The Curious Tale of Sevilla's Solomillo al Whisky
spoiler alert: there's no whisky!
When people talk about tapas that are synonymous with Sevilla the usual three come to mind.. espinacas con garbanzos, pavía de bacalao and solomillo al whisky. These days you can find solomillo al whisky in almost every traditional tapas bar in the city, and its popularity has extended throughout the whole Andalusian region, if not the entire country. Solomillo al Whisky... a tender piece of grilled pork tenderloin swimming in a rich buttery garlicky brandy sauce uplifted with a squeeze of lemon and topped with whole cloves of soft pan-roasted garlic. But what's this you ask? Brandy? Yep, brandy. The original sevillano recipe for solomillo al whisky contained no whisky at all.
UPDATE (May 5th 2025): Yes it did! The original recipe contained whisky but it was changed to brandy because it was cheaper and didn’t make any difference to the flavour, according to Mariano Gutiérrez, then waiter at Cafetería Rioja Pasaje who in the 70s turned solomillo al whisky into the first “mantecaíto” (see below). But the original name remained.
Mariano went on to run one of the five Rioja bars (Bar Rioja La Esquina) when the chain broke up and there were just the two left, both run by ex-waiters. I know this now because today by total happenstance I was at Bar Rioja La Esquina and Mariano and his wife Luna were also sitting at the bar. I had been asking the barman some questions about the bar and he said “I dunno, I’ve just been working here two months, you should ask Mariano”. So I did and OMG… I had no idea this was the same Mariano quoted below in my original post. And that he had been the owner of the Esquina bar until 22 years ago (and he still goes there for lunch with his wife!). I mean, what are the odds? So anyhow Mariano set the record straight.
Solomillo is Spanish for tenderloin, and in this case refers to the cut of (preferably) the Ibérico pig. In most tapas bars it would actually be rare to find this quintessential sevillano dish made with the prized Ibérico de Bellota pork but you can often find Solomillo Ibérico, which means it is mostly likely made from either partially free range or penned pigs that are about 50/50 Ibérico and something else, usually Duroc.
A few years ago I read this article in El Pais by Carlos Doncel about the origins of this very sevillana tapa. In fact, this is the only tapa that I know of that can be traced back not only to a specific town/city – Sevilla – but also to a specific time and place, the Cafetería Rioja Pasaje in the 1960/70s.
According to local gastronomy writer Javier Compás, back in the 60s there was a lot of influence from French haute cuisine in restaurants here and the general consensus is that the first time solomillo al whisky was made in Sevilla was in the Rioja Café on the street of the same name, which served as a snack bar for the Palacio Central cinema. The original bar of the now defunct Rioja restaurant chain (which had five bars in Sevilla at the time), now run by Antonio Rodríguez and his son, is located in a small passage (pasaje) just off Calle Rioja. Another of the five, Bar Rioja La Esquina, was taken over by Mariano Guitérrez, but they are no longer connected.
Compás tells us about how Dámaso Bellanato, owner of the Rioja Pasaje, met up with his friend Antonio Daza who had just returned from a trip to Paris and had fallen in love with a dish he had ordered there. Antonio suggested to Dámaso that they try to recreate it here. Dámasco's son Óscar recounts that after many attempts his father managed to get a similar flavour and that's when and where it all started.
Óscar Bellanato says his father told him that when other establishments in the city tried to copy the dish they didn’t do it as well because they only used olive oil while, being based on French cuisine, butter was essential. But probably the most striking thing is that the original recipe did not use whisky, but Terry Centenario brandy, apparently because it was cheaper (or so I was told by a waiter at Rioja Pasaje the other day). But why they continued to call it “solomillo al whisky” and not “solomillo al brandy” remains a mystery lost in time.
The present owner Antonio Rodríguez, who now runs the Rioja Pasaje with his son, confirms that when he started working at the bar in the early 70s solomillo al whisky was already on the menu. At first it was served in either half or full portions (raciones). But one day, in the mid-seventies, waiter Mariano Gutiérrez took some initiative when a group of men came in to eat and he decided to turn the dish into a tapa, putting the meat, chips and sauce all together in a bun, in order to serve them individually and charge more for the tenderloin than if it was all served on one plate.
He was initially scolded for his bold behaviour but Dámaso soon saw the potential profits and said they should start offering this tapa on the menu under the name “mantecaíto”, a now familiar tapa here in Sevilla.
If you have clicked on the El Pais article you’ll see that Óscar Bellantano also provided the “original recipe” and all I can say about that is… don’t! Because I did back in 2021 and it was a disaster with far too much butter and was not even close to being a proper solomillo al whisky sauce. Shortly after that I stopped in at Rioja Pasaje to try their version (not bad, not great, I like their mantecadito better) and told them about my experience using the recipe that was printed. The waiter just kind of smirked and said “oh yes, I think one or two things may have been changed”. Grrrr…
Instead you can try my recipe below that, if I say so myself, is pretty good. This week I splashed out for an Ibérico de Bellota solomillo, which at about 11€ for 400 grams cost more than double what a normal pork tenderloin would. But I don’t think that’s really necessary.
As I mentioned earlier, most bars here don’t even use Solomillo Ibérico, let alone Bellota. Besides… the SAUCE is the thing. In fact it’s the one of the few times I actually ask for bread at tapas bars (another is for gambas al ajillo) because with those amazing sauces you seriously need to “mojar el pan” (wet the bread). Here in Sevilla you will also see “whisky sauce” served over other grilled meat, chicken and even slices of tortilla.
And so this is my “whisky sauce” recipe… solomillo optional. And although I keep trying, and although this is actually very tasty, I have never quite managed to reach the heights of the Casa Eme standard (see below)… perhaps I will one day. Just to say, until I get it just right this remains a work in progress.
Solomillo al “Whisky” Sauce Recipe
1 head of garlic, cloves separated and unpeeled
100 ml extra virgin olive oil
200 ml brandy
200 ml hot starlux double beef broth
80-100 ml fresh lemon juice (2-3 lemons)
40 gr butter
Heat the olive oil up to med-high, stir until the garlic cloves, toss them in the oil. Then lower heat and stir until the cloves are nicely browned (but not burnt!). Add the brandy, stirring quickly until the alcohol evaporates a bit. Add the hot broth, lemon juice and butter, stir and mix well and when it starts to bubble turn the heat down to med-low and let simmer for about ten minutes or until the garlic cloves are tender. If you want you can add more broth and cook a little longer.
For a vegetarian option swap out the beef broth for veggie broth and serve over tortilla de patatas. For solomillo al whisky do this…
1 pork solomillo - tenderloin (approx 400 grams)
2-3 tbsp olive oil
salt & freshly ground black pepper
Season the pork tenderloin and then slice into medallions. Put 2-3 tbsp olive oil in a large skillet, add the pork and sear the meat on both sides until lightly browned. Place the solomillo medallions in the sauce for a minute or two to heat through.
I want to leave you with the very best ever ever ever Solomillo al Whisky I have ever had and that sadly nobody will ever have again.
Bar Casa Eme
This was a place I got to know just a few short years before Emeterio (Eme) Serrano decided to retire in 2020 and sold his bar. This man had a “kitchen” that consisted of two gas rings and two small frying pans, and for more than 25 years he somehow made magic happen, from his gambas al ajillo and clams in garlic & sherry sauce to his renowned solomillo al whisky montadito.
Aside from doing all the cooking he also did everything else. Eme poured all the drinks, kept tabs written in chalk on the bar and also sung out orders as he finished making them. It was all self-service so you had to keep an ear open to hear your order being called out over the loudspeaker, for example 🎶 “gambas al ajillo for the señora with the little dog” 🎶. Anyhow, they may not look like much, and now you can only take my word for it, but this really is the best solomillo al whisky I’ve ever tasted.
PAID SUBSCRIBER BONUS
If you are going to be visiting Sevilla and would like to try some of the best Solomillo al Whisky and Montecaidito tapas in the city, you can find 10 of my favourites below, along with some other useful extra details and info. Enjoy! 🐷🥃🧄