| Gambas con gabardina | |
| Course: | Appetizer |
| Country: | Spain |
| Creators: | --> |
| Main Ingredient: | Shrimp, batter (flour, egg, beer and cornstarch) |
| Serving Size: | 100 g |
| No Recipes: | false |
Gambas con gabardina (shrimp in a trenchcoat) is a popular Spanish tapa that started to gain prominence in the 1950s, when it was included in the Manual de Cocina, a cookbook published by the Sección Femenina and given to all Spanish housewives after they completed their Social Service, the female equivalent to conscription during the Francoist dictatorship.[1] It consists of shrimp coated in a flour, egg, beer and cornstarch batter (known in French as à l'Orly) and then deep fried in olive oil. The tails are left during cooking as the shrimp is eaten by hand. The batter may have a yellow tint due to the use of saffron. The name of the dish comes from the way the batter covers the shrimp, as it does so in the fashion of a trenchcoat. A variant popular in Murcia is known as caballitos (seahorses), as the peeled shrimp takes the shape of this fish through the use of a toothpick which is then used to eat the snack.