On its journey through the Spanish provinces, the ABC of Nutrition arrives in Badajoz to learn about the gastronomy of this place, from the hand of the nutritionist Laura González. A “great variety” of recipes, including both meat and fish, or seasonal vegetables. Without forgetting the typical sweets, with Arab influence
The Alphabet of Nutrition continues its gastronomic journey through the rich landscapes of the cereal fields, mountains and the extensive plains and meadows of Badajoz.
From these landscapes, explains Laura González, Nestlé’s Head of Health and Nutrition, the main “top quality” ingredients of the typical dishes and flavors of the Extremaduran city come from.
This province is home to traditional recipes based on rural influence, for which the typical dishes of Badajoz houses are the result of day-to-day pastoralism, livestock and simple cuisine.
Spoon dishes
According to the nutritionist, the gastronomy of Badajoz has a marked sense of the use of food and its products.
For this reason, stews, stews, vegetable stews, stews and, especially, soups accompanied with bread, are the “indisputable” protagonists of the most traditional cookbook in the area.
This range of dishes are cooked with local and proximity foods. Precisely, the foods that were available to shepherds and ranchers, years ago.
“For example, vegetables and simple vegetables, such as onion, garlic, pepper or tomato. They are the basis of many of these stews “, González lists.
These vegetables, says the nutritionist, are usually cooked together with meats and derivatives, such as Iberian pork, lamb or Extremadura designation of origin veal, which are raised in fields and pastures.
Likewise, these meats also include other typical hunting such as wild boar or pheasant.
“Surely with such a quality lamb you can prepare some very tasty stews”, she adds.
The pig, star product
In Badajoz an acorn-fed Iberian ham is marketed, characterized by free-range aging and a diet based, in recent months, on acorns and natural pastures.
For this reason, in the words of the nutritionist, the pig in Badajoz has an even greater importance.
Likewise, pork products are also “very common” from the start of the day. For example, Iberian ham toasts, with cachuela or caldillo (the latter with bits), are quite frequent, indicates González.
“For those of you who do not know the cachuela or the caldillo is a kind of pate made from fried pork liver, in lard. It has garlic, onion, paprika from La Vera (which is from the one near Cáceres), and other spices. Everything is crushed and, finally, cooked ”.
The nutritionist highlights other recipes where the pig is also the protagonist, such as:
The black pudding of the priest, a derivative that uses the leanest meat to cook it, with mint, parsley and garlic.
The roasted morcón, another meat derivative that is made with large pieces of cured lean meat, dried naturally.
The pestorejo en adobo, a bacon that comes from the pig’s mask and is also cooked.
Although tasty, González warns of the high caloric intake of these dishes that should not be consumed frequently.
