History and origin
Tender cuttlefish, almond sauce and the memory of Almería's bars
Jibia en salsa is one of the dishes where Almería's maritime cooking takes the shape of a bar-counter stew. The cuttlefish is cleaned and cut into pieces thick enough to stay recognisable. Gentle cooking softens them in a sauce built on garlic, onion and peppers, often lifted with the pulp of a ñora or choricero pepper and deglazed with white wine.
Several Almería recipes give the juices body with fried almonds pounded into a majado. That faintly grainy texture, the long-melted sofrito and the cephalopod's collagen produce a rust-coloured sauce that clings to the pieces. Other families simplify the preparation or add tomato, bay, peas or potatoes.
The provincial anchoring is solid: the municipal gastronomy guide lists jibia "a la plancha or in sauce", and a document of the Instituto de Estudios Almerienses places it among the popular dishes of the bars. It would be excessive, though, to call it a recipe of Alhama's own without further local testimony. It is served hot, as a tapa or a portion, with bread rather than sophisticated garnish: the cuttlefish should stay tender yet meaty, the sauce concentrated without turning pasty.
