Nut coated partridge drumsticks

Muslos de perdiz rebozados con frutos secos
The Basque Country is located in the heart of birds' migration route, so the game dishes in autumn become the star dishes in many bars. The game needs special permissions, although there are also partridge that can be commercialised as poultry. By Tapas together Edinburgh

Cod pil pil style

Bacalao al pil pil

Cod, the star of the Basque cuisine in general and of Biscay and Bilbao in particular, can not be understood without being familiar with a sauce most likely invented there. Pil pil is a sauce that is produced by the gelatin of the cod, extra virgin olive oil, the water that contains the cod and movement to create and emulsion lighter than mayonnaise. For this recipe it is necessary to use fillets of bacalao with the skin on. This is becuse it's the gelatin from the skin that helps create the rich base for the sauce.
By Tapas Together Edinburgh

Ratatouille Bilbao style with quail egg

Pisto a la bilbaina con huevo de codorniz
  Pisto a la Bilbaína is a version of a ratatouille which usually has just courgettes and green peppers in tomato sauce and lightly scrambled with eggs. This recipe is topped with a quail egg.
Quail eggs are considered a delicacy in many countries and fit perfect haute cuisine in miniature stardars, characteristic from basque pintxos.
By Tapas Together Edinburgh 

Stuffed potato omelette

Tortilla de patata rellena

The first reference to the tortilla in Spanish is found in a Navarrese document. It is an anonymous "Mousehole's memorial" addressed to Navarra's Court in 1817. It explains the sparse conditions of the farmers in contrast with Pamplona's and the Ribera's inhabitants. After listing the sparse food eaten by highlanders, the next quote follows: "…two to three eggs in tortilla for 5 or 6 [people] as our women do know how to make it big and thick with less eggs, mixing potatoes, breadcrumbs or whatever.
By Tapas Together Edinburgh

Battered spinach and mushrooms with spring onion

Espinacas rebozadas con champiñones y cebolleta

In recent years mushrooms have become increasingly more popular in Basque cuisine. Whereas before, mushrooms were almost exclusively eaten by the pickers themselves, they can now be found on a number of restaurant menu. In addition to more common mushroom and egg, one of nature's most succulent treasures is being employed more and more with new dishes and ingredients.
By Tapas Together Edinburgh

Lamb and bacon with blue cheese sauce

Cordero con panceta y salsa de queso azul

Basque are known all around the World as excellent fishermen, but in USA there were so exclusively identified with just one occupation: Basques = sheepherding. Thousands of the shaggy creatures have been inhabiting the Basque meadows in the hinterland for centuries. The Basque sheepherding story of the American West goes to the California Gold Rush that brought a sustained number of Basques to the American West. Most "49ers" did not find their gold and had to turn to an alternative plan, and thus some Basques went into ranching. By the 1870s Basque sheep outfits had expanded throughout the high desert country of the American West.
By Tapas Together Edinburgh

Baked smoked sheep cheese with pear

Queso Idiazabal horneado con pera

Idiazabal is a Basque aged cheese, made exclusively from whole unpasteurized sheep's milk. This rinded cheese ripens for two to five months. The Basque shepherds discovery by pure chance that it can also be smoked. In the past they stored the ripened cheeses, before they went to market, in the shepherds' huts. When a fire was lit in the fireplace, the smoke drifted throughout the hut. In time, it became clear that the smoke gave its aroma and flavour an interesting twist. 

By Tapas Together Edinburgh

White fish with Basque white wine

Pescado al txakoli

Txakoli is a slightly sparkling, very dry white wine with high acidity and low alcohol content. It is normally served as an aperitif and drunk within one year of bottling as it cannot be stored for longer. Until the 1980s, txakoli was a home-made wine, drunk in the Basque Country, Cantabria and Valle de Mena, and almost in danger of dying out towards the middle of the 19th century. However, since some varieties of txakoli in the Basque Country managed to achieve Denominación de Origen certification from 1989 onwards, its quality, spread and appeal have increased.
By Tapas Together Edinburgh

Chorizo in cider

Chorizo a la sidra

At present, for gastronomic purposes, Winter is a season that is as well assorted as the others. Nevertheless traditional cuisine does not forget that, in other times, all the products preserved from more generous seasons was eaten in Winter: dry beans, apples, chestnuts or nuts picked in Autumn, products from the pig slaughter... All these things, washed with natural cider produced in this season.
By Tapas Together Edinburgh

Ham and cheese stuffed artichokes

Alcachofas rellenas de jamón y queso

This dish from Alava is a traditional sophistication. The artichokes are filled with any number of stuffings. Traditionally the winter vegetable was dipped in flour and deep fried, although this custom has gone out of fashion among some cooks. The artichokes are usually served with a bit of sauce
By Tapas Together Edinburgh

Little gem with anchovies and mango dressing

Cogollos con anchoas y vinagreta de mango

Navarre is a region of distinct terrains. To the north is the rugged, hilly land of the foothills and the high Pyreness, and to the south lie the flat, enormously fertile plains of the river Ebro. Tudela, the main town of this Fertile region, is particularly famous for its small, sweet lettuces, which are very similar to the British little gems and are often served up in salad such as this, inspired by the very best of the sweet young vegetables from the area.
By Tapas Together Edinburgh

Potato with tomato fresh jelly and baby eels

Patatas con gelatina natural de tomate y gulas

Virtually the entire Basque province of Álava is associated with the potato. Ever since the tuber was introduced into our diet, Álava has been a pioneer in the study and farming of potatoes. This American native felt at home in Basque soil. 
By Tapas Together Edinburgh

Tuna and egg flip flop

Chancla de atun y huevo

It is presumed that this type of footwear has its origins in the Getae used in the Japan, although there are many similarities with other cultures not related, as the ushutas of the incas, or certain esparto Sandals found in Spain dated in the 6th or 5th Millennium BC. A type of similar footwear made with strips of braided Papyrus was used in the old Egypt. which had its own hieroglyphic.
By Tapas Together Edinburgh

Cod yogurt with Biscayne sauce

Yogur de bacalao con salsa vizcaina

Due to its geographical position in the Bay of Biscay, the Basques have been avid sailors for many centuries. Its constant fishing on the shore of Terranova has resulted in the consumption of cod on mass. The cod is a fish which in the past was consumed on the mainland to fight off the famine and which today has been converted into a delicacy.
By Tapas Together Edinburgh

Baby elvers

Angulas

Eel larvae are spawned in the Sargasso Sea in the western Atlantic. They are then driven toward northern Spain coast by the Gulf Stream, feeding on plankton on the way. After three years they reach the Old World in the form of elvers. For many of the babies, the journey ends at this early stage, when they land up in the ceramic cooking pot, because in the Basque Country elvers are regarded as a delicacy.
By Tapas Together Edinburgh

Canned anchovies with red pepper

Anchoas en conserva con pimiento rojo

The centres of the Biscay Bay fish-canning industry are the coastal towns, which have specialized in producing first-class canned anchovies. The heads and intestines are first removed from the anchovies, and they are layered in wooden barrels that are then filled with a brine solution. The barrel is topped off with a heavy weight, that carefully presses down the fillets over time. The anchovies remain in the barrel for 3 to 6 month. They are then rinsed, dried and divided into two fillets by hand. Finally they are packed in cans with the addition of olive oil.
By Tapas Together Edinburgh

Saint Fermin deviled eggs

Huevos rellenos San Fermín

It is not known when stuffings were first used. The earliest documentary evidence is the Roman cookbook, Apicius'"De Re Coquinaria", which contains recipes for deviled eggs. The festival of Sanfermines in the city of Pamplona (Navarre), is a deeply rooted celebration. Its most famous event is the encierro, or the running of the bulls, where runners dress in the traditional clothing of the festival which consists of a white shirt and trousers with a red neckerchief
By Tapas Together Edinburgh

Crab and potato berets

Txapelas de patata y cangrejo

The Basque style beret was the traditional headgear of Basque shepherds in the Pyrenees, a mountain range that divides southern France from northern Spain. The commercial production of Basque style berets began in the 17th century in the Oloron-Sainte-Marie area of southern France. Originally a local craft, beret-making became industrialized in the nineteenth century. The first factory, Beatex-Laulhere, claims production records dating back to 1810. By the 1920s, berets were associated with the working classes in a part of France and Spain and by 1928 more than 20 French factories and some Spanish and Italian factories produced millions of berets.
By Tapas Together Edinburgh

Hake in batter with green peppers

Merluza rebozada con pimiento verde

Basque fishermen have been sailing the northern Atlantic since the eleventh century. The sea has always provided nourishment for the Basques. Though more and more scarce, merluza (hake), from the Bay of Biscay knows no paragon (with all due respect to its austral relative from the southern seas). The darker-skinned Basque hake has firm, delicious flesh.
By Tapas Together Edinburgh

Green asparagus with Bayonne ham

Esparragos verdes con jamón de Baiona

Bayonne Ham is an air dried salted ham that takes its name from the ancient port city of Bayonne in the cultural regions of Basque Country. The hams are rubbed in salt produced in the salt pans of the Adour estuary. In the next part of the process, a mixture of pork fat and flour called pannage is used to seal the cut end of the joint. This reduces the speed in which the meat dries out during the warmer months. At some point during this time many of the producers will also rub a paste of Piment dEspelette into the skin, giving a unique tang to the end product. Once the ham has completed its curing process it is marked with the traditional Basque Cross or Lauburu.
By Tapas Together Edinburgh