The paellas of those who love paella
Let's make it clear: Spain is a paella and that is why we must surrender once and for all to this poor man's plate whose name is the plate but also the container; what a mess even in the title of the work . But how could the icon (because it is) of Spanish gastronomy not be in chaos? Chaotic, excessive, contradictory, haughty, noisy and dilettante... His Majesty paella, the best dish in the world.
And it is that for too long we have perhaps imagined ourselves a little too European, but we have to gradually accept that we are much more Bigas Luna, Lola Flores or Luis García Berlanga that a Nordic chuflas, so veggie and so cold chest.
Fortunately, Don Rafael Azcona said that "when instincts are repressed, feelings are annulled" and few gastronomic elaborations exist as totemic, atavistic and wild such as paella, a meal of humble Valencian origin that has crossed all borders and is especially relevant today, when the #WorldPaellaDay all over the planet and that has such flashy ambassadors: José Andrés and Quique Dacosta already spread happiness over the wood fire in London ( Arros QD ) or New York ( Little Spain ).
Curious huh. That in this present of relationships without commitment, jobs without office, celebrities without merit and music without musicians let's save a space for paella , so dirty (everyone there putting their paws), So attached to pleasure and slow time : there is no such thing as a paella in a hurry . no way.
So let's go with the favorite paellas of cooks, cooks and good people who love paella without measure.
The majesty of her paella, the best dish in the world
Quique Dacosta , of course, he sweeps home but not only: “I prefer the paella of ** Llisa Negra ** (the one we cook) which is none other than a paella cooked from the perspective of a contemporary chef ; a cook who wants the vegetables to retain their properties, that they are not overcooked, that the chicken and rabbit be marked and cooked in such a way that it is juicy at the end of cooking the rice. I like to play with vegetables, with the artichoke, with the carob bean, the bajoqueta ... but always under the premise that the vegetables are not overcooked. we make a paella on the flame , using orange wood, which is very important; We made a great effort to have a restaurant in the center of Valencia where paella could be cooked over firewood”.
Quique gets wet: “one of the paellas that I have enjoyed the most and that I have eaten the most in the capital of Valencia is that of ** Casa Carmela **. It is a wonderful paella , traditional cut, also made with firewood. They have very well established the concept of paella, of sharing, of familiarity , the truth is that it is a paella that I really like.
Nacho Honrubia from Komori, along with Lavoe from Toni Boix and José Miguel Herrera from Nozomi (Tokyo and Valencia, inextricably linked by a grain of rice) also coincide with Casa Carmela.
Our Begoña Rodrigo opts for chicken and rabbit from Carmela (how can I not love you, Carmela) but also because that of the senyoret of La Ferrera in Pinedo.
another titan, Ricard Camarena , makes us travel to his town in The Safor to choose three rice “Orthodox, with its own personality and with all the charm of the environment where it is cooked” . he is talking about Barx and La Visteta, El Parpalló and Puigmola . How right the teacher is in what he says: a plate is the plate but also where (and with whom) you share it. How is a paella in Juan Bravo going to be the same as at the foot of a mountain or looking at the sea...
also get wet William Navarro , founded from Wikipaella and arrossero without prejudice, “as technically perfect paellas I could tell you more than thirty, but of course, beyond perfection, we look for favourites. This is where the emotional lever comes in. Which takes me to the ‘favorites’ drawer. I would start with technical perfection , with the handicraft engineer, with whom we have learned the most lately about the great difference that makes everything: firewood . The temple ** Bairetas de Rafa Margós ** (more than 300,000 wood-fired paellas in his lifetime) either in its Chiva cathedral or Denia sanctuary version. **The senyoret rice from La Marítima ** and that wildly deep background and a flavor with a fabulous nuance called red curry. How they touch the sea in La Marítima. Wonderful. And to finish the trio of aces, my particular coming out, the rabbit and snail paella at Alfonso Mira in Aspe , that's where my idyll began with that a priori strange paella for a Valencian, chickpeas, rabbit, cloves, pepper, garlic, vine shoot fire…”.
What dish the paella , so extremely complicated to cook and so easy to love. Maybe that's why it drags us like this, from the bowels , and with that freedom that Dacosta reveres: “we understand that there is a component of freedom; beyond a Valencian paella, a rice made in paella can be much more open”. So long live the paella. Today, tomorrow and always.
#WorldPaellaDay: the paellas of those who love (and cook) paella