Regional food in Spain varies enormously. In Madrid and Castile
it’s rich, hearty, and meaty, with lots of stews and beans, a porky cuisine
that bears little resemblance to the so-called “Mediterranean Diet” and results
for its harsh climate . Catalonia’s cuisine is interesting and varied,
Mediterranean in style with some Arabic twists like sweet flavors in savory
dishes and Mar y Muntanya (surf-n-turf combination dishes including both meat
and seafood). Basque food, though, is absolutely “to die for” and is regarded
as probably the best regional cuisine in Spain and possibly one of the best in
the world – elegant, use of varied ingredients and top seafood, and inventive
combinations, French influenced but if anything more refined than French
country cuisine. Cooking is an especially important part of culture in the
Basque Country but not necessarily the preserve of highly trained professional
chefs. Bilbao is especially known for its Sociedades Gastronomicas, working
class men-only cooking and eating clubs. I could really get into that! And San
Sebastian has more Michelin stars on its restaurants per capita than anywhere
else in the world.

One of the best things about Basque cuisine is Pintxos,
little tidbits of different foods held together by toothpicks that elsewhere in
Spain are called Banderillas . While Banderillas are not especially common as
tapas elsewhere in Spain, Pintxos are ubiquitous all over the Basque country
and also in massive quantities. The bars Basques spend so much time hanging out
in are often crowded from one end to the other with large platters of the most
visually gorgeous and exotic creations that taste even better than they look. Honestly,
in much of Spain I’ve found that tapas tend to be quite standard at most places
– tortilla, papas braves, jamon, chorizo, morcilla are on almost every tapas
offering. In the Basque Country, though, there’s a little of everything and the
complex favor pairing and combinations of foods on the pintxos are limited only
by the chefs imagination. Pintxos seem particularly baroque and elaborate in Bilbao
and San Sebastian, mixes of artichokes, peppers, vegetables, mushrooms,
preserved meats, cheese, fish, and especially mollusks and crustaceans. The
choices were often too difficult to make, forcing me to try one of everything.
Some of the best I sampled around the region included:

Atun con Escabeche y Anchoa (Marinated Tuna, Anchovy, Olive,
Pickle, Onion, Pimiento)

Pimiento con Cabrales (Battered Deep-Fried Red Pepper
stuffed with Blue Cheese)

Puff Pastry, Forest Mushrooms, Blood Sausage, Zucchini, and
Bacon

Smoked Salmon, Horseradish Cream, Shrimp, Capers, Dill

Puddim de Merluza (Hake)

Txangurro (Spider Crab)

Gullas (Baby Eels that look like spaghetti)

Bacalao con Hongos (Salt Cod with Mushrooms)

Brochette de Rape (Monkfish), Shrimp, and Bacon

Brochette de Setas y Longaniza (Chanterelle Mushrooms and
Sausage)

Artichoke, Smoked Salmon, and Goat Cheese

And my personal favorite: Puff Pastry, Sliced Duck Liver,
Baked Apple, Sherry Glaze

Well, after gorging myself nightly on all those fancy
Pintxos I usually didn’t have to eat anything else for dinner . That’s OK since
lunch is usually a better value in Spain anyway. It’s said that the best value
is often the Menu del Dia, usually a three course set menu with a few choices
for each course. Best value maybe, but I’ve found in many tourist-focused
places in Europe the menu of the day is often not the best food. I found some fantastic
dishes, though, in Bilbao, San Sebastian, Vitoria, and Pamplona, since Basques
apparently take particular pride in serving good food, and restaurants in Bilbao
and Vitoria mostly cater to locals rather than tourists. Some of the better
dishes I had in those towns, all very flavorful, included:

Crema de Asparragos con Salmon Fume (Cream of Asparagus Soup
with Smoked Salmon)

Sopa Donostiarra (San Sebastian Style Fish and Seafood Soup)

Spaghetti con Tres Quesos y Bacon (like Carbonara but with
three Spanish cheeses – Tetilla, Idiazabal (sheep’s milk), and Cabral (blue)

Risotto con Setas (Mushrooms), Txangurro (Spider Crab),
Queso Cabrales (Blue Cheese) y dos Salsas de Espinacas (Spinach) and Tinto de
Sepia (Squid Ink)

Revuelto de Cordoniz Escabeche, Gambas, y Pimentas (Scrambled
Eggs with Marinated Quail, Shrimp, and Peppers)

Conejo Asado (Roast Rabbit with only garlic, olive oil, and
thyme)

Confit de Pato (Duck Leg confit)

Bacalao Tipo Ajuarriero con Gambas (Ahroreirro Style Salt
Cod with Shrimp)

Probably the most intriguing dish was one I didn’t order
because I had no understanding of what it was until after I had already eaten
something else . It was only then I regretted not ordering the Cangurro con
Hongos y Salsa de Mostaza y Chocolate. The “with mushrooms and chocolate and
mustard sauce” sounds wonderfully exotic, but “Que es Cangurro?” I asked,
thinking it was likely to be a kind of crab, which is cangrejo in Spanish.
Txangurro is a particular type of crab on many menus in the Basque Country too.
But chocolate mustard sauce would be disgusting on crab, wouldn’t it? The
waitress and two young women at the next table began giggling as the waitress
tried to explain it to me. She held her hands in front of her stomach to
indicate fatness or pregnancy, jumped around strangely, and insisted it was “Carne,
no es marisco!” The laughter and big belly suggested to me it might be the
female part of some animal, maybe a fetus calve or a cow’s udder or fatty bacon
belly. Or maybe it was something that would make me fat so my belly would
jiggle around when I jumped; yeah, just what I need as I’m about to start out
on a trek!

Well, to avoid the risk of being served some kind of fatty
innards from some animal species gut, I chose the Revuelto (scrambled eggs)
dish I listed above . The ladies who laughed at more were both served plates of
delectable looking little loins of rare meat in a fantastic looking sauce, at
which point I realized Cangurro = Kangaroo! “Cangurro es un animal Australien?”
I asked. “Si” they said as they giggled some more.

I can’t say I had too many memorable desserts in Pais Vasco,
probably because I was too full by the end of each meal to order one or for
what came with the meal to be especially notable, quite often flan or one of
the other Spanish standards. In San Sebastian, though, I tried absolutely
delicious Pastel Vasco (Basque Pastry), layers of almond cookie with almond
cream in between.

The Basque Country is not widely known outside of Spain for
its wines, but it does produce several varieties. The warmer southern province
of Alavesa around Vitoria-Gasteiz is quite close to Rioja and produces similar
wines, mostly red it seems, to the more famous region which are called Rioja Alavesa .
The cooler and wetter coastal parts of the Basque Country produce low alcohol
whites (or maybe more appropriately called greens) similar to Portuguese Vinho
Verde and the Albarinos from Galicia. These could be dangerous – perfect for
sipping oneself into a state of oblivion on a hot day. And then, of course,
there’s also Sidra, Spanish apple cider which also packs a good alcoholic
punch.