Casquería may not be photogenic enough for the times we live in, but it is a fundamental part of Madrid’s gastronomy. Its appearance (and smell in many cases) makes that the gallinejas are only praised by those who have eaten a sandwich in a frying house (never in a verbena) before even having the use of reason. Getting used to them when you grow up is more complicated, but as C. Tangana foresaw, making the castizo flag may bring them back to the menus of the most modern restaurants, albeit in a different format.
What are they? Fried tripe. What is it? It has been changing over the centuries, the most common (although they are not very common) are those of lamb. Like many other dishes, it was born out of misery. The guts that were discarded in the old slaughterhouse were collected and fried by people who had nothing else and eventually became popular, especially in the southern part of the capital.
Although the great survivor of the casquería is tripe, there are other dishes that are still common on the menus of Madrid restaurants: oxtail, ear or tongue are just some examples.
Casa Enriqueta
The history of this fried fish restaurant is the history of chicken in Madrid. The great-great-grandmother of the current owners had a stall in Puerta de Toledo in 1909, then it was typical for women to sell them fried next to the old slaughterhouse in the area. In 1956 they established themselves in the premises they still keep today, on the other side of the Manzanares River, as a tavern and frying house.
In the 60’s, the hens lived their peak and the frying houses like theirs multiplied. Nowadays, they are survivors of the most typical fried offal.
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Calle del General Ricardos, 19 (Marqués de Vadillo)
La Tasqueria
La Tasquería has turned casquería into haute cuisine worthy of a Michelin star and a sun from the Repsol Guide. The tripe, pig’s trotters, feet, snout, tail served at La Tasqueria are a twist on traditional recipes. In this restaurant they manage to make them attractive both for those whose palate is accustomed to these flavors and for those who discover with them this type of flavor and texture.
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Modesto Lafuente Street, 82 (Nuevos Ministerios)
Casa Ricardo
Casa Ricardo opened its doors in 1935 and its menu and decoration seem not to have changed since then. Tradition permeates everything and the star dishes are very well defined: callos a la madrileña, oxtail and migas manchegas. Other classics of the casquería that have remained untouched on the menu are the grilled lamb sweetbreads and kidneys or lamb kidneys in sherry, pig’s trotters and bull’s criadillas.
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Fernando el Católico Street, 31 (Chamberí)
Casa Kike
Casa Kike is a restaurant in Imperial that meets all the requirements of a reliable neighborhood bar where you can also eat well. The oxtail, almost always advertised on its blackboards, is one of its main attractions and one of the reasons why its large terrace on Paseo de los Melancólicos is packed every weekend. Kike, the charismatic owner, is probably the other reason for its success.
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Paseo de los Melancólicos, 43 (Imperial)
Salino
In Salino they wanted to give a twist to the casquería and present the gallinejas in a new format. The chef Javier Aparicio explains it this way in the press release: “we like to ask ourselves why some typical dishes have fallen into ostracism and we try to version them with today’s standards. We already did it with torreznos (bacon bacon fritters) or buñuelos de bacalao (cod fritters) and this time we wanted to recover gallinejas, something very typical of Madrid, but paradoxically difficult to find”. His defatted and crunchy redfish are accompanied by a corn taco with avocado, mango and chipotle.
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Calle de Menorca, 4 (Ibiza)
Smoke
If there is a gastronomy that embroiders the dishes of casquería, that is the Creole. It is worth taking a leap from traditional to Peruvian, because the Lima chef Jhosep Arias has two restaurants in Madrid where the anticucho shines among the options on the menu. This dish, which has existed since pre-Columbian times, is traditionally made with marinated beef heart. In Humo restaurants, it is seasoned with aji panca chili and served with corn and good home fries. Its resemblance to the pincho moruno is pleasantly surprising.
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Calle del Pintor Juan Gris, 5 (Cuzco) and Calle de Hermosilla, 73 (Goya)