The Spanish Sandwich That Features A Single Seafood Ingredient

Spanish cuisine shines through simple yet elegant technique, employing high-quality ingredients matched with thoughtful construction. Popular examples include tapas and the cuisine's must-try egg dishes, but for another mouth-watering example, sample the calamari sandwich.

The beloved dish — known as bocadillo de calamares — pairs a single fried seafood alongside bread to delicious effect. Here, quality ingredients are a must-have: bite into a fresh, moderately sized loaf containing fresh seafood fried to order, and the dish hits the spot. The crunchy-crispy textural elements of the fried calamari mesh together with the soft bread, and while the traditional preparation often features just a squeeze of lemon for moisture and acidity, many popular regional variations add a creamy element like aioli or mayonnaise, or even a spicy tomato-based sauce.

Enjoyed across Spain, the sandwich most popularly appears in Madrid's casual eateries. As the dish is easy to batch and inexpensive, it's fit for varied contexts — hence its availability as a street food, at tapas bars, marketplaces, and restaurants. Wherever you sample it, the bocadillo de calamares's use of squid meets bread consistently satisfies.

Whether stuffed with serrano ham or omelet, Spain's bocadillo sandwich takes on many forms. All versions are intertwined by the use of a crusty white bread — typically a barra de pan (baguette-style) — combined with only one or two high-quality ingredients. The foundation of a bocadillo de calamares is no different: the sandwich ideally employs a freshly baked, crusty, yet soft-crumbed roll, often a shorter section of a barra de pan, similar to a hoagie.

No less crucial are the centerpoint calamari. Although Madrid lies inland, trade routes from the country's diverse coastal regions establish remarkable seafood availability. So to lend the sandwich its ideal flavor and texture, it's paramount to use fresh and generously sized squid.

Preparing the fried calamari for the sandwich differs per cook, with several employed strategies to achieve the ideal crispy texture. Some first marinate the squid in milk, a strategy useful for both increasing the protein's softness and reducing off-putting flavors. Others simply slice it up and coat it in breading — typically a simple flour–pimentón–salt mixture, optionally seasoned with white pepper and dried parsley. The squid's briskly deep-fried to a golden brown state, then served alongside aioli, a lemon wedge, and occasionally a pickled pepper. Stuffed into a halved loaf of bread, it's a quick-to-make meal that creates delicious results.