`Pinxtos' more than just fancy finger-food

Pay a visit to Donostia-San Sebastian in the Basque country of northern Spain and you will have to search hard to find a McDonald's burger restaurant. I counted only one on my visit, but there may have been more.

A type of fast finger-food that is far more attractive than the humble hamburger has become firmly established in people's everyday lives, leaving little room on their plates for the latter.

Unlike the simpler tapas or bar snacks of southern Spain, full-blown culinary dishes are reduced to delicious, bite-sized morsels, known locally as pintxos (pronounced "pinch-oss").

These are normally attractively arranged on the bar in drinking establishments, rather like the food might be at someone's private house party.

Instead of seven or eight plates of cocktail sausages or pieces of cheese and pineapple on cocktail sticks, though, there may be 30 or more salvers, each containing a mouth-watering offering like chargrilled red peppers with crab paste on bread, spicy chorizo sausages or anchovies with vegetables.

The origin of the pinxtos tradition dates back to the times when groups of people participated in a txikiteo (a kind of miniature pub crawl) around the beginning of the last century. As the wines served at that time were somewhat rough, it was necessary to have something to line the stomach.

Large tins of hot green chilies in vinegar, or sardines or anchovies in oil that covered the tops of the local bars were the perfect answer to this need. However, they also concealed a touch of mischief on the part of barmen who, in offering these delicious snacks to their customers, obliged them to dilute their salty taste by drinking more wine.

These days the tables are turned, for people drink wine, beer or cider at pintxos bars in relatively small measures (much less than a quarter of a liter per serving), as the emphasis is on enjoying the food.

Plenty of tissues are placed on the bar in metal holders for patrons to wipe their hands; the used tissues are thrown directly on the floor, rather like peanut shells in the Long Bar at Raffles hotel, Singapore.

The pintxo as it is known today originated in the 1950s. The term comes from the Spanish verb pinchar, which means "to skewer", as with a cocktail stick, and one of the first types was a hot green pepper, an anchovy and an olive -- all skewered in this way.

By the 80s, the New Basque Cuisine movement had arrived, with an impact on the humble pinxto along the way. Astute bar owners realized the potential that the movement possessed, cleverly converting the pinxto into a noble expression in miniature of the highest culinary level.

These days, competitions are held annually to identify who can produce the best pintxos, and a number of pintxos bars are run by chefs with Michelin stars to their name.

At these establishments the pintxos are prepared and cooked to order, the chefs standing by as customers' orders come in. Only top-quality ingredients are used, and the results are heavenly on the palate.

Despite their small size, pintxos have a huge following, and well deserve the description with which they are now firmly associated -- miniature culinary art. -- Jim Read