Catalan Cuisine: Europe's Last Great Culinary Secret [Paperback]

Colman Andrews (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1999

Award-winning author Coleman Andrews explores a once undiscovered gem among Europe's great culinary traditions. The cooks of Catalonia use many of the same popular ingredients found in other Mediterranean cuisines, but they combine them in fresh and unexpectedly delicious ways. Try Paella Vallenciana, Tumbet (a Majorcan vegetable casserole), Canalons (the local spin on cannelloni), or the delightful Bunyols (fried pastries), to name just a few of the savory regional dishes. By learning their culinary secrets, you'll discover a fascinating history and culture of the Catalan people.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Colman Andrews is the editor of Saveur magazine and an internationally acclaimed authority on the food and culture of Spain's Catalonia region. A restaurant critic for the Los Angeles Times, a food and travel writer, and a cookbook author, Andrews has written for many leading publications. He is the author of two cookbooks, Catalan Cuisine and Flavors of the Riviera. Colman Andrews is listed in Who's Who of Food & Beverage in America, is a James Beard Foundation Awards Judge, and the recipient of a 1998 James Beard Foundation M.F.K. Fisher Distinguished Writing Award.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Gambes amb All Confit Shrimp with Baked Garlic serves 4 This is a recipe from the La Sardinal restaurant in Banylus, just north of the Spanish border in the Roussillon. The basic idea is purely Catalan, but the recipe is a French refinement, created by Le Sardinals chef, Jean-Marie Patrouix

2 heads garlic, separated into cloves but unpeeled 16-20 very large shrimp, heads on 2 cups heavy cream Olive oil Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees; then bake the garlic cloves on a lightly oiled baking sheet or in a lightly oiled skillet for 20-30 minutes or until soft but not creamy. Cool the garlic, then slip it from its skins, setting aside as many cloves as there are shrimp. Remove the shrimp heads and mash the remaining garlic. Pour the cream into a sauce pan, add the shrimp heads and the mashed garlic, and simmer until the liquid is reduced by half. Strain the cream and return it to the saucepan, them add salt and pepper to taste. Keep the sauce warm. Devein the shrimp, and saut them slowly in a small amount of oil until just cooked but not browned. Divide half the sauce among the centers of four warm serving plates; then arrange the shrimp extending out from the centers like the spokes of a wheel, with one whole garlic clove between every two shrimp. Drizzle the remaining sauce over the shrimp and garlic, thinning it slightly with more cream if necessary.

Panellets Catalan Marzipan Cookies Makes 24 cookies Panellets, which are traditionally served on the holiday of Tots Sants or All Saints, November 1, are perhaps the most popular single confection in Catalonia. There are countless versions of this specialty, which invariably has a marzipan or almond paste base, but the most common one is made with pine nuts. Crushed hazelnuts also work very nicely, so I have split the recipe into two parts, one for each of the two kinds of nuts. If you want to use all one variety or the other, of course, you may do so.

1/2 pound Idaho or other baking potatoes, peeled and quartered 2 1/4 cups almonds, blanched and roasted 2 cups sugar 2 egg yolks 1/4 teaspoon vanilla 1 tablespoon grated lemon rind 1/3 - 1/2 cup flour 2 egg whites, lightly beaten 1 1/2 cups pine nuts (not toasted) 1 1/2 cups hazelnuts (not toasted), coarsely crushed Butter or shortening

Boil the potatoes until soft; then drain, and put through a ricer. Preheat the oven to 475. Pulverize the almonds in a food mill, or crush them fine with a mortar and pestle. In a large bowl, mix the potatoes, almonds, sugar, egg yolks, vanilla, and lemon rind. Sprinkle 1/3 cup flour onto a pastry board, and transfer the potato mixture to it; then knead flour and potato mixture together well. (The finished dough should have the consistency of marzipan; depending upon the moisture content of the potatoes, it might be necessary to add more flour.) Shape the dough into balls 1-1 1/2 inches in diameter, flattening the bottoms slightly. Dip the balls into beaten egg whites, roll half of them in pine nuts and half in hazelnuts; then bake on a lightly buttered cookie sheet for about 20 minutes or until the nuts have turned golden-brown. Cool before serving.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Harvard Common Press (December 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558321543
• ISBN-13: 978-1558321540
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #298,254 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #47 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Regional & International > European > Spanish

More About the Author

Colman Andrews' first cookbook, "Catalan Cuisine", originally published in 1988, was recently named one of the "50 Best Cookbooks of All Time" by the Observer Food Monthly; his most recent one, "The Country Cooking of Ireland", was honored as Best International Cookbook by the James Beard Foundation in 2010 and beat out all other entries in all categories as foundation's Cookbook of the Year, and won the 2011 Best International Cookbook prize from the International Association of Cooking Professionals. Andrews was a co-founder of Saveur, and its editor-in-chief from 2002 to 2006. After leaving the magazine, he became the restaurant columnist for Gourmet, serving in that capacity until its untimely demise. A native of Los Angeles with degrees in history and philosophy from UCLA, he was a restaurant reviewer and restaurant news columnist for the Los Angeles Times, and for three years edited "Traveling in Style", the Times travel magazine. Throughout the 1980s, he was wine and spirits columnist for Los Angeles Magazine, and published widely as a freelance writer, covering food, wine, travel, music, art, architecture, design, and the entertainment industry. The recipient of eight James Beard awards, Andrews is the co-author and co-editor of three Saveur cookbooks and six of his own books on food: "Everything on the Table"; "Flavors of the Riviera"; "Catalan Cuisine" (which introduced the now-trendy cooking of Spain's Catalonia region to America); "The Country Cooking of Ireland"; "Ferran: The Inside Story of El Bulli and the Man Who Reinvented Food" (a biography of Catalan superchef Ferran Adrià, also available in Spanish, French, and Italian translations); and "The Country Cooking of Italy". His next book, "The Taste of America", will be published in the fall of 2013. Andrews is now editorial director of The Daily Meal, a food and wine mega-site (www.thedailymeal.com), and has recently completed writing the first-ever Spanish Culinary curriculum, in partnership with José Andrés, for New York's International Culinary Center. In 2012, Andrews was awarded the Creu de Sant Jordi, the highest civil honor granted by the government of Catalonia, in recognition of his services in popularizing Catalan cuisine around the world.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent study of Catalan cuisine. Buy It. June 12, 2006

By B. Marold HALL OF FAMETOP 100 REVIEWER

Format:Paperback

`Catalan Cuisine, Vivid Flavors from Spain's Mediterranean Coast' by the very notable culinary journalist and editor, Colman Andrews, contributes to Spain's cuisine's being the third best documented European cuisine, after Italy and France. Andrews is an important figure in culinary reporting less from his books than from his position as editor of the excellent `Saveur' magazine which, with `Cooks Illustrated', should be one of the two magazines a foodie really should be reading.

`Catalan Cuisine' is as good or better than Andrews other ethno-culinary volume, `Flavors from the Riviera'. Like the earlier volume, its strengths lie primarily in history and a focus on ethnographic accuracy (without loosing too much in the way of practical cookery). For example, Andrews' recipe for the Catalan version of `tortilla espagnole' (potato frittata or omelet) is different from every other recipe I have seen from Spanish culinary experts such as Penelope Casas and Janet Mendel in that it contains no onion. This omission makes the dish a lot less interesting to me as food, but it reveals something which sets Catalan cooking apart from the rest of Spain.

In `Delicioso', Ms. Casas identifies Catalonia as the land of the casseroles. On first blush, there is little evidence of this attribution in Mr. Andrews' book. `Casserole' doesn't even appear in his index. But then, we recall a paragraph early in the book where Andrews identifies the most important cooking utensils in Catalonia. After the ubiquitous paella pan, there is the `cassola' (in Catalan, or `cazuela' in Castilian), an earthenware dish with deeper, straighter sides than a paella and an inside glaze. I really regret that Mr. Andrews didn't find his way clear to give us a picture of this dish, as I visualize it as a sort of `Tarte Tatin' dish a bit over 12 inches in diameter and about two inches deep.

One of the more interesting aspects of Andrews' books is that he always illuminates interesting historical and geographical aspects of his subject. On the Riviera, we learned that for a large part of its history, the French Riviera was politically a part of Italy. Here, we learn that the Catalan influenced region, `paisos catalans', extends into southwestern France, Valencia, the Balearic Islands, Andorra, and even a corner of Italian Sardinia. The evidence of this influence is the range of the Catalan language (`Spanish' is actually Castilian, one of the four official languages of Spain, including Basque and Galician), which is not simply a Spanish dialect, but a language of its own, as similar to Italian and French as to Castilian. This is due to the fact that Catalonia was the center of Roman influence in their province, `Hispanolia', and Barcelona was the principle Roman seaport to this region, through which was introduced olive and grape cultivation techniques.

Andrews' primary premise in this book is that Catalan cuisine is at least as distinctive in European food as, for example the cuisine of Campagnia (Naples and Southern Italy). To this end, his organization is highly analytical rather than simply being a collection of representative recipes. The flagship of things distinct about Catalan cuisine may be the four classic sauces of the region, `allioli', `sofregit', `picada', and `samfaina'. While each has some similarities to sauces well known to French and Italian cuisines, the real importance lies in the differences. `Allioli' in Catalonia is made exclusively with garlic and olive oil plus salt (All Catalan food is heavily salted). Other minor ingredients such as vinegar and herbs are allowed (making it seem very much like vinaigrette). The similar Provencal sauce, `Aioli which includes eggs is dismissed as `fancy mayonnaise' which, by the way, Catalans claim was invented in Minorca and not the French city of Mayenne. `Sofregit' is similar to the Italian `soffritto' and the French `mirepoix'. `Picada' is very similar to the `pesto' of nearby Liguria in Italy. Samfaina is similar to ratatouille, cooked down to the consistency of a relish.

Next, practically a third of the book is taken up by `Part Three: The Raw Materials', in which Andrews discusses and presents recipes for the fifteen most important ingredients, which are eggplant, nuts, anchovies, rice, poultry, salt cod, mushrooms, wild game, snails, legumes, organ meats, olives and olive oil, eggs, seafood, and `the pig'. To the logical among us, this may seem a bit messy since one would think that anchovies and salt cod would fall under `seafood', and that organ meats would fall under `the pig', but it all works well enough, as the categories are a way of organizing recipes and not a guide to the Barcelona commodities market.

I really like the fact that aside from having an excellent bibliography, the book refers to several important books on related subject not only to support a point, but also to refer one to important recipes Andrews does not include himself in this book. His most important references are to Penelope Casas' `The Food and Wine of Spain' for recipes on sausage making. This is symptomatic, in that Parsons has no recipes for `basic' techniques such as pasta, pastry, bread, or charcuterie (sausages), in spite of the fact that both pasta and sausage and ham are important Catalan culinary products.

Andrews makes up for his unusual organization by providing an excellent Appendix of `Recipes according to Category' and other useful sources for Spanish tourism and shopping.

I think it's ironic that at the top of the cover is a blurb by the famous Barcelona chef, Ferran Adria praising the book, while there is not a single reference to Adria or El Bulli in this 1988 original book.

A superb culinary essay. Excellent for lovers of Spanish food and foodies in general.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Turn any meal into a celebration of taste and delight! May 4, 2000

By Midwest Book Review

Format:Paperback

In Catalan Cuisine, Colman Andrews draws upon the great cooking traditions of Spain's Catalonia region. This superb collection of regional dishes showcases the simple and vibrant flavors in hundreds of Catalonia's best and beloved recipes ranging from Valencian Paella with Shellfish; Eggplant Flan; and Sweet Red Peppers Stuffed with Duck, to Salt Cod with Garlic and Paprika; Pork-Stuffed Apples, and Cinnamon Ice Cream with Warm Strawberry Coulis. The recipes are "kitchen cook friendly" and will turn any family meal into a celebration of taste and delight.

25 of 34 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars AUTHENTIC CATALAN FOOD mmmmm December 8, 1999

By LOLA ALONSO-PEREZ

Format:Paperback

I am a Catalan person living abroad, and sometimes it is difficult to explain friends that Catalan food is something different to what everybody knows as Mediterranean food, since being totally Mediterranean, it is not Italian nor French. This books discovers the authentic taste of Catalan food, that, as the author says, HAS TO BE DISCOVERED. Try it and enjoy your meals. I can say that CATALAN FOOD IS ONE MILLION BETTER THAN ITALIAN AND FRENCH. It keeps simple and accentuated flavors with simple raw materials, but obtaining an PERFECT COMBINATION.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE AUTHOR, and please continue plublishing thousands of more recipes of Catalan food.