Picada () is one of the characteristic

sauce In cooking, a sauce is a liquid, cream, or semi-solid food, served on or used in preparing other foods. Most sauces are not normally consumed by themselves; they add flavor, moisture, and visual appeal to a dish. ''Sauce'' is a French wor ...

s and culinary techniques essential to Catalan cuisine. The technique is typically found in

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the nort ...

and

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

and subsequently Catalan cuisine and

Valencian cuisine 250px, '' Oranges, typical fruit from Valencian Community'' Valencian cuisine is a Mediterranean cuisine as cooked in the Valencian Community, Spain. Its basic ingredients are vegetables, seafood and meat. It is famous worldwide for its rices, su ...

. It is not an autonomous sauce like mayonnaise or

romesco Romesco () is a tomato-based sauce that originated from Valls, province of Tarragona, in Catalonia. The fishermen in this area made this sauce to be eaten with fish. It is typically made from any mixture of roasted tomatoes and garlic, toasted al ...

, but it is added as a seasoning during the cooking of a recipe.

Preparation

Often the preparation of a concoction begins with another essential sauce, like the sofregit, and ends with the final adding of the picada some minutes before the cooking termination. Picada is used to blend and thicken juices, to provide an excellent finishing touch to a multitude of recipes: meats, fish, rice, soups, legumes, vegetables. There are many variants for the rest of ingredients. The most common ones are garlic (often considered essential),

saffron Saffron () is a spice derived from the flower of ''Crocus sativus'', commonly known as the "saffron crocus". The vivid crimson stigma and styles, called threads, are collected and dried for use mainly as a seasoning and colouring agent in ...

(also considered essential), and parsley. Other possible ingredients used more rarely are cinnamon, cooked

liver The liver is a major organ only found in vertebrates which performs many essential biological functions such as detoxification of the organism, and the synthesis of proteins and biochemicals necessary for digestion and growth. In humans, it ...

(of

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adu ...

or rabbit),

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec civ ...

, cumin, herbs, and other spices. The picada is prepared in the mortar and must contain a basic triad: almond, bread and some liquid. Almonds are toasted and can be replaced by another nut like hazelnut,

pinenut Pine nuts, also called piñón (), pinoli (), pignoli or chilgoza (), are the edible seeds of pines (family Pinaceae, genus ''Pinus''). According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, only 29 species provide edible nuts, while 20 are trade ...

walnut A walnut is the edible seed of a drupe of any tree of the genus ''Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, '' Juglans regia''. Although culinarily considered a "nut" and used as such, it is not a true ...

, or some combination of those. Bread is crushed in a mortar after being made dry and hard from going stale, being toasted, or being fried in oil. Otherwise, some sort of sweet biscuit or cookie may be used. The liquid used is usually the cooking

juice Juice is a drink made from the extraction or pressing of the natural liquid contained in fruit and vegetables. It can also refer to liquids that are flavored with concentrate or other biological food sources, such as meat or seafood, such as ...

but stock or hot water can be used as well.

Historical background

Historically, picada of almonds is documented in Catalan cuisine since the 13th century. Picada is included in Robert de Nola's fifteenth century book Libre del Coch.

Variants

Other neighboring

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

cuisines, as

Occitan Occitan may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain. * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France. * Occitan language, spoken in parts o ...

and

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

, have essentially similar sauces such as

pesto Pesto () is a sauce that traditionally consists of crushed garlic, European pine nuts, coarse salt, basil leaves, and hard cheese such as Parmigiano-Reggiano (also known as Parmesan cheese) or Pecorino Sardo (cheese made from sheep's milk), a ...

. In Argentina "Picada" is a presentation of cold cuts such as ham, cured ham, pepperoni, sausages, and pates, and cheeses such as blue cheese, pecorino and parmiggiano. Normally served with dips, bread, olives and nuts.

Bibliography

* Colman Andrews, ''Catalan cuisine: vivid flavors from Spain's Mediterranean coast'' * Jaume Fàbrega, ''La Cuina Gironina'', Barcelona, 1985. Graffiti Ed., * Jaume Fàbrega, ''La Cuina Catalana II: Per cuinar i acompanyar'', Barcelona, 1995. Ed. La Magrana, * Josep Lladonosa i Giro, ''El llibre dels guisats i les picades'', Barcelona, 2003, Ed. Empúries, * Ramon Parellada Garrell, ''El llibre de les picades'', Barcelona, 2007, Ed. RBA,

References

{{Reflist Spanish cuisine Catalan cuisine Sauces Culinary terminology Food combinations