How to order the best meat in a Spanish restaurant
Here on the Costa Blanca, paella, fish and seafood get top billing in most seafront restaurants. But meat eaters, worry not; there's plenty of variety on offer, especially as you travel further inland.
Here’s a handy translation of most of the dishes you’ll find in the CARNES (meat) section of the menu.
There's a separate section for steak and also for the different cuts of meat you'll find in Spain. In the UK, we tend to turn our noses up at offal; not here, where even the humblest cut can be transformed into something delicious (see the section on casquería below).
CARNES (MEAT)
Buey: bull
Cabra/cabrito: goat/kid
Cerdo: pork
Cochinillo: suckling pig
Conejo: rabbit
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Cordero: lamb. In the UK, lamb is defined as under one year old and anything older is mutton. Spain has more detailed definitions, but you don’t often see them on menus.
Cordero lechal, unweaned, up to 25 days old, 8 kg. See also lechazo.
Cordero recental or ternasco: up to 4 months old, less than 13kg.
Cordero pascual: slaughtered between 4-12 months.
Ovino mayor/carnero: sheep more than one year old (mostly found in the north of Spain)
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Cordoníz: quail
Faisán: pheasant
Jabalí: wild boar
Lechazo: lamb (unweaned, under 35 days old)
Pato: duck
Pavo: turkey
Pollo: chicken
Perdiz: partridge
Ternera: beef. Can also mean veal (e.g. escalope de ternera)
Vaca: cow
Venado: venison
WAYS OF COOKING
Ahumado: smoked
A la brasa: charcoal grilled
A la parrilla: grilled
A la plancha: cooked on a hot plate
Al horno: cooked in the oven
Barbacoa/parillada: barbeque
Estofado: stewed
Guisado: stewed/casseroled
Horno de leña: wood oven
Relleno: stuffed
STEAKS
Bistec: rump steak
Chuletón: T-bone steak
Entrecote: entrecote
Filete: fillet
Solomillo: sirloin
Poco hecho: rare
Al punto: rare
Medio hecho: medium
Bien hecho: well done
STYLES/CUTS OF MEAT
Alas de (pollo): wings (chicken)
Albondigas: meatballs
Carilladas de cerdo: pig cheeks (also known as mejillas, carrilleras)
Chuleta: chop
Chuletón: T-bone steak
Costillas: ribs/spare ribs
Escalope: escalope (of veal)
Filete: fillet steak (usually beef)
Higado: liver
Lengua: tongue
Lomo: loin, tenderloin pork
Mejillas de cerdo: pig cheeks
Manitas de cerdo: pig trotters
Molida: minced meat
Muslo de: (thigh) Muslo de pollo: chicken drumstick
Paleta: shoulder
Panceta de cerdo: belly of pork
Patas de cerdo: pigs' trotters
Picada: minced meat
Pierna: leg (usually lamb)
Pinchos: meat on a skewer (pinchos morunos are a typical tapa)
Pechuga: breast
Pluma: (literally feather) a really tender cut of pork from the neck of an Iberico pig
Poco hecho - rare/Al punto - rare/medio hecho - medium/bien hecho - well done
Rabo de toro: ox tail
Riñones: kidneys
Secreto: a cut of pork with amazing flavour from the shoulder/loin area of an Ibérico pig
CASQUERIA (OFFAL)
Carilladas de cerdo: pig cheeks (aka mejillas, carrilleras)
Higado: liver
Lengua: tongue
Mejillas de cerdo: pig cheeks
Manitas de cerdo: pigs trotters
Patas de cerdo: pigs trotters
Rabo de toro: ox tail (see pic)
Riñones: kidneys
Sesos: brains
Tripas: tripe