Celebrating fire as the origin of gastronomy and as a symbol of community is what pushed Iñaki López to undertake a festival whose protagonists are the flesh and the fire. He Meat&Fire From June 12 to 14, it will turn the Moll de la Fusta into the world capital of fire.
It is a unique event in Europe where the best grillers in the world gather around the fire and meat. There will be 30 international grillsterraces and tasting spaces, 3 musical stages and an area where small producers lacking a distribution network will be able to show their products.
«It’s going to be three full days, there’s charcoal to smoke all of Barcelona,» said Carlos Ronda, one of the organizers of the event at the presentation of the new edition that was held this Monday on the terrace of the Museu d’Història de Catalunya.
“What we want is to offer good meat on a Josper grill, which is the Ferrari of fire,” said López, who did not forget to dedicate a special mention to the festival team that improves, innovates and takes risks every year.
In Meat & Fire xefs and grillers from 10 countries participate. «Internationalization can be seen by reviewing the cast: there is Catalonia, Euskadi, Madrid and Galicia, but we have renewed 80% of the gastronomic offer to go around the world through fire and meat. It is the first time that Greece is present, also Romania, which is a great unknown, but has a very interesting mix of cuisines; from Turkey we bring the cuisine of Anatolia; from Dubai the marinades; from Ecuador the sea and mountains; the acevichados of Colombia, and the Mexican cochinita pibil cooked underground,” explained Iñaki López.
And the edition is coming in Argentina
And the festival is a good place to discover techniques for cooking meat such as Burduntzi. A centuries-old practice that reached Basque lands from America thanks to the influence of emigrants who returned from Argentinaand which consists of cooking whole pieces of animals skewered on a large iron rod over embers. Chefs Peio Ayestarán and Alfredo Alzueta, natives of Muskitz (Navarra), will prepare a Vall-Llosana black angus burduntzi.
Another technique that will be worth seeing in person is the preparation of cochinita pibil cooked in the Yucatecan style by Joan Bagur (Oaxaca, Barcelona), recreating the ancient Mayan technique of pib, an underground oven where The meat is cooked very slowly wrapped in banana leaves.
Buenos Aires is the guest city of this edition with the participation of three renowned grillers: German Sitz (La Carnicería, Buenos Aires). Sitz will bring to the festival the essence of its avant-garde grill that revolutionized the traditional Buenos Aires concept. The other guest is Magalí Núñez (Michel Rolland Grill & Wine, Buenos Aires), known as “La Maga” for breaking the mold in a traditionally very masculine sector. And the third is Javier Brichetto (Piantao, Madrid), which with its authentic Argentine grill demonstrates its vast knowledge and experience in gastronomic temples in seven countries.
But the love story of Meat & Fire With the city of Buenos Aires it does not end here. This coming month of October the festival opens its headquarters in Buenos Airesand will hold an edition of the festival there on October 10, 11 and 12. The Argentine consul in Barcelona, Rossana Cecilia Surballe, thanked the action and confirmed that “the grill tradition is part of our identity and our culture.”
Chef Javier Brichetto, who did not miss the presentation, said that “for all of us who are passionate about fire and meat, this festival is very important. Soccer and barbecue are our two religions and having the Meat & Fire “In Buenos Aires, we are going to learn how grilling and meat are experienced around the world.”
The Vanguard.
GML
