We are in the middle of the high season for calçotadas and there is a topic of debate that appears recurrently on Catalan tables: Are calçots sauce and romesco the same thing? “No, no way!” someone exclaims. “Ah, aren’t they the same?” asks another. “The one with calçots is called salvichada,” adds some brainy person.
Who has the reason? At RAC1.cat we have tried to solve it with several experts and specialized sources, and the best answer would probably be: everyone and no one. We explain why.
“Calçots sauce for some is a variant of romesco, and for others it is identical. This is a metaphysical discussion,” said the historian and gastronomic critic Jaume Fàbrega some time ago in Vía lliure. According to the expert, “they are essentially the same sauce,” because the differences in ingredients that some claim are actually variations that depend on the tastes and recipes of each family.
Along the same lines, the chef and former president of the Institute of Catalan Cuisine Xavier Mestres admits that it is very difficult to unravel the framework of the discussion, but maintains that it is difficult to distinguish one sauce from the other because “they are first cousins” and makes it clear that “There is not just one true recipe,” but rather “there are as many genuine recipes as there are people who make them.”
Mestres refers us to the Corpus of Catalan cuisine, the great reference recipe book of the country’s traditional gastronomy. In this guide, in which hundreds of people collaborated under the supervision of a scientific committee, the calçots sauce does not have its own recipe, but rather redirects to the romesco sauce.
According to the recipe included in the Corpus of Catalan Cuisine, romesco is made with the following ingredients:
The ingredients are crushed (with a pestle or blender) and then the sauce is mixed with oil and vinegar until the desired texture. Now, the same guide says that this sauce receives other names such as salvichada or red sauce, and lists up to eight possible variations on the base recipe.
If we look at calçot sauce recipes, it is common for them to have a higher proportion of nuts than romesco. There are people who do not add any type of ñora or dried pepper, paradoxically one of the ingredients that many consider essential. This is what the coordinator of the Great Calçotada Festival of Valls, Rafael Castells, explained when he gave the recipe for the traditional sauce on RAC1.cat.
Carme Ruscalleda also recently stated on TV3 that in her house the calçot sauce “does not contain ñora and is more rich in tomato”, unlike romesco.
On the other hand, two of the latest winners of the Valls calçot sauce competition do use ñora. Andrea Cabrera reveals his recipe in the Diari de Tarragona, and Francesc Invernón, in the RTVE program The Lost Recipe. In the latter case, he also adds some parsley before serving, another of the small variations that some include in the sauce.
And there are also theories that indicate that the difference between calçots sauce and romesco is that the first contains ñora and the second, romesco peppers, another type of longer and less sweet dry pepper.
On the other hand, some say that salvichada is a spicy and more powerful sauce because, as its name indicates, it contains chili pepper. The director of the magazine Cultura y Paisaje, Josep Maria Rovira Valls, states that “it is ideal to accompany boiled snails, mussels and potatoes with embers”, but “it is not at all recommended for calçotada”.
Not to mention xató, another cousin of all these red sauces. Broadly speaking, it is also made with the same basic ingredients, although it generally uses more oil and often includes unscalded garlic and breadcrumbs moistened with vinegar.
As we see, there are a thousand and one ways to make romesco and calçots sauce. However, as the experts stated, a culinary expert cannot say that they are different sauces. It is true that there are small differences in ingredients, proportions, final texture, etc. But these variations do not seem substantial enough to be considered different sauces, but rather variants of the same recipe, to which everyone gives the names they want.
Furthermore, the variations in the preparation of one sauce or another are so diverse that it is very difficult to distinguish them and draw a clear border between what is romesco and what is calçots sauce.
Now, all this does not mean that if you have always made two different sauces at home and are clear about the differences, you cannot maintain that romesco and calçots sauce are obviously different things.
The only thing we have tried to clarify with this article is that probably the element (or elements) that makes them different for you is not the same element that differentiates them in another family. And let the debate continue!
