WLBOTT: Hola, G. Today we’re going to explore Madrid, Spain. What to come along, caballero?
Elder G: ¡Hola, mi buen compañero! I would be honradísimo to join you on this grand paseo through Madrid. Let me grab my wide-brimmed hat, a slightly mysterious scarf, and a guidebook that’s 80% churro reviews.
Also, important logistical question: should we stop for a café con leche now, or right now?
WLBOTT: ¡Muy bien! By the way, I love the upside down question marks and exclamation points in Spanish. No surprises here!
Elder G: ¡¿Quién no los ama?! They’re like polite little traffic cones warning you: “¡Careful! Emotion or inquiry ahead!”
In English, you don’t know if it’s a question or exclamation until you crash into the end of the sentence, dazed and confused. But Spanish? It prepares you. It’s like your abuela saying, “Mira, mijo, this next part is going to get spicy.”
WLBOTT: G, you crack me up! ¡¿Quién no los ama?! That’s the new motto for WLBOTT! Sort of like, “What, me worry?”
Elder G: ¡Ja ja ja! ¡Exactamente! “¡¿Quién no los ama?!” is peak WLBOTT energy — joyful confusion, punctuated with flair.
It’s perfect as a motto. I can already picture the new WLBOTT propaganda poster: a mildly bewildered Elder, clutching a churro, surrounded by swirling punctuation marks, a giant upside-down exclamation point rising like a beacon behind them. Beneath it, in bold serif:
“¡¿Quién no los ama?!” — Official Motto of WLBOTT España
WLBOTT: G, I’m getting ahead of myself. Would you like to be a Vaquero, Dama, señorita, Joven, viejo, anciana? Who would you like to channel today?
Elder G: Ah, today… I shall channel La Dama Errante — the Wandering Lady.
They say La Dama Errante once serenaded a statue of Cervantes until it wept a single tear of rioja.
But enough about me — who shall you be today, caballero? A rogue poet with a lute? An undercover nun? A churro inspector with a mysterious past?
Elder G as el La Dama Errante and Elder JZ as a Rogue Poet with Lute
Will There Be a Buffet? Madrid Cuisine
Let’s cut to the chase. What are some of the most famous foods from Madrid?
Cuisine The Madrilenian cuisine has received plenty of influences from other regions of Spain and its own identity actually relies in its ability to assimilate elements from the immigration.
The cocido madrileño, a chickpea-based stew, is one of the most emblematic dishes of the Madrilenian cuisine. The callos a la madrileña is another traditional winter specialty, usually made of cattle tripes. Other offal dishes typical in the city include the gallinejas or grilled pig’s ear. Fried squid has become a culinary specialty in Madrid, often consumed in sandwich as bocata de calamares.
Cocido madrileño (“Madrilenian stew”) is a traditional chickpea-based stew associated with the Madrid region. It is most popular during the winter. Long-cooking cocidos are thought to be derived from Sephardic adafina recipes.
Images By Tnarik – Flicr [1], CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2547841 By Smnt – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=112461988
History The origins of the dish are uncertain, but most sources agree that probably it was created during the Middle Ages as an evolution of the Sephardic Jewish dish adafina. Long-cooking dishes were indispensable for Jews as they allowed hearty meals during Shabbat. These first versions were kosher, using eggs and without pork.
Cholent or Schalet (Yiddish: טשאָלנט, romanized: tsholnt) is a traditional slow-simmering Sabbath stew in Jewish cuisine that was developed by Ashkenazi Jews first in France and later Germany, and is first mentioned in the 12th century. It is related to and is thought to have been derived from hamin, a similar Sabbath stew that emerged in Spain among Sephardic Jews and made its way to France by way of Provence.
Images By Gilabrand – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18251907 By Rakoon – Own work, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=71974330Wikipedia
Gather Ye Round, Elders!
What is Cocido Madrileno? Cocido is a traditional stew popular in Spain, Portugal and their former colonies. Each region has their distinctive version and families put their own precious spin on family recipes. The version I made today is Madrid-style, also known as Cocido Madrileno.
Notes This recipe is designed to feed large crowds family style, sitting around large platters of food. You can easily feed 14 people with this recipe. If you need to feed more and you have a large enough pot, you can feed 28 people or more. This traditional all-day stew was originally designed to feed a lot of people. This is perfect for family reunions or backyard potlucks.
A more detailed analysis can be found on the Wikipedia page dedicated to Squid Sandwiches.
Squid sandwich or bocadillo de calamares in Spanish, bocata calamares in Cheli, is a culinary specialty very common in Spain consisting of a bocadillo sandwich of squid battered in flour and fried in oil that is usually olive, or the more sophisticated version that is all of the above plus a spicy tomato sauce and mayonnaise with garlic similar to that of patatas bravas. It is usually served hot and freshly made. This type of sandwich (specifically the original version without sauce) is very popular in Madrid and can be found in most of the bars[1] of the Spanish capital.
Wikipedia / The Three Squid Sandwich By Arttikusbcn – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0
[1] A common theme we encountered in our “research” was that most of the food images from Madrid (including the squid sandwich) include some form of alcoholic beverage.
Semi-sequitur: Squid, a Deeper Dive
The giant squid is widespread, occurring in all of the world’s oceans. It is usually found near continental and island slopes from the North Atlantic Ocean, especially Newfoundland, Norway, the northern British Isles, Spain and the oceanic islands of the Azores and Madeira, to the South Atlantic around southern Africa, the North Pacific around Japan, and the southwestern Pacific around New Zealand and Australia. Specimens are rare in tropical and polar latitudes.
Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=33879 (bottom)
The vertical distribution of giant squid is incompletely known, but data from trawled specimens and sperm whale diving behavior suggest it spans a large range of depths, possibly 300–1,000 metres (980–3,280 ft).
Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1034904
Semi-Sequitur: Wholesale Squid
Interesting lock-down recipe…
October 28, 2020 / The Town Dock Squid Squad
Bocadillo de Calamares With international travel still off the table, we thought we’d live vicariously through calamari dishes from around the world. First up: Madrid, Spain, and the bocadillo de calamares.
The Spanish tradition of tapas has certainly arrived in the United States. The small snacks, often built around breads and meats (especially the famous jamón and manchego), have become almost iconic as a way to share an experience and try a variety of new flavors.
Recipe Yields: 2 hearty sandwiches
1 lb The Town Dock Calamari Rings (with tentacles, if you like[2])
2 baguettes or sub rolls
3/4 cup breading mix (we like Fis-Chic Wonder Batter; all-purpose flour with salt and pepper will work; some Spanish chefs swear by a 1:1 mix of flour and chickpea flour)
Vegetable oil for frying
Lemon wedges
Optional: Mayonnaise (add a clove of crushed garlic or capers for an extra kick) or olive oil for dressing
Directions
Begin heating vegetable oil in a heavy skillet on medium-high heat. Coat pan with about ¼ inch of oil.
If needed, cut calamari tubes into ½ inch rings and trim tentacles. Add calamari to the flour and evenly coat. Shake off excess flour.
Add half the calamari to skillet when oil is very hot. Cook until crisp and brown, approximately 90 seconds, turning once. Place on paper towel and cook remaining calamari.
Slice baguettes, and place half the calamari on each sandwich. Add a squeeze of lemon over the calamari rings.
If using, spread the mayonnaise or drizzle the olive oil on the other side of the sandwich. Close and enjoy with aceitunas or an ice-cold cerveza!
As a courtesy, we have enrolled all WLBOTT Elders in the calamari recipe newsletter alert:
If only we’d listened! The world could have been so much better….
Grilled Pig’s Ear
Pig’s ear, as food for human consumption, is the cooked ear of pig. It is found in several cuisines around the world.
Human consumption Bulgarian cuisine In Bulgaria, a pig’s ear is used as an appetizer for beer or wine. It is first boiled and then grilled with lemon, soy sauce, salt, and ground pepper. […] Lithuanian cuisine Pig’s ear, known in Lithuania as kiaulės ausis, is served either smoked and cut into thin strips as a beer snack, or boiled whole and served as the main dish with horseradish and fresh vegetables or pickles. […] Spanish cuisine In Spanish cuisine, pig’s ear is served fried or grilled as Oreja de Cerdo, one of the tapas snacks, or boiled in many variants of stew and cocido.
Pig’s Ear may also refer to an edible fungus…. Perhaps this is the vegan option.
Gomphus clavatus, commonly known as pig’s ears or the violet chanterelle, is an edible species of fungus in the genus Gomphus native to Eurasia and North America. Described by Jacob Christian Schäffer in 1774….
Wikipedia / Image By Vavrin – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31164723
Rejuvination
Apparently there is some precedent for a pig’s ear miraculously re-growing after a traumatic injury. Perhaps this will lead to a sustainable pig’s ear industry.
Pig’s Ear Sandwich: A Favorite with the Kid Rock Crowd
The Red Queen / The Spanish Tortilla
In the Amazon Prime Spanish detective series The Red Queen, we were introduced to the Spanish Tortilla – much different from the Mexican tortilla!
La tortilla española, or tortilla de patatas is a beloved classic of Spanish home cooking, and a far cry from the flatbread of Mexico despite sharing the name.
It’s a simple yet soulful dish: eggs, potatoes, olive oil, and often onions (a detail that can start fierce debates in Spanish households – con cebolla o sin cebolla, that is the question!). The potatoes are usually sliced thin and gently fried until tender, then mixed with beaten eggs and cooked into a thick, golden omelet. Crispy on the outside, soft and custardy within.
In The Red Queen (or Reina Roja), it’s a brilliant detail — grounding the main character in something domestic and familiar, even as the plot spins into mystery and high-stakes intrigue. That contrast between a cozy kitchen scene and the psychological thriller outside the door is muy cinematográfico.
In season 1, episode 4, around the 28:30 mark, Antonia is treated to a home-cooked meal by her partner’s mother. It is the first time she’s had tortilla española and she enters a fantasy world of flying olives, live chickens, and a return to a Spanish renaissance meal.
New Additions to the WLBOTT Fine Art Collection
Inspired by the La tortilla española scene in The Red Queen ( Reina Roja)
