What did we just eat???

In Spain, food is a central part of the culture. In San Sebastian that is true to the Nth degree. In addition to having more Michelin stars per capita than any city in the world, San Sebastian is also home to a huge number of regular restaurants and pinxtos bars. We have been here for seven weeks and feel like we have barely scratched the surface, despite our best efforts.

In addition to the large number, restaurants in San Sebastian serve dishes that you might not see in the US, or you might see in only the most expensive restaurant. This led us to an interesting experience last Saturday night.

To set the scene, we went to a nice restaurant, but not a fancy one. Our dinner of several shared small plates, dessert and coffee (including a bottle of wine) was 60 Euros (about $72) for the two of us. One of the dishes on the menu was papada de cerdo. Cerdo, we knew, was pig. And, although we did not know what papada was, we like pork and the preparation sounded delicious. And, let's face it, Spain is all about the pig. So, we ordered it.

When the dish came, the papada looked pretty much like pure fat. Almost like pork belly, but even fattier. It was delicious!!

As we were waiting for dessert we decided to look up what we had eaten. This is where things got a little surprising. Although we often do not know exactly what is on the menu in Spanish, when we translated "papada," we did not know what it was in English! The word translated as "dewlap". And what is dewlap? We will let Wikipedia take that one:

A dewlap is a longitudinal flap of skin that hangs beneath the lower jaw or neck of many vertebrates. While the term is usually used in this specific context, it can also be used to include other structures occurring in the same body area with a similar aspect, such as those caused by a double chin or the submandibular vocal sac of a frog. In a more general manner, the term refers to any pendulous mass of skin, such as a fold of loose skin on an elderly person's neck, or the wattle of a bird. Dewlaps can be considered as a caruncle, defined as 'a small, fleshy excrescence that is a normal part of an animal's anatomy.

I think Shana was a little disgusted, but I say if you get a chance to try dewlap, jump at it. It is great. It also shows that no part of the pig goes to waste.

Hasta luego.

Jeff and Shana