Shaggy ink cap. A type of fungus which is edible when young. The cap overhangs so that, rather than the more common round cap, the shaggy ink cap has an elongated ovoid shape. It has shaggy scales which, when young, are white but which become darker with age. As it ages it becomes quite unpleasant to eat and eventually dissolves into a puddle of black liquid, giving it its English name.
Caesar's mushroom. Excellent raw in salads or grilled, stuffed or used as a garnish.
Bonito. A migratory fish which is available up to 25 lb (11.3 kg). Often sold as tuna, though it is not.
Red gurnard. Gurnards are strange-looking, scaly, spiky, bottom-feeding fish which use the three bottom rays of their pectoral fins to "feel" the sea bed. They have firm-textured white meat with a mild flavour. They are rich in protein, iodine and phosphorus. The red gurnard is the most attractive member of the family with pinkish-red colour and the finest flavour of the gurnards. They are all bony and tend to dryness so they are best served with a sauce. Small ones are excellent in soup. Red or grey mullet (US: striped mullet) can generally be subsituted for it, and are usually better.
A name in l'Empordà in Catalonia for chickweed. A plant which grows wild near streams and on wasteland and may be eaten raw in salads, cooked in the same way as spinach or used to make soup.
A Catalan name for triggerfish. A brightly coloured Mediterranean fish, more common in the southern Mediterranean than than the northern. It must be skinned before cooking as the skin is very tough.
A fat, white, pork sausage from Catalonia, seasoned with garlic, white wine and spices including cinnamon, nutmeg, fennel seeds, sometimes cumin and cloves. First boiled and then air-dried, it is generally eaten cold, though it may also be gently cooked, often with beans, and is less spicy than many other Spanish sausages. There are also black butifarrones.
