In Gata we know how to eat, there is no doubt about that. Our typical dishes are steeped in tradition and their aromas bring back memories of our ancestors, who passed down the recipes from generation to generation. Today we bring you 3 gastronomic treasures from Gata that you cannot miss if you come to visit.
Pa Socarrat
The Pa Socarrat is a typical sweet bread covered in sugar, which can be eaten plain or dipped in coffee with milk, chocolate or whatever you like best. If you come to Gata one day, you cannot stop trying it. It is perfect for breakfast or a snack and its flavor is unmistakable. The ingredients to make it are flour, eggs, sugar, milk and yeast, among others. The charm of Pa Socarrat lies in its careful craftsmanship, with ancestral recipes that have been passed down from generation to generation.
Each and every one of Gata’s ovens make their products with care and leave their stamp on each one of them. The utensils and ovens they use are usually the same as those used by their parents, grandparents… And it makes them even more special. This dough, whose kneading takes a lot of work, requires several hours of rest before putting it in the oven. Its flavor is very sweet, with a white and spongy interior, and a dark and toasted outer layer, hence its name.
During Holy Week and Easter, it is very typical throughout the Valencian geography, although in Gata we like it so much that we enjoy it all year round.
Cocas
Coca is one of Gata’s most memorable gastronomic expressions, it is a kitchen that has managed to make necessity and scarcity its best virtue to become a luxury for the palate.
There are many recipes to make coca, but the base is always the same: flour, yeast, water, oil and fine salt. These are generally round cakes of about 5 to 10 centimeters. The dough is thin, spongy, with an extraordinary aroma of wood if it has been prepared in a wood-fired oven, on which different ingredients are placed. If you make it in the oven at home they are also great and delicious.
The most typical cocas are those made with mullador (pepper, tomato and aubergine), coca with onion and peas, the coca with herbs (field herbs that are harvested the same day), the one with onion, tomato, spinach or chard, the coca de aceite (only with a splash of olive oil and anchovy). They are usually accompanied by sausages or salted meats.
Cocas are a social dish. The day you eat cocas the whole family is left to make them. You have to toast the vegetables in the oven, peel them and prepare them to make the mulcher, cook the onion until it caramelizes, the peas, even go to make herbs before making the dough. Then all together knead and fill the cakes. They put them in the oven and you just have to wait for them to be done. If it is a wood-fired oven, in 4-5 minutes with a good ember they are already done, in a normal, light oven, it usually takes about 15 minutes.
Mistela
Mistela is a liqueur wine made from the muscatel grape, a very ripe and sunny grape that lives in our fields. It is very typical that after lunch or dinner, people have a glass of this sweet liquor with some ice to accompany the after-dinner meal.
When the grape harvest season arrives and it is brought from the field, it is cleaned and separated with great care. To “stretch” is to clean the grape, remove the smallest grains or that tarnish the cluster that will later be distributed throughout the rest of the country. But these remaining grains are not wasted… They are used to make this liquor with a delicate aroma and delicious flavor.
You will have no problem finding it in any restaurant or bar in Gata, just ask for it and they will serve it to you.
You can also buy it at El Celler de La Marina, a very complete winery where you will also find local products such as oils, wines, jams… and much more.
