Cultural Heritage

GASTRONOMY

The traditional Malaga cooking, although its has simple ingredients, is rich in the variety of dishes, so that if you want to taste a menu based on the local dishes, the traveller has many options to chose from.

To start with you can try the starters based on ‘ajo colorao’ which is made with flaked cod, olive oil, and cayenne pepper. You can also have ‘salmorejo’ which is not a dish native to Málaga but to Córdoba, although here an exquisite taste is achieved based on green peppers, tomato, onion, tuna fish, hard boiled eggs, boiled potatoes, oil, salt and vinegar. There are also wild thistles pancakes, accompanied with fried bread, or the magnificent broad beans Ronda style, during all the season.

On the coastal areas, the dishes offered as a starter are enriched with a great variety of sea products, the fried fish, among which is the fresh ‘victoriano’ anchovy, and the Malaga clams. Until recently, the famous whitebait was eaten freely, but today this authentic delicacy has to be excluded as it is now a protected species.

In the starters section, there is the Andalusian ‘gazpacho’, although it is not exclusive to Málaga. Among the different ways of preparing it, the most common form is known as the simple gazpacho. That is, the one made cold with garlic, breadcrumbs, oil, water, vinegar, tomato, salt, with or without peppers and cucumber. Other forms of cold gazpacho, more characteristic of Malaga are the ‘ajoblanco’ and the ‘porra’. The ‘ajoblanco’ is a type of gazpacho without tomato and with ground almonds, which is usually served with peeled grapes or raisins, and although it is spread all around the province, the area in which it has the most fame is in the Axarquía.

The ‘porra’ presents the particularity of being thicker than other gazpachos. Really, it is a mixture of simple gazpacho without water and salmorejo. It is served with a decoration of boiled eggs, smoked ham, and bacon rashers. The most known is the Antequeran porra, but it is generally spread around all the region and can be tasted in towns such as Archidona and Fuente de Piedra to name a few.

In the chapter about hot soups there are various modalities: the cachorreñas, toasted gazpacho, and gazpachuelo. Although they are widespread, it is more frequent to find them inland. The cahorreñas is prepared by heating all the ingredients, spiced with cumin and then adding bread and bitter orange juice. The toasted gazpacho from Cañete la Real is similar; it has a sauce based on water, oil, salt, cayenne pepper and mashed red peppers, to which orange juice is added and once this is hot, it is poured into a dish covered with toast.

The gazpachuelo from Archidona consists of a rich soup with water, bread, egg whites, to which a mayonnaise sauce is added, previously diluted in a little of the sauce. A few sprigs of mint will add an excellent taste to this dish.

Together with this great variety of soups and gazpachos, there are other starters in the province which the gourmand should not forget. Among them is the ‘olla’, a type of stew based on chick peas (preferably from Alfarnate), vegetables, and some black pudding, salami, and pieces of loin. The ‘migas’ can also become an exquisite dish, above all in the Málaga mountains and the inland towns. The ‘migas’ is prepared with breadcrumbs and water, and is served with grapes, melon, watermelon, oranges, olives, and all kinds of fruits from the countryside. The ‘perotas’ soups from Alora, based on tomatoes, peppers, and breadcrumbs, the tomato soup, the noodle soups from Colmenar or the tasty soups of Siete Ramales, based on bread boiled in water with salt over which a fried mixture of garlic, peppers, tomatoes, and wild asparagus is poured, are other dishes to bear in mind.

Among the main dishes of our menu, the first place must be taken by the fish, as not in vain is the Malaga gastronomy often identified with the fried fish. Anchovies, jurels, and red mullets, mixed or not with octopus and squid, compose the exquisite Malaga fry up, which also admits many other species. They can all be asked for individually, the Victorian anchovy (already mentioned in the starters) being the most popular, which is caught in the bay of Málaga and is erroneously identified sometimes with the whitebait, but it is totally different.

As well as the fry up, another characteristic way of preparing fish on the Málaga coast is with the sardines on skewers, a dish known as ‘espetos’. This consists of stringing the sardines on split canes which are poked into the sand in front of the grills, in such a way that the smoke doesn’t reach the fish. As well as these dishes, the Malaga gastronomy offers many other specialities based on delicious fruits of the sea: angler fish soup, angler fish with potatoes, mixed tuna fish Malaga style, rice with fish, fish stew, sardine stew, etc.

Inland of the province, the main dish is more frequently based on meat, with such dishes as garlic kid, which is prepared with oil, garlic, almonds, bread and vinegar, and the fried kid, which is accompanied with vegetables and other countryside products. There are also stews and soups with rabbit, hare or partridge, which are abundant in some lands of the centre and north-east. Without leaving the inland, a special mention must be made for the cold meats and hams of the Ronda highland: salamis, blackpuddings, loin, etc., can be tasted and acquired in all the area, but especially in Ronda, Benaoján, Montejaque, and Arriate. From the Iberian pig which grazes in the Ronda pastures and the Montejaque sierra, an exquisite ham is obtained which is unjustly little known if it is compared with other region’s dissemination.

In the chapter about desserts, the province offers varied fruits, among them the exquisiteness of the peach from Periana, the pair of Ronda, and the oranges from the Guadalhorce valley (especially from Alora), adding to them, for their singularity, the avocados and custard apples which are grown on the coast and in some municipalities close to the coast. The sweets acquire a special relevance in those towns which have a convent, as they maintain the tradition of making home-made exquisite delicacies, such as: lardy cakes, fudge, wine rusks, and the ‘polvoron’ cakes are especially famous in Antequera. Also the convents in Ronda, Archidona, and Malaga offer a varied confectionery. But it is not only in these places where the sweets typical of the province can be found. The white rusks from Coín, the sticky buns, the Malaga oil cakes from the capital and some towns in the Axarquía, the sponge cake with raisins, the date bread, the Fuengirola oil cakes, and the yolks of Ronda are only some examples which the traveller will surely enlarge as he enters the inland.

Regarding sauces and liquors which can accompany these meals, although Malaga practically doesn’t produce dry red wine, which is recommended for strong dishes, it does have a variety of white wines (sweet, semi, and dry), as well as the characteristic sweet wine with the denomination of origin in Malaga. Among the white wines there is the Mollina wine, which is recommended cold for fish and seafood. The mature dry of Mollina, for its high grade can also be served with meat based dishes, but with that characteristic it should be taken with care. With reference to sweet wines, with the variety of Muscatel, Pedro Ximénez, lágrima, dulce color (dark in colour, achieved by adding syrup), they can be taken as an appetiser or as an accompaniment to sweets and desserts.

The Málaga gastronomy still offers other products from the land, often unknown, but the traveller can try and acquire them. Among them is the cane honey from Frigiliana and the chestnuts from the Genal valley, as well as a varied range of olive oils, among which is the renown Mondrón, in the municipality of Periana.