The 10 Most Traditional Dishes From Andorra

Escudella is often referred to as Andorra’s national dish. It is typically eaten in winter and on holy days, including at Christmas. It is a big hearty stew, and a particular favourite with meat-lovers. It contains ingredients such as chicken, veal, meatballs, pig snout and trotters, and butifarra sausage. It also features potatoes, cabbage and white beans or chickpeas. Large pasta shells are also typically added.

This dish is Andorra’s answer to British bubble and squeak, and is a mixture of mashed potatoes, cabbage and leeks. The ingredients are fried with cubes of bacon or pork fat. Below, trinxat has been served topped with chicory leaves and a poached egg.

Snails are not only eaten in France; they are popular in Catalonia and Andorra too. There are various ways of cooking them, but one of the most typical in Andorra is cargols a la lluna, in which the snails are oven-roasted and eaten either with olive oil, salt and aioli (a garlic mayonnaise) or a paprika-infused vinaigrette.

Andorra does not have a coastline, so seafood is not common here, but it does have many rivers filled with freshwater trout. Andorran-style trout is grilled and wrapped in ham.

Embotits are cured meats and include different types of Andorran sausages, hams and black puddings. They can be found on almost every Andorran table and are eaten throughout the year. Some of the most typical types to look out for are longaniza, donja, bisbe and morcilla.

Cunillo literally means ‘rabbit’. It’s cooked in a variety of ways in Andorra, but most commonly it is stewed in a rich tomato sauce with onions and white wine.

You may think of cannelloni as being a typical Italian dish, but it is also common in Catalonia and Andorra. The Andorran version of cannelloni mixes minced lamb, pork and chicken with a white béchamel sauce.

Andorrans eat a lot of hearty vegetables in winter stews, such as potatoes, beans and cabbages, but come spring and summer, they’re after a something a bit lighter and fresher. Wild chicory can be seen growing on many of the mountainsides, and is often picked to be made into a salad. The chicory salad also typically contains pieces of bacon and nuts.

Cocas are a snack or dessert that are eaten across Catalonia and Andorra. They can come in sweet or savoury varieties. One of the most traditional is the sweet kind, eaten on special occasions such as the Nit de Sant Joan festival on June 23. It consists of a flat oval sweet bread topped with candied dried fruits and almonds. Some versions also contain stripes of a creamy custard.

The French have crème brûlée, the Catalans have crema Catalana, and the Andorrans have crema Andorrana. It’s similar to the other two, in that it’s a kind of creamy, custard-like dessert, but instead of the burnt sugar top, it’s accompanied by freshly whipped cream.

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