Calcotada

The calcot is a spring onion grown by a specific method: an onion is replanted and earthed up repeatedly as it grows, producing a long white stem, and the practice is credited to a nineteenth-century farmer in Valls. They are grilled directly on a fire of vine cuttings until the outside is black, wrapped in newspaper to steam, then served in bundles on roof tiles. Eating them has a technique: hold the top, pull the burnt outer layers down and off, dip the white stem in romesco sauce made of almonds, hazelnuts, nyora peppers and oil, and lower it into your mouth from above. Bibs are provided because it is messy. The meal continues with grilled lamb and butifarra, then cream and cava. The season runs from January to April.

What you actually see

• The vine-cutting fire - onions charred directly on burning prunings.
• The roof tile service - bundles brought to the table on tiles.
• The eating technique - burnt layers pulled off and the stem dipped and lowered.
• The romesco - a nut and pepper sauce specific to the dish.

When to go

January to April, the calcot season; February and March are the peak and restaurants around Valls book out on weekends. Valls holds a calcotada festival in late January.

Honest expectations

It is genuinely messy and bibs and gloves are standard. The meal is long and heavy, continuing through meat courses after the onions. Restaurants serve it as a fixed menu at fixed prices, usually only at lunch and only in season.

Nearby

Valls is the centre of the tradition; Tarragona and the Penedes lie south and north.