This midday, the awards ceremony for the X Gastronomic Route of Bull Meat took place at the Mercado Gastronómico Puerta Cinegia in Zaragoza, organized by Agencia Almozara and Las Moradas de San Martín, the sole sponsor of the route.
The director of El Gastrónomo Zaragozano and promoter of the route, Miguel Ángel Vicente, thanked the specialized journalists, collaborators —Bodegas Carlos Valero and Cárnicas Carlos Gómez— and participating establishments for their attendance at the event, before explaining how the selection of the four winners was carried out, which ultimately turned out to be: Costa 8 for the best tapa; Los Xarmientos for the best dish; and Rústicco and Kentya for the best pairings with white and red wine, respectively.
Once the evaluations from the professional jury were received, we found that in several cases there were ties with very high scores. To determine who deserved each of the awards, a team from Las Moradas de San Martín, led by Óscar Valenzuela, and another from Agencia Almozara, with me at the front, visited some of those establishments that were so closely matched, explained the director of El Gastrónomo.
After the professional jury had assessed, for the month-long duration of the route, the preparation techniques, flavors, and quality of the proposals, Miguel Ángel Vicente continued, we observed that edition after edition, the hoteliers take it more seriously and strive harder to present more original and surprising dishes and tapas, and that was the decisive factor. However, it is fair to mention the finalists as they missed out on the award by a narrow margin, he emphasized.
Thus, in the best tapa category, Costa 8, with its “Bull tail with red vermouth on a crunchy corn arepa base with Costa 8 sauce (of spices and egg yolk), rocks from Las Moradas and fresh sprouts,” won by tenths over Hermanos Teresa and Oisi.
The best dish —“Layered bull tail cooked at low temperature, roasted sweet potato cream, Golden potato, pickled zucchini, and red fruit tepache gel”— was from Los Xarmientos, with La Doris and El Foro as finalists.
In pairing with red wine, Kentya’s “Bull tail stew” paired with Senda ECO 2021 was the winner, closely followed by El Picadillo and Gastro Nolasco. In the pairing with white wine, the “Gnocchis with bull ragu and cheese foam” paired with Ensayo ECO 2020 from Rusticco was closely followed by the proposals from Amontillado and Casalizio.
Finally, the organization has given a special mention to the Mercado Gastronómico Puerta Cinegia (Grupo El Cachirulo) for its complete menu featuring bull meat, paired with wines from Las Moradas de San Martín.
A gastronomic reference
Óscar Valenzuela, area manager of Enate, the group to which the winery Las Moradas de San Martín belongs, congratulated, as the crowning achievement of this special edition, the exceptional results both in participation, with 60 establishments, many of which were new additions, and in gastronomic quality. The establishments have presented a very high culinary standard, consolidating this event as one of the gastronomic references of Zaragoza.
Valenzuela also emphasized how, throughout these 10 editions, both our winery Las Moradas de San Martín and the wines that have accompanied the culinary proposals —Albillo Real, Senda, Initio, Ensayo, and Las Luces— have become well-known among the Zaragoza public.
Organized by Agencia Almozara and with Las Moradas de San Martín as the sole sponsor, the Gastronomic Route of Bull Meat receives collaboration from Cárnicas Carlos Gómez, Bodegas Carlos Valero, and El Gastrónomo Zaragozano.
