Alicante Gastronomy
Tourist Info
The Alicante gastronomy concentrates all the excellence of the Mediterranean diet: vegetables, pulses, fish, seafood and fruit, all fresh, and recently collected, to create delicious dishes and with a star protagonist: rice, which is prepared here in a hundred different ways, since nearly everything is susceptible to being used in a city famed for its rice par excellence, and wine. To enhance the dessert there is nothing better than the Alicante nougats.
The genuine gastronomy of Alicante has a great tradition that has survived for centuries based on sea products and vegetables. The saltings are known from Roman times, archaeological remains shows the existence of that technique to salt fish. Today the popular tunafish and spawn compete with other less well-known. Also as informal entrances, products like peppers, carrots, onions, capers and pickles conserved in vinegar.
In Alicante we also find shellfish of great quality being the queen of the alicantine bay the red shrimp. Among fishes, the mullet is the most tasty, followed by sardine, whiting and tuna. We can also find meat well cutted in chunks, itched in form of 'balls', big meatballs, also called 'fillers' or 'tarongetes', without forgetting the sausages, 'morcillas', 'blanquets' and sausage of Easter dried off before using it.
The plate by excellence of the Alicantine kitchen is the rice cooked in different ways with meat, fish, shellfish and vegetables, the 'Arroz a banda', cooked with fish broth later discarded, 'el caldero', rice of Fishermen by excellence, 'la olleta' cooked with vegetables, to which can also be added meat and sausages.Very genuine from Alicante are the 'cocas', cakes of flour to the oven, salted: the one made with tuna, 'molletes' (crumbs) and of dry sardine, or sweet 'cocas': case of the 'boba', a delicious cake that can be made almond-shaped.
The whole essence of the alicantine gastronomy would be incomplete if it was not accompanied by the wines with Alicante origin denomination, famous from immemorial time and with documentation on its qualities starting from the XV century. The liquors of herbs are also very popular in Alicante, we have the 'cantueso' and the 'herbeta' specially in winter in order 'to heat' the body. For the summer as a refreshing appetizer; the 'dove', dry anisette with very cold water and the 'cantabria', made of aromatic herbs combined with water freeze.
And since we speak of almonds we cannot forget the alicantine dessert by excellence, the nougat, in their authenticate and traditional varieties of Jijona (soft) and Alicante (hard), universal duke of honey and almonds, with regulated origin denomination. In summer acquire fame the iced drinks, very common in the region, as the orgeat also made in Alicante with toasted almond, the lemon and perhaps the most autochthonous of all, the 'agua de cebada', substitute of the coffee.
If any of our friends or work colleagues decide to holiday in Spain next year, I shall have no hesitation in recommending your services. Once again, many thanks.
F.W