A TRIP TO JEREZ!
+ a recipe for fried fish & why you should be drinking more Sherry.
Hello!
Happy Saturday, I’m sorry a bit late with this issue, it’s been a really hectic week, but boy has it been one to remember.
I’m writing about Jerez this week. I was lucky enough to spend a few days there, drinking and learning about sherry, meeting incredible winemakers and chefs and learning about the Andalusian way of life. Our hosts were perfect and completely immersed in this magical place.
I hope to return to very soon, let me tell you about it!
Enjoy,
B x
I’m looking up at a cloudless sky, towards the tallest cactus in mainland Europe, or so I’ve been told. The winemaker, Fermin, tells us he deals in facts, so I go ahead and believe him. The cactus grows, inextricably woven into a metal tower that stands in the middle of the sun dappled courtyard at the Bodega La Gitana, a winery famous for its manzanilla sherry, established in 1792. Atop the tower sits a nest of storks who have flown from Africa. The storks mate for life, and every year in spring they make the dangerous journey across the strait of Gibraltar to Andalusia, right to this very nest, before returning to Africa for the Winter.
Fermin hands out cañas (small, ice cold beers) to the group. “Something to Corta Fuego”… Something to cut the fire, he says. The fire has been lit earlier in the day by a few glasses of Fermin’s sherry. It is the second day of a tour of Jerez, I’m here to learn about sherry and the Andalusian culture. We’re in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, a coastal town famous for its Manzanilla sherry. From Fermin’s elevated vineyard I can see and smell the Atlantic Ocean on the horizon, we can feel the salty air that gifts manzanilla sherry its characteristic salinity.
Fermin has whisked us around the vineyard, packed with pride and as we crouch between the vines and he tells me to grab a handful of the soil. It’s called Albariza, a stark white, porous earth that clings onto moisture through the incredibly hot, spartan Andalusian summer. It has the look of a sea sponge or pumice, millions of little holes and caves define its surface and under a little pressure it crumbles in my hand like packed sand. This special white dirt, paired with the salty Atlantic winds are part of the terroir that gives Fermin’s sherry its character. Fermin shows us the enormous vats of still white wine pressed from his grapes, that are destined for the casks of the bodega. When the wine enters the casks, it will develop a a veil of flor, a complex raft of wild yeasts and bacteria, unique to the terroir of his Bodega, that will transform the wine into sherry. Over many years, the yeast eats the sugar in the wine, delivering a dry, gorgeous, complex wine that is many miles from the years-old, saccharine Bristol cream your grandma drinks at Christmas (this too though, poured over ice with a slice of orange is very delicious).
Sherry is a gastronomic wine. Manzanilla has rich complexity, depth and a caramelized richness on the nose that vanishes when it hits the palate. Instead, a thwack of dry, citrus coats your mouth, as I drink I am dreaming of a bowl of clams or a few slices of mojama, known to locals as “the ham of the sea”, tuna caught off the coast of Andalusia, cured in salt and air dried. The mojama is served with almonds and a little Spanish olive oil. The olive oil is spicy, grassy and full of verve. A classic local tapa. Tapa (plural: tapas!) are little bites served with drinks, you’ve probably heard of them. The word is closely linked to the sherry tradition. Our host, Chelsea, explains that tapa translates to “lid” and refers to bar keepers placing a little slice of ham or bread over a drinkers glass of sherry to keep the flies out.
Over the past few days, I’ve drunk Manzanilla, Fino, Oloroso, Amontillado, Palo Cortado, Cream and Pedro Ximénez. There’s not enough words here to chat about them, I just urge you to try them. Sherry is magical, the winemaking process is masterful and the product criminally underrated. I reckon the storks have got it right, nesting at Bodega La Gitana. After 3 days of immersion I feel the heady pull of sherry country. I look forward to next year’s migration to Jerez. All this drinking has me hungry, but what ought you eat with a glass of sherry? Well, let’s see…
A LIST OF SPECIAL THINGS I ATE IN ANDALUSIA
Gilda
A stone cold classic tapa. This was one of the best I’ve had, loaded with briny olives, spicy pickled chillies (guindillas) a whole cured sardine fillet and a little dried tomato. This is the first thing we eat off the plane in Jerez, and it’s a magical place to start.
Chicharrón
There are versions of chicharrón all over, and this is Andalusia’s entry. Crispy, chewy chunks of pork belly, fried until crisp and seasoned with a mixture of oregano, cumin seeds, pimenton (unsmoked paprika), sugar and salt. They’re completely delicious and sold in paper cones all over Jerez.
Mojama
The “ham of the sea”. Tuna is a big deal in this part of spain. Here, tuna loin is buried in salt for a couple of days before being hung up to air dry in a similar way to jamón. The result? A perfectly salty, savoury, umami-rich snack served with almonds and grassy olive oil. A pretty perfect beer (or sherry) snack.
Buñuelos de algas y camarones
A beignet made with seaweed and camarones (fairy shrimp). Served by the sea with a wedge of fresh lemon, these crispy, chewy fried nuggets are packed with briny, oceanic flavour. The fairy shrimp are teeny tiny and you can pack hundreds into a meal. They’re sweet, delicate and a favourite of the locals.
Ova de Calamar
Now this was something. I’ve been cooking and eating squid for years and have never seen this preparation. The roe of the squid are poached and rolled into a kind of terrine. Sliced and served cool over a bed of spicy, garlicky aioli and topped with sweet, thinly sliced white onion. The texture is different to fried or braised squid, it has a cool, bouncy firmness that yields with just a little pressure. The flavour is clean and a little sweet, a revelation!
Choco
A seafood stew of braised cuttlefish, pimenton and tomato. A departure from the firm, cool terrine earlier in the meal, this plate is packed with umami and a richness that is so unique to slow cooked seafood. A mixture of tentacles and the cuttlefish body, all super soft and luxurious. Out of shot: bread for mopping.
Ice Cream with PX
Pedro Ximénez (PX) is the sweetest of the wines in the sherry family. The grapes are left in the hot sun, slowly drying, removing moisture, concentrating the sugars and flavours of the grape before the winemaking process. The result is an intensely sweet, deliciously caramelised, raisin-like sherry. Where a fino or manzanilla has around 5g per litre, a PX has up to 500g per litre. We enjoy a dose of PX with a locally made vanilla ice cream. Stunning.
I was lucky enough to be welcomed into the kitchens of La Gloria Taberna, a restaurant in Jerez that is just two months old. Opened by a couple of young cooks born and raised in the city, the restaurant pours a range of sherry and vermouth over ice, served cold beers with the kitchen producing a casual, clean, super sharp contemporary reimagining of the local cuisine. Plates of marinated sardines with burnt aubergines, fried calamari served in a suso/xuixo bun (a kind of fried bread, usually served to dip in custard for a dessert) with a crown of black garlic aioli and pulled chicken thighs braised in light beer and Oloroso (a local sherry), served in corn tortilla with fresh lime and avocado. It’s very good cooking.
Chef Alex hosts me in the kitchen, we’re to cook lunch for the rest of the group and he throws me in the deep end, filleting mackerel and preparing fresh calamari (squid). Whilst we have a translator (I am practicing my Spanish for next year…), the universal language of the cook carries us through. Alex walks me through his “Lomo de Caballa Frita en Adobo de Piriñaca”, a fillet mackerel, marinated in adobo (a vinegary solution flavored with typical Andalusian spices), dredged in a coarsely ground local flour and fried until crisp and golden. A chopped tomato salad, not dissimilar to pico de Gallo, loaded with sherry vinegar and olive oil is served over top. Alex has very kindly allowed me to share the recipe with you. A perfect plate for a Summer’s day with a cold glass of sherry. We enjoy a cream sherry over ice with a slice of orange, a pretty perfect serve for summer.
Lomo de Caballa Frita en Adobo de Piriñaca
This will serve 4 as a tapa and take you about 20 minutes of hands on time, plus the marination of the fish.
INGREDIENTS
For the Fish
1 Very Fresh Mackerel
100g Flour
100g Semolina
Vegetable Oil
For the Adobo
1 Tbsp Dried Oregano
1 Tbsp Paprika
1 Tbsp Cumin Seeds
5 Bay Leaves
6 Cloves Garlic
300ml White Wine Vinegar
200ml Water
50ml White Wine
For the Piriñaca
1 Long Green Peppers
1 Large Ripe Tomatoes
1/2 Red Onion
Sherry Vinegar
Olive Oil
Salt
METHOD
Start by filleting the mackerel. You can ask your fishmonger to do this for you, or buy mackerel fillets if that’s all that is available to you. To fillet the fish, start by making a diagonal cut behind the fin, angled from just behind head down toward the belly. Remove the head and innards before running your knife down along the spine of the fish. Keeping your knife snug to the bones, remove each fillet. If you need a hand with this, check out this tutorial. Remove the line of bones down the middle of each fillet with a pair of tweezers and pop them into the fridge.
To make the marinade, combine the spices with crushed bay leaves and smashed garlic cloves in a bowl. Add 3 tbsp of salt and the vinegar, water and wine. Mix to dissolve the salt into the solution before adding the mackerel fillets. Pop into the fridge and allow to sit for a few hours, ideally overnight. The flesh of the mackerel will transform in the presence of the vinegar, injected with flavour and becoming super tender.
Next up, prepare the piriñaca. De-seed and finely chop the peppers and finely dice the onion. Cut the tomatoes into a small dice. Tip the veggies into a bowl and add the vinegar and oil. Season generously with salt and let marinate for at least an hour.
Fish the mackerel out of the marinade and pat dry. Preheat a pot of neutral oil (vegetable or sunflower) to 180°C. Mix the flour and semolina in a bowl and add the mackerel fillets. Coat them with the mixture and then pat between your hands to remove any excess. Carefully lower them into the hot oil and fry for 2-3 mins or until just cooked, brown and crisp. Transfer to a tray and blot away any excess oil.
Pop the mackerel onto a plate and top with a generous spoonful of the piriñaca, plus a few spoonfuls of the juice. Serve straight away with a cold glass of Fino En Rama or a Manzanilla.
Doolittle by Pixies
I am not ashamed to say I was first introduced to this band by the wholly mid film, 500 days of summer. Safe to say, this record has aged far better than that movie ever did. This record was one of Kurt Cobain’s favourites. It’s bizarrely loud and quiet all at once, especially on the opener, Debaser. It’s a hard quality to describe, but you’ll get it when you hear it. It’s a pretty trippy album, the lyrics are all over the shop, spinning you out a little, but you always come back for more.
Album Highlights - Debaser, Wave Of Mutilation, Mr Grieves, Here Comes Your Man
Cherry by Nico Walker
Nico Walker’s first novel, a gripping work of auto-fiction that surrounds a heroin-addicted-army-vet bank robber was tapped out on a typewriter from a federal prison in Kentucky. Walker was locked up for 11 years for bank robbery
It’s a bleak read at times, but I couldn’t put it down. Walker writes with just the right level of detachment, describing the the horrors of war and addiction with the everyday nonchalance of grabbing cold brew and a pain au raisin. You get to understand, if only a little, his journey from lost kid to drug-fueled bank robber. Thoroughly enjoyable read.
They made a movie out of it too, but apparently it’s pants.
You can pick up a copy here.
Thanks for reading everyone!
Let me know what you thought of this one and if you like the travel bits - I know I do!
All the best,
B x
You introduced me to a place that should have been on my travel bucket list. Thank you for the delicious and sun filled tour of your travels, and for the mackerel recipe. How did you know I was looking for one? 😄
LOVE Jerez! Great piece, reminds me how much I need to return there