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Spanish · Madrid

Gambas al Ajillo

Gambas al ajillo is one of Spain's most immediate and honest dishes: whole prawns tossed in a terracotta casserole of searing olive oil with sliced garlic, dried chilli, and a splash of dry sherry, then served still spitting in the dish with bread mandatory for the oil. The technique centres on controlled heat: the oil must be hot enough to sizzle the moment the garlic enters, cooking it to golden-blond before the prawns go in, then reducing heat to allow the shellfish to cook through in the perfumed oil without toughening. Spanish convention dictates shell-on prawns — the shell insulates the flesh from the aggressive heat and contributes gelatine and flavour to the oil. The dish is served in the earthenware cazuela it was cooked in, arriving at the table still bubbling.

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ServesFour portions
Sourced0of 7 in BC
Cook
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I

The Market List

The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.

600 g
whole prawns
shell-on, raw
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
100 ml
extra-virgin olive oil
Your own market
6
garlic cloves
thinly sliced
Your own market
1–2
dried chillies
whole or crumbled
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
60 ml
fino or manzanilla sherry
dry
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
flaky sea salt
Your own market
crusty sourdough bread
to serve
Your own market
II

The Method

1
Arrange the shell-on prawns in a single layer across the base of a terracotta cazuela. Do not crowd the vessel; if necessary, use two dishes. The prawns must lie flat without overlapping.
2
Pour in the olive oil and set the cazuela over a medium flame. Add the sliced garlic and dried chilli to the cold oil. Warm gently for 30 seconds, allowing the shell's exterior proteins to set gradually before raising heat to full. The oil is ready when it shimmers and the garlic begins to release its fragrance.
3
Continue cooking over high heat until the garlic reaches an even golden-blond. This is where the dish lives or dies: pale garlic remains pungent and acrid; dark garlic turns bitter and cannot be corrected. The colour must be uniform — pull the cazuela from direct heat for a moment if the edges are advancing faster than the centre.
4
Add the prawns to the hot, garlic-perfumed oil. Cook, without disturbing, until the shells turn pink and opaque at the edges — the flesh visible at the head and tail will just begin to firm.
5
Pour in the fino or manzanilla sherry. It will spatter immediately against the hot terracotta; this is correct. The sherry deglazes the cazuela and integrates the pan flavours. The smell shifts from raw alcohol to a rounded, nutty depth within seconds.
6
Remove the cazuela from the heat. Season with flaky sea salt and rest for one minute, allowing carry-over heat to finish the prawns without the direct heat of the flame toughening the protein. The flesh at the thickest point of the prawn should be just opaque through to the centre when checked.
7
Bring the cazuela directly to the table still bubbling in the cooking vessel. Bread must arrive at the same moment — the dish is not plated and must not be allowed to stop spitting before it reaches the guest.
III

Quality Hierarchy

01
Reserve — Large whole red prawns (gambas rojas) from Denia or Palamós, live or day-boat; single-estate fino sherry from Sanlúcar de Barrameda; first cold-press Arbequina oil.
02
Estate — Fresh shell-on Atlantic prawns, never previously frozen; named-producer manzanilla; a robust Andalusian or Catalan extra-virgin olive oil.
03
Market — Raw shell-on tiger or king prawns, thawed from frozen under refrigeration; commercial fino sherry; a clean, fruity extra-virgin olive oil.
04
House — Any raw shell-on prawn of reasonable size; dry white vermouth in place of sherry as a last resort; standard supermarket extra-virgin olive oil. Peeled prawns are not a lower rung — they are a different, unsuitable dish.
IV

Sensory Tests

◇Sight. Garlic is uniformly golden-blond with no pale or dark patches before the prawns are added.
◇Sight. Prawn shells are fully pink and opaque; the flesh visible at head and tail has firmed and lost its translucency.
◇Smell. After the sherry is added, the sharp raw-alcohol note resolves into a rounded, nutty, oxidised aroma within seconds.
◇Sound. The cazuela arrives at the table still audibly bubbling.
◇Touch. The flesh at the thickest part of the prawn yields with slight resistance — neither collapsing nor rubbery — after the one-minute rest.
◇Where it lives or dies. The garlic must reach an even golden-blond before the prawns enter the oil; the line between blond and burnt cannot be uncrossed.
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VI

What to Pour

The pairing
Gonzalez Byass Tio Pepe Fino
Gonzalez Byass · Jerez DO
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
Fortified wine
From British Columbia

Nothing from British Columbia holds against this yet.

Without alcohol

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The whole pairing
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