polbo á feira
Galician-style boiled octopus
Usage
Galicia's signature dish: boiled octopus cut with scissors, served on a wooden plate over boiled potatoes with olive oil, coarse salt and paprika (sweet or hot)
Grammar Note
"Polbo" is the Galician word for octopus, spelled differently from Spanish "pulpo". "Á" is the preposition a plus the article a, meaning "in the fair style"
empanada galega
Galician pie (empanada)
Usage
Large flat Galician pie with a wheat or maize dough, filled with tuna, cockles, pork or chicken cooked with onion and tomato sauce, sold by the slice
Grammar Note
"Empanada" is feminine, so the adjective takes the feminine form galega (masculine: galego)
caldo galego
Galician broth
Usage
Traditional winter soup of Galicia made with potatoes, white beans, turnip greens (grelos) and pork
Grammar Note
"Caldo" is masculine, so the adjective takes the masculine form galego
lacón con grelos
Boiled pork shoulder with turnip greens
Usage
Salted boiled pork shoulder (lacón) served with turnip greens (grelos), potatoes and chorizo; traditionally eaten during Entroido (carnival)
Grammar Note
"Grelos" is a masculine plural noun; the singular is grelo
cocido galego
Galician boiled dinner
Usage
Winter dish of chickpeas, various cuts of pork, chorizo, turnip greens, cabbage and potatoes; the town of Lalín is famous for it
Grammar Note
"Cocido" is a past participle ("cooked") used as a masculine noun
pote galego
Galician pot stew
Usage
Thick home-style winter stew of white beans, potatoes, turnip greens and pork cooked in a pot
Grammar Note
"Pote" is a masculine noun meaning both the pot and the stew cooked in it
zorza
Marinated minced pork
Usage
Pork marinated with paprika, garlic and other seasoning, then fried or grilled; often served with fried potatoes
Grammar Note
"Zorza" is a feminine noun and the name is used as is on Galician menus
raxo
Marinated pork cubes
Usage
Diced pork loin marinated and fried in oil, usually served with fried potatoes
Grammar Note
"Raxo" is a masculine noun; the x is pronounced like English sh (/ʃ/)
pementos de Padrón
Padrón peppers
Usage
Small green peppers fried in oil and sprinkled with coarse salt; most are mild but a few are hot
Grammar Note
"Pemento" is masculine (plural pementos); it differs from Spanish "pimiento" in spelling
caldeirada
Fish stew
Usage
Galician fishermen's stew of several kinds of fish cooked with potatoes
Grammar Note
"Caldeirada" is feminine and comes from caldeira, a large cooking pot
lamprea
Lamprey stew
Usage
Lamprey from the Miño river stewed in red wine; a winter-to-spring speciality, with the town of Arbo especially famous for it
Grammar Note
"Lamprea" is feminine; the fish name doubles as the dish name
androlla
Pork rib sausage
Usage
Thick smoked sausage of seasoned pork rib meat, added to stews such as cocido
Grammar Note
"Androlla" is a feminine noun and appears in this form on menus and in shops
botelo
Stuffed smoked pork
Usage
Smoked pork meat stuffed into a casing and boiled, typically eaten around carnival time
Grammar Note
"Botelo" is a masculine noun and appears in this form on menus
percebes
Goose barnacles
Usage
Expensive crustaceans that cling to rocks; boiled briefly in salted water, then the shell is snapped open to eat the flesh. Those from the Costa da Morte are renowned
Grammar Note
"Percebe" is masculine and usually appears on menus in the plural, percebes
vieiras
Scallops
Usage
Scallops, also the symbol of the pilgrimage; often baked in the shell with onion and breadcrumbs
Grammar Note
"Vieira" is feminine; its shell is also the pilgrim's emblem of the Camino de Santiago
zamburiñas
Small scallops (zamburiñas)
Usage
Small scallops, usually grilled on a hot plate or steamed; a staple of Galician seafood
Grammar Note
"Zamburiña" is a feminine noun and a distinctly Galician word
berberechos
Cockles
Usage
Small clams from sandy shallows, steamed open and eaten with lemon
Grammar Note
"Berberecho" is masculine and normally appears in the plural on menus
navallas
Razor clams
Usage
Long-shelled clams, normally grilled on a hot plate
Grammar Note
"Navalla" originally means a knife and names the clam by its shape; it is feminine
nécoras
Velvet crabs (nécoras)
Usage
Small sea crabs boiled and eaten whole; little meat but a strong flavour
Grammar Note
"Nécora" is feminine, with the accent on the first e
centola
Spider crab
Usage
Large long-legged crab, boiled and eaten for both its meat and its creamy interior; in season in winter
Grammar Note
"Centola" is feminine; Spanish uses the masculine centollo
mexillóns
Mussels
Usage
Shellfish farmed on rafts in the Galician rías, steamed or cooked in tomato sauce
Grammar Note
"Mexillón" is masculine (plural mexillóns), spelled differently from Spanish "mejillón"
sardiñas
Sardines
Usage
Sardines, often grilled over charcoal at summer festivals and eaten with just salt
Grammar Note
"Sardiña" is feminine and uses the letter ñ in Galician
rodaballo
Turbot
Usage
Large flat white fish, usually grilled whole; a prized fish in Galicia
Grammar Note
"Rodaballo" is masculine and spelled the same as in Spanish
cachelos
Boiled potatoes in their skins
Usage
Potatoes cut into chunks and boiled in their skins; the usual side dish for polbo and lacón
Grammar Note
"Cachelo" is masculine and normally appears in the plural on menus
grelos
Turnip greens
Usage
Young leaves and stems of the turnip plant, boiled and served with lacón or put into soups; in season in winter
Grammar Note
"Grelo" is masculine and is normally used in the plural, grelos
filloas
Galician crêpes
Usage
Thin pancakes of flour, eggs and milk, a carnival staple eaten with sugar or honey
Grammar Note
"Filloa" is feminine and is the classic sweet of Entroido (carnival)
torta de Santiago
Santiago almond cake
Usage
Cake of ground almonds, eggs and sugar with the cross of St James dusted on top in icing sugar; a famous sweet of the Camino
Grammar Note
The standard Galician word is "torta", not "tarta"; Spanish says "tarta de Santiago"
orellas
Ear-shaped fried pastry
Usage
Carnival sweet of thin dough fried into an ear shape and dusted with sugar
Grammar Note
"Orella" is the feminine noun for "ear"; the pastry is named in the plural
queixo de tetilla
Tetilla cheese
Usage
Soft cone-shaped cow's milk cheese with Galician protected status (DOP)
Grammar Note
"Queixo" is masculine and differs from Spanish "queso"; "tetilla" (small teat) names the cheese by its cone shape
queixo de Arzúa-Ulloa
Arzúa-Ulloa cheese
Usage
Creamy cow's milk cheese made around Arzúa, with protected status (DOP)
Grammar Note
"Arzúa-Ulloa" is the protected name of the area, two place names joined by a hyphen
queixo do Cebreiro
Cebreiro cheese
Usage
Fresh tangy cheese in a mushroom or chef's-hat shape from the mountain area around O Cebreiro
Grammar Note
"Do" is the contraction of de + o before the place name Cebreiro
mel de Galicia
Galician honey
Usage
Honey from Galicia, from chestnut, heather and other flowers, protected by a geographical indication (IGP)
Grammar Note
"Mel" is masculine (o mel) and spelled differently from Spanish "miel"
pan de Cea
Cea bread
Usage
Country bread baked in Cea, in Ourense province, with a firm crust and dense crumb; protected by an IGP
Grammar Note
"Pan" is masculine and spelled the same in Galician and Spanish
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