Madrid, Fernando Blázquez & La Taberna de Los Huevos de Lucio, May 30, 2021. Sunset in a Glass: Adventures of a Food and Wine Road Warrior in Spain. Pre-Post COVID Road Warrior Adventure.

 

* * * * * 

 

Fernando Blázquez, family member and General Manager, La Taberna de los Huevos de Lucio, Cava Baja, Madrid.

 

The adventure continues, in Madrid. Yesterday and last night in Madrid, I got a big dose of what the effects of COVID have meant in Spain. Yesterday with my long-time BGF Gabriela Llamas, who told me that she, her husband and three grown children had all had the virus, as well as her 91-year old mother Clara Maria González de Amezua. With Gabi, I visited Clara Maria at her wonderful home in Puerta de Hierro. 

 

After a jet-lag siesta, I set out by Metro from Callao, just off the Gran Via, to Marisquería Rafa, where I could not call because my Spanish movil number was taken away because I have been out of the country for so long due to the COVID restriction on entry. I arrived to find Rafa closed on Sunday nights now, so I took taxi to Casa Lucio, my other habitual Sunday night in Madrid haunt. I had a terrific taxi driver who called Casa Lucio (at 10:30 p.m.) and Lucio daughter Mari answered. I talked to her and she told me Lucio also was closed now on Sunday nights, but La Taberna de Lucio, just across the street was open and her brother Fernando was there and that I should go. 

Click on title to see entire post.

Sunset in a Glass: Adventures of a Food and Wine Road Warrior in Spain - Volume I Foreword by José Andrés Preview (Publication 2021) Update

 

* * * * * 

(Update:  Now up to 265 pages in proof, sample available to agents, publishers and reviewers.)

 

 

From the Foreword by José Andrés to Sunset in a Glass:

 

"Gerry Dawes, the unbridled Spanish food and wine enthusiast cum expert whose writing, photography, and countless crisscrossings of the peninsula have done the most to introduce Americans—and especially American food professionals—to my country's culinary life.  At a time when most food journalists were writing about France and Italy, Gerry went off in his own direction to become the first to really tell the story of Spain. But, for Gerry, Spain is more than just the Adriàs and (Juan Mari and Elena) Arzaks.  He has connected with all manner of people working at every level and in every corner of Spain.  I’m always amazed at this reach.  You can step into a restaurant in the smallest town in Spain, and it turns out they know Gerry somehow.” - - Chef-restaurateur-humanitarian José Andrés, Nobel Peace Prize Nominee and Oscar Presenter; Chef-partner of Mercado Little Spain at Hudson Yards, New York.

 

Click on title to see entire post.

Paco Carrasco, José Andrés´s ThinkFoodGroup Maestro Cortador (professional ham carver) de jamón Ibérico de bellota carving a ham at Mercado Little Spain during opening week VIDEO

 * * * * *
 (All photos and videos, unless otherwise identified are by or courtesy of Gerry Dawes©2019. No publication of these photos is allowed without written permission.)
 

José Andrés´s ThinkFoodGroup Maestro Cortador (professional ham carver) de jamón Ibérico de bellota "opening," Paco Carrasco, making the first cuts, for carving an Ibérico ham  at Mercado Little Spain at Hudson Yards, March 19, 2019. Photo by Gerry Dawes©2019

 
 
#HolaLIttleSpain #CharlotteRobertson #RafaelVidal #AlbertAdria #JoseAndres #ThinkFoodGroup #QuimMarquez #RubénGarcía #PhillipBaltz #Baltz&Company #Paco Carrasco

 * * * * *

 "As a young chef arriving in America from Spain in the early 1990s, I came to see Gerry as an ally. At the time, I found myself struggling to explain Spanish cooking because people either had no idea or they had the wrong idea. It was a battle. But Gerry's writing meant I was not alone in telling Americans about piquillos and escudella and jamón.  At a time when most food journalists were writing about France and Italy, Gerry went off in his own direction to become the first to really tell the story of Spain."– José Andrés, James Beard Award Winning Star Chef, Jaleo, Zaytinya, Café Átlantico Minibar (Washington, D.C.), Bazaar by José Andrés (Los Angeles & Las Vegas), Mercado Little Spain at Hudson Yards, New York City; Nobel Peace Prize Nominee and Oscar Presenter 2019 .

 * * * * *

  Shall deeds of Caesar or Napoleon ring
More true than Don Quixote's vapouring?
Hath winged Pegasus more nobly trod
Than Rocinante stumbling up to God?

Poem by Archer M. Huntington inscribed under the Don Quixote on his horse Rocinante bas-relief sculpture by his wife, Anna Vaughn Hyatt Huntington,

in the courtyard of the Hispanic Society of America’s incredible museum at 613 W. 155th Street, New York City.

 _______________________________________________________________________________________

 

About Gerry Dawes

My good friend Gerry Dawes, the unbridled Spanish food and wine enthusiast cum expert whose writing, photography, and countless crisscrossings of the peninsula have done the most to introduce Americans—and especially American food professionals—to my country's culinary life." -- Chef-restaurateur-humanitarian José Andrés, Nobel Peace Prize Nominee and Oscar Presenter 2019

Gerry Dawes is the Producer and Program Host of Gerry Dawes & Friends, a weekly radio progam on Pawling Public Radio in Pawling, New York (streaming live and archived at www.pawlingpublicradio.org and at www.beatofthevalley.com.)

Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine, won The Cava Institute's First Prize for Journalism for his article on cava in 2004, was awarded the CineGourLand “Cinéfilos y Gourmets” (Cinephiles & Gourmets) prize in 2009 in Getxo (Vizcaya) and received the 2009 Association of Food Journalists Second Prize for Best Food Feature in a Magazine for his Food Arts article, a retrospective piece about Catalan star chef, Ferran Adrià. 

In December, 2009, Dawes was awarded the Food Arts Silver Spoon Award in a profile written by José Andrés. 

". . .That we were the first to introduce American readers to Ferran Adrià in 1997 and have ever since continued to bring you a blow-by-blow narrative of Spain's riveting ferment is chiefly due to our Spanish correspondent, Gerry "Mr. Spain" Dawes, the messianic wine and food journalist raised in Southern Illinois and possessor of a self-accumulated doctorate in the Spanish table. Gerry once again brings us up to the very minute. . ." - - Michael & Ariane Batterberry, Editor-in-Chief/Publisher and Founding Editor/Publisher, Food Arts, October 2009. 

 

Pilot for a reality television series on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.
 

Experience Spain With Gerry Dawes: Customized Culinary, Wine & Cultural Trips to Spain & Travel Consulting on Spain  

Gerry Dawes can be reached at gerrydawes@aol.com; Alternate e-mail (use only if your e-mail to AOL is rejected): gerrydawes@gmail.com

Clemente Gómez, Maestro Cortador de Jamón Slicing the Superb Jamón Ibérico Pata Negra de Bellota de Pedroches (Córdoba), Producers of Some Amazingly Good Jamones

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Maestro Cortador Clemente Gómez with a freshly cut slice of  
Jamón Ibérico Pata Negra de Bellota de Pedroches (Córdoba) at Madrid Fusión.

Slide show of Clemente Gómez cutting Jamón Ibérico Pata Negra de Bellota
de Pedroches (Córdoba) at Alimentaria 2010 in Barcelona in March.

* * * * *

Clemente Gómez, Maestro Cortador de Jamones, when not slicing Pedroches hams at gastronomy fairs, can be reached at his 'day' job in Andalucía as owner of:

Supermercado Atlántida

1ª pista de La Barrosa

Chiclana (Cádiz)

956 494 164 - 615 326 637

clementegomezcortador@hotmail.es

* * * * *

About Gerry Dawes

Writing, Photography, & Specialized Tours of Spain & Tour Advice

For custom-designed tours of Spain, organized and lead by Gerry Dawes, and custom-planned Spanish wine, food, cultural and photographic itineraries, send inquiries to gerrydawes@aol.com.  

I have planned and led tours for such culinary stars as Chefs Thomas Keller, Mark Miller, Mark Kiffin, Michael Lomonaco and Michael Chiarello and such personalities as baseball great Keith Hernandez and led on shorter excursions and have given detailed travel advice to many other well-known chefs and personalities such as Drew Nieporent, Norman Van Aken, Karen Page and Andrew Dornenberg, Christopher Gross, Rick Moonen, James Campbell Caruso and many others.

 * * * * *

“The American writer and town crier for all good Spanish things Gerry Dawes . . . the American connoisseur of all things Spanish . . .” Michael Paterniti, The Telling Room: A Tale of Love, Betrayal, Revenge and The World’s Greatest Piece of Cheese

* * * * *

"Gerry Dawes, I can't thank you enough for opening up Spain to me." -- Michael Chiarello on Twitter. 

"Chiarello embarked on a crash course by traveling to Spain for 10 days in 2011 with Food Arts

contributing authority Gerry Dawes, a noted expert on Spanish food and wine.  Coqueta's (Chiarello's new restaurant at Pier Five, San Francisco) chef de cuisine, Ryan McIlwraith, later joined Dawes for his own two week excursion, as well. Sampling both old and new, they visited wineries and marketplaces, as well as some of Spain's most revered dining establishments, including the Michelin three-star Arzak, Etxebarri, the temple to live fire-grilling; Tickets, the playful Barcelona tapas bar run by Ferran Adrià and his brother, Albert; and ABaC, where Catalan cooking goes avant-garde." - - Carolyn Jung, Food Arts, May 2013.

* * * * *

"In his nearly thirty years of wandering the back roads of Spain," Gerry Dawes has built up a much stronger bank of experiences than I had to rely on when I started writing Iberia...His adventures far exceeded mine in both width and depth..." -- James A. Michener, author of Iberia: Spanish Travels and Reflections

 * * * * *

Gerry Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine, won The Cava Institute's First Prize for Journalism for his article on cava in 2004, was awarded the CineGourLand “Cinéfilos y Gourmets” (Cinephiles & Gourmets) prize in 2009 in Getxo (Vizcaya) and received the 2009 Association of Food Journalists Second Prize for Best Food Feature in a Magazine for his Food Arts article, a retrospective piece about Catalan star chef, Ferran Adrià. 

In December, 2009, Dawes was awarded the Food Arts Silver Spoon Award in a profile written by José Andrés. ". . .That we were the first to introduce American readers to Ferran Adrià in 1997 and have ever since continued to bring you a blow-by-blow narrative of Spain's riveting ferment is chiefly due to our Spanish correspondent, Gerry "Mr. Spain" Dawes, the messianic wine and food journalist raised in Southern Illinois and possessor of a self-accumulated doctorate in the Spanish table. Gerry once again brings us up to the very minute. . ." - - Michael & Ariane Batterberry, Editor-in-Chief/Publisher and Founding Editor/Publisher, Food Arts, October 2009. 

* * * * *

Trailer-pilot for a reality television series 

on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.

Experience Spain With Gerry Dawes: Customized Culinary, Wine & Cultural Trips to Spain & Travel Consulting on Spain  

Gerry Dawes can be reached at gerrydawes@aol.com; Alternate e-mail (use only if your e-mail to AOL is rejected): gerrydawes@gmail.com

More Travels in Spain with Gerry Dawes - A Magificent Series of Articles by Docsconz on A Week in The Heart of Spanish Iberian Pig Country

 * * * * *

The Art of The Iberian Pig – A Week in The Heart of Spanish Pork Country – Part 1 – Segovia and Avila

 Gerry Dawes at Mesón de Candido doing what he does best

 

My son, L.J. and I recently had the opportunity to experience this wonderland of pork up close and in a number of different ways. We flew to Madrid, where we met up with my good friend, “Mr. Spain,” also known as Gerry Dawes. I have been in awe of Gerry’s knowledge of Spain, its foodways, its wines, its culture and its people for some time and both my son and I have experienced first hand in Madrid, his exceptional range of contacts and knowledge. L.J. had also had the good fortune to have accompanied Gerry this past spring on a trip that encompassed parts of Catalunya and across northern Spain into Galicia on a wine-tasting expedition. Arriving early in the morning on an overnight flight from JFK, we took an inexpensive hotel room for a quick nap, shower and breakfast before meeting Gerry and picking up our rental car to head out to the nearby and beautiful city of Segovia, where several treats were awaiting us.

 

Click here to read the rest of Part 1 

 

The Art of The Iberian Pig – A Week in The Heart of Spanish Pork Country – Part 2 – Guijuelo

 

We had an appointment to visit one of the very best, Arturo Sanchez, at their production facility. We saw the production of lomo and jamones Ibericos de Bellota from the earliest post-mortem stages through consumption with the father-son team of Arturo and Ricardo Sanchez leading our personal tour and tasting. The products were sublime with the jamon, in particular, somehow becoming more and more delicious with each bite. It was a truly unique and special experience, from which much more will come to this blog.

 

Click here to read the rest of Part 2

 

Pursuing Porcine Perfection – Ibérico de Bellota- Part 3 – The Cure

 

Most connoisseurs know it to be one of the finest food products of any kind in the world, let alone the greatest of hams. Jamón Ibérico de Bellota, as it is known, comes from southwestern Spain, primarily from the regions of Extremadura and Andalucia, but with  a number of great jamónes made in Castilla y León, using Ibérico pigs raised in Andalucia. This winter, my son, L.J. Sconzo and I joined our good friend and Spanish culinary expert, Gerry Dawes, on a tour of these regions to see, sample and fully experience as much as we could about  this fantastic product. In previous posts, I highlighted the special diet of these special pigs in the oaken dehesas of southwestern Spain and then the process by which they are slaughtered and butchered. Here, I will relay the process of how these extraordinary hams and embutidos are made.

 

 

Click here to read the rest of Part 3

 

Pursuing Porcine Perfection – Ibérico de Bellota- Part 4: Jamónes, Embutidos y Carnes

 

 

 Finishing the Iberico steaks on an open fire

 

After our tour, we were directed to an even smaller nearby town to find a restaurant that served their product. The restaurant, called El Camino, served us both cured and fresh products from that facility. It was a welcoming place in the middle of the country and their dishes were quite delicious.

 

 Manzanilla Sherry at Casa Bigote in Sanlúcar de Barrameda

From there, we entered a long drive down to Sanlúcar de Barrameda along the Quadalquivir River and the Atlantic Ocean in southern Andalucia, where we would have a brief respite from porcine products. This respite came in the name of Casa Bigote, a renowned seafood restaurant that serves nothing but locally fished seafood. Atmospheric to the extreme, we engaged in a fine tasting of the local specialties, which in addition to a variety creatures from the ocean, included a number of excellent local Manzanilla sherries that left us all in a happy and laughing mood.

Click here to read the rest of Part 4

 

The Art of The Iberian Pig – A Week in The Heart of Spanish Pork Country – Part 5 – Los Pedroches

 

We had one more day of pig ahead of us, but we had to get up and out early to do it. We left Sanlucar after breakfast driving east into a bright sun. We made our way up past Sevilla, then through Córdoba and into the hills and dehesa of Los Pedroches, a D.O. in northern Andalucia. It is a small D.O., but there is a lot of land devoted to the dehesa and a high concentration of pure Iberian pigs.

 

Iberian pigs on the move

 

 Click here to read the rest of Part 5

Experience Spain With Gerry Dawes: Customized Culinary, Wine & Cultural Trips to Spain & Travel Consulting on Spain  

Gerry Dawes can be reached at  gerrydawes@gmail.com; Alternate e-mail (use only if your e-mail to AOL is rejected): gerrydawes@spanishartisanwine.com

_____________________________________________________

 

 About Gerry Dawes

 Gerry Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine, won The Cava Institute's First Prize for Journalism for his article on cava in 2004, was awarded the CineGourLand “Cinéfilos y Gourmets” (Cinephiles & Gourmets) prize in 2009 in Getxo (Vizcaya) and received the 2009 Association of Food Journalists Second Prize for Best Food Feature in a Magazine for his Food Arts article, a retrospective piece about Catalan star chef, Ferran Adrià. 

In December, 2009, Dawes was awarded the Food Arts Silver Spoon Award in a profile written by José Andrés. 

". . .That we were the first to introduce American readers to Ferran Adrià in 1997 and have ever since continued to bring you a blow-by-blow narrative of Spain's riveting ferment is chiefly due to our Spanish correspondent, Gerry "Mr. Spain" Dawes, the messianic wine and food journalist raised in Southern Illinois and possessor of a self-accumulated doctorate in the Spanish table. Gerry once again brings us up to the very minute. . ." - - Michael & Ariane Batterberry, Editor-in-Chief/Publisher and Founding Editor/Publisher, Food Arts, October 2009. 
 

Pilot for a reality television series on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.
 

Food Arts Silver Spoon Award December (Written by José Andrés)

* * * * *

Some days, the Gods smile on you.  Tuesday, December 1, 2009, was one of those days for me. When I came home from Thanksgiving weekend there was a FedEx envelope on my front porch. In it was the December issue of Food Arts, which contained my Silver Spoon Award. The profile was written by my friend, the great chef-restaurateur-television personality-and expert on Spanish cuisine, José Andrés, whose new restaurant Bazaar has taken Los Angeles by storm.

I am very grateful to José for his kinds words in this supremely gratifying piece and to Michael and Ariane Batterberry, founders and publishers of Food Arts, and to my editor Jim Poris, who selected me for this prestigious award and got José to write it.

And many, many thanks--miles de gracias--to Ferran Adrià, the great Catalan chef whom many consider to be the greatest--and certainly the most innovative--chef in the world, who contributed this: 

 

"Spain wouldn't be as known to Americans without the stories Gerry tells and writes."


But, few lines could be better than the ones José Andrés wrote, especially these:


"As a young chef arriving in America from Spain in the early 1990s, I came to see Gerry as an ally. At the time, I found myself struggling to explain Spanish cooking because people either had no idea or they had the wrong idea.  It was a battle.  But Gerry's writing meant I was not alone in telling Americans about piquillos and escudella and jamón.  At a time when most food journalists were writing about France and Italy, Gerry went off in his own direction to become to first to really tell the story of Spain."


Like I said, some days the Gods smile on you and when the culinary Gods smile on you that is some great day indeed. For many years I have lived believing that the greatest day of my life is still ahead of me, not behind me. Receiving the Silver Spoon Award made this one of my greatest days and it also re-affirmed that the best day of all is still ahead.


Mil gracias a todos, Gerry

From Food Arts Silver Spoon Award December 2009 Gerry Dawes

____________________________________________________________________________

About Gerry Dawes

Gerry Dawes's Spain: An Insider's Guide to Spanish Food, Wine, Culture and Travel

Gerry Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine, won The Cava Institute's First Prize for Journalism for his article on cava in 2004, was awarded the CineGourLand “Cinéfilos y Gourmets” (Cinephiles & Gourmets) prize in 2009 in Getxo (Vizcaya) and received the 2009 Association of Food Journalists Second Prize for Best Food Feature in a Magazine for his Food Arts article, a retrospective piece about Catalan star chef, Ferran Adrià.

". . .That we were the first to introduce American readers to Ferran Adrià in 1997 and have ever since continued to bring you a blow-by-blow narrative of Spain's riveting ferment is chiefly due to our Spanish correspondent, Gerry "Mr. Spain" Dawes, the messianic wine and food journalist raised in Southern Illinois and possessor of a self-accumulated doctorate in the Spanish table. Gerry once again brings us up to the very minute. . ." - - Michael & Ariane Batterberry, Editor-in-Chief/Publisher and Founding Editor/Publisher, Food Arts, October 2009.

Mr. Dawes is currently working on a reality television
series on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.

Experience Spain With Gerry Dawes: Culinary Trips to Spain & Travel Consulting on Spain

Gerry Dawes can be reached at gerrydawes@aol.com; Alternate e-mail (use only if your e-mail to AOL is rejected): gerrydawes@gmail.com

Barbecue Pitmaster Stars Exclusive Trip The Grand Jamón Ibérico & Pig Tasting Tour of Spain 2015

Barbecue Pitmaster Stars Exclusive Trip

The Grand Jamón Ibérico & Pig Tasting Tour of Spain
 (Limited to qualified Barbecue team members and their family members and crews.)

 Horno de Asar, oven for roasting, part of the famous murals of La Chata restaurant on Cava Baja, old quarter of Madrid. 
Photograph by Gerry Dawes©2009. Contact: gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter.

Suggested Dates: 

Dates to be Determined 

(Below is a sample itinerary.)

Pricing on request at gerrydawes@aol.com
(Based on a minimum of 20 travelers.)

Led by Spanish Food & Wine Expert Gerry Dawes
Spanish National Gastronomy Prize 2003

(Originally from Southern Illinois, born in the same town as BBQ Legend Mike Mills.)

17th Street Bar & Grill / Memphis Championship Barbecue's Mike Mills "The Legend" with Gerry Dawes at the Big Apple BBQ Block Party 2012. 
Photo by Kay Balun©2012 / gerrydawes@aol.com.

Correspondent on Spain for Food Arts Magazine,
Contributor de Departures, Conde Nast Gourmet Live, Sommelier Journal

Tour Leader to Spain, Commonwealth Club of California (2), World Trade Center Club
Michael Chiarello & Many Other Top Chefs

See Pinterest for Gerry Dawes photographs of BBQ stars, Big Apple BBQ Block Party, NYC

* * * * *
A Gastronomic & Touristic Visit to Spanish Pig Country

Home of Jamón Ibérico (the World's Finest Cured Hams)

Superb Embutidos (Cured Pig Meats; Sausages; etc.)

Roast Suckling Pig & Pig Tapas

Plus We Will Dine on Some of the World's Finest Fish & Shellfish,
Lamb & Beef and Bean Dishes for Light Relief

With Opportunities to Sample Other Superb Regional Cuisine

Great Wines, Refreshing Beers and Excellent Regional Cheeses

 Travel to World-Famous Tourist Sights &

The Little-Known, Unspoiled Villages of the Spanish Conquistadores
(in the heart of Spanish Pig Country)

 Gerry Dawes, Pat Martin of Martin's Bar-B-Que Joint, Nashville, TN  with Gerry's fiancee Kay Killian Balun 

at The Big Apple BBQ Block Party 2013, New York City.  Photograph by John Sconzo©2013

Day 00 Thursday, Feb. 1, 2015 - Flight to Madrid from gateway cities.

Day 01 & Day 02 Friday, Feb. 2 & Saturday, Feb. 3 Madrid

Arrive in Madrid, Spain’s capital, where we will rendezvous at our hotel, which will be near the Prado Museum. We will allow everyone to freshen up, then we will meet at 2 p.m. for a short optional tapas tour of the area near our hotel.  In the afternoon, there will be free time for siestas, shopping or touring.  In the evening, we will eat cochinillo asado, roast suckling pig and/or roast suckling lamb in the world’s oldest continually operating restaurant (Hemingway wrote about it). 

Cochinillo asado, roast suckling pig, specialty of the house at Casa Botín, an old Hemingway hangout where a major scene in The Sun Also Rises was set, on calle Cuchilleros, old quarter of Madrid.  
Photograph by Gerry Dawes©2009. Contact: gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter.

In Madrid, we will also visit the Prado Museum and other sights, have time for shopping and getting over jet lag, get our first introduction to jamón Ibérico, the world’s best hams from acorn-fed, pata negra (black foot breed) pigs; to a wide variety of tapas (small plate specialties); and to some of the best shellfish in the world, not to mention a couple of egg and potato dishes that may soon become staples on some of your menus back home.

 Cutting jamón Ibérico at Mas Gourmets, El Mercado de San Miguel.  

Photo: Gerry Dawes©2011 / gerrydawes@aol.com.

Day 03 Sunday, Feb. 4  Madrid - Segovia - Ávila

From Madrid, we will go to Segovia, the roast suckling pig capital of Spain and home to an amazing 2,000-year old Roman aqueduct that still crosses the city.  For lunch, we will have exceptional roast suckling pig, so tender they cut it with the edge of a plate, in a restaurant that has been a must visit for celebrities and just plain folks for decades.  
  

 Segovia, Mesón de Cándido, a major roast suckling pig restaurant alongside the Roman Aqueduct. 

Photograph by Gerry Dawes ©2008

 After lunch we will visit the amazing Medieval walled town of Ávila, stop off to see one of Spain’s greatest jamón Ibérico ham cutters–he travels the world showing how these hams should be cut–and sample his hams.   We will spend the night in Ávila and dine on this city's version of roast suckling pig.

The great cortador de jamones (ham cutting artist), Florencio Sanchidrián, at Florencio's Rincón de Jabugo restaurant in his Gran Hostal San Segundo in Ávila, Spain. Jan. 21, 2014. With John Sconzo (Docsconz: Musings on Food & Life), L. J. Sconzo and mi pareja, Kay Balun. Flores explains there are seven different flavor profiles in each ham. Video by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest.  Canon 5D Mark III

Day 04 - Monday, Feb. 5  Salamanca -  Guijuelo - Cáceres - Trujillo


We then move on to spend the morning in the historic university city of Salamanca, whose Plaza Mayor (main square) is the most beautiful in Spain, and sample the area specialty, tostón, roast suckling pig with crackling skin.  (You may recognize the Plaza Mayor square in Salamanca from the 2008 movie Vantage Point.)

 
Plaza Mayor, Salamanca. Photo by Gerry Dawes©2010 / gerrydawes@aol.com

Before lunch, we will head south through the major pig town of Guijuelo, where we will stop to visit one of Spain’s top jamón Ibérico producers, sample some primo jamón and sausages, then travel south to the monumental medieval city of Cáceres, where we will have lunch and sample the sensational local Torta del Casar cheeses.  After lunch, we will tour the old quarter, then move on to nearby Trujillo to spend the night. 

The hilltop town of Trujillo, hometown of Pizarro (conqueror of the Incas) and Orellana (the first European to make the 2400-mile trip down the Amazon), has a major cheese fair every year in May and producers here make great goat cheeses, including Ibores.  Here we will take a break from pig, have some roast goat and try other regional dishes and Extremaduran cheeses.

Equestrian statute of Francisco Pizarro, conqueror of the Incas, in the Plaza Mayor of Trujillo, Extremadura.  
Photo: Gerry Dawes©2011 / gerrydawes@aol.com.

 
Day 05 Tuesday, Feb. 6 Trujillo - Montánchez - Mérida

What an exciting day we have in front of us! After a walk around picturesque Trujillo, the next stop is Montánchez, an incredible hilltop town, where we will sample the prime hams, including some of the best in Spain, from this village and visit a hermitage with stunning views. 
 

Iberian pata negra pigs, the ones used for Ibérico Jamones de Bellota, foraging for bellotas (acorns) near Montánchez (Cáceres). Photo by Gerry Dawes©2013 / gerrydawes@aol.com / http://www.gerrydawesspain.com Canon 5D Mark III / Canon 70 200mm f/4L USM with Canon 1.4 Telextender.

We will roll on to Mérida, one of the best preserved Roman cities in Europe. The Roman bridge across the Guadiana River, a superb amphitheatre and arena and well-preserved remnants of this important Imperial city are scattered all over town.  (One shop in this city has the figure of a Roman Centurion whose shield is an Ibérico ham.) 

 Depiction of a Roman centurion with a ham in Mérida, which has the most important collection of Roman monuments in Spain and is at the center of pig products in Spain's western provinces.  

Photo by Gerry Dawes©2013 /  gerrydawes@aol.com.

We will stay in the Parador de Mérida, in a renovated convent, just a couple of blocks from the main square (excellent evening lollygagging territory) and within an easy stroll of all the major Roman ruins.  This afternoon will be free to relax, tour the Roman monuments, stroll across the river on a pedestrian-only Roman bridge and take the evening off.

 Mérida’s Roman bridge, mirrored by a modern bridge designed by Santiago Calatrava, spanning the Guadiana River.  Mérida has the most important Roman monuments in Spain. 

 Photo by Gerry Dawes©2013 /  gerrydawes@aol.com.

Day 06 Wednesday, Feb. 7 Mérida  - Jerez de los Caballeros - Jabugo - Sevilla

We will leave Merida in the morning, stopping off for a short visit to Jerez de los Caballeros, the evocative and picturesque hometown of Vasco Nuñez de Balboa (discoverer of the Pacific Ocean) and De Soto (explorer of the Mississippi River). By lunchtime, we will arrive in Jabugo, the jamón Ibérico capital of the Andalucía. We will tour a jamón processing plant and have lunch in a picturesque nearby village with local specialties and some of the best pig products in the world. 

Employees at Consorcio de Jabugo checking the jamones Ibéricos de bellota (hams from acorn-fed Ibérico pigs) curing in their plant. 
Photo: Gerry Dawes©2011 / gerrydawes@aol.com.


Julio Revilla, President of Consorcio de Jabugo, jamón Ibérico de bellota producers, at his stand at the Madrid Fusión gastronomic conference. ("Signature Jabugo hams. The Ibérico (pig), a singular breed. A place with a unique climate, Jabugo. And special treatment, the arte of Ibérico Ham Maestros.") Photo: Gerry Dawes©2011 / gerrydawes@aol.com.

After lunch, we will arrive in Sevilla, the city of Carmen and one of the most beautiful and evocative cities in Europe.  After checking into our hotel, we can relax until early evening when I will lead a walking tour of this stunningly pretty city where Gerry Dawes lived for nearly six years.  We will sample tapas in a few places, then sit down in a particularly good tapas bar for some grilled shrimp and other special tapas, including, no doubt, a plate or two of Ibérico ham.

La Giralda, the former minaret of the Moorish mosque, now the bell tower of Sevilla's cathedral. 
Photo: Gerry Dawes©2011 / gerrydawes@aol.com. 

After the tapas tour, we go with some native Sevillanos to an authentic flamenco joint. 

Flamenco, Sevilla. 
Photo by Gerry Dawes, copyright 2010 / gerrydawes@aol.com

Day 07 Thursday, Feb. 8 Sevilla - Sanlúcar de Barrameda - Sevilla

In the morning, we will have a guided tour of the Cathedral and the Moorish fortress-palace El Alcázar, do some strolling and shopping, then travel south to the superb fishing and wine town of Sanlúcar de Barrameda, where Columbus set sail on his second voyage to America.  We will prevail upon one of my friends to open his 200-year old sherry bodega and let us taste some of his exceptional manzanilla sherries, then we will have lunch at a beachfront restaurant with more manzanilla, grilled shellfish and some of the best fried fish in the world.  

Javier Hidalgo, one of the Directors of Bodegas Hidalgo La Gitana,Sanlúcar de Barrameda. 
All photos by Gerry Dawes©2010. Contact gerrydawes@aol.com for publication rights.

Hopefully, we will see one of Sanlucar's spectacular sunsets from the legendary Bajo de Guia fisherman's beach with a glass of manzanilla in hand (more on this later). Afterwards, we’ll return to Sevilla in the early evening to relax.  Those still game can go with me for an optional tapas crawl of the old city's famous taverns.

Day 08 Friday, Feb. 9 Sevilla - Córdoba - Toledo

We will leave Sevilla in the morning and head for Córdoba, where we will visit the old quarter and tour the Mezquita-- once one of the great Mosques in the world, so huge that it has the Christian full-sized cathedral built into the middle of it. 

The Mihrab in Córdoba's Mezquita (former mosque during the Moorish occupation of Spain). 
Photo: Gerry Dawes©2013 / gerrydawes@aol.com. 

We will tour the labyrinthine streets of the old quarter, one of Spain’s finest, stopping at a special Córdoban taberna, where the berenjenas fritas (fried eggplant) may also end up on your home menus, along with salmorejo (a thick kind of gazpacho that is at its best here).  We will then travel north less than an hour to visit the great up-and-coming jamón Ibérico region of Pedroches, tour a ham-curing operation and see the Ibérico pata negra (black foot breed) pigs grazing on acorns in the picturesque countryside and have lunch with the producers. 

Salmorejo with chopped jamón Ibérico and egg at Taberna Juan Peña, Córdoba. 
Photo: Gerry Dawes©2013 / gerrydawes@aol.com. 

Juan Luís Ortiz Pérez, Secretario General, Consejo Regulador Denominación de Origen Los Pedroches Jamones y Embutidos Ibéricos (Ibérico hams and charcuterie) talking (in Spanish) to Madrid Fusión Mexico Director Blanca Villarello and me about Ibérico pigs and some new rules about the use of the term "pata negra" (black hoof pigs). Videoby Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest.  Canon 5D Mark III
 

After lunch, we will drive across La Mancha, land of Don Quixote, stop to see some of the famous windmills and arrive in the early evening in the historic city of Toledo, where the following day our barbecue stars will exhibit their cooking skills for the Spanish press and gastronomic luminaries in a spectacular location overlooking Toledo.   Some of our lucky barbecue esperts will go to Chef-owner Adolfo Muñoz's (Restaurante Adolfo) cigarral country house (a couple of miles) overlooking Toledo and the Alcazar and get the pig smoking for tomorrow's event and leave a couple of crew, along with Adolfo's crew, to keep things going.  You will be supplied with plenty of beer, vino, food and probably a bed.  The rest of the group will have dinner in Toledo at one of Adolfo's restaurants.

La Mancha, text and photos by Gerry Dawes, The Wine News.  

 Day 09 Saturday, Feb. 10 Toledo (cooking exhibition) - Chinchón

Chef-owner Adolfo Muñoz's (Restaurante Adolfo) Ama vineyards at his cigarral country house overlooking Toledo and the Alcazar.  Photo: Gerry Dawes©2011 / gerrydawes@aol.com. 

This morning most of us will tour Toledo and see the sights, including El Greco's home, then in late morning, we will all go to the cigarral and finish preparing the pig feast for the press and invited Spanish chefs and culinary luminaries.

After lunch, we will load up and travel for about 45 minutes to the enchanting city of Chinchón, where we will check into our charming hotel just a block from Chinchón’s legendary Plaza Mayor, one of Spain’s best restored and loveliest plazas, which is like a page out of the 16th Century.   

We will relax a bit, perhaps have a world-class gin-and-tonic then have dinner overlooking the charming Plaza Mayor, whose romantic restaurants offer classic Castillian dishes, including more pig of course, but with the option of having wood-grilled steaks, bean dishes, fried potatoes with “broken eggs” and other specialties. 

We can linger over a glass of local Madrid D.O. wine or the town’s famous Anis Chinchón liqueur, watch the peregrinations of the people down in the plaza and reminisce about the high points and comedic episodes of our trip to the great pork regions of Spain.

A glass of local garnacha rosado wine served with huevos rotos con patatas (fried eggs "broken" over fried potatoes) at La Balconada restaurant, overlooking La Plaza Mayor of Chinchón.
Photo: Gerry Dawes©2013 / gerrydawes@aol.com. 

Day 10, Sunday, Feb. 9 Chinchón - Madrid Airport (1 hour) - Flights to USA

In the morning our bus will take the tour members to Madrid Airport for the flights back home.

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About Gerry Dawes

Writing, Photography, & Specialized Tours of Spain & Tour Advice

For custom-designed tours of Spain, organized and lead by Gerry Dawes, and custom-planned Spanish wine, food, cultural and photographic itineraries, send inquiries to gerrydawes@aol.com.  

I have planned and led tours for such culinary stars as Chefs Thomas Keller, Mark Miller, Mark Kiffin, Michael Lomonaco and Michael Chiarello and such personalities as baseball great Keith Hernandez and led on shorter excursions and have given detailed travel advice to many other well-known chefs and personalities such as Drew Nieporent, Norman Van Aken, Karen Page and Andrew Dornenberg, Christopher Gross, Rick Moonen, James Campbell Caruso and many others.

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“The American writer and town crier for all good Spanish things Gerry Dawes . . . the American connoisseur of all things Spanish . . .” Michael Paterniti, The Telling Room: A Tale of Love, Betrayal, Revenge and The World’s Greatest Piece of Cheese

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"Gerry Dawes, I can't thank you enough for opening up Spain to me." -- Michael Chiarello on Twitter. 

"Chiarello embarked on a crash course by traveling to Spain for 10 days in 2011 with Food Arts

contributing authority Gerry Dawes, a noted expert on Spanish food and wine.  Coqueta's (Chiarello's new restaurant at Pier Five, San Francisco) chef de cuisine, Ryan McIlwraith, later joined Dawes for his own two week excursion, as well. Sampling both old and new, they visited wineries and marketplaces, as well as some of Spain's most revered dining establishments, including the Michelin three-star Arzak, Etxebarri, the temple to live fire-grilling; Tickets, the playful Barcelona tapas bar run by Ferran Adrià and his brother, Albert; and ABaC, where Catalan cooking goes avant-garde." - - Carolyn Jung, Food Arts, May 2013.

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"In his nearly thirty years of wandering the back roads of Spain," Gerry Dawes has built up a much stronger bank of experiences than I had to rely on when I started writing Iberia...His adventures far exceeded mine in both width and depth..." -- James A. Michener, author of Iberia: Spanish Travels and Reflections

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Gerry Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine, won The Cava Institute's First Prize for Journalism for his article on cava in 2004, was awarded the CineGourLand “Cinéfilos y Gourmets” (Cinephiles & Gourmets) prize in 2009 in Getxo (Vizcaya) and received the 2009 Association of Food Journalists Second Prize for Best Food Feature in a Magazine for his Food Arts article, a retrospective piece about Catalan star chef, Ferran Adrià. 

In December, 2009, Dawes was awarded the Food Arts Silver Spoon Award in a profile written by José Andrés. ". . .That we were the first to introduce American readers to Ferran Adrià in 1997 and have ever since continued to bring you a blow-by-blow narrative of Spain's riveting ferment is chiefly due to our Spanish correspondent, Gerry "Mr. Spain" Dawes, the messianic wine and food journalist raised in Southern Illinois and possessor of a self-accumulated doctorate in the Spanish table. Gerry once again brings us up to the very minute. . ." - - Michael & Ariane Batterberry, Editor-in-Chief/Publisher and Founding Editor/Publisher, Food Arts, October 2009. 

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Trailer-pilot for a reality television series 

on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.

Experience Spain With Gerry Dawes: Customized Culinary, Wine & Cultural Trips to Spain & Travel Consulting on Spain  

Gerry Dawes can be reached at gerrydawes@aol.com