La Pampa style roast lamb in Moraña
The event, which takes place in the Carballeira de Santa Lucía (an oak wood in the town centre), was first celebrated in 1969 and it is now one of the oldest food festivals in As Rías Baixas. There, a group of professional cooks prepare more than one hundred lambs on a low heat to be served to the visitors under the shade of the oaks.
The carneiro ao espeto, the traditional recipe where the whole lamb is roasted over an open fire, started to be prepared in the town of Moraña a century ago, and this way of cooking this meat became a tradition over the years. In the late 1960s, the local government, during the boom of the food festivals, proposed combining the Festival of the Youth with the tasting of the roasted lamb. Gradually, the carneiro ao espeto became the most important dish of the local food, and this food event attracts every year visitors coming from all over Galicia.
Sixteen lambs were served the first year, and this number rose steadily along with the popularity of the event. The lambs are slit open, staked to metal structures and placed around fire rings. The embers, from oak wood, enhance the flavour of the meat, cooked at a low temperature for seven hours and without marinade.
Each lamb is served in a single piece. The meal, with a price of 300 euros, includes a lamb from 12 to 14 kilos, empanadas (a kind of savoury pastry) made of wheat flour, and filled with zorza (shredded marinated pork meat) or cod with raisins, bread, local wine, mineral water, a special sauce known as ajimójilis —made of species and herbs to enhance the flavour of the meat—, coffee, augardente (a typical Galician strong alcoholic beverage) and a complete dinner service.
The food festival also includes a large number of activities. Local bars and restaurants participate in the tapas contest "Espétalle un pincho" during the weeks prior to the event. In addition, different activities are organised, such as traditional games, archery and a zip-line in the Santa Xusta Park.
Traditional music is also important and the local group of traditional music and dance Seixebra organizes a folk festival. Moreover, visitors can also attend and enjoy the charity event Moraña Glamour —a night of fashion, beauty, shows and solidarity—, a running race, theatre performances, water games in the local pool, swimming contests, football and basketball matches, concerts at night and the Bike Festival.
The Great Show Carneiro ao Espeto is held in the oak wood on Saturday night, the day before the feast.
