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Culinary diversity
Despite being Valladolid an inland province, fish is quite common. Brought from the Cantabrian Sea, fish like red bream and hake are a major part of Valladolid's cuisine. Like in the rest of Castile, cod is the main ingredient of many dishes. Another great speciality is frog's legs. Although they are not common in the menu of restaurants, you should definitely try to find them because they get prepared here like nowhere else, smooth and at the same time full of flavour. Valladolid also offers a great variety of wild mushrooms. Asparagus, endive and beans are also excellent. Some pulses, like white beans and lentils are particularly good. Pine nuts are also produced in great quantities, used in a variety of stews. Sheep cheese from Villalón de los Campos, the famous pata de mulo (mule's leg) is usually unripened (fresh), but if it is cured the ripening process brings out such flavour that it can compete with the best sheep cheeses in Spain. Valladolid has a great bread to go with every great dish, like the delicious cuadros from Medina del Campo, the muffins, the pork-scratching bread and the lechuguinos, with a pattern of concentric circles that resembles a head of lettuce.
Sweets and wines
The pastries and baked goods from the province of Valladolid are abundant and excellent, specially St. Mary's ring-shaped pastries, St. Claire's sponge cakes, pine nut balls and cream fritters.In Valladolid we can also find excellent wines. The ones that fall under the Designation of Origin Cigales are very good. White wines from Rueda and red wines from Ribera del Duero have such supreme quality that they are quickly becoming emblems of Spanish oenology. While in Valladolid you can taste the traditional cuisine either by going for pinchos (which are, like tapas, small portions of a given dish served as a complement of your drinks) or by visiting restaurants like Fátima, María and Mesón Panero, rated 1 sun by the CAMPSA guide.
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