gachas — Spain

Gachas is a long-standing rustic dish of central and southern Spain, a thick porridge or paste made by cooking flour, most often wheat, in water or stock; the word itself simply means porridge, pulp or purée. The dish is reported as having survived mainly in rural areas and modest households, where it provided a filling, protein-bearing food ahead of a day of field work, which is why it carries a reputation as a plain, humble dish, sometimes called "the field dish" in its savoury form. To prepare it, garlic and sometimes bits of cured pork or chorizo are fried in olive oil, paprika is stirred in, and flour is added and toasted briefly before water is poured in gradually, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens into a smooth, spoonable paste. Served this way, plain and without further seasoning, it stands as a main course; for the dessert version, the same base is sweetened with sugar and flavoured with cinnamon or anise instead of paprika and garlic. What is reported to separate one gachas from another is mainly this savoury-versus-sweet fork and the choice of fat and flavouring, lard, olive oil or bacon fat on the savoury side, cinnamon or aniseed on the sweet one, rather than a single fixed recipe; both forms are treated on equal footing here.