pig ears!

Or orejas de cerdo. There is one tapas bar in Madrid near Sol called Las Orejas de Oro that specializes in pig ear tapas. Before you judge or think it's gross, I suggest you try it. 

Oscar and I went to try them out on Friday. 6 euros gets you this giant heaping plate of ears with the sauce and bread. They think you're weird if you don't order anything to drink, so I got my usual copa de tinto and Oscar went for a vermút (vermouth). 

The bartender took a handful of raw pig ears from a giant plate next to him, plopped them on the stove, sprinkled olive oil on top of the mess, and chopped/mixed them with his knives for a while until they were ready, so you knew they were cooked as fresh as possible. The ears were mostly cartilage and fat with some meat sticking in places. It was a peculiar taste. As mom would put it, "it's an acquired taste." Definitely worth trying if you're in Madrid! This plate can easily be shared among 3 or 4 people, because that's a lot of pig ears!