Galician Spanish
Pulpo a feira: paprika octopus.
Pimientos de Padron
Blistered Galician peppers pan-fried in olive oil and sprinkled with coarse sea salt, a tapas classic of Russian roulette
View page →Galicia is wet, green, Celtic, and stares at the Atlantic — the cuisine is what an entire region eats from the sea. Pulpo a feira is the festival dish: octopus boiled in giant copper pots, snipped into rounds with scissors, served on wooden boards with paprika, sea salt, and olive oil. Empanada gallega is the regional savory pie — yeasted dough filled with tuna, sardines, pork, or chorizo, baked flat and cut into squares. Padrón peppers fried in olive oil — the gimmick: some are mild, some hot, you don't know until you bite. Caldo gallego is the cabbage-bean-potato-chorizo broth. Tarta de Santiago, the almond cake stamped with the Cross of Santiago, finishes the meal. Galician seafood — percebes (gooseneck barnacles), nécoras (velvet swimming crabs), navajas (razor clams) — sets the European standard. Cuisine of Atlantic damp, cabbage-strong, octopus-anchored.
The Palate
The Pantry
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Fruits
Herbs & Spices
Grains & Staples
How They Cook
Techniques that define this cuisine
Kindred Kitchens
Cuisines built on the same signature ingredients
Other regions
Siblings within Spanish — each its own tradition.
