Head five hours north-west from Madrid in the middle of the Spanish summer, and you’ll notice a complete transformation in the weather, the landscape and in the number of tourists around. Compared to the south, the Spanish north is greener, cooler (you may find yourself reaching for a light jacket, even in mid-summer) and rainier, while the already languid pace of life that Spain is so famous for feels extra leisurely. Long lunches in tiny fishing villages seem to last well into the evening, and dinner is most often enjoyed at around 10pm, after a nap, with the sun setting behind mountains that stretch all the way to the Bay of Biscay.
The drama of the landscape in the Asturias region of northern Spain (affectionately dubbed Green Spain for its verdancy) is matched only by the cuisine on offer – once again, totally different from the food of the south (less paella), and the north-eastern Basque country (less pintxos-style dining).
The cuisine of the north is often called ‘heartier’ than that of the south – food to get hard-working farmers and fishers through chillier winters and wetter summers.
Dishes like the world-famous Fabada Asturiana, sausage and bean casserole, are headlined by produce rather than spices or herbs, and meaty specialities like morcilla (blood sausage) and salchichón de jabalí (wild boar salami) are rich and punchy.
To drink, it has to be sidra, cider produced from locally grown apples and poured in a uniquely Asturian style for maximum flavour, from a bottle held high above the bartender’s head into a wide glass – there’s that drama, once again.
In the past, Melbourne restaurant Tinto has showcased a different kind of regional Spanish cuisine on the first Tuesday of every month. According to Hans Schwab-Triado, who runs the restaurant with his wife and sister-in-law, Asturias night has always been a hit.
“People want to experience what they have already eaten in Spain, or they want to get a taste of what they’ll experience when they go to Spain,” Schwab-Triado explains.
To drink, it has to be sidra, cider produced from locally grown apples and poured in a uniquely Asturian style for maximum flavour, from a bottle held high above the bartender’s head into a wide glass.
“Fabada Asturiana is always really popular, as is one dish we make with Cantabrian anchovies with bread fried in duck fat. It’s rich and crusty, and people love it.”
Go looking for sidra in Melbourne, though, and you might come up empty-handed.
“People in Australia find Asturian cider very dry,” Schwab-Triado says. “Also, we don’t have the skilled staff to put on that kind of show!”
Asturias comprises eight different counties and is bordered by Cantabria to the east, Castile and León to the south, Galicia to the west and the Bay of Biscay to the north. Suffice to say there’s a lot going on, gastronomically speaking.
It’s how you end up watching on as a Galician man cooks pulpo la gallega (octopus) next to the Sella River at Cangas de Onís, (it’s served minutes later in the traditional way, on a small wooden dish topped with olive oil, paprika and salt) and enjoying stewed rice dishes loaded with seafood straight from the Bay of Biscay at Restaurante El Mirador in Lastres.
“They have their own style of cooking fresh seafood in Asturias,” says Carlos de Carvalho from Casa Asturiana, a restaurant in Sydney's CBD that serves Asturian regional specialities. “Spanish food is always very fresh with a distinct flavour – it’s all about produce, about the garlic, onions and tomatoes.”
Impeccable seafood is virtually inescapable in Asturias – and with dishes like chipirones en su tinta (baby squid cooked in their ink, often served with rice) and caldereta (a fish stew made with white wine, cognac, fresh tomato and parsley) appearing on many menus in the north, you’ll probably be completely okay with that fact.
That said, no discussion of Asturian cuisine is complete without mention of a mighty, bitey regional cheese: queso de cabrales. Asturias isn’t called "El Pais de Queso" (The Land of Cheese) for no reason.
The mountains of Asturias, known as Picos De Europa, are prime farming land for goats, sheep and cows, whose unpasteurised milk is used to make this pungent, veiny blue cheese. Cabrales is aged in caves for two to five months, then slathered in sauce form over meat, vegetables or basically anything that’s both edible and within reach. It’s sometimes used as the cheese filling for cachopo, Asturias’ answer to cordon bleu: Spanish ham and cheese firmly wrapped between two fillets of beef, pork or chicken. Be warned – cabrales packs more of a punch than your average Tasmanian Heritage blue.
Spanish food is always very fresh with a distinct flavour – it’s all about produce, about the garlic, onions and tomatoes.
Devastatingly, cabrales isn’t available for import into Australia thanks to quarantine restrictions. De Carvalho makes a salient point: perhaps cabrales is just too strong to bring into the country.
“Our suppliers, Rodriguez Brothers do stock some cheeses from Asturias, but cabrales being an unpasteurised cheese makes it tricky.”
Nevertheless, Casa Asturiana supplies expatriated Asturians with an authentic taste of home. “Cooking Asturian cuisine in Australia is about adapting your original recipes to suit the Australian palate,” Schwab-Triado says. Both Casa Asturiana and Tinto are playing in the Spanish-fusion space, appealing to a wide range of diners – from morcilla junkies to first-time Fabada Asturiana slurpers.
For cabrales, wild boar salami and other Asturian specialities, a trip to the north of Spain might have to be on the cards. Your tastebuds (and your taste for adventure) will thank you.
Try the classic Asturian food at Casa Asturiana, 77 Liverpool Street, Sydney, and Tinto, 555 Burwood Road, Hawthorne East, Melbourne.
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Spanish accents
The lowdown: Spanish cuisine
