50 Spanish foods - Spain

fish that gains in quality when tinned dueto its fat content, which is reflected in theflavour and texture. It is preserved in oliveoil, although it is not an extra virgin oil,because that would mask the taste of thefish. The best sardines go to the factorywhere the head and guts are removed.Then comes the roasting and toasting,followed by elimination of the skin andbones. Finally they are cut into filets andplaced in tins with olive oil.www.chramonpena.com✍33. FrinSA Ventresca of freshtuna in oliVe oilThe Frinsa firm from Galiciaproduces white fish conserves, anddecided to offer its own brand(Frinsa). Outstanding among its productsPreserving fish and shellfishAlthough food has beenpreserved in containerss i n c e t h e 1 8 t hcentury, thereh a v e b e e no t h e rmethods ofconservationsince Antiquity.Examples arethe salted ands m o k e d f o o d s ,methods used especiallywith fish and which are still very common.Salting and smoking are processes of curingand drying, and make it possible to conserve fishand shellfish for long periods. The products treatedwith these methods are of excellent quality and areconsidered semi-conserves. To speak of fully conservedproducts means tin or glass containers, those whichhave undergone a sterilisation process.Spain is one of the leaders in the production of fishand shellfish conserves. It can be said that the Galicia andCantabria regions in the north head the presentationof fish in this way, although there are important fishconserving operations all along the Mediterranean coastand in the area around Gibraltar. In addition, Galiciais a leader in shellfish. These products bring togethertradition and technological advances to achieve thehighest quality.In their natural state, most of these fish products arepresented with water and salt, or with olive oil, whichyield excellent results,or in pickled form.These products arevery healthy, especiallyw h e n p r e s e n t e dnaturally and in olive oil.They should be kept incool places but do notrequire refrigeration.They go very wellwith beers and cavas,in addition to whitewines, especially thosefrom Galicia. Also withdry sherry like finoand manzanilla.25