The atlas · A cuisine · Euskadi — northern Spain and south-western France
Basque
A coastal and mountain cooking built on salt cod, peppers and olive oil — and on sauces made from nothing but the fish and the pan.
Where it comes from
Basque fishermen worked the North Atlantic for cod and whale for centuries, and salt cod became a staple far from the sea. The famous sauces — pil-pil, salsa verde — are emulsions teased out of the fish's own gelatine.
Cooking is social here. The txokos, private gastronomic societies where members cook for each other, began in San Sebastián in the nineteenth century and helped make the region one of the most food-obsessed in Europe.
Where in it
- Bilbao and BizkaiaAn old port and iron town with a serious appetite, where salt cod is cooked al pil-pil and a la vizcaína, and fishing towns up the coast, like Bermeo, cook marmitako.Bacalao al pil-pilBacalao a la vizcaínaMarmitako
- San SebastiánA bay city of pintxo bars packed shoulder to shoulder and gastronomic societies, often said to have more Michelin stars per head than anywhere — with the cider houses of Astigarraga behind it.GildaBasque burnt cheesecakeTortilla de bacalao
- Bayonne and the French Basque coastAcross the border: cured Bayonne ham, a chocolate trade said to go back to the seventeenth century, Espelette peppers strung to dry on house fronts, and the gâteau basque.PiperradaGâteau basque
- Vitoria-Gasteiz and ÁlavaThe inland capital, on a high plain of grain, potatoes and beans, with the vineyards of Rioja Alavesa to the south — and its own sweet, goxua.Goxua
How it cooks
- Emulsifying by motion
- Swirling the cazuela, not whisking, until oil and fish gelatine become a sauce.
- A la plancha
- Hot iron, a little oil, fish and vegetables cooked fast.
- Desalting
- Salt cod soaked for a day or two, water changed often, until it's seasoned rather than salty.
Always in the kitchen
Cook from it
Tonight, with what's good in October
Its classics
BasqueBacalao al pil-pilSalt cod poached in olive oil with garlic and chilli, then swirled until the oil and the cod's gelatine become a thick sauce.1 version here
BasqueMarmitakoThe fishermen's stew of bonito tuna, potatoes and peppers, cooked on board in the pot it's named for.No one here has made it yetBasqueGildaA cocktail stick threaded with a salted anchovy, a green olive and pickled guindilla peppers — one bite, with a drink.No one here has made it yetBasquePiperradaPeppers, onion, tomato and garlic stewed slowly in olive oil until soft and sweet — eaten alone, with eggs, or beside meat and fish.No one here has made it yet
BasqueTortilla de bacalaoA soft omelette of salt cod, onion and green pepper — the first course at the Basque cider houses.No one here has made it yet
BasqueBasque burnt cheesecakeA crustless cheesecake baked very hot, so the top burns nearly black while the middle stays soft and creamy.No one here has made it yetBasqueBacalao a la vizcaínaSalt cod in a deep red sauce of dried choricero peppers and onions cooked slowly until sweet.No one here has made it yetBasqueGâteau basqueA short, buttery almond pastry baked around a filling of pastry cream or black cherry jam, the top glazed and scored.No one here has made it yetBasqueGoxuaA dessert in a small glass: whipped cream, then sponge soaked in syrup, then custard, with the top burnt to caramel.No one here has made it yetHow it got here
1500s · from NewfoundlandSalt codBasque whalers and fishermen were working the waters off Newfoundland by the sixteenth century. Cod salted at sea came home, and became a staple far from the coast — and, in time, pil-pil.Bacalao al pil-pil →
