León Gastronomy

León did not get its name from león the lion but from the Roman Seventh Legion that set up its fortress here to protect the gold mines in Astorga in the first century AD.  Sometime we will have to go visit the nearby Las Médulas where the Romans used hydraulic mining to wash away the soil from the mountains and retrieve the gold.

Las Medulas

Despite the real derivation of its name, León still uses the lion in its coat of arms.

León is situated on a high plain, to the east of Burgos.  After León, the mountains begin again so this is not the part of the Camino that we chose to walk, although I wish we could have visited the towns of Astorga (a Roman town founded in 14 BC as Asturica Augusta), Ponferrada (from the Latin Pons Ferrata or Iron Bridge), and Villafranca del Bierzo.

Chorizo de León

León is known gastronomically for its cured meats so Fernando can't be a vegetarian here.  He won't want to be when morcilla, lengua and manitas de cerdo appear on the menu.  The Chorizo de León is spicy with red paprika and smoked over oak wood.  We'll have to remember to take some with us for lunches when we are walking.

Then there is Botillo del Bierzo, which I've already mentioned, as being the caecum of a pig stuffed with miscellaneous parts, including bones, so that is something that is not picnic food but that one has to sit down to and that is served hot.  Plus it wouldn't fit in my little 16 liter  Gregory Maya backpack.

Lengua Curada

Then there is Lengua Curada or cured tongue which can be served "loncheada" with aceite.  I'm assuming this means sliced thinly (as for "lunches") and dressed with olive oil because the tongue is not very fatty and dries out.  There is also stewed lengua on the menus or we could get a "surtida" with an assortment of cured meats, because of course we have to order some morcilla (blood sausage) for Fernando.  The restaurant La Poveda has an extensive list of animal parts in its "raciones" or tapas menu, some of which I will have to Google to discover what they actually are before we get there.  Like mollejas de lechazo, which are sweetbreads of a young lamb, chipirones (squid), ajetes (young garlic), oricios (sea urchin), necoras (small crabs), and one we'll definitely have to try: percebes or goose barnacles.

Pimientos del Bierzo

I, of course, might opt out of most of the meats so that I can concentrate on the pimientos del Bierzo -- Valle del Bierzo being west of León --  and the pimiento morrón de Fresno de la Vega, Fresno de la Vega being just south of León.  I'm afraid I'll have to settle for canned ones since May isn't exactly the season for peppers.  Maybe we should have planned the Camino for September when there are more harvest festivals.  If we stay in private hostales and pensiones and hotels we shouldn't have to worry about the end-of-the-season bedbugs.  Maybe next time!

Cocido Maragato

What other vegetable options are there in León?  In Pamplona they had a number of tapas with berenjena that were very good so I am hoping there might be a couple of eggplant tapas in León.  Alubias and other beans are popular in the region -- essentially anything that can be cooked into a hearty stew with meat.  One such stew is Cocido Maragato from Astorga which features berza (that broccoli raab type of green), garbanzos and seven to twelve meats (what did you expect?).  The meat is served first, then the garbanzos, and last the soup.  All cocidos seem to be composed of garbanzos and meat.  Then there is the Olla Berciana which appears to be the same thing from the photos, only it is what they eat in Bierza.

And I suppose there is always the Menestra de Verduras, that overcooked vegetable stew.  Did you know that you can buy the vegetables frozen in a bag so all you have to do is add water and meat?  If we had an apartment we could make our own undercooked version without the meat.

I am always on the lookout for a version that is fresh and green but I was a bit surprised to find out that in 1994 the famous Catalan chef, Ferran Adrià of elBulli, deconstructed the menestra into what you see on the left.  What do you think?  I'm afraid he has had no influence whatsoever on the Spanish cooking of the menestra.