The atlas · A cuisine · Andalucía — the south of Spain, from the Atlantic at Cádiz to the Mediterranean at Almería

Andalusian

Also Cocina andaluza, Andalucía, Andalusia
One of Spanish cooking's regional kitchens · all 7 side by side

The hot south: cold soups pounded from bread, oil and garlic, fish fried crisp in olive oil, sherry from Jerez, and a little something to eat with every drink.

Where it comes from

For much of the Middle Ages the south was al-Andalus, and it left more on the kitchen here than anywhere else in Spain: almonds and honey, cumin and saffron, citrus and aubergines, and the habit of pounding things in a mortar.

Olive groves cover much of the inland country, and olive oil is the fat for everything, the frying above all. Seville was the port for the Americas for a long time, and tomatoes and peppers found their way into the old bread-and-oil soups.

In the popular mind it's the home of the tapa. Several towns claim to have invented it, and none can quite prove it; what's agreed is that here, eating out means moving from bar to bar.

Where in it

  1. SevilleTapas bars on every street and bitter oranges on the trees — spinach with chickpeas at the counter, and cold soups for the long summer.Espinacas con garbanzosGazpacho
  2. CórdobaThe city of salmorejo, of oxtail stewed in wine and of the flamenquín, with an old Moorish centre and a kitchen that still reaches for cumin and honey.SalmorejoRabo de toroFlamenquín
  3. Cádiz and the sherry townsA city on the sea, known for its fried-fish shops, with Jerez, Sanlúcar and El Puerto de Santa María behind it making the sherry drunk alongside.Pescaíto frito
  4. MálagaSardines grilled on skewers on the beach, ajoblanco in summer, and the sweet wines of the hills behind.Ajoblanco
  5. GranadaThe last city of al-Andalus, where a tapa still often comes free with a drink, and the villages of the Alpujarras above dry their hams in the mountain air.
  6. Jabugo and the Sierra de AracenaOak-forest country in the far west, where black Iberian pigs feed on acorns and the hams of Jabugo cure for years.

How it cooks

Frying in olive oil
Fish and vegetables floured — often with a coarse hard-wheat flour — and fried fast in very hot olive oil so they come out dry and crisp.
Pounding cold
Bread, garlic, oil and vinegar worked in a mortar, or now a blender, for gazpacho, salmorejo and ajoblanco.
Adobo
A marinade of vinegar, garlic, cumin, oregano and pimentón — for dogfish before it's fried, or pork before it's cooked.
Cooking with sherry
Fino, manzanilla or oloroso splashed into stews and sauces; the vinegar from the same bodegas sharpens the cold soups.
Majado
A pounded paste of fried bread, garlic and spices stirred into stews and pulses to thicken and season them.

Always in the kitchen

olive oilsherry vinegarsherrygarlictomatoesgreen pepperscucumbersstale breadalmondschickpeascuminjamón ibéricobitter orangesfrying flourspinachhoney

Cook from it

Tonight, with what's good in October

Its classics

AndalusianGazpachoA cold soup of raw tomato, pepper, cucumber, garlic, bread, olive oil and vinegar, blended smooth and drunk in the heat.No one here has made it yetAndalusianSalmorejoTomatoes blended with bread, garlic and olive oil into a thick, cold cream, topped with chopped egg and jamón.No one here has made it yetAndalusianPescaíto fritoSmall fish, squid and pieces of dogfish tossed in flour and fried fast in hot olive oil, eaten crisp with salt and lemon.No one here has made it yetAndalusianRabo de toroOxtail browned and stewed slowly in red wine with onions, peppers and carrots until the meat falls from the bone and the sauce turns thick and glossy.No one here has made it yetAndalusianAjoblancoA cold white soup of almonds, bread, garlic, olive oil and vinegar, blended smooth and served with green grapes or melon.No one here has made it yetAndalusianEspinacas con garbanzosSpinach and chickpeas cooked with a pounded paste of fried bread, garlic, cumin and pimentón, sharpened with a splash of vinegar.No one here has made it yetAndalusianFlamenquínThin slices of pork loin rolled around jamón, breadcrumbed and fried into a long golden roll.No one here has made it yet

Cooked here

No one here has cooked Andalusian yet.