Date: November 14th
Location: Hotel Palacio Pinello, Seville
Event: The inauguration of the menu for the Sagardi Restaurant Group’s XII Jornadas Gastronómicas del Buey

Beef – before cooking

I was one of about 50 fortunates invited to this celebration of Basque cooking, organised by company founder Iñaki Lopez de Viñaspre and master butcher Imanol Jaca, and a menu arranged around the charcoal grilled txuleton steaks of mature Galician beef cold-room aged for 3-4 weeks. It proved to be an event worth waiting for. The setting was pleasant, the company friendly, and the service great. But of course it was the food that we’d come here for.

Bresaola

We started with a little taster of bresaola, a thinly sliced salted and air dried beef that was really delicious, followed by an entree of alubia nueva de tolosa con sus sacramentos. This Basque speciality is a rich dark bean stew served with morcilla, and it was easy to see why this rather rare dish is so highly-prized.

Then the beef. Thick slabs of medium rare grilled meat that were both tasty and tender, and as much of it as you could eat. The side dish of fresh pimientos cooked over a wood fire was a perfect complement.

Beef – after cooking

Afterwards came cheese – a Montaña Aralar sheep’s cheese – walnuts, and some rich dark chocolate truffles to finish, making a great finish to an excellent meal.

Cheese

Many thanks then to Grupo Sagardi for organising the event, and our hosts Hotel Palacio Pinello. For those wanting to try the menu it’s available until December 11th.