Another attraction of the Canaries is National cuisine. Its simplicity emphasizes the quality of local products. Canarian cuisine consists of simple but high-calorie dishes. Canarians love to eat with pleasure and a lot, in the family and in a large cheerful company. Between the main meals, they are not averse to having a snack.

The main food of the Canarians is a variety of vegetable soups (watercress, squash, vegetable mixture).

As in many southern countries, the most common spices are garlic and saffron. Among fish dishes ( pescados) stand out purple-yellow vieja ( vieja) and perch; among meat - marinated goat meat and pork.

Meat is prepared very tasty on the island. The most popular meat dish is "carne de fiesta" ( carne de fiesta), it is prepared from marinated pork. This wonderful dish is served in a national vessel of an unusual shape, which helps to play out the appetite to the fullest. Many typical Canarian stews are made from meat, especially puchero canario ( puchero canario) - beef stew or several types of meat at once.

Canarian cuisine pays a lot of attention to sauces: red with pepper, hot or green mojo are used as a side dish ( mojo) with garlic, spicy. Both sauces are made with white wine and olive oil. It varies in color depending on what is added to it: coriander ( mojo verde) or pepper ( mojo rojo). Mojo is served in small bowls and always with bread.
Salmorejo - sauce for marinating meat or fish.

A must for anyone who wants to get a taste of Canarian cuisine is the rabbit ( conejo) in salmorejo sauce.

There are no chemical additives or preservatives in real Canarian sauces. The best souvenir from these places is a small bottle of natural Canarian sauce. Especially for tourists, sets of several types of sauce are sold ( mojos canarios).

From gofio cornmeal ( gofio) cook porridge and make bread; it is added to stew. For many years, gofio has been a staple in the daily diet of Canarians.

.Of course, the traditional cuisine of the Canary Islands, which are washed by different waters, consists of seafood. The most important component of the kitchen is fish cooked literally in all forms. The most expensive and delicious fish is mero. Also expensive are niello, a fish like sea bass, but with fewer bones, and a predator like barracuda, but with more tender meat. Vieja is put in the first place by many gourmets for taste. Vieja tastes like bonito, but its meat is red like salmon. Flounder, tuna and bonitas are considered cheap fish. Burro fish is not very appreciated, but it is tasty. All types of fish are cooked without fuss, fried in olive oil over a quick fire and the fried gofio flour, beloved by the Canarians, is added.
Dried fish is used to prepare the "Sakonho" dish, which is served with sweet potatoes along with garlic and onions.

In the Canary Islands, as in mainland Spain, they eat paella - rice with seafood, meat or chicken, and vegetables. Sometimes one serving of paella is enough for two adults. Tapas also came from the continent to the Canary Islands - a light snack, which is small portions of "all sorts of things": cheese, ham, meat, etc.

Potatoes grown on the island have a wonderful taste. Of all various kinds cultivars having unusual sizes and properties and colours, the most important cultivars being 'Papas bonitas' and 'Papas negras'. Papas negras potatoes are very small, have a yellow tint, and dark skin, but they have an extraordinary taste.
Many dishes are served with shriveled papas arrugadas ( papas arrugadas) - potatoes in uniform. The potato is boiled until the water has completely evaporated so that the salt crystals settle on its skin. Inside, the potatoes are not very salty and go well as a side dish for meat and fish. Potatoes are usually dipped in mojo sauces.

Several traditional dishes Canarian cuisine:
Potaje de berros is a thick soup made with watercress greens, pork ribs, corn on the cob, beans and cumin.
Arros con verduras - a multi-colored mixture of rice with chopped peppers, corn and tomatoes.
Puchero is a local saffron stew. It is made from chorizo ​​sausage, beans, chickpeas and potatoes.
Conejo al salmorejo - delicious rabbit stew with tomatoes. Best served with papas arrugadas.
Frita con mohoverde itself is fried fish served with a sauce made from garlic, coriander and vinegar.
Sancocho is a dish of lightly boiled fish, best of all sama, a type of perch. Often served with sweet potatoes.
Vieja is a white meat wrasse freshly caught and then lightly boiled. The fish is served with olive oil and sauce and is considered to be one of the the best dishes Canarian cuisine.

Traditional dessert - bienmesabe(bienmesabe) - sweet cream made from yolk, almonds and cinnamon.
Of the alcoholic products, the strong and sweet amber wine Malvasia (produced since the beginning of the 17th century) deserves special mention. last years acquires well-deserved, but once lost popularity. Among strong local spirits, white and dark rum stand out ( ron).
Some restaurants will offer young wines of the current harvest, not yet bottled, pink taganana 14-15 degrees intoxicated, but easy to drink. For those who find dry wines too acidic, the famous Malvasia, a semi-sweet wine made from Lanzarote grapes, will do. Malvasia grapes are grown on volcanic sands and lightly dried in the sun before pressing. It may happen that there is no malvasia in the restaurant, then you have to ask semisweet and bring similar wine from the mainland.

When it's cold, Canarians drink honey with rum. After dinner, very sweet banana liqueur or brandy. The Canaries are the only place in Spain where they drink as much beer as wine. The most common - light Tenerife beer Dorada or tropical from Gran Canaria.

Coffee in the Canaries prefer the espresso type, strong and in small cups, as in the photo. Called - cortado. He, but with condensed milk - cortado con leche condensada. You can always ask for water to the cortado for free, more often it is already brought along with a cup of coffee.
Baracito served in a taller glass, hot milk and condensed milk are added to it, and then espresso. A little liqueur 43 and a slice of lime are added, cinnamon is sprinkled on top.
Or baracito in a non-alcoholic version, then it is called leche-leche(treat-treat).

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Each of us has our own established gastronomic habits: delicious (and easy to prepare, which is important) dishes for every day, various holiday menu options and favorite trusted restaurants serving dishes from all over the world. But life is so boring without experiments, including culinary ones! Therefore, in any country, no matter where I am, I try to try local cuisine, and even a number of not the most successful experiences do not stop me. After all, in order to say, "No, I don't like it," a dish must be tasted. However, there are still more pleasant memories, and my international culinary piggy bank is constantly replenished.
Going to the Canary Islands, I will say right away that I did not expect anything particularly interesting from the local cuisine. An abundance of fresh fish and seafood, fruits and vegetables growing in this favorable climate all year round, olive oil, garlic and spices - an excellent and perfectly suitable "Mediterranean" menu for me. Delicious, healthy and… a bit boring. The reality turned out to be much more interesting, and I really want to tell you about it.
In fact, in large resort centers you can try any dish - from our borscht and German sausages to Chinese delicacies with unpronounceable names (however, why taste all this in the Canaries?) Fish restaurants with a huge selection of seafood cooked on the grill or in a pan, also found at every turn. Traditional Spanish paella, tortilla and tapas are offered everywhere. But those of the guests of the islands who want to try Canarian cuisine will not be disappointed - some dishes (like "papas arrugadas", which I will definitely tell you about) can be found in almost any restaurant, while others will have to be looked for ...

So, Canarian cuisine... It is so eclectic that chefs from the islands allow themselves to say that it simply does not exist. Indeed, the culinary traditions of the local population - the Guanches, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian colonists, immigrants from close Africa and Latin America- after all, the islands lie at the intersection of sea trade routes. The first overseas "settlers" - potatoes, tomatoes and corn - took root in the Canary Islands earlier than in Europe, and then exotic fruits and spices from Asia and South America found their second home here ...

Canarian cuisine is not refined. Not at all. The definition of "homemade food" is most suitable for simple and hearty dishes. Satiety is perhaps the most accurate characteristic of Canary dishes. They never lived luxuriously in these poor lands, and therefore they tried to eat as much as they should, not knowing when they would be able to sit down at the table next time. And more freshness! Why use canned or frozen foods when the sea is full of fish and vegetables and fruits are ripe all year round?
The most "historical" Canarian dish is, perhaps, "gofio" (gofio). Although this is probably not a dish, but a kind of semi-finished product - flour from pre-roasted grains.

Gofio made from wheat and barley has been used by the Guanches since time immemorial - they brewed flour with boiling water and ate the resulting dough. Initially, gofio was obtained by grinding grains in a mortar, then mills appeared - some have survived to this day.

Now the most common gofio is made from corn, and it is used for a wide variety of dishes. Firstly, wonderful bread is baked from such a dough - lush, spongy, with a toasted crust and a delicate nutty flavor ... Gofio bread, baked in the old fashioned way in a wood-fired oven, is so tasty that it serves as an excellent snack in combination with ordinary butter or sauces.

In addition, gofio is added to sauces, soups and stews to add thickness, and dough balls are eaten as a side dish for roasts. They even make desserts out of it! However, gofio desserts are not for everyone, personally, their taste seemed rough to me.

Canarian soups are so nutritious that they can replace a whole meal! As for the soups, our opinions were divided - my husband really appreciated the local stews, saying that this is the real man's food. And even vegetable soups (they always include potatoes and corn) seemed too satisfying to me, not to mention meat soups, sometimes consisting of 3-4 types of meat and sausage! The famous "puchero canario", for example, is made from pork, beef, lamb, black and smoked sausages, chicken and brisket with potatoes, cabbage, chickpeas, corn, green beans, carrots, zucchini and onions ...

• 2 liters of strong fish broth (it is boiled from small fish, tails, heads and everything else that is not suitable for cooking independent dishes)
• any fish, shrimp and other seafood (the amount depends on the desired thickness of the soup)
• 1 cup rice, pre-fried in olive oil
• 1 medium carrot
• 2 sweet peppers (it is better to take red and yellow - it will be more beautiful)
• 2-3 garlic cloves
• 2 onions
• 2-3 saffron stamens, 2-3 cloves, herbs, salt and pepper - to taste. Be especially careful if using already salted broth.

Add chopped stewed carrots and rice to the boiling broth, reduce the heat. After 10 minutes, put lightly fried onion and pepper, cut into strips. Add fish and seafood (shrimps are placed last). Add spices and simmer for another 10 minutes. Sprinkle with herbs and finely chopped garlic before serving. Serve with fresh bread, and light white wine will serve as an excellent addition to the dish.
A variety of salads made from fresh vegetables and herbs appeared on the menu of Canarian restaurants not so long ago - along with the tourist boom. Before that, vegetables were used, as a rule, for cooking various dishes - they were stewed and added to sauces.
The same goes for the lungs and healthy meals on the grill - both meat and fish. In traditional Canarian cuisine, meat (pork, lamb, chicken and rabbit are especially popular), marinated and fried, stewed for a long time with potatoes, beans, beans and corn. Thick, spicy gravy was a must for hearty and - alas! - heavy meals. By the way, the fine line between the first and the second in such dishes is almost imperceptible... The most popular dish, a local delicacy, is "conejo en salmorejo" - marinated rabbit stewed in a thick sauce.

They also preferred to stew fish, combining it with "non-dietary" ingredients - for greater nutritional value. The fisherman, going out into the stormy sea, and the peasant with his hard work, such food was necessary.

The traditional second courses of Canarian cuisine did not suit me - I realized that I prefer a lighter Mediterranean version. But the garnish, served both with fish and meat, led to complete delight, despite its simplicity. "Papas arrugadas" ("wrinkled potatoes") is a versatile side dish, a great appetizer and a vegetarian dish on its own. Preparing is extremely simple: medium-sized, well-washed potato tubers are boiled in very salty water until it evaporates completely (in some recipes, I read that up to 0.5 kg of salt is taken for 3 kg of potatoes!). The tubers are dried right in the pan, which causes the peel to become wrinkled, and salt crystals appear on it. Often used for cooking sea ​​water, and ideally, the variety of potatoes should be certain. Such tubers look very unpresentable, but they are 3 times more expensive than usual ones in shops! However, I noticed that often in restaurants they offer the most common variety, and it is still very tasty.

"Shriveled potatoes" are supposed to be eaten without peeling and dipping in various sauces - they give a special taste to this simple dish.

Canarian sauce "mojo" is the hallmark of the island's cuisine. It is used in its pure form - as a sauce for potatoes, fish and meat, added to various dishes, fish and olives are marinated in it ... 2 main types of sauces are distinguished by color - "mojo verde" (green) and "mojo rojo" (red ).

In fact, there are much more varieties - there are sauces with parsley, coriander, avocado, almonds, saffron, tomatoes. A red sauce with hot peppers would be called "picon" and "almogrote" would be made with grated hard sheep's cheese from the island of La Gomera.

There is no single recipe for "mojo" - each housewife has her own, inherited from her mother or grandmother. Even in restaurants you will feel that all the sauces are different! And in a traditional restaurant you can see how they are prepared right in front of your eyes. Classically, "mojo" is pounded in a mortar, although, of course, a blender is increasingly used for this purpose these days. However, real culinary specialists believe that in a blender the sauce is too homogeneous, and air bubbles change its consistency.
Bottles and jars of ready-made "mojos" (single or whole sets) are the most popular souvenir from the Canary Islands. In the markets and shops, ready-made mixtures are also sold, which, upon arrival home, can simply be diluted with olive oil and vinegar.

But in fact, "mojo" is quite possible to prepare at home - it's not that difficult. And the fresh spicy taste will delight you and your family.
For the classic "mojo verde" we need:

• 5 garlic cloves
• 3 small green peppers
• 3 tablespoons of olive oil
• 2 tablespoons wine vinegar
• coarse salt - to taste, cumin
• Grind salt, garlic and cumin, add finely chopped pepper, continuing to grind. Add olive oil and vinegar. The sauce keeps great in the fridge!
• Similarly, you can cook "mojo rojo" and "mojo picon", only in the first case, the green pepper should be replaced with red, and in the second, hot chili should be added.

I managed to experiment with sauces, adding parsley and cilantro to green, and nuts, crushed crackers for thickness or cheese to red. The first option is great with chicken or fish with a mild taste, the second with meat, and both with potatoes! Unfortunately, in our latitudes, the preparation of "shriveled potatoes" in their uniforms will have to wait until summer ...
The Canarian lunch ends, of course, coffee (they know how to brew it on the islands!) And dessert.
Local and classic Spanish desserts are again very high in calories... It can be ice cream, various pastries, dairy and creamy desserts with almonds and eggs, and traditional turron... Very tasty, but, as a rule, there is not enough energy for dessert...

Here you can endlessly.

I must say that the Guanches - the indigenous tribes of the island of Tenerife - did not live well, cultivated the land and ate without frills. The new owners - the Spaniards, known lovers of good food - brought cows, rabbits and previously unseen vegetables and fruits. As a result, it has developed its own food culture, different from the rest of Spain.

It is noteworthy that there is practically no tapas culture in the archipelago as such. If in Madrid or Barcelona tapas bars are visible at every turn, then, for example, in Tenerife they are extremely rare. In Barcelona and other large cities on the continent, a dinner for two, consisting of 5-7 plates with different tapas, is common, and in the Canaries you will be offered standard a la carte dishes with side dishes, salads, etc. Sometimes the portion size can be a surprise even for a hungry tourist ! At the same time, there are also a large number of snacks in the Canary Islands that bear their national name enyesques.

In Tenerife, you will see a huge number of banana plantations, and you will definitely want to try them. Make no mistake - they are not sold here in stores. For dessert in a cafe or restaurant, we advise you to take Canarian bananas with palm honey syrup (plátano flameado). And fresh bananas, like other fruits and vegetables, should be purchased in markets and shops, since everything that is sold in supermarkets and served in hotels is brought from the mainland. At the market, be sure to taste the local goat cheese Queso Arico as well. This cheese is produced only in Tenerife and regularly receives the highest awards in world competitions.

The extraordinary taste and smell of Canarian cuisine can be taken home in the form of a jar of prickly pear cactus jam. These are the same cacti with large needles and red fruits that you will see everywhere in Tenerife and other islands of the archipelago. Jam from their fruits tastes like kiwi and raspberries at the same time, you can buy it in souvenir shops, as well as in markets, for example, Agromercado de Adeje.

You should definitely try the Canarian cuisine. An abundance of fresh seafood, original local recipes, the purest sea ​​air, as well as good restaurants and small cafes set up for a feast of culinary arts.

In the evening, you should definitely go to the pedestrian embankment, a walk along which will take a total of 1 hour. Since in contrast to the local population (19,000 inhabitants), in numerous restaurants you can try both original and Canarian.

Fish restaurants is not just a tourist entertainment, but an opportunity, having tasted the freshest, freshly caught seafood, to make up for the lack of iodine and phosphorus in the body. You should look for restaurants Los Abrigos (Los Abrigos) or located on the shore of La Caleta (La Caleta).

Popular Canarian dishes

• Varieties of local fish: blacker (close to sea ​​bass), doroda, sardines and mackerel (mackerel).

  Fish being prepared different ways and served with different sauces. The traditional Canarian hot sauce Mojo picon is made with 1 red pepper, cumin, marjoram, 4 cloves of garlic, 2 cups of vinegar, a little water and olive oil.




• Cooked in olive oil with chili or garlic big prawns and langoustines.





• Fried squid with various sauces, as well as mussels, octopus, sole and other seafood.





• Vieja- a delicious parrot fish with an original taste, which is usually boiled. Although vieja means "old" in Spanish, the fish is certainly not served after many months of storage in the freezer. All self-respecting restaurants serve fresh fish, sometimes frozen.







All this can and should be washed down with good Canarian wine.

How can you forget desserts?

• Popular with the locals a sweet dish called "bien mesabe", which is made from eggs with lemon and almonds and served with ice cream or cream.
• In second place - "trachas of visions", which are small cakes stuffed with sweet potatoes, pumpkin syrup, raisins and almonds. Also, bananas are taken as the basis for many desserts, which in the so-called "banana republic" are grown in myriad quantities on banana plantations near the resorts.
• Of the most commonly used banana desserts - flan (flan), which resembles pudding and consists of fried bananas soaked in rum and poured with caramel. These sweet dishes should definitely be washed down with a cup of gourmet coffee, which is prepared here in a variety of variations.

Recipes of traditional Canarian cuisine

Canarian hot sauce Mojo picon (Mojo picon)

Ingredients

• 1 hot red pepper
• 1 tablespoon red ground pepper caraway
• marjoram 4 garlic cloves
• olive oil Little
• 1 cup vinegar
• water

Cooking method

• In a mortar, add hot red pepper, cumin, marjoram to taste, garlic cloves, salt and ground red pepper.
• Grind everything until a homogeneous mixture is obtained.
• Then add oil and mix.
• Add vinegar to this mixture and mix everything thoroughly.
• At the very end, add water and the moho picon sauce is ready to use.

Carne con papas Meat and potatoes

Ingredients:

• 1 kg beef meat
• 1/2 kg potatoes
• 4 spoons of oil
• 1 onion
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
• 1 bay leaf
• Bell pepper
• 1 cup tomato puree or tomato paste
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 glass of water

Cooking: Cut the meat into pieces and fry in hot fat. When the meat becomes golden brown, add salt, chopped onion, crushed garlic and spices. Fry all this for a while and add tomato puree, white wine and water. Close the lid and leave to cook until the meat is almost tender. Then add the peeled potatoes, cut into small pieces and leave to cook for small fire until ready. If necessary, add a little more water along with the potatoes. Serve with white rice.

Conejo en salmorejo - Rabbit in spicy sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 medium rabbit
• 8 garlic cloves
• Red ground pepper
• Marjoram
• Red pepper
• coarse salt
• 50 ml wine vinegar
• 200 ml dry white wine
• Olive oil

Cooking: Clean the rabbit well (without removing the insides) and cut into pieces. To prepare the sauce: crush the garlic along with marjoram and coarse salt; mix everything well. At the end, add a pinch of ground red pepper, olive oil, wine and vinegar. Pour the mixture over the rabbit and leave to marinate overnight. After proper infusion, fry the rabbit meat until slightly golden brown, and then put in a ceramic dish. Prepare a mixture of rabbit entrails, add a little ground red pepper, rabbit frying oil, marjoram, bay leaf, white wine and salt to taste. Add all this to the rabbit and cook over low heat until tender. Serve with Canarian potatoes (papas arrugadas).

Gofio amasado - Gofio amasado

Gofio, as the flour made from toasted grains is called in Tenerife, has long been the most important food for the inhabitants of the Canary Islands. It was believed that gofio was the main food of the Guanches, the indigenous people of Tenerife. It does not lose its popularity in our time. This is delicious!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 kg toasted cornmeal (gofio)
• crushed almonds

Cooking: Thoroughly mix gofio with water until a homogeneous mass is obtained. Make a ball out of the dough and serve it on the table whole or cut into medallions. There are several other variations of this dish, depending on the ingredients: Berrendero: Gofio mixed with water and pieces of cheese. Cabrillas: Powdered gofio accompanied by wine. Rala: Gofio mixed with broth, milk and even wine. Escaldon: Gofio stirred in simmering broth. Revuelto: Gofio mixed with water or simmering broth. Gofio bread (Pan de gofio): A round mass made from gofio in water and salt.

Canarian Potatoes (Papas arrugadas)

Ingredients

• 1 kg potatoes
• coarse salt
• water

Cooking method

• Wash the potatoes well and place them in the pot, making sure the potatoes are the same size for even cooking.
• Pour in water and add enough salt.
• Potatoes will absorb the right amount of salt. Put to cook for 25 minutes.
• Use a fork to check the readiness of the potatoes. When they are ready, pour out almost all the water and leave for a few more minutes on the fire to dry it out. Make sure that the potatoes do not burn.
• Serve on a tray with moho picon sauce.

Thick soup with watercress greens - Potaje de berros

Ingredients:

• Watercress
• 1/2 kg potatoes
• 200 g pork ribs must first be left for several hours in water
• 2 ears of corn
• 1 onion
• 1 pepper
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 tomato
• Saffron
• Vegetable oil

Cooking: Pour water, add salt to the pan and put on fire. Cut the corn on the cob into 4 pieces and add to the water.
Chop up a bunch of watercress and add it to the pot as well. After half an hour of cooking, add peeled and chopped potatoes and
roast, which must be prepared with crushed garlic, saffron, onion, tomato and pepper.
When the potatoes are ready, remove the pot from the heat. To make the broth thicker, you can mash the potatoes.
Often this dish is served with "gofio", which everyone adds to their taste.

Vegetable stew (Potaje de verduras)

Ingredients:

• 1 large piece of pumpkin
• 1 bunch green beans
• 1 leek
• 1 carrot
• 1 corncob
• 2 potatoes
• 1 bubango (a type of squash)
• Parsley
• Garlic
• Extra virgin olive oil

Cooking: Crush garlic, parsley and salt to taste in a mortar. Add olive oil to this.
Pour water into a large saucepan, add salt and already cut into pieces pumpkin, green beans, leeks, carrots,
potatoes, cobs and zucchini. Bring to a boil and leave on fire until everything is ready.
This first dish is very tasty and healthy and has a lot of vitamins.

Rancho Canario (Rancho Canario)

Ingredients:

• 1/4 kg pieces of meat
• 1/4 kg chicken cut into pieces
• 100 g chickpeas
• 1/4 kg potatoes
• 1/4 kg vermicelli
• 1 small onion
• 2 tomatoes
• 1 small pepper
• 3 garlic cloves
• Saffron
• Olive oil
• 1.5 liters of water

Cooking: Put the meat in a pot of water and boil for 15 minutes. Add chicken meat and chickpeas.
Wash, peel and chop onions, tomatoes and peppers. Add the vegetables to the pot with a little salt and
leave on fire for another half hour. When the meat and chickpeas are ready, add the chopped potatoes
pieces and vermicelli. Grind garlic, cumin, mint in a mortar and also add to the pan. When the potatoes are ready
remove the pan from the heat and let it brew for a few minutes. Serve hot.