Paella or ‘what the hell’…
Give it rice
IN the past, I have briefly mentioned rice as a constituent of English black puddings.
Oddly enough, in Spain, a country where rice is probably the main staple, it is not used at all in this way but is still a permanent feature on virtually every restaurant menu.
I used to think that the only way to eat rice was after it had been saturated with milk, baked in an oven and liberally topped with grated nutmeg.
I later learned that Chinese eat rice with bits of fried egg gunged into it but I have yet to figure out how they manage to smoothly transport it to the mouth by means of a couple of oversized tooth picks - better known as 'porras de boca' (chop sticks) for some unaccountable reason without disaster.
The notion that I thought of rice only in terms of milk puddings is a not absolutely accurate because all those years ago, our milk puddings were varied in base and content with tapioca, semolina, macaroni, even bread and butter substituting for rice.
As for throwing arroz at ‘weddings’ to get newly-weds off to a pelting start, we were too thrifty.
There was a shortage of grain so we spent hours cutting up old newspapers – usually ones that had been wrapped around chips – to manufacture our own confetti form of church yard litter.
I suppose we could have chucked semolina but it never occurred to us.
I must admit though that my ideas on the subject of rice have broadened widely in the past half century, despite the fact that I don’t rate rice wine – sorry but I reckon it tastes like lukewarm washing up water and I have never knowingly written on rice paper either.
My higher education ricewise could be said to have started in Spain when, like a lot of other holidaying Brits, I became paella conscious.
That was in the days when paella was what it was supposed to be; cooked in a great big flat pan over a smoky wood fire in the open air.
If it was a genuine campo one, the meat content was usually a rabbit - fresh from being a pampered pet – an odd scrawny fowl, bits of pork offal and maybe a stray pigeon.
The sauce and stock which arrived in nondescript jars from god knows where, plus a fair whack of olive oil were swilled around in the heated pan before the saffron rice was immersed.
While the beer jugs and wine 'porons' were passed from hand to hand, the matriarch decided when the rice was ready to be fed with the chunks of chicken, bunny or other ‘wild’ beastie bits.
On the occasions when I was invited to local campo feasts I often wondered if I was devouring a pensioned-off pet.
Made properly, paella is a delightfully tasty dish redolent with flavour… but in many restaurants reliant on tourist trade, the recipe has been adapted and although it might look attractive, the smoky flavour is absent to say the least.
Today, I prefer ‘arroz a banda’ in any number of its variations. One I particularly
An extract from Malcolm Smith's book 'Mañana and still No Problema' about his early years in Spain.
like is prepared spiced with garlic, spring onions, cauliflower and salt cod. In fact, my current enjoyment of rice is enhanced by the influence of seafood rather than meat.
Another of my favourites is ‘arroz negra’ – I love the appearance of a pan filled with shiny black rice cooked in squid ink stock, spiked with bits of baby cuttlefish and decorated with slices of lemon – I drool over the definitive flavour but rarely can I get anyone to share it with me. The black seems to put ‘em off.
I like rice stews too particularly the ‘Arroz con neeps y frisoles’ variety flavoured with pig’s trotters and bulked out with carrots, parsnips and swedes.
Served in a big iron cauldron in the centre of the table this is a deliciously tasty winter dish… and it’s inexpensive too. I even enjoy rice meals Chinese style these days but not ‘run of the mill’ kind. In a local Gran Muralla some years ago I was introduced to a dish called Ku Bak.
This speciality rice
dish, featuring either meat or sea food is superb and to a degree resembles paella in appearance… but that’s all!
The rice is dry, oven baked to a crisp, crunchy consistency and served on a cast iron plate with the meat or prawn flavoured sauce added – or rather poured over – and stirred in afterwards.
The spectacle of this sizzling dish is mouth-watering and the delicious taste lives up to it.
From my early days of nutmeg flavoured milk puddings I’ve come a long way ricewise. Paella, Marinero, Arroz a Banda, Ku Bak; stews of trotters and rice, rice baked in squid ink, rice flavoured with spring onions, cauliflower smoked and dried fish, rabbit and game. I’ve tasted it, feasted on it and got the stained T shirt to prove it!