It was not a great idea to arrive at the Concurs mundial d’arròs amb pebrassos i trossos de Santa Gertrudis on an empty stomach. Long before descending the stairs leading to the Plaza del Parque, the aroma emanating from the nearest stove immediately ignites gluttony. Paco Manzano, from the parish workers’ team, stirs pork ribs, quic pagès and “some game [partridges and rabbit], all mixed with the vegetable sofrito. The smell intensifies even more when he grinds black pepper over the pieces.
Although it is only a few minutes before noon, the start time of the contest, the 18 participating teams are already getting down to work.
“There are really ten or twelve of us, but they have all spread out,” jokes Paula Torres next to the only teammate who has stayed on as a cook. She is a professional cook at Es Raconet, in Sant Miquel, and has experience in other gastronomic competitions of the local festivities.
In fact, she has already won first prize in a cuttlefish fair in Sant Joan and in another dedicated to octopus in Sant Miquel. “But now we’ve come to have a good time with friends and that’s it,” explains Torres. The name of her team already makes her intentions clear: ‘Es Ataconadors’ (the gluttons). On this occasion, they will be stuffing themselves with a canonical matanzas rice, “like the one our grandmothers used to make”, although only spiced with allspice, saffron and black pepper, without the slight touch of cinnamon that Torres likes.
The rice festival rules
In the two previous year of this competition, classic matanzas rice dishes have predominated, although the recipe is free style, as long as the rice is accompanied by mushrooms and meat. “But this year there are new, motivated people with other versions,” says the president of the festival committee, Marina Costa.
All teams can start cooking at noon and must deliver the dish to the jury at two o’clock. They can only pre-prepare and bring the broth and the rest of the recipe is cooked entirely in the plaza, with the stoves that they themselves bring, as detailed Costa. As all the teams bring a good number of friends as diners, a maximum of 25 has been set to avoid overcrowding.
Transalpine touch
‘El arroce hace el cariño’ prepares one of the most innovative offerings. In contrast to the predominant bomba rice, they choose the carnaroli variety, the most common for risottos. “It has more starch and is ideal for preparing sweet rice dishes,” says Italian chef Federico Frasson.
The meat is limited to a few pieces of fresh Catalan sausage and a little sobrasada, but uses four varieties of mushrooms (rossinyols, ceps, chanterelles and trumpets of death). The broth is a mixture of chicken and mushrooms, plus he will garnish the dish with mushroom powder.
David Quirós and Andy Zambrano were also professionals and fellow chefs, but they have changed their focus, as they reveal with the name of their team: ‘Chefs retirados’ (retired chefs). Their entry for the contest is another classic arroz de matanzas, but they are among the few participants to include cinnamon. “I am in favor of adding a little bit, but without going overboard so that it does not cancel out the rest of the flavors,” Quirós stresses.
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