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Galicia

Santiago de Compostela · A Coruña · Ferrol · Betanzos · Lugo · Monforte de Lemos

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Pulpo á feira

Polbo á feira in Galicia. Presentation may differ from this recipe. Luis Miguel Bugallo Sánchez (Lmbuga) · CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized source thumbnail; display may crop to fit.

Descubre

Galicia’s pulpo á feira centers octopus with olive oil, pimentón, and salt. The short ingredient list puts texture in focus and introduces a dish associated with the region’s fairs and shared tables.

La Gente

Cook until the octopus is tender, then allow the resting time the recipe specifies. Slice and season just before serving. Bread makes a useful companion for the oil and spice left on the plate.

Sabor

Galicia cooks with the sea's salt, good olive oil, and pimentón, and very little else. Garlic in the allada that goes over the pulpo á galega with potatoes. Bay in the caldo. Pimentón on everything that came out of the water and most things that came off the pig. It is a plain kitchen with excellent materials, and it distrusts anything that hides them.

Spice DNA · Smoke medium · Herb low · Sweet none · Heat low · Acid low

Seasonings to explore

Paprika. Pimentón dulce, over the octopus. The whole page.
Smoked Paprika. For the houses that use the smoked pimentón of La Vera, and for the picante blend.
Minced Garlic in Olive Oil. For the allada over the potatoes, if you go the pulpo á galega route. Adds a savory garlic base.
Bay leaves, whole. In the water, and in the caldo.
Crushed Red Pepper. A pinch mixed into the pimentón for the picante version.
Black Pepper, ground. Optional, to taste.

From your market: a whole octopus, 4 to 5 pounds, frozen, which is better than fresh because freezing tenderizes it and every pulpeira knows it. Coarse sea salt, good olive oil, waxy potatoes if you want them, and bread. A copper pot if you are serious. Badia does not sell the octopus, and the Galician in you would not buy it from a spice company anyway.

Cocina

Pulpo á feira

Octopus, boiled, cut with scissors onto wood, dressed with oil, pimentón, and salt. Four ingredients. The pulpeiras have been doing it for centuries and will still not tell you the exact time.

Serves 6 as a tapa, 4 as a plate

1 whole octopus, 4 to 5 lb, frozen and thawed in the refrigerator overnight
1 Badia Bay Leaf, whole
1 onion, halved, optional, and some pulpeiras would say no
Coarse sea salt
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 tbsp Badia Paprika, or 2 tsp Badia Paprika plus 1 tsp Badia Smoked Paprika
Pinch of Badia Crushed Red Pepper, for the picante half of the plate
1½ lb waxy potatoes, boiled in the octopus water, optional

The water. Fill a large pot with water and bring it to a hard boil with the bay leaf and the onion if using. No salt yet.
Frighten it. Hold the octopus by the head and dip it into the boiling water for three seconds, lift it out, and repeat three times. On the fourth, leave it in. The legs will curl and the skin will hold.
Cook. Boil hard, uncovered, 25 to 30 minutes for a 4 lb octopus. Then lower the heat to a bare simmer and cook 20 to 25 minutes more. Test at the thickest part of a leg with a knitting needle or a skewer: it should slide in with only a little resistance.
Rest. Turn off the heat and let the octopus sit in the water 15 minutes. If you are making potatoes, boil them in this water after you lift the octopus out.
Cut. Lift the octopus onto a wooden board or plate. With scissors, cut the legs into rounds about ½ inch thick, straight onto the plate. The head is cut into strips and is the pulpeira's favorite part.
Dress. Coarse salt over everything. Oil over that, generously. Pimentón over that, and the crushed pepper on one side for the ones who want it picante. If there are potatoes, they go under the octopus and get the same treatment, and you have made pulpo á galega instead, which is also correct.
Eat with toothpicks, bread, and a cup of Ribeiro or Mencía. It does not wait, and neither does a Galician near a wooden plate.

Pueblos de Galicia

Santiago de Compostela · A Coruña · Ferrol · Betanzos · Lugo · Monforte de Lemos · Viveiro · Ribadeo · Ourense · O Carballiño · Ribadavia · Verín · Pontevedra · Vigo · Cambados · O Grove · Sanxenxo · Tui · Baiona · Melide