Category Archives: Food From Spain

INEDIT by Ferran Adrià, Perfectly Created to Pair with Food

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INEDIT is a magnificent craft beer created by Ferran Adrià —the world’s most awarded chef—, Juli Soler—his longtime business partner— and elBulli’s sommeliers’ team. This beer, was specifically created to be paired with food.

After tasting it, we can say that it’s one of the most unique beer tasting experiences we’ve ever had. It’s crisp, light and almost with a palate cleansing effect after each sip.

Estrella Damm the brewery from Barcelona, Spain was established in 1876 by August Kuentzmann Damm and his wife Melanie. Like many Prussian immigrants of their time, they chose Barcelona to become their new home and the place to start a life long dream.
Right up to the present day, eleven generations of master brewers are still brewing the Estrella Damm beer.

INEDIT is a unique combination of different ingredients where barley malt, wheat and yeast are the predominant ones. INEDIT is not your typical wheat yeasty beer. After adding hops, coriander, orange peel and liquorice, the end product is just like no other beer you’ve ever had. This beer is not only very aromatic but very complex at the same time. This beer is truly a fine beer with a delicate combination of ingredients. This beer is not heavy, yet somewhat yeasty.

This beer is best enjoyed chilled in a white wine glass. To fully appreciate the quality and flavor of the beer just fill half of the glass, sit back and enjoy. This beer goes great with any dish and even challenging foods such as stews, asparagus, artichokes, salmon, strong cheeses and even sweets. Its appearance is slightly cloudy. Fruity and floral to the nose, with a yeasty sensation and reminiscences of sweet spices. Creamy and crisp in texture, soft volume and smooth carbonation. Long aftertaste and pleasant memory.

Retail Price Range in the U.S.: $10-15 and be prepared to look for it as hard as you can.

 

Vega Sicilia Tinto ‘Valbuena’ 5°. A Complex and Super Fine Wine!

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Vega Sicilia is without any doubt the best and most refined wine made in Spain. In 1864, Eloy Lecanda founded the winery that symbolizes the golden legend of Spanish red wine. Throughout its long history, it has belonged to different owners, although it has always maintained an unquestionable personality, making concentrated, mature, generous and extremely elegant.

This spectacular wine typically made from is one of the best examples of what great wines are supposed to taste, smell and look like. Vega Sicilia only makes three different wines under the Vega Sicilia winery brand: ‘Valbuena 5°’, ‘Reserva Especial‘ (with no vintage as this is a blend of different vintages) and ‘Único’. Vega Sicilia also owns Pintia, Alion (often called the poor man’s Vega Sicilia) and Tokaj Oremus which are not sold under the Vega Sicilia name, however, they happen to also be some of the best wines in the world.

Bodegas Vega Sicilia is located in the town of Valbuena de Duero between Peñafiel and Valladolid in the wine region of Ribera del Duero in Spain. Since 1982, the company is owned by the Alvaréz family.

What makes this wine so unique and excellent?

The aging of the wine begins in January; first in containers and then in new American Oak wooden casks. For the ‘Valbuena 5°’, the duration of the aging process in wood is three and a half years, and for the ‘Único’, a minimum of seven years. During this time, the wine is rotated form new casks to casks that are more and more used. With a view to achieving a perfect balance between the wine and the wood. Once this has been achieved, the wines finally rest in large wooden vats, which prepares them for later bottling. The aging in the bottle requires time and care. The wines of Vega Sicilia end their journey with a calm rest in the bottle in specially acclimatised installations. The time they remain there depends on the format of the bottle: Vega Sicilia ‘Único’ in Bordeaux format (0.75 litres) takes three years or more to age. For the ‘Valbuena 5°’, the period for aging in the bottle is around a year and a half. A system that takes us back in time. There is no hurry in Vega Sicilia. Considering the time that it takes for a certain vintage to make it to the stores you are guaranteed a wine with certain level of maturity and perfection when ready to be drank.

Retail Price Range in the U.S.: $180-$230 and be prepared to look for it as hard as you can. It is so hard to find because of its limited production and because only 100 stores in the U.S. carry it.

The wine is characteristically deep ruby red in color with a very full body and a great oaky cherry aroma and an amazing complexity that you get as you are pouring it out of the bottle. The complex notes on this wine include: oak, tobacco and coffee accompanied by a very long lasting taste. What Vega Sicilia would refer to as a ‘pedigree wine’. Once you take a sip, your mouth is so overwhelmed that as the wine starts going down your throat it almost feels like it is magically disappearing without giving you any alcohol sensation or bite.

This wine is a great pairing for complex flat breads with Délice de Bourgogne, Manchego cheese, Parmigiano Reggiano, freshly sliced ‘jabugo’ Pata Negra, Mangalica Ham or Aldo Adige Speck.

On a rating scale from 1 to 10 we give Vega Sicilia Tinto Valbuena 5 a perfect 10. This wine is so amazing. Drinking a Vega Sicilia is a lifetime experience and one of the most amazing ways of pampering your senses.

‘Joselito’ The Best ‘Pata Negra Iberico’ Ham in the World!!!

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Once you have filled your winebota with a beautiful Spanish wine, you need to indulge yourself with some ‘Ibérico Pata Negra’ (Black Hoof Iberian) ham that can only come from those pigs that are acorn fed and with a black hoof. Without a doubt the best ‘jamón’ (ham) maker in Spain is ‘Joselito’, a company based in ‘Guijuelo’, south of Salamanca and west of Madrid. To give you a better idea, chefs like Ferran Adrià, Joël Robuchon, Juan Mari Arzak and  Andoni Luis Aduriz serve ‘Joselito’ ham in their restaurants. “The quality is unbeatable,” Arzak says. Rafael García Santos, the highly influential Spanish food critic, rates the ‘Joselito Gran Reserva’ at 9.75 out of a possible 10—which in his view makes it the best food product of any kind in the country.

‘Joselito’ has has earned mythic status in Spain. It’s not easy to find – only the most famous restaurants serve it. The company’s annual production is modest – hams are often reserved (and paid for) years in advance. ‘Joselito’ is one of the few ham producers that maintains its own extensive R&D program, and one of two that refuses to use any kind of preservatives, ever.

These special reserve ‘paletas de bellota’ (acorn fed pork legs) are firm and consistent. The ham just melts in your mouth. The fine, translucent fat is sparse, but the meat is evenly marbled. The aromas are spectacular and a lifetime experience. Everything else you’ve heard about Joselito ham is true!