PAN-TASTIC: Elche cooks world's largest 'arroz con costra' in massive dish requiring 3kg of salt

IT’S not often a recipe asks for three kilos of salt.

But the Costa Blanca city of Elche certainly needed it when it cooked the world’s largest arroz con costra – or ‘crusted rice’, a dish similar to paella, last week.

DISHING OUT: Festival goers at the annual Crusted Rice Competition used spades to get their fill

The humongous undertaking asked for over 1,000 eggs, 75 kilos of rabbit (about 50 animals), 45 kilos of chicken, 25 kilos of sausage, 25 kilos of tomatoes, 20 litres of olive oil, the three kilos of salt and spices, such as saffron.

TOO MANY COOKS?: Seven cooks whipped up the world’s largest *arroz con costra*

The record-smashing concoction was stirred in an enormous pan over hot coals by seven cook and fed 5,500 attendants despite the 38C heat.

The event took place at Elche’s annual Crusted Rice Competition situated in the Paseo de la Estacion near the municipal gardens.

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Joshua Parfitt

Joshua James Parfitt is the Costa Blanca correspondent for the Olive Press. He holds a gold-standard NCTJ in multimedia journalism from the award-winning News Associates in Twickenham. His work has been published in the Sunday Times, Esquire, the Mail on Sunday, the Daily Mail, the Sun, the Sun on Sunday, the Mirror, among others. He has appeared on BBC Breakfast to discuss devastating flooding in Spain, as well as making appearances on BBC and LBC radio stations.

Contact me now: joshua@theolivepress.es or call +44 07960046259. Twitter: @jjparfitt