This is this time of the year again! What time would you ask me? Well, it is the time of the calçots and the calçotadas in Catalonia. A calco-what-a?

What is a calçotada in Catalonia?

A calçotada is a popular tradition here in Catalonia in wintertime. This annual gastronomic celebration is held between November and April. During a calçotada, friends and families gather to eat sweet white onions (aka calçots) and grilled meat, banquet or barbecue style.

Let’s first start with a bit of history. The tradition of eating calçots comes from the end of the 19th century in Tarragona, a province of Catalonia where it is mainly grown. Then calçots cooked on a barbecue became very popular from the beginning of the 20th century.

In practice, you gather a group of happy people you consider friends then you book a date for your calçotada. Ours was last Saturday, a bright, shiny, and sunny day.

Afterwards, you book a place, preferably a Masia (rural Catalan restaurant) to keep the rural charm. Our restaurant was situated in Collserola Park. We had to walk uphill so we all deserved what was waiting for us!

The place had a big open fire barbecue where the calçots were grilling and tables outside. We sat inside, though. That was perfect because this one writing here is very sensitive to cold.

The eating and drinking party begins as soon as everyone arrives. I mentioned banquet-style because I have always been to a calçotada in a big group.

We had an aperitive while waiting for our calçots to grill on the fire. When their bottom is black, they will be wrapped up in newspapers to keep them warm, then served in terra cotta tiles.

Feasting on calçots

The feast starts with pan con tomate (bread with tomato), a staple of Catalan cuisine and identity. Here, it is a do-it-yourself one: peel your garlic clove and rub it against the bread.

Same rubbing with half a tomato, pour olive oil, and add some salt. In this order, please, because if you put the tomato before the garlic, the garlic won’t stick as the bread is too humid.

I like making my pan con tomate. I can put as much garlic as I want. Everyone does the same, and we will equally repel vampires with our breath (joke).

How to eat calçots?

Then come the celebrated calçots. Dark on the outside and white on the inside. But wait! before you eat, you need to put your bib on because eating calçots is quite messy – in a good way, just not so good if you wear a lovely light blue dress with white polka dots and I am going to tell you why.

To eat the charred calçots, you need to tear off the black burnt outside leaves by holding one in your hand and pulling them off with your other hand.

All these, bare hands, please! You can use plastic gloves, but this is one of the rarest moments when getting dirty while eating is required and fun.

The remaining onions in your hand are dipped into a red sauce called “romesco sauce”. Its main ingredients are tomatoes, red peppers, garlic and almonds. All I know is that it is tasty.

Then you hold the whole lot upright and slowly slide it down into your mouth (like in the photo). This process involves loads of skills: holding the calçots, right opening of the mouth, and no sauce dripping on the clothes.

Then comes the plate of grilled meat. It includes butifarra (Catalan sausage), morcilla, lamb chops, some potatoes, and white beans. Let’s not forget ali oli. I was so full after some butifarra bites. This is a lot of food.

I have had experiences with unlimited calçots and others with limited numbers of calçots depending on where you go.

The drinking part

Calçots are usually washed down with a lot of vino. Sometimes, the wine is presented in a porrón, a glass bottle that looks like a watering can, for an even more authentic experience. The wine is then directly poured into the mouth of whoever is drinking. This also requires a skill that will develop over time. I still cannot do it properly.

The abundance of wine is lost on me. If you read my post about a quiz in Michael Collins, I still don’t drink much. Although, there is some good ground for an alcoholic start here.

I don’t know how other groups do it, but in ours, after all this wine, we get a carajillo de baileys (a hot coffee with baileys), then cava and then gin tonic and then white wine for the road. Before the C (C for Covid) time, the party continued in a bar for an after-calçots.

It is fun to go to a calçotada

I like to go to a calçotada. It is an occasion to gather with a big group of friends. It is good fun getting dirty and seeing them getting dirty, enjoying the calçots, the meat and the drinking. If you are around in the winter, try at least one calçotada!

I won’t share with you this particular address (in Collserola) because the view is the only impressive thing about it. My best address is Masia Can Cortés, Av. de Can Cortés, 36, in Sant Cugat del Vallès.

Do not hesitate to share yours.

PS: A few Barcelona restaurants also serve calçots-based dishes. The version where the calçots are prepared in tempura is my favorite.