for the demersal fish genus ''Gadus'', belonging to the family (biology), family Gadidae. Cod is also used as part of the common name for a number of other fish species, and one species that belongs to genus ''Gad ...

conger ''Conger'' ( ) is a genus of marine congrid eels. It includes some of the largest types of eels, ranging up to or more in length, in the case of the European conger. Large congers have often been observed by divers during the day in parts of t ...

and octopus).

Preparation

This dish is prepared by first boiling the octopus inside a copper cauldron. Before boiling it, the octopus' tentacles are dipped in and out of the boiling water three times, while being held by its head—this is meant to curl the tips of the tentacles. The tentacles are preferred over the head, which sometimes is discarded. After the octopus has been boiled, it is trimmed with scissors, sprinkled with coarse salt and both sweet and spicy paprika (known in Galicia as ''pemento'' and ''pemento picante'') and drizzled with olive oil. The optimal cooking point is reached when the octopus is not rubbery but not overcooked, similarly to the ''

al dente In cooking, al dente (, ; ) pasta or rice is cooked to be firm to the bite. The term also extends to firmly-cooked vegetables. In contemporary Italian cooking, it is considered to be the ideal consistency for pasta and involves a brief cooking ...

'' concept when cooking

pasta Pasta (, ; ) is a type of food typically made from an Leavening agent, unleavened dough of wheat flour mixed with water or Eggs as food, eggs, and formed into sheets or other shapes, then cooked by boiling or baking. Pasta was originally on ...

. This is after a 20–45 minutes boil (approximately 15 min/kg octopus), provided the octopus is left to rest for a further 20 minutes inside the boiled water away from the fire. In the last decades, frozen octopus has replaced dried octopus. Fresh octopus is not so frequently used nowadays either, as it is necessary to pound it heavily before cooking to avoid the meat becoming rubbery. This procedure can be skipped because freezing, unlike other seafood, does not alter the

organoleptic Organoleptic properties are the aspects of food, water or other substances as apprehended via the senses—including taste, sight, smell, and touch. In traditional U.S. Department of Agriculture meat and poultry inspections, inspectors p ...

properties of octopus. The dish is traditionally served on wooden plates with bread. Tradition dictates that water should not be drunk when eating octopus, so the dish is usually accompanied with young Galician

red wine Red wine is a type of wine made from dark-colored grape varieties - (red grapes.) The color of the wine can range from intense violet, typical of young wines, through to brick red for mature wines and brown for older red wines. The juice fro ...

References

External links

Galician Octopus Recipe by Clay Douglass
Galician cuisine Octopus dishes National dishes Tapas {{spain-cuisine-stub

Origins

Preparation

See also

References

External links