The Book of Pintxos: Discover the Legendary Small Bites of Basque Country

“a fascinating read even if you never make even one pintxo.”

“Pintxos are the lifeblood of my adopted hometown, San Sebastián—they bring people together, serve as the raw material for urban legends, and are a source of pride for the locals,” writes Marti Buckley, who after nine years of living in the Basque Region of northern Spain, decided to write about this unique culinary tradition.  

Unlike tapas, those small plates found throughout Spain and now the United States (and probably many other countries as well), pintxos are unfamiliar outside of what is known as Basque Country. After all, how many people even know how to pronounce the word (for the record it’s peen-chos as the "tx" in the Basque language which by the way is the oldest living language in Europe and is pronounced like the English “ch” in cheese.  

Pintxos are considered bar food but they’re totally unlike the fried dilled pickles with ranch dressing sticks found in bars in the U.S. Creative and comprised of local ingredients, pintxos originated as small edibles skewered with toothpicks or served on bread so they could be eaten without utensils and often while standing up.  

But food evolves, and now pintxos can be more complex, requiring a fork, spoon, and/or knife. Buckley shares recipes ranging from the simple— simple pintxos as Gilda—anchovy fillets, pitted manzanilla olives, and pickled guindilla peppers layered together on a toothpick; and Queso, Membrillo y Nueces—quince paste, walnut halves, and idiazabal cheese served on a baguette slice to the more complex. Think Vieira Asada Sobre Ajoblanco or sea scallops, Italian peppers such as Cubanelle, and pistachios served on top of ajoblanco, a creamy white soup made with garlic, almonds, and fried bread that’s often found in southern Spain.

In the introduction to The Book of Pintxos, Juan Mari and Elena Arzak, the father-daughter team who own Arzak, a three-star Michelin restaurant in San Sebastián, write “Part of what makes a pintxo a pintxo is the context, the place, and the people, and that is what Marti shows us in this book. Her love of San Sebastián, Basque Country, and its food shines through her work.”

The two honor Buckley by describing her as a donostiarra, meaning native or inhabitant of San Sebastián, and it's easy to see why. The book with its glossy pages filled with colorful photos, illustrations, callout boxes, vintage photos, and recipes, is a history of pintxos with such interesting asides as an in-depth analysis of how they differ from tapas—smaller, mostly found in Basque Country, and typically not eaten as a meal. She offers a full-page explanation of the translations of ingredients and recipe names as well as a key to pronouncing certain sounds including “tx” which sounds like the “zz” in pizza. Z, a common consonant, is pronounced “ess.” As for “tt,” well, forget it. Buckley says it sounds like a wet, muffled version of tx so just go ahead and pronounce it as “ch.”

The recipes are divided into chapters like “Toothpick Pintxos,” “Pastry Pintxos,” and “Fried Pintxos.”  She takes us behind bars like Eme in Bilbao established in 1950, Bilbao’s La Vina del Esanche, a former food shop that became a bar in 1927, and Fitero in Pamplona which opened six years later and shares their recipes.

The book has over 70 easy-to-follow recipes along with lots of whimsical information. If after having tried out more than a few, you’d like a challenge, Buckley offers two pages of championships to enter such as the Idiazabal Cheese Pintxo Contest and the La Semana del Pincho in Navarra.

Buckley takes us on a deep and fascinating dive into pintxos and immersion into Basque Country, an ancient land of castles, cathedrals, monasteries, caves, seashores, forested mountains, soaring modern architecture, and the highest per capita concentration of Michelin-star restaurants in the world. In all, it’s a fascinating read even if you never make even one pintxo.