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Although it is a very traditional food of Soria’s gastronomy, torreznos are a tapa on the rise that every year increases its popularity. In fact, in 2022 there was a production of 2,255,962 kg of Torrezns de Soria, almost 30% more than the previous year, according to Marca de Garantía. Torrezno de Soria has become a culinary jewel of the province and, therefore, the contest to know which is the Best Torrezno of the World is always lived with great expectation. In this edition, a blind tasting was held again with the 10 finalists, which took into account aspects such as the presentation of the tower, color, texture, shape, smell, and obviously the taste. Eight of the finalists were restaurants from the province of Soria, while the other two were from Madrid and Zaragoza.
The World’s Best Torrezno of 2023 will be served at Antonio’s restaurant
The final was held at the Hotel Virrey Palafox in the Villa Episcopal de El Burgo de Osma and the jury chose as the winner the proposal of the restaurant Antonio from the Soria town of San Esteban de Gormaz. Behind this almost perfect preparation are Vicente de Vicente and Juani Delgado, owners of the restaurant. Their secret? “First a good bacon and a good airing. We put them in the oven, take them out and then grind them little by little at the right temperature”, said the winner after winning the prize. In this restaurant you can also try other specialties such as oxtail sanestebeña style, squid rabas and a lot of typical portions. They are located at Av. Valladolid, 98, 42330 San Esteban de Gormaz, Soria.
On the other hand, in the amateur category, the winner was Jorge Múzquiz. While among the finalists, there was also a restaurant from Madrid, specifically Fresno restaurant (located near Las Ventas), a place specialized in roast suckling pig and lamb from Castilla y León. At the controls is Pili, who prepared these finalist torreznos.
Tricks for frying torrezno
Torreznos de Soria gives you the keys to cook torreznos correctly. We share the tricks here:
Marinated bacon:
The skin of the cured bacon should be very dry, so that the crust rises better when frying and becomes crispier. The cured bacon should be removed from the plastic container or from the refrigerator a day before and placed in a cool, dry place to air well.
- To cook it in a frying pan:
- Pour oil into the pan until the bottom is covered.
- Place over low heat.
- Cut the bacon in slices of 2 cm. approx. and place them skin side down.
- Let it fry for about 20 minutes, checking that the torreznos do not fall and observing how the characteristic ‘bubbles’ appear all over the skin.
- After that time, turn up the heat and turn the torreznos over to fry them well, about 10 minutes on each side or to taste.
- In the oven:
- Place the bacon slices crust side up.
- Heat the oven to 250ºC (top and bottom and with grill, if you have one).
- Check that the slices do not fall. After 10 minutes bubbles will start to appear on the crust.
- When the bubbles have risen in all the crusts, take them out of the oven and fry them in a frying pan with plenty of oil, until they are well fried.