Cadiz Market Day
I visit Mercado Central in Cadiz and pick up a prized ocean delicacy;
carabinero prawns.
I always try to stay in apartments rather than hotels whenever I travel. Apartments offer a more homely, as-a-local stay, and most have good kitchens, meaning you can prepare your meals which helps keep costs down and is an excuse to visit the local market for your food.
Cadiz has an endless supply of tapas, bars and restaurants to keep you fed, but I love to cook, and no city visit is complete without a trip to the fresh food markets to shop like a local and really immerse yourself in the city culture. Using my broken Spanish language skills, I love to let the stallholders know I am a ‘cocinero’ (a chef) which always seems to open the door to further conversation and suggestions of what's best to purchase.
In the heart of town, on Plaza de la Libertad, you’ll find the Mercado de Abastos, Cádiz’s central food market. Located on the site of an old convent, the market has been running here for over 200 years.
The perimeter stalls are lined with ripe, seasonal fruits and vegetables, and inside you’ll find the wet market where seafood in all shapes and sizes takes centre stage. There are a few little tapas bars in the gastronomic quarter of the market, where we take the obligatory ‘breakfast’ caña (beer) and a wedge of tortilla before the shopping spree.
It is summer, and the smell of super-ripe tomatoes fills the air as you stand at the produce stalls. We grab a couple of massive ‘huevos del toro’ (Bull's eggs) tomatoes, named as such due to their large size and resemblance to bulls' testicles.
Cadiz is a fishing port at its heart, and this market is a testament to this. We wander from stall to stall, and I am impressed by the variety of seafood on offer. Locals are spoiled for choice, from lobster to shark and, of course, tuna. It's not long before I find inspiration, and we pick up langoustines and some carabineros prawns.
Carabineros are one of the world's most coveted ocean delicacies; these jumbo prawns are giant, deep-sea prawns are known for their brilliant, striking deep blood-red colour and unrivalled sweetness. Known by a few names, Carabineros means ‘police’ in Spain because their colouring is like the customs police uniforms. In France, they call them crevette Imperial; in Australia, they are sometimes called coral prawns, or the less creatively and somewhat obvious, the giant red prawn.
The meat of the tail is incredibly sweet and only requires a little sea salt, a clove of garlic and heat to cook them perfectly. Unlike other prawns, their colour doesn’t change when cooked, so you’ll need to pay attention so that you don’t overcook them. Carabineros are best cooked with the shell on, its natural layer of fat which sits under the surface, rendering during cooking to retain both moisture & texture, and of course, extra flavour.
We dash back to the apartment, prepare lunch, and adjourn to the roof terrace to feast on succulent prawns, tomato salad with olive oil and Manchego, chorizo and mojama, a pungent, cured tuna. The prawns are the highlight; we enjoy them as true Spaniards do and suck the brains out of their heads. The large liver sits right behind the head and this ‘coral’ is a delicacy not to be shunned.
Afternoons are for siestas and a great excuse to escape the blazing hot afternoon sun and retire to bed with your sweetheart for a couple of hours before heading out on the town for the evening.
