Red Sangria and Tapas (Including Recipe)

I had the best sangria, Jamón Iberico, and other tapas while sitting at the outdoors tables of Cervecería Alemana on Plaza de Santa Ana in Madrid.

I’d just arrived to Madrid from a long, tiring train ride from Bilbao after attending the Gastronomika Conference in San Sebastian. I was tired and hungry, and a glass of sangria seemed perfect to wash down the tapas dishes that were to be my supper.

From previous visits to classic Madrileño eateries, I knew to go to Cervecería Alemana near my hotel. It was a Hemingway favorite, where they still have a table by the entrance window reserved in his honor.

The Cerveceria is known as an intelligencia hangout, serving some of the best German-bottled imported beers, but it was a very hot early evening quite unexpected for late October. So I thought that a pitcher of cold Sangria would be far more appropriate than a beer to wash down my tapas.

Sangria and tapas in Spain or an alcoholic beverage and meze are a classic Mediterranean indulgence on hot days. The name Sangria relates to sangre, the Spanish word for “blood” and is attributed to the sangria’s deep red color when it’s made with traditional dry red wine.

In the Spanish eateries and bars that I’m familiar with, they use either an inexpensive Rioja or a less expensive red from Priorat to make their sangria. If you wish to make some at home, use a dry red wine priced between $8 and $15 per bottle.

Spanish is, of course, the preferred wine, but any Italian, California, Portuguese, or Greek red at that price range will also be just as good. I think French Burgundies are too “heavy” to be used in sangria, as well as too expensive. You don’t want to pay chateau prices for, in essence, a cooler.

The fruit should be ripe but crisp. I like strawberries in my sangria, but that’s a newer version of the classic drink. The traditional fruit and wine recipe doesn’t call for strawberries. It calls for only citrus fruit and crisp apple slices.

To accompany any wine in Spain, there are tapas. They are almost always a piece of air-dried meat or cheese or pickled fish. Nowadays, there’s even something more elaborate skewered with a toothpick and served on a piece of bread.

Most bars will offer pieces of Manchego cheese or slices of Jamón Iberico (salted and dried meat from black-footed Iberico pigs), a portion of albondigas (small meatballs in a sauce), slices of pickled octopus (pulpo gallego), pickled anchovies (boquerones or boccherones – you will find both spellings on Spanish menus), baby squid cooked in its ink (chipirones en su tinta), and many more.

There are also snails cooked in onion sauce, large crab shells stuffed with changuro gratin (flavored breadcrumbs, pimiento, celery, and crab meat) Basque-style, green or black pickled olives, large shrimp cooked in garlic sauce (gambas al ajillo), stuffed or pickled mushrooms, or any other cooked, pickled, or raw tidbit that the bar or restaurant specializes in.

The operating word is: never drink on an empty stomach!

In the past, tapas were offered on a few plates at the bar, and they were free – a single piece or small portion with each glass of wine you purchased. Today, you have to pay for tapas, but they’re inexpensive and tasty enough for patrons not to worry much about the cost.

To your health!

Sangria Recipe

Ingredients:
– 1 (750-ml) bottle of dry red wine
– 3/4 cup fresh orange juice
– 1/2 cup Spanish brandy or rum (I like the Carlos I, known as Carlos Primero)
– 1/2 cup sugar
– 1 orange, sliced

– 1 lime, juice of
– 1 apple, sliced
– 1 cup sliced fresh strawberries, to taste
– 1 (3-inch) cinnamon stick

Method:
1. In a large pitcher, combine the wine, orange juice, lime juice, brandy, granulated sugar, and cinnamon stick.

2. Slice the orange and lemon into thin rounds.

3. Peel the apple, and slice it, as well as the strawberries.

4. Keeping a few citrus rounds out as glass garnishes, add all of the sliced fruit to the pitcher, and mix.

5. Refrigerate until ready to serve, ideally for at least 2 hours or even better, overnight.