Cocina Andaluza · The Southern Table

Andalusian Cooking Without Vegetable Oil

From the patios of C贸rdoba to the shore of C谩diz, the South of Spain has always cooked with what the land gives: green olive oil, good butter, and honest lard. No seed oils, no shortcuts, just the flavors of the fog贸n.

Explore the Recipes
Olive Oil✦ Butter✦ Manteca
A rustic table generously set with home cooked dishes
✦ The table is set the way the South has always set it.
Oro Verde

Olive Oil First

Andalusia grows more olives than anywhere on earth. Extra virgin olive oil opens nearly every recipe here, for frying, for finishing, and for the bread on the side.

Manteca Color谩

Traditional Fats

Where the old cooks reached for lard, butter, or paprika tinted manteca, so do we. These fats carried Andalusian cooking for centuries and they still do the job best.

Sin Semillas

Never Vegetable Oil

You will not find sunflower, canola, soybean, or any seed oil in these pages. Every recipe is written for olive oil, butter, lard, ghee, tallow, or coconut oil only.

Recetas de la Casa

Six Dishes from the South

A short tour of the Andalusian table: a cold soup from C贸rdoba, greens from Sevilla, prawns from M谩laga, and a dessert born in the convents of Jerez.

A chilled tomato soup finished with a ribbon of olive oil C贸rdoba

Salmorejo Cordob茅s

The thick, silky cold tomato cream of C贸rdoba, built on ripe tomatoes, bread, and a generous pour of extra virgin olive oil.

  • 25 min + chilling
  • Serves 4
  • Easy
A bowl of greens and legumes dressed with olive oil Sevilla

Espinacas con Garbanzos

Sevilla's beloved tapa of spinach and chickpeas, thickened with fried bread and warmed with cumin and sweet paprika.

  • 35 min
  • Serves 4
  • Easy
Slow braised meat resting on a serving board C贸rdoba

Rabo de Toro

The famous Cordoban oxtail braise: browned in olive oil, then simmered slowly in red wine and vegetables until it slips from the bone.

  • 3 hr 30 min
  • Serves 6
  • Moderate
A plated seafood dish with herbs and lemon M谩laga

Gambas al Pil Pil

Prawns cooked fast in bubbling olive oil with garlic, dried chile, and paprika, brought to the table still sizzling.

  • 15 min
  • Serves 4
  • Easy
Freshly baked rustic bread rolls on a linen cloth Antequera

Molletes de Antequera

The soft, pale breakfast rolls of Antequera, made with olive oil in the dough and split open for toast with more oil or manteca.

  • 3 hr with proofing
  • Makes 8 rolls
  • Moderate
A rich golden dessert served in small portions Jerez

Tocino de Cielo

The old convent dessert of Jerez: an intensely golden egg yolk custard set over dark caramel, richer and denser than any flan.

  • 1 hr + chilling
  • Serves 8
  • Moderate
A pot of food simmering on a home stove
Nuestra Cocina

Our Kitchen

Zuanaz Fog贸n is a home cooking journal devoted to the food of Andalusia, the sun struck south of Spain. We write down the dishes the way the old kitchens made them: fried in olive oil, enriched with butter or manteca, and seasoned with patience.

Every recipe here is cooked in an ordinary home kitchen before it is published, with ingredients you can find at a regular market. When a traditional recipe calls for a fat, we keep the traditional one. Nothing on this site is ever made with vegetable or seed oil.

Buen provecho.