In Canarian homes, escaldón de gofio often accompanies Canarian stews and broths like pucheros or cazuelos but in some traditional restaurants it turns up on the starters menu.
The first in our ‘have you tried?’ series covering traditional food, drinks and anything that you can stick in your mouth, involves a dish that is common in Canarian culture but probably not one that’s been tasted by the majority of visitors to Tenerife.
In Canarian homes escaldón de gofio often accompanies Canarian stews and broths like pucheros or cazuelos but in some traditional restaurants it turns up on the starters menu.
It’s a dish that has links with Tenerife’s original inhabitants, the Guanches as the main ingredient is gofio; a flour that pre-dates the conquest. It’s made from various roasted grains and is still immensely popular across the Canary Islands (if you’ve never heard of it, just check the flour section next time you’re in a Canarian supermarket).
Escaldón in it’s most basic form is a very simple dish; consisting of gofio mixed with fish stock to make a thick paste. The better the stock, the better the escaldón. When I’ve had it, it’s come accompanied by huge chunks of onion for scooping it up like a dip. Sometimes people add meat, fish and, or, vegetables and occasionally even drizzle mojo (Canarian sauces) over it to perk it up.
It’s cheap, tasty (I think so anyway, although I have had dull as ditch-water versions – which some may say it can resemble) and whilst it’s never going to scale the culinary heights or be the best looking dish on the block, it is an authentic taste of Tenerife.
I learn’t about Gofio when I lived and worked with a Canarian Family in Las Palmas…The Cook in the house Benita , I believed lived on it; well I never saw her ever eating anything else ! and you would not call her thin !
When I am on holiday in Tenerife I usually have it sprinkled on my Yogurt for breakfast ….and I have also had Gofio ice-cream in our hotel ..and that is yummy !
“…and you would not call her thin…” – LOL. I’m not surprised, a gofio miller told me they used it to beef up the Canario wrestlers.
Yes, I’ve tried gofio ice cream; very, very nice. El Aderno does gofio chocolates which are also worth trying. It’s very versatile stuff 🙂
>>>>to beef up the Canario wrestlers<<<< well that it explains it then ! If Benita gave you a *FRIENDLY* pat on the back ; you would go flying ! ~~~~~~~
🙂
[…] E is for escaldón de gofio. Gofio is a toasted flour which has been the source of cheap but filling food for the Canarios since before the conquistadors ever set foot on the Canary Islands. The classic way to try it is as escaldón, a thick paste made from gofio and stock. It’s one of those dishes which changes from restaurant to restaurant – sometimes smooth, sometimes chunky. It’s cheap and very, very filling. We usually introduce escaldón virgins to it at La Cueva in Anaga (the escaldón) with mixed results. Possibly the most authentically Canarian dish there is, you could say it’s an acquired taste. Read more about gofio here. […]