300798 Tue Sep 06 09:09:20 -0700 2005 18 27 General Chowhounding Topics 0 1673867 Am going to Malaga on the 14th and from there by road to Madrid. Shall appreciate a list of 'must bring back' goodies, preferably where possible with a location/source of where to obtain these easily as I will be short of time due to an appointment in Ciudad Real and also in Cuenca. Butterfly you have been a treasure trove of information, and look forward to your brilliant ideas as well. Basically am looking for ambient medium-long life goodies so how do these sound: ? Alcaparrones (caper berries) -Jarred. Arroz bomba (with d.o.) Macadamia / Garrapiñadas (jarred) -from Comidas de Madrid El Sabor de Madrid, c/Alcalde sainz de barranda Madrid Atun (tuna) con escabeche -ortiz brand Atun -Ventresca del Norte -ventresca/bonita Any idea where I can get Marzipan made w/ marcona y largueta almonds What is Chufa -is it ground almond, tiger nut, or ground nut ? Any ideas on where it might be available ? Have I missed anything exciting ? Tue Sep 06 09:09:20 -0700 2005 0 Amin (London Foodie ''OrientRice@aol.com'') 1 1673868 FABES, LARGE WHITE BEANS FROM ASTURIAS. THEY ARE PROTECTED BY THE D.O.,SO MAKE SURE YOU GET THE REAL THING. IMPOSSIBLE TO MAKE FABADA W/OUT THESE TASTY BEANS. VALDEMAR ALBARINO.MY FAVE ALBARINO AND HARD TO FIND IN THE US. CHOCOLATE FROM SAMPKAO. Tue Sep 06 09:20:31 -0700 2005 1673867 0 MORE KASHA 2 1673906 Pata Negra - wonderful - not sure if you can bring it into England - it's not imported into the US right now due to USDA requirements (though this situation will change in the next year or so). Tue Sep 06 20:00:25 -0700 2005 1673868 0 MMRuth 1 1673871 The best mazapán (marzipan) in Spain comes from Toledo. I am not sure you can buy > marzipan, however. Chufa is, indeed, tiger nut...which actually is a root. You may have difficulty finding it, since many Spaniards simply opt for horchata served by cafés. And making horchata from scratch seems to me a lot like making beer from scratch ... satisfying on a certain level, to be sure, but is it worth it when your local pub provides perfectly good ales without the wait? To your list, I would add: Saffron, which grows in the La Mancha region you will be passing through if you are in Cuenca and Ciudád Reál. Pimentón de la Vera, smoked paprika. Get both the sweet and bittersweet variety. Pimientos piquillo, from Navarra, and one of the foods of the gods especially stuffed with bacaláo. I believe you could find most of these items in the food department at El Corte Inglés in Madrid. Tue Sep 06 10:11:20 -0700 2005 1673867 0 Kirk 1 1673894 I loved the dried anchovies and can't find them here. Great in soups or stews, pizza or whatever. Tue Sep 06 16:08:34 -0700 2005 1673867 0 chilepm 1 1673914 Olive oil made from empeltre olives. Or even just empeltre olives. Tue Sep 06 21:14:32 -0700 2005 1673867 0 Steve 2 1673927 I'm heading to Madrid next week for work and also thinking about what to bring back. What are empeltre olives? How do they differ from other spanish olives? Also, does anyone happen to know if there's Corte Ingles near the Palace Hotel/Buen Retiro Park? Thanks! Wed Sep 07 11:44:02 -0700 2005 1673914 0 fresser 3 1673933 The main branch is only a 15 minute walk from your locale to Sol. Then there's a branch @ c/Goya on the other side of Retiro in barrio Salamanca. Wed Sep 07 13:11:09 -0700 2005 1673927 0 MORE KASHA 4 1673948 Many thanks to you both! I'll try to get over to the main one, on the theory that they'll have the largest selection in the food dept. Wed Sep 07 15:40:39 -0700 2005 1673933 0 fresser 3 1673934 Thanks everyone for your input. Please keep it coming. BTW I also didnt know what empeltre olives were, however a search on google yielded info that these are black olives from Northern Spain (Aragon)and according to tienda.com the CA olives are bland in comparison. link attached. There are loads of El Corte Ingles' around and while have not been to Madrid since quite a while, I used to go to the large one in Calle Princessa. If memory serves me right, its not very far from the Palace hotel, however your concierge there would guide you to the nearest one. Link: http://www.tienda.com/food/pop/ol-13.html Wed Sep 07 13:23:38 -0700 2005 1673927 0 Amin (London Foodie ''OrientRice@aol.com'') 3 1673958 The closest branches of El Corte Ingles with a supermarket would be: c/Preciados, 3 Plaza de Callao, 2 c/Serrano, 47 There are other El Corte Ingles supermarkets downtown at: c/Goya, 76 c/Princesa, 56 The supermarket is in the basement and the hours are 10am to 10pm, with the exception of Sundays and holidays when it is either closed or closes earlier. About Spanish olives, I believe I remember reading that there are over 200 varieties grown here for culinary uses, each with different properties and growing conditions. I believe empeltre are grown in the Balaeric Islands (I saw them in Menorca), Catalunya and Aragon, where there is a bit more humidity. Wed Sep 07 19:10:28 -0700 2005 1673927 0 butterfly 3 1673962 I believe you can buy empeltre olives in a jar as well as EVOO made from empeltre olives. I've never had them, but empeltre olives are supposed to be the fruitiest of olives, especially the EVOO. I have not found a source for the olives or the EVOO in the US. La Tienda does sell an EVOO that is half arbequina and half empeltre, but only in a 3 litre container. I'm in love with Spanish olive oils, but Italian seems to rule the marketplace here. Wed Sep 07 20:54:50 -0700 2005 1673927 0 Steve 1 1673917 I love the creamy southern turon that reminds me of halvah, not at all like the Italian torrone I grew up with. And not that I personally would triple wrap sealed packages of Jamon Iberico and put it in my carry-on luggage, since it's illegal in the States, but it is hard to live without it. ps. there was a great article on the variety of gaspachos is southern Spain in the Sunday NY Times travel section. Tue Sep 06 23:00:45 -0700 2005 1673867 0 hattie 1 1673960 You can get chufa at pretty much any decent "frutos secos" store--stores that sell snacks, candy, beans and other dry goods in bulk. It's a little tuber about the size of a blueberry. You can soak them in water for about 12 hours and then eat them as a fibrous, but tasty little snack (beware of eating too many or suffer the digestive consequences...). Or you can make horchata. You will also be able to get marcona almonds at the frutos secos store--raw, fried or roasted. If you like to cook, other good "frutos secos" are all of the interesting beans here: judiones de la granja--big fat white beans--poor man's fabes (which are fabulously expensive), tiny Fuentesauco garbanzos, the tiny little lentils... And then the junky snack stuff like potato chips fried in olive oil, pickled baby eggplants, "kikos" (fried corn), etc. I overdid it on mazapan last Christmas, so I haven't searched it out. Though I know it is available in Toledo year round. There's a fancy place on Plaza de Zocodover that sells them and lots of more homespun convents around town that make them. There's also a year-round turron maker in Madrid called Casa Mira. It's near Puerta del Sol at Carrera de San Jerónimo 30 (and incidentally very close to the Palace Hotel). For canned goods, you've got white asparagus, pimientos del piquillo (go with the D.O from Navarra), artichoke hearts (get the tiny ones that come 15-20 to a can)... The bounty from the sea that you'll find in the "conservas" aisle at El Corte Ingles: navajas (razor clams), pulpo (octopus), boquerones en vinagre (anchovies in vinegar), mejillones en escabeche (mussels in vinegar). All of the good tuna (atun or bonito) in escabeche or salsa or olive oil... And funkier stuff like higado de bacalao (cod liver). Other ideas: sherry vinegar, pimenton de la vera, some good olive oil, honey from Alcarria, pan de higo (fig bread), membrillo, a wheel of idiazabal cheese.... A nice bottle of fino... 100 grams of the really good bellota jamon iberico for quick consumption. You can get much of the above from El Corte Ingles--with the exception of some of the "frutos secos". The frutos secos place that I go to is on Calle de Toledo just a few blocks south of Plaza Mayor on the right side and you are going away from the Plaza. It's nothing special--just close to where I live--but only about a ten minute walk from Puerta del Sol, if you are in that area. Also closeby is Mercado de la Cebada, which might be worth a look, if you have the time. It's closed for siesta from 2:00-5:30 and closes again around 8:00pm. When are you going to be passing through. If you are interested in some of the harder-to-find stuff, I could pick it up for you on my rounds and hand it off when you are coming through, provided I'm free that day.... Wed Sep 07 19:47:09 -0700 2005 1673867 0 butterfly 2 1673967 Butterfly, I really cannot thank you enough for the detailed reply and your very kind offer. Am planning to be in Madrid sometime on the 15th (next Thursday) for one night however would like to spend 2 nights there (subject to expense), reason being that am driving down from Malaga with a friend and would be paying for 2 rooms at the hotel. Am thinking of an el-cheapo place like an Ibis or similar, however if you are free, would love to have lunch (or coffee & tapas)depending on situation with you, preferably at a good hotel (similar to the Palace or perhaps Hotel Princesa plaza) close by to where you either live or work. Shall let you have my schedule sometime next week, along with my Spanish cell phone number. Am basically looking for ideas that will knock the socks off some AWC ladies around mid-nov, something that will delight their palates and make 'em go oooh, aaaah and mmmmm -the only restriction for me being anything that is pork, bacon or sausage related such as Jamon Iberico. Thu Sep 08 03:18:17 -0700 2005 1673960 0 Amin (London Foodie ''OrientRice@aol.com'') 3 1674016 Here's my email address, just in case I get distracted and miss your post: m at alpha60 dot com Who--or what--are "AWC" ladies? Given your no pork stipulation, I would then substitute vacuum packed "jamon de pato" (duck ham), which is unbelievably rich. Or if you are looking for something lighter jamon de pavo (turkey ham). Cecina de Leon (dry cured beef) is also and interesting option. There are also many different pates available that might be interesting. And maybe bacalao stuffed pimientos del piquillo. I may be able to give more suggestions once I know just what the enigmatic "AWC" stands for (Army Women's Club? American Writing Corporation?). Thu Sep 08 20:14:15 -0700 2005 1673967 0 butterfly 4 1674025 ->->-> I may be able to give more suggestions once I know just what the enigmatic "AWC" stands for (Army Women's Club? American Writing Corporation?). <-<-<- You were'nt far off: AWC stands for 'American Women's Club' and though am sure you're familiar with them, consists of US ladies who are either settled or spend a greater part of the year in the UK Thanks for your email address and the excellent alternatives to pork that you have suggested. The bacalao stuffed pimientos del piquillo sounds good. Shall send you my Spanish contact number on Mon/Tue. Fri Sep 09 03:19:14 -0700 2005 1674016 0 Amin (London Foodie ''OrientRice@aol.com'') 2 1673981 Judiones de la Granja are fantastic! Butterfly: Have you been to the restaurant in Segovia (name of which escapes me right now, but which is in one of Penelope Casas' guidebooks) that serves judiones? Mid-October was when I was there last and they were on the menu then. The place is also known for its lamb trotters. I am itching to book a trip to Spain now! Thu Sep 08 12:36:45 -0700 2005 1673960 0 Kirk 3 1674015 I have been to Segovia and had judiones, but I don't know if I've been to "the" restaurant... They are also a staple here on "menus del dia"--in fact I had them just today with chorizo and fatback and god only knows what other pork by-products. It is certainly sacrilege to say so in my SO's Asturiano family, but I think judiones are almost as good as fabes... Thu Sep 08 20:03:06 -0700 2005 1673981 0 butterfly