Caracoles a la madrilena is Madrid's spicy snail order, traditional Sunday rastro lunch: snails simmered in a chorizo and tomato broth with cayenne and ham, served by the racion with bread for sopping.

Caracoles a la madrilena descends from the 19th-century rastro market tradition, where Sunday vendors would slow-cook batches of snails in copper pots for the after-market crowd at Lavapies. The dish became canonical at Casa Amadeo Los Caracoles on Plaza Cascorro, opened in 1942 by Amadeo Lazaro, who still uses a 12-spice recipe passed through three family generations. The snails are slow-purged for 48 hours in water with rosemary and salt to clean them, then simmered for two hours with chorizo, jamon, tomato, paprika and cayenne. The dish is eaten on Sundays at La Latina taberna counters between 12:00 and 16:00; outside Sunday it is rare on Madrid carte.

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