In Asturias, the cider house rules
Telegraph "Spain gastronomy" supplement
Published on Saturday May 31, 2008
Chris Alden discovers the gastronomy of Asturias, northern Spain.
Bordered by mountain ranges to the south and the Cantabrian sea to the north, the region of Asturias in northern Spain is one of the country’s best-kept secrets. Tourists come here to visit the Picos de Europa national park, to walk the Camino de Santiago from the Basque Country to Galicia – and to enjoy one of the most varied cuisines that Spain has to offer.
And whether you enjoy traditional cooking or modern Asturian cuisine, there are two things you absolutely can’t miss. The first are beans, and the second is cider.
“Fabada” is the most important dish in Asturias. A hearty bean stew, it’s classic mountain food – and after a hard day walking in some of the many dramatic footpaths of the region, it will fill you up for another day on your feet.
Fabada is made with chorizo, “morcilla” (black pudding), bacon and above all “fabes”, a local kind of haricot bean; and sometimes it may also have cabbage and potato too, in which case it’s known as a “pote asturiano”.
Of course, no drink goes better with pork than cider. In Asturias, cider is known as “sidra”, and you drink it at a “sidreria” – a cider house.
One of the most fun things about Asturian cider is the way it’s poured. Asturians pour their cider from a great height – often by lifting the bottle high in the air and holding the glass low and close to your thigh.
There’s an art to it – as evidenced by the cider-pouring contest that’s held every September in the town of Villaviciosa, not far from Gijón.
There’s also a famous cider festival in July in the town of Nava – which also has a cider museum, if you want to learn more about Asturias’ most famous drink.
Needless to say, cider has an important role in Asturian cooking – anything made “a la sidra” will have gorgeous appley flavours, like “merluza a la sidra” (hake in cider), or Asturian venison or wild boar sausages, which taste great cooked in cider. Modern Asturian chefs often use cider in their foams and sauces.
Being near both mountains and sea, of course, Asturians love both fish and meat: you could eat a shellfish stew with spiny lobster and spider crab for lunch, and in the evening be feasting on Asturian lamb.
Cheese, too, is an Asturian specality – particularly “Cabrales”, a strong blue cheese that is similar to Roquefort. Asturians eat it on its own, with olives and nuts, or melt it to make a fantastic topping for a steak.
Other cheeses include “Afuega´l Pitu”, an unpasteurised cheese which may or may not be “roxu” (served with paprika); and “Gamonedo” or “Gamonéu”, a lightly smoked artisanal cheese from the Onís region in the foothills of the Picos de Europa.
To finish off your feast, enjoy a traditional “arroz con leche” (rice pudding) or, better still, creamed apples – this is cider country, after all.
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