Local Dishes

1. La fabada

   Fabada (Asturian bean stew)

   Usage

   Asturias's best-known stew: dried white beans (fabes) are soaked overnight and simmered slowly with chorizo, blood sausage and pork fat. It contains pork, so ask first if you cannot eat it

   Grammar Note

   Fabada is a feminine noun built on faba (bean), so the article is la; in Spanish it is fabada asturiana

2. El cachopu

   Cachopu (breaded beef cutlets filled with ham and cheese)

   Usage

   Two large beef cutlets with ham and cheese between them, coated in egg and breadcrumbs and fried, served with potatoes, peppers or mushrooms. It has become popular in recent years

   Grammar Note

   A masculine noun ending in -u (Spanish cachopo with -o); the article is el

3. El pote asturianu

   Asturian pote (cabbage and bean stew)

   Usage

   A traditional Asturian stew alongside fabada, built on berces (a kind of cabbage) cooked with beans and meat. A cold-weather standard

   Grammar Note

   The adjective asturianu follows the noun and ends in -u for masculine singular (Spanish asturiano)

4. El quesu de Cabrales

   Cabrales cheese (a blue cheese)

   Usage

   A blue cheese made in eastern Asturias from a mix of cow, goat and sheep milk. Its flavour is strong, so take it in small amounts with bread or cider

   Grammar Note

   Cheese is quesu (Spanish queso with -u); Cabrales is both the place and the cheese name

5. El choscu

   Choscu (smoked pork sausage)

   Usage

   A cured, smoked sausage of pork loin and tongue seasoned with paprika, salt and garlic, stuffed into a pig's caecum. It is round and red, with a sweet-and-sour smoky taste

   Grammar Note

   A masculine noun ending in -u (Spanish chosco with -o); the article is el

6. La morciella

   Morciella (blood sausage)

   Usage

   The Asturian blood sausage, with a strong flavour. It goes into fabada, and is also boiled or grilled. It is made with blood, so check first if you do not eat it

   Grammar Note

   A feminine noun; where Spanish has morcilla, Asturian writes -iella (morciella). The article is la

7. El pitu de caleya

   Pitu de caleya (free-range native chicken)

   Usage

   A chicken of an Asturian breed raised free-range in villages on natural feed rather than compound feed. It appears on menus in stews and other dishes

   Grammar Note

   Pitu is the Asturian word for chicken (not Spanish pollo) and ends in -u

8. Les casadielles

   Casadielles (traditional Asturian sweets)

   Usage

   A typical traditional Asturian sweet, sold in cafés, bakeries and at festival stalls

   Grammar Note

   Usually said in the plural; the feminine plural article is les (Spanish las) and the noun ends in -es

9. Los frixuelos

   Frixuelos (thin Asturian crêpes)

   Usage

   A thin dessert made from flour, milk and eggs, found in Asturias as well as Cantabria and León, and often eaten around the carnival season (Antroxu)

   Grammar Note

   The singular is frixuelu; the x is read /ʃ/ (like English "sh"); the masculine plural article is los

10. Los carbayones

    Carbayones (almond pastries from Oviedo)

    Usage

    A pastry from Oviedo made with almonds, named after an old oak (carbayu) that once stood in the middle of the city. A pastry shop created it in 1924

    Grammar Note

    The singular is carbayón; the plural also nicknames the people of Uviéu

11. L'arroz con lleche

    Arroz con lleche (rice pudding)

    Usage

    A dessert of rice cooked slowly in milk with sugar, eaten cold or warm and often sprinkled with cinnamon

    Grammar Note

    Milk is lleche with ll- (Spanish leche); arroz is masculine and the article elides to l'arroz before a vowel

12. La sidra

    Cider

    Usage

    A drink of fermented apple juice, about 4 to 8 per cent alcohol. In Asturias it is poured in a thin stream from a height (escanciar); drink what you are given straight away

    Grammar Note

    A feminine noun with the plural sidres; spelled as in Spanish, with the article la

13. El pinchu

    Pinchu (a small bite on a slice of bread)

    Usage

    A small slice of bread with a small portion of food on top, served in bars with a drink

    Grammar Note

    A masculine noun ending in -u (Spanish pincho with -o); the article is el

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