Aceitunas: olives

Alcaparrones: pickled capers

Caracoles: small snails

Cabrillas: large snails

Croquetas: croquettes made with bechamel and various fillings (chicken, ham, spinach, seafood), breaded & fried

Vegetables

• Alcachofas – artichokes
• Calabacín – courgette/zucchini
• Espinacas con garbanzos – spinach and chick peas mixed with garlic, olive oil & sometimes cumin
• Habas con jamón – broad green beans with chopped serrano ham
• Berenjenas rebozadas – aubergine/eggplant battered and fried in olive oil
• Berenjenas tapadas – fried breaded aubergine topped with bechamel
• Patatas bravas – fried potato wedges with spicy tomato mayonnaise
• Patatas alinadas – small boiled potatoes marinated in vinegar, olive oil & chopped spring onions
• Patatas alioli – fried potato wedges in garlic mayonnaise
• Ensaladilla – potato & mayonnaise salad usually with tuna or prawns
• Champiñones – mushrooms
• Setas – oyster mushrooms or wild mushrooms
• Pisto – ratatouille, often served with a fried egg on top
• Calamares del campo – breaded and fried onions and peppers

Soups

• Ajo Blanco – white garlic soup with almonds
• Caldo – chicken broth
• Gazpacho – cold tomato soup made with cucumber and garlic
• Salmorejo – thick, creamy gazpacho served with chopped serrano ham & hard-boiled eggs

Sandwiches

• Montatitos – small buns with various fillings, served either hot or cold
• Serranito – toasted bun filled with serrano ham, chicken breast or pork loin and grilled peppers
• Tablas – toasted thick-sliced country bread topped with salmarejo and serrano ham

Eggs

• Tortilla – thick potato & egg omelette
• Reveulto – scrambled eggs mixed with various ingredients
• Huevos codornices – quail eggs
• Huevos rellenos – hard-boiled eggs filled with tuna
• Huevos rotos – fried eggs with soft yolks with potatoes, chorizo and jamón

Rice

• Arroz – rice of the day, usually with meat and seafood
• Paella – slow-cooked rice with saffron, tomatoes, meat and seafood

Cured Meats

• Jamón Ibérico – thinly sliced, cured ham from free-range acorn-fed pigs
• Jamón Serrano – less expensive jamón
• Caña de Lomo – cured loin of pork
• Morcilla – black pudding
• Morcilla de Burgos – black pudding with rice
• Pringá – mixture of pork, morcilla and chorizo(delicious!)
• Chorizo – spicy sausage

Cheese

• Manchego – cured sheep’s cheese (La Mancha)
• Cabrales – blue goat, sheep or cow cheese (Asturias)
• Idiazábal – hard sheep’s cheese (Basque country)
• Torta de serena – soft sheep’s cheese (Extramadura)

Pork

• Carne con tomate – stewed pork loin in tomato sauce
• Carrilladas – tender stewed pig’s cheeks
• Flamequines – breaded & fried rolls of pork loin, serrano ham and cheese
• Lomo – pork loin
• Solomillo al Whisky – pork tenderloin in whisky & garlic sauce
• Pinchitos – spicy pork kebabs
• Presa, Pluma, Secreto (see pork cuts diagram below)

Poultry and Game

• Conejo – rabbit
• Cordonices – quail
• Duck – pato
• Perdiz – partridge
• Pollo al ajillo – chicken pieces cooked in olive oil and garlic
• Pollo al la plancha – grilled chicken breast
• Pavo – turkey
• Venado – venison

Beef

• Albondigas – meatballs
• Rabo/cola de toro – bulls tail (usually stewed)

Fish

• Acedias – small sole
• Cazón en Adobo – fried marinated dogfish
• Bacalao – cod (usually salt cod)
• Bonito – tuna
• Boquerones – fried or marinated anchovies
• Caballa – mackerel
• Corvina /Lubina – sea bass
• Lenguado – sole
• Merluza – hake
• Pez espada – swordfish
• Pavía – battered and fried salt cod
• Pulpo – octopus
• Rape – monkfish
• Rodaballo – turbot
• Salmonetes – red mullet

Seafood

• Almejas – clams
• Berberecho – cockles
• Bogavante – lobster
• Langostas – rock lobster (no claws)
• Cangrejo – crab
• Calamares – fried squid rings
• Calamares en su tinta – squid in ink
• Chipirones – small squid, usually fried or grilled whole
• Chocos – cuttlefish
• Cigalas – large prawns
• Coquinas – wedge shell clams
• Gambas al ajillo – peeled prawns served in sizzling olive oil with garlic
• Gambas a la plancha – unpeeled grilled prawns
• Gambas rebozadas – battered & fried prawns
• Navajas – razor shell clams
• Mejillones – mussels
• Ostras – oysters
• Puntillas – tiny fried baby squid
• Vieira – scallops

Because there are often no English translations for the many parts of the pig and tuna that are used in Spain, here are a couple of drawings showing you where they come from.