Let’s face it, a calçot is a very unexotic vegetable! Not really something to get over-excited about, you’d think. But you’d be wrong – in Catalonia at least.
The fact is that eating calçots is a big deal here. A calçotada – a calçot party – is a real winter treat. It’s a lot of fun and tasty too.
So what is a calçot? It looks like a blend of leek and spring onion, but not as strong tasting as either – the flavour is more a gentle sweetness.
Friends bring great bunches of calçots to back-garden barbecues, or to public open-air barbie sites. Or they just head for a specialist restaurant.
Cooking your calçots
Am I an experienced calçot chef? Full disclosure – no! I’ve done it a couple of times, and here are a few tips I’ve picked up along the way.
First, cut the roots off your calçot, trim the top and peel off the outer layer to get rid of most of the earth.
Then pop your calçots on the barbecue until the green outside leaves are nicely charred. Rough guide – 5-7 minutes either side. Apparently vine clippings (sarmientos) are preferred as fuel. Which is handy, as winter is when the vines are pruned back, so there’s plenty of raw material.
You know they’re done when little drops of liquid start emerging from the blackened calçot. They’re then wrapped in newspaper and left to cool off for half an hour or so. I’m not sure why, but it seems to work!
Mastering the technique
Now you’re ready to tuck in. You need to peel off the charred outer layer. There’s definitely a technique to this – see my video below. Discard the blackened bits and then dunk the tip of your calçot in a pot of romesco sauce (salvitxada in Catalan)
Then lower the calçot into your mouth, rather like a sword-swallower doing a circus routine. Take a bite – and repeat until full.
It’s a messy business and a bib (un babero) is advisable. Calçotada restaurants usually supply them. They also give you plastic gloves. But where’s the fun in that if you can’t lick your fingers?
Valls – the capital of calçots
We get calçots further south in the Comunidad Valenciana too, but it’s really a Catalan thing. The little town of Valls near Tarragona is the centre of the calçot universe from January onwards. The calçots from around Valls boast the IGP stamp (Protection of Geographical Origin).
Even though they look like bunch of rather slimline leeks – and they’re clearly from the same veg family – calçots are not something you’ll find outside Spain (at least as far as I know).
In Valls, they apparently use a variety called “Blanca Tardana de Lleida” if you fancy planting a few yourself.
Just like with leeks, the soil is heaped up around the calçot as it grows. The part of the vegetable left under the soil turns white. That’s the sweet and tender bit you want to get your teeth into.
To meet the IGP rules for a Valls calçot, the white bit (I bet there’s a technical term for this) has to be a certain length – at least 15-25cm if we’re being precise. More info here – in Spanish, but hit Google Translate and you’ll get the gist.
Romesco sauce
The romesco sauce for dipping your calçots is made with garlic, toasted almonds, hazelnuts, tomatoes, a ñora pepper, toasted bread, vinegar, chili pepper and olive oil. Try a recipe here – though you can usually buy some ready-made at the supermarket, even outside the calçot homeland of Catalunya.
You’ll usually be served a slice of toasted bread with tomato, olive oil and a garlic clove, which you rub on the bread.
Drink with a good Catalan vi negre (red wine) or cava. Order a plate of grilled meat or butifarra sausage as a follow-up course, with a postre to follow. Delicious!
Oh and how do you pronounce calçots like a Catalan? Say it as ‘kalsots’ – tap here to hear how.
We ate here: Font de Les Planes: between Barcelona and Sant Cugat. There’s an open-air barbie site and a restaurant if you prefer to dine in (we did). Take the S1 or S2 train from Plaça de Catalunya to Les Planes station and it’s a short stroll.
More Spanish specialities:
- How to find the best paella and rice dishes
- Jamón ibérico: the best ham you can buy
- Queso Manchego – the king of Spanish cheeses
- How to buy the best fish in Spain
- Eat your way around Spain at the delicatessen
© Guy Pelham