Romesco

romesco (in full, salsa romesco), the name of an important Catalan sauce, whose ingredients are normally a pounded mixture of fried bread, garlic, grilled tomato, almonds, and hazelnuts, plus paprika and chilli powder, all made into a smooth paste with wine (if possible from the Priorat) and wine vinegar. But there are many different versions, as Patience Gray (1986) has attested:

The variations of this sauce are legion, secrecy surrounds the method and there is no common agreement among fishermen or cooks about its creation. The annual romescada at Cambrils near Tarragona is in fact a kind of challenge to fishermen to produce the ‘best’ romesco. Four thousand people may turn up to participate in the contest (as onlookers) and a white night is spent by restaurateurs to prepare for the multitude. The master romesco-makers set to work, crouching over their mortars, at little stands in the dazzling April light, engulfed by an excited throng.