Aceitunas Aliñadas

Spain, as the world's largest olive oil producer and home to over 200 catalogued olive varieties, clearly takes this fruit very seriously. At most Spanish bars, a dish of marinated olives arrives the moment you order your first drink – sometimes complimentary, sometimes €2–4 – serving as an immediate indicator of a bar's overall quality. Aceitunas aliñadas go far beyond simple table olives: cured olives are marinated for several days in a fragrant mixture of garlic, cumin, fennel seed, fresh thyme, lemon zest, and olive oil. Manzanilla olives from the Sevilla area are the most commonly used variety, while gordal olives (large queen olives, also from Sevilla) deliver a meatier, more buttery result. While they are the lowest-technique item on this list to prepare at home, the difference between a well-marinated olive and a jar of supermarket brine-packed olives is significant. Start your tapa journey here; order everything else while you slowly work your way through them.