Next month’s Champions Dinner, which honors previous Masters Tournament winners with a Spanish feast, will feature a number of dishes inspired by the Basque nation, prepared by current champion Jon Rahm.
One of the most unusual customs in golf is the Champions Dinner, which is held on the Tuesday during the Masters Tournament week.
Since 1951, when Ben Hogan, the winner of the 1951 Masters, invited all previous Masters champions to a dinner together, the private evening has been held annually.
Hogan suggested at the time that a group of Masters champions be established. Ever since, all past Green Jacket winners have had the honor of being hosted and having their meal chosen by the preceding year’s winner.
The Masters Club was initially offered three alternatives for dinner: fish, chicken, or steak. Champions have selected their own supper since the mid-1980s, with a wide variety of odd and interesting options adorning the Augusta National clubhouse tables.
Rahm is tasked with selecting this year’s menu after winning his second Major Championship, and he hasn’t forgotten his Spanish heritage.
Six selections for tapas and pintxos—Spanish terms for appetizers and tiny snacks—are served at the beginning of the dinner.
They are Tortilla de Patatas (Spanish omelette, onions with confit potatoes), Chistorra con Patata (spicy Basque chorizo and potato), Lentejas Estofadas (Mama Rahm’s traditional lentil stew), and Croqueta de Pollo (creamy chicken fritters with confit potatoes). Ibericos is pork loin cured with Acord ham.
Ensalada de Txangurro, or Basque crab salad and potato salad, is the salad course.
A typical Basque Country fish dish called Rodaballo al Pil-Pil, which includes turbot and Navarra white asparagus, or Chuleton a la Parrilla, a Basque ribeye steak with Tudela lettuce and Piquillo peppers, will be served as the main course for the likes of Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus.
Rahm stated, “You have two options,” during an Augusta-hosted press conference.
“White asparagus and turbot fish will be served. It’s a white fish that is fairly popular where I am from—cod or sea bass, to be exact—but I don’t like cod, therefore I won’t eat anything I don’t like for dinner.
“I generally have no trouble speaking in front of an audience, so believe me when I say that this has been completely rent-free in my mind. Not an issue. “I’ll go up there and talk about anything,” Rahm said to reporters in an Augusta National Golf Club-hosted video conference.
Lastly, there will be chuletón, a dish popular in northern Spain that is essentially a ribeye that has been smoked and seared over a standard grill with a small amount of coal.
Traditionally, they would essentially bring it to you already chopped, giving you a hot plate on which to reheat it to your desired temperature. In northern Spain, the majority of people travel at a medium-rare level. We’re not like that, so if you go beyond that, you’re going to receive strange looks. Extremely pleased of the work we do, and our meat is often of excellent quality.
The evening will conclude with Milhojas de Crema y Nata, a puff pastry cake with custard and chantilly cream, for those who still have room in their bellies.
He remarked, “It was essentially Kelley and my wedding cake.”
“Where you do it in Spain differs a little bit, but it’s still one of my favorites.
“We created a menu inspired by the northern Spanish Basque country of Bilbao, incorporating all of my favorite dishes, including one from my grandmother.”
