Gastronomic Innovation and Tradition

Centuries of evolution

Spanish cuisine sailed across the seas and contributed to the meeting and transformation of gastronomy in America and the Philippines.

Learn about the past and enjoy the present

Research enables us to recover the flavors of centuries past and understand the origins of modern-day cookery.

The historical or ethnographic approaches, from a culinary perspective, provide us with an understanding of the legacy from which the creative process stems. This perspective facilitated the collaboration between chef Chele González and the exhibition's curator.

This recipe is adapted from one published by Rupert de Nola (1477), although the technique for the marinade is even older. The objective was to preserve food using a combination of heat, oil, and vinegar.

Method

1. Prepare a marinade by heating white wine vinegar, sugar, pepper, salt, and some water. Put the liquid to one side.

2. Coat the fish with flour, and fry it.

3. Place the fish in an earthenware tray or pot, then cover it with bay leaves.

4. Pour the marinade over the fish while it is still warm.

It is an adaptation of several recipes published by Diego Granado Maldonado (1599). It acknowledges the preference for very heavily spiced and flavored foods in the Spanish Golden Age, which tried to balance numerous ingredients.

Method

1. Clean the fish and chop into small pieces.

2. Finely dice onion, and fry in oil until soft and translucent.

3. Cook with white wine, a little lemon juice, and salt.

4. Halfway through cooking, add the fish and other ingredients: cinnamon, pepper, saffron, raisins, ground almonds, and more lemon juice.

Fish is an abundant resource in the Philippines, and there is evidence of its consumption from prehistoric times, as with ginger, or the use of banana leaves to wrap foods in order to cook them. This recipe was unearthed through ethnographic research.

Method

1. Clean the milkfish, leaving a large opening in the gut.

2. Clean and dry it. Season with salt, and fill with strips of fresh ginger.

3. Wrap the fish in a banana leaf.

5. Grill over coal embers for 30 minutes, turning regularly to prevent it from burning.

Marinades originated from the need to preserve food, although they were enhanced by the addition of other ingredients offering different flavors. Examples can be seen in Spanish recipe books such as the one published by Francisco Martínez Montiño (1611).

In the new world, there was a merging of local customs and ingredients, as evidenced by this 18th-century Mexican recipe, which includes tomatoes and chili peppers.

Method

1. Dice the chicken, and boil in salted water for 25 minutes.

2. Combine tomatoes, four cloves of garlic, cumin seeds, two chili peppers, clove, pepper, and cinnamon, and mix until it comes together as a paste.

3. Melt pork fat in a pan, cook the paste for a few minutes, then add the chicken without turning down the heat.

4. Add some of the water from cooking the chicken, then simmer until the chicken is tender.

5. Add oregano, julienne onions, and white wine vinegar. Cook for five minutes.

6. Drizzle with olive oil before serving.

Veal tongue was a very common food in times gone by. This recipe pays homage to typical Spanish cuisine, although it incorporates a novel use of chocolate, which was grown in the Philippines from the 17th century.

Method

1. Cook the ox or veal tongue in pork fat.

2. Add diced onion and garlic, and bay leaves, and cook until the onion is caramelized.

3. Add red wine, and white wine vinegar. Add water to cover the meat, and continue cooking until the meat is tender.

4. Remove the tongue, clean it, and dice it.

5. Return it to the stew and add 75 grams of dark chocolate.

6. Thicken the stew, then serve.

"Antes" were desserts in New Spain influenced by the cuisine of the Spanish Golden Age. Some versions were very common, like marzipan and sweet beaten eggs. In the Americas and the Philippines, these were combined with local ingredients, such as desiccated coconut.

Method

1. Boil milk with cinnamon, and turn down the heat to cook the rice, stirring constantly. Put to one side.

3. Make a paste with ground almonds and sugar syrup. Put to one side.

4. Follow the same process with the desiccated coconut. Put to one side.

5. Layer the three mixtures into a mold, separating them with beaten egg.

6. Sprinkle raisins onto the top layer, and bake at 325ºF for 40 minutes.

7. To serve, turn out the mold so the raisins are at the bottom.

The research and development team at Gallery Vask, headed by chef Chele González, has recovered historical recipes. They have also initiated a creative process inspired by the ingredients, flavors, and techniques of the past.

500

An homage to the fifth centenary of the first voyage around the world.

This dish is inspired by historical recipes and stems from the use of ingredients available on the expedition led by Ferdinand Magellan.