This Spanish Seafood Sandwich Typically Features Just One Ingredient Besides Bread

Listing every variety of sandwich that mankind has come up with would be impossible. If you can hold it between two slices of bread, you can call it a sandwich. The real test of a sandwich is making it delicious enough that people crave it. That's why we all know the classic peanut butter and jelly or a simple ham and cheese. But if you were to head to Spain and were interested in finding the most popular sandwich there, you would undoubtedly be directed to a bocadillo de calamares, a fried calamari sandwich. Few dishes in all of Spanish cuisine are as well known or well loved.

A true Spanish calamari sandwich, like you might find on the streets of Madrid or in any number of tapas restaurants, is deceptively simple. The bread is a crusty white roll, like half a baguette or something similar. The filling consists of crispy, fried squid rings. That's it. That's the traditional calamari bocadillo. Some describe adding a squeeze of lemon juice to the calamari immediately before eating. Additionally, some places sell it with a garlic aioli, but that is not a traditional topping. That's more of a modern innovation, probably for people who felt the original was a little too dry.

To hear the sandwich described isn't to fully appreciate just how popular the calamari sandwich is in Madrid. This is absolutely iconic. This is like a hot dog in New York, poutine in Montreal, or deep-dish pizza in Chicago. You can get them everywhere, and people adore them. So, how did all that start?

Madrid is a landlocked city, so being famous for a seafood sandwich seems counterintuitive. However, Madrid has the second largest seafood market in the world. That means there's always plenty of seafood on hand, and it has always been popular there. Part of the reason is thanks to the Catholic Church, which forbade eating meat on certain days, meaning seafood was in higher demand.

Fried food influenced by Andalusian cuisine was adopted in Spain in the 19th century. For those who wanted seafood, squid was a great option because it can be transported on ice incredibly well. That was an important consideration back in the 1930s and 1940s, when it's believed the fried calamari sandwich was invented. Refrigeration was far less common, so squid would have been in high demand. One origin theory suggests that nearly 100 years ago, a street vendor with leftover squid sliced it up, fried it, and assembled simple sandwiches.

The truth is, no one knows exactly who invented the fried calamari sandwich. But we do know it caught on and spread across Madrid. Numerous bars, restaurants, and street vendors across the city have their own version on the menu. It's a simple enough recipe; you can try it on your own, too. If you love sandwiches and you love crispy (and crunchy) fried calamari, it'll be a match made in heaven.