From the poor to the villages: for Carnival there are soups, bowls and ranches

For Carnival, in many Catalan towns it is time to take the pots out into the square to fill them with soups, stews and bowls. A popular activity that involves many of the inhabitants of the towns where they are made and that has long been demanding more public recognition. Popular soups, stews and bowls are documented since the 15th century. Some historical research relates their origin to a caloric meal that was prepared before the obligatory fasting that would be carried out during Lent and that was made from the ingredients that were collected from all the houses. However, other sources indicate that it was a meal that the feudal lords and the convents offered to the neediest people in the town. Be that as it may, this tradition speaks of Catalonia is boiling. The book of soups, stews and popular bowls (Edicions Sidillà), by Judit Pujadó, where she not only explains the recipes for these bowls, which are very different, but also the history behind each one. "Overall, we are talking about a popular tradition that, from the beginning of the 20th century, went from being the soup of the poor to becoming the soup of the villages," says Pujadó to explain this more popular and festive character that still dominates today.

In each town, the festival is celebrated with its own particularities, and Pujadó believes that what unites them "is the ritual that is followed, both when it comes to getting the ingredients to make the dish and cooking it in a public space." Another common characteristic is that these soups and stews are mostly still cooked by men: "Because as they usually cook very little, when they do, they want to be seen! Jokes aside, the fact is that it is made in the town square and is shared among everyone," says Judit Pujadó with humor. Tradition dictated that these soups were made with what the townspeople themselves gave, although now things have changed and the contribution, in most cases, is financial. In fact, the festival begins a few days before, with the departure to go and get firewood to light the fire to heat the pots. "And the day of the escudella –as Judit Pujadó says–, is a big party for the whole town. The grace is to share a good feast in common, and most are made before Lent begins, the time when traditionally meat could not be eaten."

In each town, a recipe

If there is a common denominator between these soups, bowls and ranches, it is that we are talking about very strong dishes, with broths that can almost be cut with a knife. In fact, they assure that if they have been made well, when they cool they could be placed in the pot and would not fall. As for the particularities of each place, Pujadó highlights that "broadly speaking, there is a fairly common base: it is a collective dish that is made with many ingredients and water." "However, there are some ranches where pepper is added, some make a sofrito and there are even some places where they make rice instead of broth," he adds.

One of the places where this tradition is kept alive is Verges, in the Baix Empordà, where the traditional Verges soup is celebrated every year. The president of the festival is Mia Font and she explains that its origin in the town dates back more than 300 years: "We have it documented thanks to the drawing made by a notary where you can see a man stirring a pot in the square." They maintain the tradition of making the soup on Shrove Tuesday (this year, on March 4), and she recognizes that the involvement of the town in the festival is total and that it continues to be a day that is lived with great intensity. In the Empordà there is a long tradition of these popular meals, and as Font points out, "in Albons they make rice and in Capmany one of the oldest ranches in Catalonia, each with its particularities but with common elements, such as the fact that we are talking about a caloric diet ideal for winter days and that it is the result of the product that is available." As for the Verges soup, Font points out that "it is probably the only one in which rancid butter is used."

As in many other places, the Sopa de Verges festival begins a few days before Carnival Tuesday, when it is served to the locals. Two weeks before, they go out to collect the firewood with which they will cook the soup. On Carnival Sunday, they collect the products and on Monday they prepare everything. On Tuesday, they start the fires early in the morning to be able to serve the nearly two thousand portions of soup that they will have prepared to eat in pots that belong to the locals themselves and where they can prepare an average of 80 litres of soup in each one. As for the custom of men making the soup, Font points out that it is maintained in the majority, although women also participate very actively: "There are about forty men who make the soup and about twenty women who distribute it. But if they want to make the soup, they are very welcome! The truth is that the only thing that worries us."

The ranch is not a soup (nor a bowl)

In the Girona area, one of the country's most successful ranches is also held, the one in Vidreres. Salvi Jené is the president of the Rancho de Vidreres and he assures that, "apart from the main festival, it is the most important festival in the town." "It is routine, but we are always introducing new things, such as the creation of itinerant ranchers, people from the town who are not part of the group who we invite to experience the festival from within," he explains. Although in the past it was always men who were the ranchers, in Vidreres there have always been women ranchers, and, as Jené remembers, "without them perhaps it would not have been possible to get ahead." And the fact is that the company is not small because in Vidreres on the day of the ranch they prepare thirty hundred-litre pots, which allow more than 7,000 portions to be served. Regarding the particularity of his ranch, Jené maintains that "it is not a traditional escudella, but a broth with meat, bones, potatoes and beans to which a sofrito with garlic, onion, tomato, black pepper, paprika and rancid wine is added, and that makes it totally different from an escudella."

Pere Soro Millet is the group leader at the Rancho de Talarn, in Pallars Jussà, which this year will be serving on Sunday 2 March. He explains that, broadly speaking, there are two ways of making the ranch: "The first is to make a fairly strong sofrito and then cook the meat and vegetables in the cauldrons. The second is to cook the meat, vegetables and other ingredients separately and mix these broths to soften the pasta." In the case of Talarn, on the day of making the ranch there are half a dozen people who are on top of the preparation all day, and half a dozen more who help prepare all the ingredients. A good part of the work, as Soro says - he is the one who coordinates the festival and makes sure that nothing is missing and everything goes at the same time - is to be "on top of the cauldrons and stir constantly, and it must be done by brave and strong people." Boiling 12 cauldrons, large and small, will allow for the 350 to 400 portions that will be served at lunchtime to the villagers, but also to anyone who wants to come along. "In Talarn you can buy a ticket with which you will receive a small casserole to eat the food and a portion of sausage that is grilled during lunchtime," explains Soro. "And if you want to bring a dish from home, no problem, you will be served the food anyway!" Apart from Talarn, in Pallars other popular dishes are made for Carnival, such as Guixa, in Isona, a bowl made with bacon, noodles, chickpeas, pumpkin, rice and beans, and the Calderada de Rialp, also with a long tradition and celebrated on Carnival Tuesday.