Many countries are proud of their national dishes. However, Spain is one of the few places where the food really is very much ingrained into the culture. In Barcelona, grabbing tapas with friends, for instance, isn’t so much about eating as it is about catching up, discussing the day, and enjoying music and people watching.
With that being said, what better way to get your bearings in Barcelona than to take a cooking class with a Spanish chef?
My best friend and I went with Travel Brilliant tours, and I couldn’t be happier with our choice.
For starters, we had the ability to “kill two birds with one stone” as it were by visiting the infamous Mercado de la Boqueria. Our chef turned guide introduced us to an array of ingredients, mostly ones that we would be using to cook, and showed us how to check the freshness of items like fish.
The market in Barcelona can be incredibly overwhelming to the point that I actually don’t think I’d enjoy a half day of meandering through the stalls. It’s really crowded in the market and it’s not uncommon to have to push past people, have them push against you, or to even get lost from your friends. However, it is worth a trip to see the variety of kiosks, produce, and products.
More food!
Once we arrived at the kitchen, I really appreciate the fact that we were given the opportunity settle in with some tapas and mingle with our classmates. In particular, the game of ‘pepper roulette’ was a lot of fun. Padron peppers are popular in Spanish cooking. While some are quite mild in taste, others are reportedly reallyyyyyy spicy. Each table was presented with a mountain of them and it was SO much fun to watch as each person took a pepper and bit into it with hesitation. Some people, (like me, a loser) didn’t play because I DON’T LEAVE ANYTHING UP TO CHANCE!
Thankfully, our chef in Barcelona didn’t just drop some hot peppers on us and walk away like, “enjoy y’alls snack.” Following a demonstration of how to make it, they treated us to unlimited sangria of which our table took FULL advantage (my kind of people.) Finally, what kind of welcome event wouldn’t have jamon and cheese? As delicious as that was, the real show stopper for just about everyone was the ‘pan con tomate.’
More, more food!
Our chef repeatedly emphasized that the Spanish are brilliant at taking very simple dishes, and making them outstanding. For all of those ignorant (as I was that evening) about pan con tomate, you just slice open a tomato, rub it on a crunchy piece of bread, and add some sea salt and olive oil. Maybe even top it with some queso. And you’re met with….brilliance. A river of saliva forming as soon as you take your first bite. So, voila my new solution to not dropping a boat load on hosting dinner parties!
After introductions were made, it was time to get to work.
Our entire class would be working together in order to create a giant paella. I had flashbacks of the scene in Bruce Almighty when he’s sent on assignment to cover the making of the town’s largest cookie. (Also, that’s not a bad gig. Imagine getting paid for that shit? Why was he so upset??)
In particular, I was assigned to peeling, gutting, and chopping the squid. I was unbelievably excited about this as I love calamari and wanted to learn how to make it from scratch. The process wasn’t super difficult, it was only tough the first few times trying to remember in what order you pull the legs out and things like that. Moreover, it was a touch annoying when the sticky skin from the squid would wrap around my nails and I had to peel and scrub it off. Blech.
Lessons learned
Beyond gutting squids, I got to try my hand at a few other types of preparation, here’s some lessons I learned in the process of a cooking class in Barcelona:
1: On Cutting a Pepper Properly: Slice the top (the end with the stem) off entirely. Scoop out the white shit — all of it. Cut a slit lengthwise down the pepper. Lay if flat against the cutting board (like a sheet of paper) and cut into strips.
2: On Cooking Many Ingredients in One Pan: The most heat resides in the middle of the pan (apparently.) With the addition of each new ingredient, drop it into the middle of the pan to cook it there, push the old ingredients out to the edges so that they don’t burn.
3: On Cutting an Onion Properly: Chop off the root (that big, hairy, circle – blech!) Chop off the top. Slice that baby in half. Lay the flat part against the board. Chop, chop, chop. Sounds easy AF, but I swear I used to just hack into onions like someone living their first day on earth.
Perfect outcome
After sweating, literally sweating buckets over an open flame — it was a welcome relief to sit down at our table, enjoy our creation, and get absolutely loaded off of sangria. Not to brag, but our paella was perfect. It was smoky, filling, and I loved that we threw just about everything but the kitchen sink into the mixture (as one does with country classics.) It was an extremely rewarding experience to actually enjoy and be proud of the dish that I helped create. Prior to class I would never have thought that I could help create a paella, or gut a squid, or that tomatoes rubbed on bread would be delicious.
Our table was among the last people to leave for the evening. Even after we cleared our plates, we were still drinking, learning about each other’s countries and ways of living, and sharing a lot of laughs. This was easily one of my happiest Barcelona memories and I recommend it for anyone traveling to the city!
Have you ever taken a cooking class? Where?! Tell me all about it in the comments below.
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