A small mouthful, one that has become famous throughout the world and given rise to the custom of ‘going for tapas,’ will play the starring role in this newsworthy championship organised by Estrella Galicia.
The Spanish culinary model par excellence, the tapa, will once again feature at Salón de Gourmets with its own competition: The 5th Spanish GourmeTapa / Estrella Galicia Spanish Tapas Championship for Gourmets. This event seeks to recognise the talent of those chefs who are capable of creating the best tapas to go with one of the beers produced by Estrella Galicia (Hijos de Rivera).
This Championship is organised to pay homage to this grand little appetizer, with twenty participants being given free rein to prepare a minimum of 20 similar tapas in 30 minutes to go with one of the brand’s four varieties of beer: Estrella Galicia Especial, 1906 Reserva Especial, 1906 Red Vintage or Estrella Galicia Gluten free.
Every year this competition brings together an increasing number of visitors and journalists, being split into four sessions featuring a maximum of five contestants each. The Championship will take place on Wednesday 26th April in the Estrella Galicia Area within the framework of the 31st Salón de Gourmets.
The Jury, made up of professionals from the catering and restaurant trade, will evaluate aspects such as the originality, size, presentation, ingredients, and clean execution of the tapas, as well as the agility of the participants, when it comes to deciding the winner.
This edition has sought to take into account a section of the population that now represents 1% of overall demand in Spain and whose consumer patterns are influencing all realms of cuisine: celiacs. In this respect, Estrella Galicia presented its Gluten-Free beer a year and a half ago, that is made by means of an entirely innovative process, but maintains all of the character of the original beer. For the same reason, we would like to propose a new challenge to contestants by granting a prize for the Best Gluten-Free Tapa, one that will harmonise perfectly with Estrella’s gluten-free beer, Estrella Galicia Sin Gluten.
The First Prize, consisting of €2,000, a trophy and a diploma, will be presented to the contestant who has obtained the highest number of points; Runners-Up Prizes will be presented for the second placed contestant (€1,000 and a diploma), And there will be two Special Prizes: One of them will be awarded for the best tapa made with beer, which will win the contestant €1,000 and the chef’s body-weight in beer. And other Special Price will be awarded for the best gluten free tapa, which will win the contestant €1,000 and the chef’s body-weight in gluten free beer.
At the last edition, Jesús González from Biscay, with his original ‘Cod Yoghurt,’ was the overall winner of the 4th Spanish GourmeTapa / Estrella Galicia Spanish Tapas Championship for Gourmets .The tapa, which he matched with the brand’s beer 1906 Reserva Especial, attracted the Jury’s attention from the very beginning due to its originality "The idea arose when we were in our bar in Ermua and we were watching a boy playing with a ball whilst eating a yoghurt; we thought about creating a tapa that could be eaten standing up, sitting or in any place whatsoever," Jesús González explained.
The two Runners-Up Prizes went to Miguel Ángel Camacho from Ciudad Real, for his "Crunchy Seaweed with Marinade and Beer" and Javier Gutiérrez, from Santa Cruz de Tenerife, for "La Caja."The Special Prize for Best Tapa Made with Beer was awarded to Alejandro Tena de Torreblanca, Castellón, for his "Red Vintage Cannelloni Stuffed with D.O. Vinarós Prawns, Glazed Artichokes and Caramelized Onion."
Rules
Video of the last edition: