Mar i muntanya
Catalan 'sea and mountain' cooking: dishes that combine seafood with meat in the same pot. Chicken with prawns is the canonical example.
Mar i muntanya is a defining principle of Catalan cooking: the deliberate pairing of seafood with meat in a single dish, on the logic that the contrast deepens both. The canonical version is pollastre amb gambes (chicken with prawns), a Costa Brava classic in which a chocolate-and-almond picada binds the two. Other examples: meatballs with cuttlefish (mandonguilles amb sípia), rabbit with prawns (conill amb gambes), chicken with snails. The combination predates Catalan modernist cuisine by centuries (it shows up in the 15th-century Llibre del Coch), and is one of the things that distinguishes Catalan cooking from the meat-or-fish strict split of most European traditions.
How it's served
On a flat plate as a main course, with the meat and seafood plated together and the binding sauce ladled across. Bread on the side for sopping. Most often served at Empordà and Costa Brava restaurants; less common in inland Catalan cooking.
Regional variation
The Empordà and Costa Brava are the heartland; the picada tradition there carries chocolate alongside almonds in mar i muntanya sauces. Inland Catalan kitchens use the same logic in different combinations (rabbit with snails is more inland). Outside Catalonia the concept barely exists; the strict French and Italian meat-or-fish separation never gave way.
- Origin
- Catalonia (Costa Brava and Empordà)
- Etymology
- Catalan for 'sea and mountain,' a literal translation of the cooking concept.
- Also called
- surf and turf
Where to try it in Barcelona
One restaurant on Guidavera mentions mar i muntanya in their kitchen description.
Frequently asked
What is mar i muntanya?
A Catalan cooking concept that pairs seafood with meat in the same dish. The canonical version is chicken with prawns (pollastre amb gambes), bound by a chocolate-and-almond picada. The logic is that the contrast deepens both ingredients; the concept predates Catalan modernist cooking by centuries.
Why is chocolate in mar i muntanya sauce?
The Catalan picada tradition uses chocolate as a savoury thickener and bridge between meat and seafood flavours. The picada (a paste of almonds, garlic, parsley and bitter chocolate) gets stirred into the sauce at the end, where it deepens the colour, thickens the body and adds a faint cocoa bitterness. Far more common in Empordà than in inland Catalan cooking.
What dishes are examples of mar i muntanya?
Pollastre amb gambes (chicken with prawns) is the canonical version. Others: mandonguilles amb sípia (meatballs with cuttlefish), conill amb gambes (rabbit with prawns), pollastre amb cargols (chicken with snails), tripe with chickpeas and squid in some Empordà bodegues. The mar i muntanya logic is broad; the dishes that fit are many.
Related terms
- PicadaA pounded paste of nuts, garlic, parsley and sometimes fried bread, stirred into a Catalan stew at the end to thicken and finish it.
- SofritoA slow-cooked base of onion, tomato and garlic in olive oil. The starting point for most Spanish rice dishes, stews and sauces.
- Suquet de peixA Catalan fisherman's stew of white fish and potatoes, thickened with an almond-garlic picada.