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Of gastronomic delicacies based on all forms of seafood.
Times are changing and the influence of international cuisine is penetrating Spain as well. For example, there is a trend these days to present barely cooked fish, something unthinkable of only a few years ago. But as we get closer to harbour areas of the Spanish peninsula and to places where we find what we know as popular cuisine, these is still fish cooked in the traditional way, achieving a crunchy outside and a perfectly juicy inside.
 
In Galicia, fresh hake is one kind of food that is always on the table, together with turbot, angler fish, sole and other species of light and dark meat fish. But without a doubt the star of Galician cuisine is Galician style octopus. It is very simple to make. Octopus meat is very hard, so it is advisable to freeze it in order to make it tender. It is usually boiled and seasoned with salt, paprika and olive oil.
 
Another popular dish is Galician fish stew, or caldeirada, one of the most typical recipes that the fishermen cooked when they were at sea. It is a very simple dish and can be made with any kind of sea fish good for boiling. Hake, turbot or ray fish are good for this kind of dish.
 
Moving along the Northern Spanish coast, in the kitchens of Santander, Santoña, Laredo, San Vicente de la Barquera or Castro Urdiales are prepared delicious dishes such as hake coated in green sauce, baby eels, roasted or grilled red bream or onion coated squid, not to forget stewed tuna, turbot or steamed mussels. Grilled sardines and grilled bream are also an important part of the seafood tradition, highlighted by sorropotun in San Vicente de la Barquera, a typical dish made with tuna fish and potatoes.
 
In the Basque Country, the plate of honour goes without doubt to cod, a well appreciated fish with innumerable ways of preparation and cooking. Most notable are the Basque Cod Pil-Pil, and the Vizcayan Cod.
 
But the Basques do not live on cod alone. We can also find other specialties like marmitaco (a kind of fish soup), squid in black ink, hake in green sauce or San Sebastian style red bream. Grilled fish is an excellent option to keep all the flavour and aroma of fresh fish, such as grilled sardines from Santurce, grilled red bream and other grilled fish.
 
Catalonia is another region with a fundamental seafood cuisine tradition. Cod fish is again a staple of the Catalonian kitchen, as well as all kinds of other sea foods. In Catalonian cuisine we can find grilled fish, stewed clams, bacallá a la llauna (seasoned cod in a tin) and zarzuela, a dish of  grouper, turbot, tiger shrimp or plain shrimp, squid and mussels that is called opera if it also contains lobster instead of shrimp. One can also try suquet de peix, a stew with a variety of fish, generally prepared with grouper and turbot, and to which Norway lobster or plain lobster can be added, fried with tomato sauce and onions and seasoned with different peppers.
 
In the coastal area of Albufera there is all-i-pebre danguiles, a dish made with a base of garlic, pepper and baby eels. Among all salt or fresh water fish, the Valencians prefer the eel as their staple fish.  They prepare it in a variety of ways. For example, eels in garlic almond sauce is a typical dish in Valencia. Like the Catalonians, the Valencians include suc de peix cooked on a low fire in a clay pot among their main dishes. In Benidorm, on the other hand, we can find pebrot, a seamans dish prepared with lampuga, a sea fish fried with peppers, garlic and laurel.
 
Andalucian kitchens get the best of all sea worlds. Where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic, we can find innumerable kinds of fish such as red tuna, whish is world known as one of the best kinds of fish. Hake, sole, anchovies, sea bass, red mullet, sardines, and shellfish can all be deep fried, grilled, salted, roasted, boiled or stewed with onions in traditional recipes like tuna with onions, or melva stew. Andalucian cuisine is well known for its deep fried fish, since it has both a long coast and huge olive oil producing regions. In Malaga, grilled sardines on a skewer, turbot soup and marinated tuna Malagueño style are famous dishes. In Cadiz, the dishes par excellence are seamens stew, excellent shellfish from Sanlúcar de Barrameda  and black ink stewed squid. In Huelva one can find sardines with pepper sauce, tuna in tomato sauce, baby octopus with beans, pargo with onions, sword fish in yellow sauce, ray with paprika sauce, and clams with rice.