A batter of pork loin wrapped around jamón serrano, rolled into a fat baton, breadcrumbed and deep-fried until the crust shatters. Served hot in cross-sections with a wedge of lemon or a spoonful of mayonnaise.
Where to eat it: 4 restaurants across 1 city.
The flamenquín belongs to Córdoba province rather than to Andalusia as a whole, and its ancestry is peasant economy: a thin sheet of cheap pork stretched around a strip of expensive cured ham so a little jamón went a long way. The name is disputed and no origin story survives that stands up, which is why cordobés kitchens argue about it happily and at length. What is not disputed is the technique, which every taberna in the city runs to the same shape: pound the loin flat, lay the jamón along it, roll tight, crumb twice, fry in deep oil. Modern rooms play with the filling, and Taberna La Viuda's cheese version has become a house signature.
Common allergens: Gluten, Egg, Milk
Tip from the editors. Double-crumbing is not optional. A single coat splits in the fryer and the jamón leaks out into the oil.
Taberna La Viuda runs more than thirty tapas and raciones in San Basilio in Córdoba, including a flamenquín stuffed with cheese rather than ham.
Try: Flamenquín de queso
Order: The flamenquín de queso, the house rewrite of the city's fried classic.
Tip: It opens all seven days with a full split service, rare in a barrio where most rooms take a day off.
Taberna Salinas serves salmorejo, flamenquín and fried aubergine off Córdoba's Corredera, in a barrel-lined room the Salinas family took on in 1924.
Try: Salmorejo and flamenquín
Order: Salmorejo, then flamenquines de jamón serrano.
Tip: An earlier tavern stood here from 1879; the Salinas family business itself dates from 1924.
Casa Pepe de la Judería has fed Córdoba since 1928, a taberna downstairs and a roof terrace upstairs that looks straight at the Mezquita tower.
Signature: Mazamorra, Rabo de toro, Berenjenas fritas con miel de caña
Order: Mazamorra, the almond-and-bread ancestor of salmorejo.
Tip: The roof terrace is the reason to come, so ask for it when you book rather than taking a ground-floor table.
Regadera sits on Córdoba's Ronda de Isasa with the Guadalquivir outside, Adrián Caballero cooking cordobés classics from a kitchen open to the room.
Signature: Salmorejo, Flamenquín
Order: The salmorejo, then the flamenquín, both rebuilt rather than reinvented.
Tip: The riverside tables go first at sunset, so ask for one when you book rather than on arrival.
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