Spanish vs Polish food & cuisine

There’s a beautiful coexistence of simple peasant food – porridges, soups, potatoes, and cold meat cuts and elaborate holiday dishes, like hand-formed pierogi, poppy seed cakes, and whole baked carp.  Sour flavors are surprisingly big: fermented foods, pickles, rye bread, and sour cream that fit with nearly everything.  It’s unpretentious food that prioritizes flavor and nourishment.

Beyond bread, wheat in Spanish cuisine features sweat and savory pastries, like churros, empanadas, empanadillas, ensaimadas. Spanish cooks use wheat flour for the light coating on fried fish and seafood and turn stale bread into breadcrumbs for crispy croquettes. While Spaniards don’t eat pasta like their Italian neighbors, they do have fideuà, which is basically paella made with noodles instead of rice, and sopa de fideos, a homey, comforting noodle.

Only a few countries in Europe treat rice as an essential staple, as Spain and Portugal do. Both Iberian Peninsula neighbors are top consumers of rice in Europe. This popularity mostly has to do with the Moors, who, back in the 8th century, popularized rice in Spain. Plain rice is not a frequent Spanish choice; they’re more often found in dishes like paella, arroz negro, arroz con costra, and creamy rice desserts. Mostly, short-grain rice is preferred for its ability to absorb flavors while retaining a distinct bite.

Interestingly, despite their similar culinary traditions, corn is much less popular in Portugal, despite their otherwise similar culinary. While Spain also had colonies in the corn-rich Americas, Spanish cooking customs were already well-established when corn arrived, and the new grain had to compete with existing staples. Corn simply never gained the widespread acceptance that wheat and rice already possessed.

Though wheat prevails, rye is also significant. Zakwas, a rye sourdough starter, is something Polish families keep alive for years, feeding two dishes: a dark, dense sourdough bread that lasts up to two weeks, and żurek, a sour rye soup unusual in world cuisine. Made with soured rye flour, potatoes, eggs, and pork, the soup is tangy and thick.

Wheat dough pierogi belong to a vast global “stuffed dough” family. Pierogi fillings reflect Polish agricultural reality: dairy, cabbage, buckwheat, mushrooms, and meat. Pierogi could be made vegetarian, festive, or luxurious, and they store and reheat well. Today, they sit between comfort and occasion food.

One of the star vegetables in Spanish cooking is tomato, mostly harvested in southern Andalusia. Tomatoes show up everywhere – in cold gazpacho and salmorejo soups and as the heart of sofrito – the base of slowly cooked tomatoes, onions, and garlic that starts nearly every Spanish stew and paella.

Peppers enhance dishes with colors, like in smoky escalivada – smoky grilled veggies; add depth to rice and meat preparations; season in the form of smoked powder, or are served alone, like grilled pimientos del padrón. Mild, green pepper guindillas, crunchy and marinated with wine vinegar, are popular as a part of small snack pintxos – various ingredients served on a toothpick.

Artichokes are a big deal in Valencia, where locals go crazy for them – you’ll find them grilled over flames or stewed with chunks of ham until tender. Down south, eggplant rules, thanks to the Moors who brought them centuries ago. Try berenjenas con miel – crispy fried eggplant drizzled with honey.

Zucchini and asparagus show up everywhere since they love the Spanish climate. As for legumes, they’re the backbone of comfort food. Chickpeas are a clear favorite, but you’ll also find white beans, pintos, and favas often hanging out with ham and other cured meats in rustic stews.

The main course is typically accompanied by surówka: shredded cabbage, carrots, turnips, and cooked beetroot dressed with lemon and sugar. This differs from sałatka, a broad term for salad.

Spring historically brought wild plants into Polish kitchens. Sorrel, young beet greens, dandelions, and nettles all went into soups. Because the warm season is short, fresh vegetables are preserved through lactic fermentation, not vinegar. Vegetables rest in salted brine with garlic, dill, horseradish, and spices, producing salty, sour, crunchy results that counterbalance pork, sausage, and fried food.

Wild mushrooms, especially boletus species, are popular beyond most European norms. Tart berries, wild raspberries, blueberries, currants, complement game and roasted meats, and appear as summer pierogi fillings (pierogi z jagodami). Hot raspberry syrup (sok malinowy) remains a home remedy for fevers. In cuisine, berries appear in compotes and liqueurs like malinówka.

Poland is the world’s largest producer of chokeberries (aronia). Sour cherries, wiśnia nadwiślanka, hold Protected Designation of Origin status since 2009. Two plum varieties also carry Protected Geographical Indication status.

Sideways to hams go sausages – the spicy red chorizo, with its smoky taste from paprika, the air-dried lomo, and milder salchichón are popular tapas, often served in thin slices.

Fresh pork is also appreciated from nose to toe. Signature dishes are wine-braised cheeks, a cochinillo sado roasted suckling pig from Segovia, and secreto ibérico, a hidden cut of marbled pork.

Spain has a long tradition of sheep herding, especially with breeds churra and manchega, raised for both meat and cheese. Meat is usually prepared rustic style: chuletas de cordero a la brasa – grilled lamb chops, cordero asado – grilled lamb over an open fire, lechazo  – suckling lamb roasted in a wood-fired oven.

Beef also has a tradition in Spain, though it is less central than pork or lamb. Raising and consuming oxen in Spain dates back centuries – their strength was used for plowing fields or transporting goods, and meat consumed after in dishes like carrillade de buye – ox cheek stew, ternera gallega – Galician beef, rabo de toro– slow-cooked ox tail in tomato and wine sauce. Some beef in Spain is also dry-cured, like cecinea de leon.

Speaking of the game, rabbit is pretty popular. You’ll find it in garlicky conejo al ajillo and in authentic paella Valenciana where rabbit (not seafood) is actually a traditional ingredient.

The daily icon is kotlet schabowy, a breaded pan-fried pork loin cutlet similar to Wiener schnitzel. Meatballs (klopsiki), meatloaf (pieczeń rzymska), and cabbage rolls (gołąbki) are common at home. They stretch meat with grain, rice, or bread. Beef is rare, appearing more in broth than as steak.

Game has long been a gentry delicacy. Bigos Królewski, Royal Bigos, used venison or wild boar cooked in wine. In the 18th century, a peasant version emerged, bigos hultajski, with sauerkraut replacing wine and cabbage extending the meat. The same dish in two historical registers: noble and peasant.

Even inland, seafood is major: paella de marisco – seafood paella, zarzuela de mariscos – seafood stew, pulpo a la gallega – octopus with smoked paprika, bacalao al pil pil – salted cod with olive oil, boquerones en vinagre – vinegary anchovies, and gambas al ajillo – garlic shrimp, are iconic Spanish dishes. Fish markets are bustling with variety, and Spaniards have great respect for the quality and freshness of their catch.

Herring variety is impressive: marinated in oil or vinegar with onions, pickled Jewish-style, in sour cream, or Greek-style with tomatoes and peppers.

Smoking developed early and independently. Archaeologists found remains of a fish-smoking factory in Poland dating to the seventh century. Smoked trout, perch, pike, and eel have a different character from Scandinavian or British smoked sea fish. Smoked eel (wędzony węgorz) is oily and strong, eaten with vodka. Smoked fish blended with mayonnaise, herbs, and horseradish, pasta rybna, is a standard open sandwich topping.

One of the most famous is manchego, made from sheep milk. Its rind has a unique crisscross pattern created using wooden molds. Manchego comes in various aging stages, from young and mild to aged and sharp.

Spain produces Europe’s priciest cheese: cabrales, aged in specific caves. At auction, they can fetch over €15,000 per wheel, setting world records for cheese prices.

Spain also has some truly unusual cheeses, such as torta del casar. This cheese is intentionally made using an enzyme from thistle flowers instead of animal rennet, which gives it a bitter taste and an extremely runny texture. It’s eaten by cutting off the top and scooping out the interior.

According to the World Best Olive Oils rankings, Spanish extra virgin olive oils hold the top positions and garner the most awards and recognition globally (source).

Spanish desserts tend toward simplicity compared to the elaborate pastries of France or the richness of American desserts. They are often made of a few high-quality ingredients with minimal processing.

Almond dominance distinguishes local desserts on a global scale. Spain is the second-largest consumer of almonds, incorporating them into turrón —almond nougat—marzipan from Toledo, countless cakes, and cookies. There is even an almond-based soup called ajo blanco, in which almonds are combined with garlic, bread, and vinegar to create an elegant soup (or sauce).

Other nuts, such as pines, hazelnuts, and walnuts, are used in cakes, pastries, marzipans, cold soups, and drinks, like horchata de chufa.

The Mediterranean trifecta of honey, citrus, and olive oil frequently appears in Spanish desserts. Honey often replaces refined sugar, and the use of olive oil in desserts predates butter-based pastries in Spanish cuisine.