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he new generations of chefs are not afraid to propose rice dishes on their menus. But one thing has always obsessed them: not to reproduce the typical casserole rice of their mothers or grandmothers (when it comes to home cooking, it's always spoken in the feminine...). Casserole rice, cooked with Senia or Bahía varieties, that is, the traditional ones, which are now being reclaimed at the same time as the slightly overcooked point of yesteryear's macaroni, so evocative of past family meals.
But that concern to avoid the overcooked point (covat in Catalan) has often led them to demonstrate their detachment through an excess of dente. As if modernity were always systematically located on the most opposite side of tradition. And we went from the pasty rice of before to the pellet rice, with its fearsome white point that resists chewing, inside, but much more trendy.
"Luckily, after those moments of hyper-correction, times of common sense have arrived in which the grain points are more pleasant"Luckily, after those moments of hyper-correction, in which many veteran chefs have fallen, for fear of being called old-fashioned, times of common sense have arrived in which the grain points are more pleasant and do not require long and cumbersome chewing.
Some still resist and resort to the exotic carnaroli, a variety from the Po basin, which is used for risottos. Its dente is mitigated by the fatty creaminess of the butter at the start of the recipe and by the mantecatura with cheese, at the finish of the dish. Nothing to do with our Mediterranean rice recipe book which, despite its peculiarities (ranging from creamy to dry and thin layer) adapt better to our native varieties.
Lately I have been able to enjoy Jordi Vilà's grilled rabbit rice with its kidneys at Al Kostat or the magnificent dry rice, almost Alicantino, from Castellón's Toni Romero at Suculent, very clean, with its few bits of snow peas and artichokes.
The spiced chicken rice from Dos Pebrots is still rich, even if it has acquired that casserole rice point I mentioned earlier. As a novelty, I was pleasantly surprised by the dry cuttlefish and mantis shrimp broth rice from the Frenchman Ludwig Amiable (ex Gresca) at the recently opened Palo Verde, an interesting place on many other levels. Only two in the kitchen! A Frenchman who excels, as is the case, at rice, and an escalivada that is not found every day in Barcelona.