Cati Gómez as jury member of the Cortadores competition:
An honor to represent the Netherlands as a Cortadora and jury member during the National Competition of Cortadores of Los Pedroches.
In September I was asked to represent the Netherlands as a jury member and Cortadora at the national competition of Cortadores of Villanueva de Córdoba that took place on October 7, 2017. A great honor, but also a great responsibility!
Because the judges of the competition remain unknown until the end, I was not allowed to tell anyone why I was traveling to Córd that weekendoba.
The competition was organized in Villanueva de Córdoba by the “Consejo Regulador de la Denominación de origen Protegida Los Pedroches“ or the protected designation of origin (PDO).
It was the first time that a female cortadora ( Cati Gómez) was chosen to judge this important professional competition.
During the two-hour competition, the 8 Cortadores Profesionales candidates (6 men and 2 women) had to show the best of their knowledge, skills and love for the Ibérico de Bellota DOP product.
The five jury members assessed aspects such as knowledge about the ham, handling of the ham, cleaning, cutting techniques (including straight cutting and the thickness of the sliced ham), profitability of the sliced ham, the attitude of the Cortador/Cortadora during cutting and the presentation on the board.
The winner of the competition was Abraham Cambres, second place was Pedro Mora and Laura Polvillo came third. Congratulations to everyone! Judging this competition was a particularly educational and fun experience for me. And it was great to see the passion of the participants, they also carry out the profession with great dignity.