Aubergine cut into batons or thin rounds, salted, floured and fried until the outside crackles, then finished at the table with a thread of dark cane syrup. Sweet against salt, hot against cold.

Aubergine came into Andalusia with the Arab kitchen and never left, and Córdoba fries it more than anywhere else in Spain. The syrup is miel de caña, a black sugarcane molasses produced on the Granada coast, and calling it honey is a translation error rather than a recipe: there are no bees involved. The pairing is a survival of the Andalusi taste for sweet against savoury in the same mouthful, the same instinct that puts cinnamon on meat and orange in salt cod salads. Every taberna in the city runs a version, and the differences come down to the cut of the aubergine and how long the salting step gets.

4 editor picks for Berenjenas fritas con miel de caña in Córdoba, ranked by editorial score. All Córdoba signature dishes · Berenjenas fritas con miel de caña across every city.