Because the classics always want
Antonio Cosmen was born in the port of Leitariegos , on the roof of paradise, as we call it now, between Asturias and León. He lost his mother when he was 11 years old. There were four brothers and they were all outside. Antonio stayed with his father in the farm until his older brother came back. He decided go to Madrid at the age of 14.
“I started in the Giralda , on the street Hartzenbusch , with the owner who was there before, cleaning fish, on a Thursday. Imagine leave a mountain pass with fresh air to spend a day cleaning chambers, stairs and services. What would ignorance be like, that, when I cleaned with that esparto scourer and that soap, if I cleaned inside I didn't care, but when I had to clean the marble stone that was outside, I thought I would die of shame if someone from my town passed by and saw me scrubbing floors.”
Antonio counts a thousand and one funny anecdotes of his passage through the Giralda . A few months after starting, they began to serve him outside with the trays, as at the beginning of the year 1974.
"Was there a couple that was always making out It was frowned upon at the time. In fact, he was a politician of the time whom he liked to drink his good wines there , always with some very pretty girls. My boss always told me that, to ask, I should shout it next to him, to annoy him so that he would leave. he was very curious ”, He tells, amused.
Cosmen's eyes light up when his mind is filled with memories of yesterday . He even fondly remembers when a man once arrived, one winter day, with a girl who was also very pretty, and the air as he entered he wickedly took his toupee, in front of everyone.
A life dedicated to gastronomy
He was also working on an Asturian from the main street, Anton House . It was a restaurant kitchen of all life, where he learned a lot, especially to wait tables, since it was an upscale eating house.
“When it came to learning it wasn't very difficult, because at that time we went with great respect for those who teach us . Then I did my military service, which I got in Madrid in Villaviciosa 14 , and I even had money to go out and have fun. completed military service, I wanted to leave the profession , because I was with combat tanks and chain vehicles, which awakened in me the interest in the world of transport . One of my brothers wanted to start a business here, in Madrid , and in the end I ended up leaving with him. Things in life, my brother left the profession almost 20 years ago and I'm still here at the foot of the canyon , so happy, and many times remembering with him the times when we worked together”, he narrates.
He set up the first place he had with his brother in 1984, and they stayed there for eight years, in the Anton Martin neighborhood . It was an Asturian cuisine restaurant which worked very well. Antonio had Raquel, a Segovian cook from Coke , wonderful, from which he learned a lot about traditional cuisine. Subsequently, he took care of a family business that went wrong, and from there to ** Vallecas **.
In Vallecas , Antonio claims to have given with a great audience , of all social classes and eager to do things. This place is magnificent for him . “It is a neighborhood in which there are many needs, today with more reason, since it is very difficult to reach the end of the month. It is a big town where everyone knows each other in shops and on the streets”, he defines.
To the table!
Cosmen has been living in Vallecas since 1980, but he was established with the ** White Cross ** in 2003, in what was previously called George Bar . In 2008 they were given the award for the best cooked in Spain , with a 9.03 score.
"It was at that time when we started to make ourselves known , despite the fact that I already had fixed clients for more than 30 years. The initial idea was to mount the White cross like a brewery, but over time, we derive it in the restaurant that it is now . Also, my team is the pillar of this institution . When I was left alone with the company, we were 11 workers, and right now we are 22 , all with a permanent contract and full time. If a place has young people, that calls young people . If not, the customer grows old with the place and the place dies”, he explains proudly.
In addition, social networks are a great ally, because thanks to them they received **the award for the best terrace in Madrid**, but at the same time, Cosmen maintains suppliers that they have even served their grandmother , and whose banner is the commitment to the high quality product . That's him indisputable seal from his house.
They have passed through Antonio Cosmen's bar from the patriarch of the neighborhood gypsies , which is an institution, to King Juan Carlos I . And ministers, a president of the Senate and Congress, actors and soccer players. Remembering those names, Antonio remembers that something that has affected him a lot during these years is the uncovering of the alleged fraud on Canal de Isabel II: "I I have paid water bills to neighbors whose supply was cut off for non-payment. People from the neighborhood who didn't even have enough to wash their faces. Seeing these circumstances when there are some gentlemen who are allegedly taking that money hand over fist, is something that has hurt me a lot, ”he confesses.
Antonio Cosme, 'alma mater' of the Cruz Blanca de Vallecas
And it is that Antonio Cosmen is goodness, he is humanity, he is a neighborhood soul . The future draws it with creations so out of the ordinary like the paella of Madrid, based on rice and old clothes , and it's a future that you see in right here , with his clients and with his team, but perhaps not working as much anymore. In fact, one of the things he has in mind is that when he has to delegate, he will actually do it. And says it who ensures that his life is like a trip to his land : "Of Madrid a Warlocks , you have to go up, you have to go down, you have to flatten out”.
RECIPE OF THE FAMOUS COCIDO DE LA CRUZ BLANCA DE VALLECAS, BY ANTONIO COSMEN
Today we have started at seven in the afternoon to prepare tomorrow's stew. we put to cook the morcillo, the chicken, the bacon, the cane bone and the tip of the ham.
When it starts to boil, we remove the impurities. Once the meat is done, we lower the temperature to 60 degrees, and that is when We put ice in it to cut the heat. We put the result in a cold room, and the next day, the fat has stayed on top.
That is when we remove the fat, strain the broth and cook the chickpeas in that fantastic broth that has all the flavor but it's not heavy at all. We have soaked the chickpea the day before. our chickpea cooks in freedom without mesh , completely free. Among the indispensable companions of the stew that they cannot miss, the water of Madrid, and of course, gas, very important for cook evenly and that the cooking is not interrupted.
Our chickpea is not on the market; It is a chickpea of exclusive production It is harvested at the end of August. Today, it takes about 45 minutes to cook, but this time may vary . With the broth that we have left, we already make the cabbage on one side (because otherwise it would get acidity), the ball on the other and the black pudding and chorizo on the other too, so it doesn't get heavy . So each component retains its flavor.
The stew is served in two turns. First, we serve Grandma's croquette with stew meat . Then comes the soup with piparras and spring onions. Finally, we serve the second dump so that everyone can eat it as they want.
Currently, a stew in the White Cross of Vallecas can have one waiting list up to six months, but do not despair: someone may cancel your reservation and you will be graced with trying it.
Against the cold: a Madrid stew!