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Recipe · 3 min read

Arroz de Trilla

Harvest-time rice soup with rabbit, snails and green chickpeas

Arròs de Batre

Caldoso · brothy Cooked in Iron cauldron Alicante

⚠️ Source-confidence note: a rescued recipe. Two home cooks from Jesús Pobre demonstrated it at Dénia's CDT (tourism training centre) so that, in the press's words, "la recepta ja no es perdrà" (the recipe will no longer be lost), and chef Ximo Carrión (blog Fentdetutto) also works to recover it. Published sources give the ingredients but no quantities or method. The blueprint below is a reconstruction consistent with those ingredients and with Marina Alta caldós technique.

01Geographic & Texture Profile

  • Primary Geographic Zone: La Marina Alta: Jesús Pobre (a minor locality of Dénia) and the Riurau country of Dénia–Xàbia–Pedreguer.
  • Liquid & Texture Profile: Caldoso (soupy). It was showcased at Jesús Pobre's trobada de l'arròs caldós.
  • Traditional Cooking Vessel & Fuel: A caldero or olla on a wood fire in the farmyard (era).

02Historical & Cultural Context

Batre means "to thresh". This was the rice "que els llauradors menjaven a l'agost, després de la tradicional batuda": the meal of the August wheat-threshing on the farmstead's threshing floor. Its signature is green chickpeas (cigrons verds / garbanzos tiernos), picked fresh at that time of year, with meat (rabbit, according to Carrión), snails, carrot (safanòria / carlota) and potato (creïlla, written "credilla" in the source). Its home is the riurau landscape of the Marina Alta, the arcaded farm buildings where moscatell raisins were dried, and it is now championed at the gastronomic meetings held at the Gran Riurau del Senyoret in Jesús Pobre.

Culinary science: fresh green chickpeas are sweet and cook in 15–20 min, much faster than dried ones, so they go in late. Carrot and potato thicken and sweeten the broth, and the snails' juices season it.

03Local Town-by-Town Variations

  • The Jesús Pobre Style (documented ingredients): Green chickpeas, meat (rabbit), snails, carrot, potato. Caldós.
  • Neighbouring towns (Xaló, Ondara, Pego): These towns take part in the same rice meetings, but their versions are ⚠️ undocumented.

04The Master Recipe (4-Person Batch Blueprint)

Variant represented: Jesús Pobre, reconstructed quantities.

The Flavor Base (El Fondo)

Ingredient Quantity
Rabbit, jointed ½ (≈ 600 g)
Snails (vaquetes), purged & blanched 24
Fresh green chickpeas, shelled (or frozen) 300 g
Carrot, in rounds 2
Potato, in chunks 2 medium
Olive oil 60 ml
Ripe tomato, grated 100 g
Pimentón dulce 3 g
Saffron 0.2 g
Water 2 L

Assembly Ratios

Element Quantity
Rice 300 g
Broth at rice-in ≈ 1.6–1.8 L (≈ 6 : 1)

Step-by-Step Cooking Blueprint

  1. Brown the rabbit in the oil (15 min). Add the pimentón (5 s) and tomato (5 min).
  2. Broth: Add the water, carrot and snails. Simmer 30 min.
  3. Vegetables: Add the potato (10 min), then the green chickpeas (10 min).
  4. Rice: Add the rice and saffron and cook 16–17 min at a steady simmer.
  5. Finish: Serve soupy, with no rest.

Rabbit & snail rices: Rabbit, mountain snails (serranas/vaquetas) and herbs, mostly seco over a hot wood fire.