Bacalao al pil pil is salt cod slowly cooked in olive oil with garlic until the gelatin from the skin emulsifies the oil into a creamy pale-yellow sauce, served in the earthenware cazuela it was cooked in.

Bacalao al pil pil emerged in the 19th-century Basque cod trade, when Basque sailors brought back salted cod from the Newfoundland banks. The dish was first made in Bilbao around 1836, when a merchant named Gurtubay accidentally over-ordered salt cod during the Carlist Wars. The pil pil emulsion technique (the gentle shaking of the cazuela to bind the cod gelatin with garlic-infused oil) developed in Basque kitchens through the 19th century and remains the canonical preparation for salt cod across the Basque Country. Casa Vergara in San Sebastian's Old Town serves it as a pintxo on bread; Casa Urola and Bodegon Alejandro serve the full plate.

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