This is this time of the year again! What time would you ask? Well, it is the time of the calcots and the calcotadas. If you were French, you would ask me kesaco? as in what (the heck) is that?
There is this tradition here in Catalunya, in wintertime, of the calcotada. Well that is my friend the time were friends (I suppose also families) gather to eat sweet white onions and enjoy it. Yeah….You heard me! Let’s start with a bit of history. This tradition of the calcots seems to come from the end of the 19th century in Tarragona. And then calcots cooked on a barbecue became very popular from the beginning of the 20th century. Thanks again Wikipédia!
Now in practice, you gather a group of happy people you would consider friends and you book a date, ours was last saturday, a bright, shiny and sunny day. Then you book a place, usually outdoorsy because as stated above it is like a barbecue. Our restaurant was situated a bit outside the city, in Collserola park, uphill, a really steep uphill place. So I can tell that we all deserved what was going to wait for us! The place had a big open fire barbecue where the calcots were grilling and tables outside. We were inside though and that was good because it is still wintertime here and this girl got sensitive to cold after her first year living in the sun. When I think that I never minded Ireland’s rainy days. Ntsss…Anyway, as soon as everyone is present, the party begins. The eating and drinking party begins…
The feast start with pan con tomate (bread with tomato), a do it yourself one: you peel your own piece of garlic, grate it against the bread then the tomato and then a bit of salt and olive oïl. The order is important because if you put the tomato before the garlic, the garlic won’t stick as the bread is too humid. I like making my own pan con tomate, this is cool. I can put as much garlic as I want and it is ok because everyone does the same and everyone will be equally garlic smelly. Then come the infamous calcots. Dark on the outside and white on the inside. But wait, before you eat, you need to put on your bib because eating calcots is quite filthy – in a good way, just not so good if you wear a nice clear blue dress with white polka dots and I am going to tell you why. To eat calcots, you need to tear off the black burnt outside leaves by holding it in one hand and pulling off the leaves with the other hand, bare hands please! Some fancy people use the plastic gloves on offer but really this is one of the rarest moments when getting dirty while eating is required. The remaining onions in your hand is dipped into the salvitxada, a red sauce that contains red peppers, onions, tomatoes, garlic and almonds among other ingredients. All I know is that it is tasty. Then you hold this whole lot upright and slowly slide it down into your mouth. It is a whole process with loads of skills involved: pinching calcots, right opening of the mouth, no sauce on the clothes not even on the bib. Lol. Then comes the meat. A plate of ribs, butifarra and morcilla and some potatoes and also a salad. But somehow, my appetite stopped after one rib and a butifarra bite. This is too much food.
During this calcotada, we also had the right to drink some really really bad wine. Alas, because it is unlimited wine on offer in the price, we did not get a grand cru… Thank God, they brought us some gaseosa, kind of soda water/limonade to mix with the wine, a very popular drink here in Spain. I like it more in summertime but while, this time, the wine on its own won’t do. But it is unlimited, yay for the others – if you have read my post about Michael Collins, I still have not started binge drinking so… Although, there is some ground for an alcoholic start here as after all this wine, we get a carajillo or coffee with baileys and then cava and then white wine for the road with a plan to drink more in a bar…. The dessert is not a highlight, but you don’t go to a calcotada for the dessert. You go for the fun of getting dirty and seeing your friends getting dirty and enjoying the calcots and the meat and drinking. You go for the pleasure of having fun and enjoying a pleasant time with your friends. We even sang songs at the initiative of our Catalan bit of the group.
I will not recommend the place we went to because I thought some of my calcots were too old and not so tasty. A gourmet still remains a gourmet… But I definitely recommend you to go to a calcotada with good fun friends (preferably).