4 stars

Cocido

2:07 AM

Image result for cocido gallego

Cocido: ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩
Cocido is a very typical dish in the Galician area that is made up of different cuts and types of meat, chorizo, potatoes, chickpeas, and turnip greens. This is a somewhat special meal and there are special restaurants that only serve cocido. For example, we had this meal on All Saints Day and also Three Kings Day. This was another dish that my Indonesian family ate while here, and they loved it! The greens, potatoes, and chickpeas are boiled in the same water that the meat was cooked in, resulting in the tastiest and most flavorful vegetables, potatoes, and chickpeas. I've previously mentioned these turnip greens in an earlier post about Caldo. This vegetable is so popular here and used in many dishes. Cocido is a very diverse dish and can be served with so many different options. There are so many different variates of chroizo and meat to be used in this dish, it's really incredible. There's sure to be something that you like on the gigantic plate of food, so you're basically guaranteed to enjoy this meal! But I must mention that sometimes there will be pig ears or the snout as well. The first time, it completely shocked me! And if we're being completely honest, I didn't try either of those parts. My Spanish family was completely unfazed and they even enjoyed the ears and snout. Cocido deserves 4 stars in my opinion because it's basically a delicious food overload. Every time that we eat it, I always end up very full and very happy. It's such a delicious meal with so many different components that all go hand in hand. You can't go wrong with it! A very tasty dish that is worth looking for when visiting.
 

4 stars

Caldo

1:27 AM


Image result for caldo gallego
Caldo: ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩
Caldo is a delicious soup dish that contains potatoes, vegetables, beans, and sometimes chorizo or some type of meat. The broth is somewhat bland in flavor, in fact, when my relatives visited, they tried some caldo and they all agreed that it was almost flavorless. Being from Texas, we have some pretty hearty stews and soups, so this lighter and thinner soup was definitely somewhat new to me. I actually really enjoy this soup and I love the warmth it brings to me on a cold winter day. Vigo doesn't necessarily get too cold, but I always seem to be frozen here. The vegetables in caldo are very typical here and are known in English as turnip greens. They're used in another popular dish as well called cocido. I've awarded this dish four stars because I've definitely fallen in love with it, but I do agree that it's a little bland in flavor, which is something I can about most Spanish foods because I'm so used to eating very flavorful Asian and Italian cuisine. I really like soup and just about any type of soup, so this is probably one of my favorite dishes here. Check out this video on how to make it!

4 stars

Pulpo a la Feira

7:32 AM


Pulpo a la Feira: ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩

This is a very delicious dish with quite an interesting texture. I personally believe that it needs more flavor diversity, but I do enjoy the typical "sauce" combination of olive oil, paprika, and salt. Pulpo a la Feira is one of my favorite dishes here in Galicia, but I don't enjoy it when the octopus is very tough and hard to chew, or when the octopus is too soft and has a somewhat mushy feel. While it does have a unique and interesting texture, if not cooked the right way, the octopus can become too tough and not very appetizing. While definitely a bit terrifying at first, it is definitely worth a try if you visit the Galicia area. Face your fears and just take a bite! In many restaurants, the octopus is cut up smaller and appears much less intimidating. A not so fun tidbit that I've heard is that to ensure that the octopus does not become too touch, you must slam the octopus down on it's head until it dies. That is such a sad story and it almost makes me not ever want to eat octopus again, but I've also heard that putting in the octopus in the freezer can also result in an appealing texture. It sounds a little bit better than the more brutal death. A poor fate for the octopus, but I really love Pulpo a la Feira, as well as many other Galician people.