In Catalonia, “hacer el vermut” doesn’t just mean drinking vermouth. It means having a small aperitivo before lunch with salty snacks, seafood, olives, and sauces.
In a recent video for Vogue’s cooking series, Rosalía prepared a simple Catalan-style vermut while cooking. She describes it as “how it’s done in the Baix Llobregat” – the region near Barcelona where she grew up…

… aaand, since I moved to Barcelona 2 years ago, I guess it’s time to integrate in a proper way!

Ingredients:

• Potato chips
• Olives
• Mussels
• Salsa Espinaler

Optional:

• A good bottle of vermuth or wine or beer or… water?
• Anchovies, manchego cheese, jamón serrano, bread
• Whatever you want, really.

⏱️ prep time: 5 minutes

Rosalía’s version is veeery casual but traditional. She says the chips should ideally be from a local churrería or neighborhood shop – … I found the Espinaler brand in my local La Sirena, the mussels and the olives are from Mercadona.

• First things first, get a bowl – duh.
• Neeext: put the chips in a bowl, put some olives, put some mussels, and drizzle it with salsa.
• … Y ya está

The sauce: Espinaler

The key detail is Espinaler sauce, which is pretty much the base in Catalan vermut culture to add acidity and heat – …the original version is not spicy tho, it’s more vinegary and smoky with paprika and spices.

If you can’t get it outside Catalonia, there are some very close Mexican substitutes:

• Valentina
• Cholula

… or you can try to make it at home simply by mixing these together:

• 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp hot sauce – like Tabasco
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• pinch of salt

Hora de vermut: The tradition

It’s basically a unique Spanish cultural moment just before lunch, as an aperitif to stimulate the appetite – duh.
In Catalonia, it’s almost ritualized, but similar pre-lunch drinks exist all over Spain under different names.

• In Madrid people might do an aperitivo or vermú, usually with olives, nuts, or chips
• The south in Andalusia it’s called tapeo – going out for a light tapas and drinks before lunch
• Basque Country up north says Hora de Pintxos – small canapé-style bites with wine or cider

More classic Tapas

Of course, in the video, Rosalía doesn’t stop at the vermut snacks – …. she also cooks a tortilla de patatas and makes some fresh pan con tomate – two classics that basically define Spanish home cooking.

✨If you want to recreate the full Rosalía experience, you can check out my recipe for a proper Spanish tortilla and pan con tomate.
… And if you’re feeling inspired, you can also browse through all my classic tapas recipes to have the perfect Spanish night in your own house.

Suddenly, your kitchen feels like a little bar somewhere in Spain, no?

Yes?
Okay, then last but not least – don’t ever forget…

Aaaanyways,

Cheers, and see you at the next one,

Noémi

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Ps.2: if you want to check out the whole video, I will link it below: