Extremadura, Spain
The shepherds' and farmhands' dish of Extremadura — day-old bread torn or crumbled and fried in lard or olive oil with garlic, pimentón, and chorizo or tocino until the crumbs are crisp outside and slightly soft within. Migas is the definitive comfort food of the Spanish interior: Extremadura, La Mancha, Murcia, and Aragon all have their versions, but the Extremaduran is considered the most elemental. The name comes from miga — crumb. The bread must be stale (at least a day old) and moistened with water the night before to achieve the right texture — part-crisp, part-yielding. Served for breakfast or lunch, always with fried eggs, chorizo, and occasionally grapes or melon as a sweet contrast.
Stale bread is essential — fresh bread produces gummy, not crisp, migas. Dampen the bread the night before with a measured amount of salted water (the bread should be moistened through but not wet). Cook in lard or oil with garlic and pimentón until crisp. The pimentón is added off the heat to prevent burning. Do not add anything after the pimentón — the layering is sequential, not simultaneous.
The traditional extremeño addition is tocino (salt pork) fried with the garlic before the bread is added — it seasons the fat and adds a bacony depth. The sweet accompaniment of grapes, melon, or orange segments is not affectation — the sugar and acid cut through the fat and restore appetite. Serve with fried eggs. Pair with young Tempranillo from Ribera del Guadiana.
Fresh bread — produces paste instead of crumbs. Not moistening overnight — dry bread shatters rather than crisping correctly. Adding the pimentón on direct heat — it burns in seconds. Under-frying — migas must be properly crisped.
The Food of Spain by Claudia Roden