Laura P. Eshelman
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Authentic Extremenian cooking


Seve Garcia Vasquez has worked at Oasis for 6 years and showed me how to prepare various Extremenian dishes.

How do they cook in Jerez? Easy, just use all of the parts of the pig. Really, ALL of the parts. Every part is used and eaten — even the stomach of the pig is cleaned and filled with chorizo or sausage.

Going to the matanza, I learned this basic principle of how Extremeños use and respect pigs. After spending some time in Oasis and learning how to cook, I was able to see it all in action. Oasis gets the meat from various campos around Jerez, and they serve all types of pig dishes. At first I thought I would learn the process of cooking, but I’m not sure how much I will put these techniques in practice when I’m back in the states. After all, it’s not too often I will have a cured leg of jamón in my kitchen or a pig’s ear at my disposal.

Learn how to cut a leg of jamón:


Note: This was my first attempt editing on my computer and doing video with my new camera. Great practice: I will only improve from here. Lessons learned: 1. Focus 2. Decide to make a video ahead of time 3. Figure out audio

What I found in an Extremeño kitchen:


Roast Suckling Pig (cochinillo asado)


Tail (rabo): tender pieces of fatty meat served with onion, peppers, carrots and tomatoes (careful of the bones)


Tongue (lengua): boiled, later sliced and served with sauce


Ear (oreja): A bit tough, but I tried this, and it had a texture I didn’t love. Notice the hair.


Vasquez stirs a Roquefort sauce while Antonio Romero Mesa does prep work the kitchen of Oasis. Vasquez learned how to prepare these dishes from Mesa.

And now something less strange and by far the most delicious thing I tried: a tender piece of Iberian pork loin


Pluma

Now, on to preparing them myself …. Maybe I’ll start with the pluma.

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