Vildsvin, The Old Tavern in Ferran Street, Barcelona

Vildsvin, The Old Tavern (L'Antiga Taverna), 38 Ferran, Barcelona. It is funny to use a Swedish word to baptize the stylish but informal middle European tavern conceived by Sagardi Euskal Taberna Group. If you are reading this you know English, so Vildsvin might ring a bell. Let's see in German: Wildschwein. Huh, do you get it now? Wild Swine? Ok, let's quit it. That's a wild boar. Would you believe that a cute, chic place, with tiled floor, noble wood furniture and an oyster bar in the ground floor is called the Wild Boar? Nope. So I can imagine some smart guy, saying hey, it has to be a wild boar cause a tavern is a tavern but we are going to make it sound a little posh so we create an atmosphere here. 

Update 2023: Vildsvin is now: Orio Gotic restaurant also by Sagardi. A restaurant venue in Barcelona changes easily after 15 years. Restaurants come and go like mushroom.

Grilled White Sausages

When in Catalonia do as the Catalans do. Have yourself a nice plate full of grilled sausages, aka botifarra de pagés white or black. You ought to get off traditional routes of course. Not in Las Ramblas if you know what I mean. Go out, take a trip to the countryside now that it is spring time and see to find a place where you can have them cooked in the open, in front of you. As you wait, be generous with the wine, not sangria for Christ sake, no, a good wine or at least not the lousy concoctions tourists use to get for a higher price. Enjoy good Catalan food while you enjoy the nice weather. You can make it if you try, believe me.

barcelona barcelona+photoblog barcelona+photos barcelona+pictures barcelona+photography barcelona+images nikon+d70s

Catalan Traditions: Calçotada. A Close Look

Half way between leeks and onions, there is a plant known in Catalonia as calçot which has become part of our most popular traditions, the calçotada:

According to some sources calçots were first cultivated in XIX by a lonely peasant called Xat de Benaiges in Valls, Tarragona.

In this close shot, you can appreciate the white bulbs that soon will turn completely black on the grill.

 Although they can be served on a roof tile, or a common plate, many times you simply pile them up in small amounts and wrap them in newspapers to keep them warm till served. They are quite tasteless, or better said, they taste like onions but without the biting feeling in your tongue. In fact, it is a very soft and delicate flavor that calls for a tasty sauce, in this case, romescu made of ground almonds and hazelnuts, vinegar, olive oil, salt, dry red peppers known as choriceros and paprika.

Don't forget to use a bib to avoid the stains caused by the sauce and keep your fingers away from your clothes. Why so? Well, when you learn about the ritual you'll understand.

1. First you spread the newspaper bundles on the table and everybody gathers around, usually standing with a bowl of sauce nearby. 
2. Now it's time to peel one of them. You take the plant by the leaves and pressing upon the tip of the white bulb with the other hand you try to pull away carefully the burnt out external layer. This you learn with practice. It must come out neatly without smashing the content.
3. Then you leave the peel aside (now the hand used for peeling is a mess) and soak the bulb in the sauce, haul it towards your mouth and take a good bite only on the white part of the plant. The rest you throw away.

After this repeat the process at will. Of course, wine is mandatory in this case. Maybe I have been too descriptive today but I have noticed in the past that calçotada details are too often overlooked. Bon appetite!

Catalan Food: White Sausages and Spring BBQs

This boiled white sausage ristra I captured with my camera a long time ago but now that Spring is coming and people in Catalonia tend to set out for countryside barbecues, it looks relevant. The sausages or butifarras in this story were cooked during a matanza (pig slaughter) that took place in Lleida, one of Catalonia's provinces. Some more pictures and comments about traditional Catalan cuisine were published here in the past: Blood Sausage and Catalan Sausage

barcelona barcelona+photoblog barcelona+photos barcelona+pictures barcelona+photography barcelona+images nikon+d70s

Food in Barcelona: Cheese Cake Detail

Food also has a small corner in this blog if it is made in Barcelona of course. This cheese cake I saw during a chocolate trade show some months ago and is coming out of my archives cause I was having a lot of trouble to find more time for my photo tours around the city. We have been moving our office to another quarter and guess what, I am working downtown so luckily I will capture more interesting shots soon.

Homemade Cookies Shop in Carrer Princesa, Barcelona

At carrer Princesa there is this wonderful shop called Demasié with an extra motto written on the window - galetes exageradament bones (something like: "exaggeratedly delicious cookies"). Demasié was founded by the Escursell brothers, who also run a famous chain of chocolate shops known as the Xocoa group. Demasié specializes in cookies, and the idea is to make emphasis in homemade products. Due to the good quality and presentation of the cookies the price may be sometimes set accordingly.

Chocolate Trade Show in Barcelona: A Fruit Treat

A fruit treat like this, with a chocolate touch was the bait some stalls used to trap innocent victims on an empty stomach in the Chocolate Trade Show held in Barcelona some days ago. You can't say they aren't attractive and surely they are perfect to undermine your will. I remember I didn't touch them, stubborn as I am with my diet and my gym mentality, you know, when you tell people "no, I can't have chocolate, it has too much calories" as if the doctor had prescribed it or your own religion forbade it. "No, this is a sin" you think, "get away from me, shoo!, shoo!". I remember that now, watching those strawberries and pineapple chunks, and I realize how stupid I was. Sniff.

barcelona barcelona+photoblog barcelona+photos barcelona+pictures barcelona+photography barcelona+images nikon+d70s

Eggplants and Potatoes

What in the world? Yes, these are baby eggplants I patiently piled up on top of a box of potatoes. In fact I just liked the brilliant color of the aubergines but I thought potatoes would help highlight the purple reddish plant. From the food point of view, now that I introduce these vegetables, let's say that there are recipes that include both ingredients. With this link to Indian Vegetarian Recipes and especially the Eggplant and Potato Curry (Vagan Bateta nu Shak) I am sure the post really acquires a real meaning no matter how surrealistic I may sound. I'm in the middle of a mystic trance lately, it must be the winter!
Note: More Eggplant and Potato Recipes

barcelona barcelona+photoblog barcelona+photos barcelona+pictures barcelona+photography barcelona+images nikon+d70s

Gathering Wild Mushrooms or Bolets in Catalonia, Spain

In the months of October and November a large number of Catalans hit the road to go picking wild mushrooms or bolets in the countryside. Although there are many edible species we use the name bolets to refer to all of them. But then there are specific names according to the type like rovellons, rossiñols, ceps, llanegas. In general they are served fried with some garlic and parsley but you can have them in stews, with meat,etc. The mushrooms in the picture were part of a small sample on sale at Sant Iscle de Vallalta fair. This town is located in Maresme, a comarca or county along the coast next to Barcelones county where Barcelona City is. Once a year a market is set up to sell mushrooms and we decided to pay them a visit for the first time to try some. If you are interested, there are a bunch of similar activities in November. Check this Maresme Coast brochure in pdf to see the whole activity program.

barcelona barcelona+photoblog barcelona+photos barcelona+pictures barcelona+photography barcelona+images mushrooms nikon+d70s

Barcelona Icecream Greed: Diet Followers Please Refrain

Weight loss diet followers please refrain. This is an icecream shop at Libreteria street (see pic on map at page bottom). Creamy, fat rich, sweet and delicious icecreams are part of the special food program in the city for those sinful gluttons I mentioned in the last post, that is, for Barcelonians struggling to look like Brat Pitt, George Clooney and Matt Damon, all in one, but are more likely to resemble Marlon Brando, in the last years of his life. It is almost winter now so don't rush for icecreams unless you live South, of course!. "Oh, shut up Hyde!" - said Jekyll again.

barcelona barcelona+photoblog barcelona+photos barcelona+pictures barcelona+photography barcelona+images icecream nikon+d70s

Sweet Color Popcorn

Sweet popcorn

To introduce today's picture let me start with these facts via The Popcorn Board: Americans consume 17 billion quarts of popped popcorn each year. The average American eats about 54 quarts. No matter how unidentified you feel with the Hollywood style of watching movies, the fact is that our parents were used to it and we are even more addicted. I remember buying a reasonable amount that I swallowed about half way before the end of the movie, now you see people carrying incredible king size buckets full of popcorn (many times covered in caramel!) that they are unable to eat even if they spilled part of the content just by accident. 

And what do you think of the price? I don't know in the US but here in Europe we are spending almost the same amount of money on popcorn and coke as we pay for the movie. 

Well enough rant for today, let popcorn business grow, at least the entertainment industry will be less boring. Here are some good popcorn nutritional facts given at the above mentioned site. 

In the image, a close look at a stack of color popcorn in Tibidabo Amusement Park, Barcelona. I used a vignette with blur effect to accentuate texture.

Fideua: Paella Made with Pasta

Following with the odd image carrousel on which Barcelona Photoblog is often riding, lets introduce Spanish Fideua, the pasta version of widely known rice paella. As the name suggest you need noodles (fideos Sp.), but not any kind of noodles. A good fideua is made with capelli d'angelo or vermicelli noodles. Like classic paella, seafood is an essential part of the recipe. When cooking any of both bear in mind that you can obtain a delicious dish either by packing the pan with all ingredients you can or by adding just the right spices and a most tasty kind of fish, its stew and fresh seashells. Whatever way you choose don't spoil it all by overcooking the pasta (or the rice in the case of paella). Here is one of the most simple and well explained fideua recipes I found and here is another much more elaborate. During popular celebrations in Spain it is not strange to see these pans or bigger ones (called paelleras or paellas) full of fideua or paella indistinctly to treat passerbyes (sometimes you have to pay for it). This man in Terrasa near Barcelona, was being followed anxiosly by a hungry pack of humans ominously approaching for the feast.

barcelona barcelona+photoblog barcelona+photos barcelona+pictures barcelona+photography barcelona+images food paella fideua recipes cuisine cook popular swicki nikon+d70s

Ninot Market, Barcelona: Fresh Mediterranean Food

© All Rights Reserved

The Mercat del Ninot (Ninot Market), is one of the best places to buy fresh food in Barcelona and worth the visit if you appreciate the benefits of healthy Mediterranean cuisine products. This renown traditional market, located in Mallorca, 135 between Casanovas and Villarroel streets, has more than a 100 years of history behind. It was inaugurated in 1894 as an open space in Les Corts, that was back then, a town out of Barcelona. In 1933 it was remodeled and covered with a big metal roof to give it the look that we can admire at present. The name Ninot comes from a small ship's figurehead located on the façade of a famous tavern that sold the best wine in the area. The figure can still be seen in the Drassanes Naval Museum of Barcelona. The place is very big so I decided to show you one of the fruit stalls, called Natura't which belongs to Luis, a friend of mine! Wanna try the best fruit in Barcelona, grab his strawberries or his pineapples, simply exquisite. Here is another shot of the Ninot Market and a link to the official site which is in Catalan only.

barcelona barcelona+photoblog barcelona+photos barcelona+pictures barcelona+photography barcelona+images market barcelona+market ninot mediterranean+food food cuisine fruit fruit+stall nikon+d70s

Blood Sausage: Botifarra Negra

© All Rights Reserved

More on Catalan sausages. The most common products are the white sausage (botifarra blanca) which requires only meager meat, the blood sausage (botifarra negra) with fat and blood and fuet, a thin, cured dry sausage. Blood botifarras are later boiled, fried or grilled and served for lunch accompanied by salad, pork meat and red wine. I have to thank people from Vallverd d'Urgell, Lleida who gently allowed me to take pictures, witness the poor pig slaughter or matanza and invited me for a succulent lunch.

barcelona barcelona+photoblog barcelona+photos barcelona+pictures barcelona+photography barcelona+images sausage botifarra food dish nikon+d70s

Catalan Sausage or Botifarra: The Slaughter

Here is a picture of a Catalan sausage or botifarra. The typical Catalan sausage is made of pork and spices. Botifarra is also a game of cards and what you do with your finger or arm to other drivers when they suddenly get in you way. 

Today I will show you some pictures of the procedure followed to elaborate a sausage. Good traditional products are hand made in small towns the old way. Many times inhabitants celebrate special occasions killing an animal following more or less the same ritual: a skilled neighbor is called to take charge of the slaughter or matanza which starts early in the morning. Once the pig is killed, women pick up the blood and innards while the same butcher takes care of the meat. The ladies mince the meat, saltpepper it and stuff it in the bowels' skin previously cleaned. More of this process tomorrow. 

The butifarra in the picture is a raw blood sausage which looked great for my food set on Flickr over the wood of the table.

Spanish Tapas: Tortilla or Spanish Omelette

© All Rights Reserved

Barcelona is not very prone to bull fighting, sangrias, finos, manzanillas or anything that may sound too Spanish-like. But there is one thing that everyone tends to overlook in this excess of zeal: Spanish tapas or wine. Humm, those delicious plates full of olives with anchovies, fried squid, white anchovies in vinegar, tuna
balls or Spanish omelette in the picture. If you follow the tapas cook book link above you will find some recipes and good information about the history of tapas. I hope you can finish reading this post today without running to the kitchen and snatching a good bite of whatever thing edible.

barcelona barcelona+photoblog barcelona+photos barcelona+pictures barcelona+photography barcelona+images tapas tortilla food spanish+tapas spanish+omelette nikon+d70s

Mascot Uniforms and Color Brochures for Barcelona Restaurants in El Born

© All Rights Reserved

El Born is a trendy area of the Casc Antic (old part of the city) in between Via Laietana and Parc de la Ciutadella. With the arrival of tourists, immigration, and the economic bliss, the neighborhood has experienced a sudden burst of neat design bars and restaurants serving great food and creating a fantastic atmosphere day and night. Here is a list of some recommended restaurants in El Born and a small map. It was not usual to see the typical college or sports mascot handling brochures to advertise restaurants in Barcelona but business is business; by the way, I liked that stunning blue of the uniform so I got it for you too.

barcelona barcelona+photoblog barcelona+photos barcelona+pictures barcelona+photography barcelona+images barcelona+restaurant blue mascots el+born nikon+d70s

The Musings of an Escargot

© All Rights Reserved

"Where did everybody go?" - wondered the anguished snail. "Something is cooking around here?." It must be terrible to wake up from the winter lethargy to find yourself in a big pan full of salt and no one else on sight. Well, in fact the rest was there too but very busy bubbling salt away. After shooting the poor creature with my camera and watch it go on the way to the fire, I sat and had my lamb chops silently contemplating the rest of participants in this sort of pagan ritual, compulsory introduce their toothpicks to withdraw the snails from the shell. They were having what is known in Catalan as Cargols a la Llauna (something like "roasted snails"), a traditional dish, mainly in spring, in the open, although served in restaurants too. In France it is common and highly appreciated, in many ways, which gives the snail a high cuisine category and price in the menu. They call it Escargot, a word coming from Catalan, and exported the dish to the USA in the XIX century. There are snail feeding farms and the most common to consume are the brown garden snails (Helix aspersa) or the Roman Snails (Helix pomatia). There is evidence that snails were roasted already in Roman times so there's no need to claim any autorship here. I never had a knack for slimy and crawling things but it is fun to see my friends laugh and enjoy the food. I really had a nice pre-spring weekend. Check 58 recipes for Escargots (FR.)

Note: Cargols a la Llauna is a dish original from Lleida, Catalonia.

Recommended link of the day: A Color Picker.

barcelona barcelona+photoblog barcelona+photos barcelona+pictures barcelona+photography barcelona+images snail escargots cuisine cooking cargols animals catalan+cuisine nikon+d70s

Barcelona Restaurants: Delicate Desserts at Escriba's

Raspberry Tartelette

I didn't know whether to photograph this delicate dessert at Escribá's, the famous restaurant by the beach in Barcelona, or devour it mercilessly. I think I will keep it somewhere safe in my digital photo album just in case someone needs this tart picture for the dessert menu.

Being in front of the sea in the afternoon, having a good paella and picking up the most tempting dessert from an assorted selection on a tray is like mana from the gods.

Say Cheese Outloud

© All Rights Reserved

I am in a hurry as usual and I have not enough pictures so I am using this narrow format images. I know some of you will have to scroll, I will try to avoid this enormous vertical pictures in the future which on the other hand look terrible when cropped. Said that, I suggest you say a big "cheese" and smile for the camera. This enormous Cantal cheese, made in France was being sold at Monistrol de Montserrat, a town near Barcelona, this past autumn.

barcelona barcelona+photoblog barcelona+photos barcelona+pictures barcelona+photography barcelona+images food cheese market nikon+d70s nikon