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Made in Spain
Whether you’re an expat chasing the dream, a traveller inspired by European elegance or a foodie seeking the perfect paella, Made in Spain is your insider’s guide to all things chic, cultural and quintessentially Spanish.
Join hosts Nalini Sharma and Laura Senior García for a glamorous mix of travel, food, fashion and the rich cultural narratives that make Spain a global icon of style and sophistication.
Nalini is a former Canadian TV presenter, who has previously covered red carpet and live events, and major news stories. She channels the same wit and curiosity to the Made in Spain podcast, offering sharp, unscripted takes on everything from Spanish traditions to expat surprises.
Laura, a seasoned leadership coach and global traveler, shares her deep, first-hand knowledge of Spain—not just as her birthplace, but as a country she continues to rediscover. With a British father and Spanish mother, she considers herself a global citizen with deep roots in Spain. Her insights connect Spain’s rich past with its modern evolution, offering a unique and personal perspective on life, culture, and luxury in Spain today.
Every episode of Made in Spain explores the country’s hidden gems and exclusive experiences, but it’s more than just a guide—it’s a conversation.
The show’s Slice of Life segment gives listeners an unfiltered peek into Nalini and Laura’s daily experiences – the joys, frustrations, and unexpected moments that make life in Spain, and beyond, full of surprises. Sometimes, it’s about the reality of settling into a new country – at other times, it’s about their travels, funny mishaps, or behind-the-scenes stories from researching the podcast. No matter the topic, listeners feel like they are right there with them, stepping into their world.
Made in Spain
Paella Gate: The Dish That Caused a Spanish Firestorm
When British chef Jamie Oliver dared to add chorizo to paella in 2016, he unleashed what Spanish Twitter users called "terrorism" – and learned the hard way that Spain's beloved rice dish isn't something you casually reinvent. Welcome to a deep dive into the dish that's much more than food; it's a cornerstone of Spanish cultural identity.
Originating in Valencia's agricultural heartland, traditional paella was born from necessity – farmers cooking together over open fires using ingredients readily available in the fields: rice, chicken, rabbit, beans, and sometimes snails. The dish takes its name from the distinctive wide pan it's cooked in, and follows strict protocols that locals defend passionately. True Valencian paella must be cooked over fire, never stirred once the broth is added, and always served at lunch – never dinner.
We journey to rural Valencia to experience authentic paella at Tony's Barraca, where the rules are non-negotiable: no modifications allowed, and you don't leave until dessert is finished! This quintessential Spanish experience reveals why paella transcends mere sustenance – it's about family, tradition, and shared moments around a table. We compare regional variations from seafood paella along the coast to black rice colored with squid ink, while exploring why bomba rice (which expands width-wise rather than lengthwise) creates the perfect texture.
From the prized socarrat (crispy bottom layer) to heated debates about proper ingredients, discover why this humble dish provokes such passionate defense. Join us next time as we trade rice fields for royal palaces with our tour of Granada's magnificent Alhambra.
It was in October of 2016 when Paella headlines took over what was then called Twitter, all thanks to British chef Jamie Oliver, who had the audacity to include chorizo in Paella gate. In Paella Tweets read Hello Jamie Oliver, this is not paella, this is terrorism. You'd be better off making nuggets out of your fingers.
Speaker 2:Other tweets.
Speaker 1:Let's hope the knife slips when he's chopping coriander. From death threats to accusations of cultural appropriation, oliver learned the hard way Don't put chorizo in the national and beloved dish of Spain.
Speaker 2:So welcome to Made in Spain. My name's Laura Cina Garcia. I'm Nalini Sharma and, surprise, surprise, today's episode is on paella, and it really has become almost a national representative dish of Spain in many ways. So we're going to dive deep into paella.
Speaker 1:Let's start, Laura, with first the pronunciation of it, Because I think even for myself I have a lazy habit of pronouncing it incorrectly. Let's break it down phonetically so it's pa-e-lla.
Speaker 2:However, most English speakers, I think, have a hard time because we pronounce all the vocals, so it's like pa-e-lla, yes, so sometimes they'll say pa-y-e-lla.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Because it's hard. The A and the E are both so open Ae, paella, paella, paella is the right way to say it. Paella, so it's pa, and then ella, paella, yeah, so you think you could say for her, paella.
Speaker 1:Yes for her.
Speaker 2:And paella actually means the pan? Yes, because that's the other thing. A lot of times people think paella is the dish. Paella is the actual pan.
Speaker 1:It's the name of the pan. Now, why do you think that caused such controversy? That he took the? I mean Jamie Oliver, I mean it just happened to have been him. It could have been any other chef, but he put Spanish sausage in a Spanish dish and it literally kicked off a firestorm for months.
Speaker 2:So we're going to dive a lot deeper into the origins of paella, different kinds of paella, because you know, et cetera, et cetera. But I would say that I don't know what it is about this particular dish, but it's almost like people identify with it very strongly because of the tradition, because it's something that in this part of Spain, because it's really more of a Valencian community thing, going from our episode on the faes in Valencia, we're going to the dish that is probably the most representative of the Valencian community, which is paella. It means a lot more than just food to people. So it's almost like I don't know, imagine what is. Tell me what one particular dish in Canada is that people are super kind of married to.
Speaker 1:Oh my goodness, none.
Speaker 2:Canada. Maybe it's not a good example, but let's say, for example, a hamburger in, you know, the US, or whatever it is Listen, even the idea of French fries.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, yeah, Like, for example, in Belgium, French fries is, like you know, it's, a very respected topic, right? So we become very how would you say protective of our traditions and become also, they become part of our identity and for some reason, I don't know what it is, and if you go on social media, go on TikTok, go on Instagram, and you look for, you know, paella, and there are arguments and trolling and because it is this thing that people you know will kind of throw a bunch of stuff in rice in a big pan and call it paella.
Speaker 1:And it is not. It's not, it isn't Okay. So let's start with the origins of it, because it is actually the ingredients. The typical ingredients in a Valencian paella would be.
Speaker 2:Okay, so the typical typical ingredients. In a Valencian paella you're looking at the rice, obviously, which is special kind of rice, the arroz bomba or you know. It's more of a short rice, you could say it doesn't look like basmati or any of the longer rices. And the typical original ingredients, the very original ones, were the rice chicken rabbit, the green beans, the flat green beans, garrafones, which is these big kind of white looking beans, yes, and in most cases snails, like tiny snails, and we'll talk a little bit more about why the snails. Now that has evolved and changed a little bit, but the original is that and sometimes duck because you know it is what was available in the area.
Speaker 1:So imagine the origin of this dish. You have farmers in a field, working, harvesting. The pan itself is what the name of the dish has evolved into. Yes, and there's some of them are huge pans, huge pans. But now you have, let's say you have a farmer and you have workers. They sit around a fire and they would cook this meal based on what they had it wasn't this I bring exactly and let's kind of throw it all together and it has to be cooked over the open fire. Yes, traditionally traditionally.
Speaker 1:and also you wouldn't serve it, you wouldn't plate it, you would just eat from the one pan that everybody would just eat from the one pan, with a spoon In a very respectful way.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Like you know, you're not kind of digging into the other person. Imagine the paella is like a big pizza and you have like a mental slice, yeah, your section. This is my section, don't touch my section. So that kind of thing.
Speaker 1:And it also usually with a wooden spoon to make sure that you don't scratch the big pan Right. So usually people would use a wooden spoon to cook it and also to eat it to preserve the pan Right. So now, if you think about you know you picture somebody on a farm. What ingredients would they have? Probably very simple ingredients chicken, available duck, like you said, rabbit for sure, and that is what would go into the traditional dish and not just like farmland.
Speaker 2:Where the Valencian paella comes from is the albufera. Yes, so again, the ducks weren't being farmed, they were just being hunted. Yes, you know they're there. Same thing many times with the rabbits. You know we've got rabbits everywhere.
Speaker 1:They're just there.
Speaker 2:They're eating from the earth pretty much and same thing with the snails. Now snails, I will say, are more of the og version of the paella. It's not something like let's put it this way you got your kids these days and you know you put snails in the pie and they're gonna be like gross I don't want that.
Speaker 2:So that kind of the snails is usually like a very traditional. Uh, they do clean them before and everything else and. But it is funny how you know some people would never picture this nail. But again you think about it. It's a protein, it's available, you're in the, you know you're in agricultural lands, so why not Just throw it in?
Speaker 1:Now the story behind the rice is that rice was introduced through the Moors here in this part of Europe over 1000 thousand years ago and they think that the original sort of variety of rice would be closer to, maybe, a longer grain rice. But the rice that eventually became cultivated here is the bomba rice, which is a short fat rice grain.
Speaker 2:It's the best way to describe it. It is and it's got a little bit more consistency to it. It's the best way to describe it it is and it's got a little bit more consistency to it. Yes, so I think also what's interesting about the rice part is it doesn't really make sense to grow rice here, if you think about it, because rice usually requires a lot of water and for the most part, you know these areas are very dry. Not where it's grown, though, exactly so where it's grown it's got like a marshland sort of you could say style of land and the rice is able to be grown there.
Speaker 2:But you can imagine it's. You cook rice like a basmati rice or a long grain rice. It goes, it grows, goes the other way when you cook it.
Speaker 1:But the bomb actually expands width wise and is able to hold um three times its volume in liquid, in liquid. So it expands but it never really becomes mean, unless you leave it in the pan forever. But it never really becomes that sort of softer.
Speaker 2:It's soft, it holds the liquid, but there's a little bit of give to it, and that's why paella, as well, is something you want to be having straight after it's cooked Like it's not something you want to be having like two days after.
Speaker 1:No, you're not using paella for meal prep.
Speaker 2:No, absolutely not. I would not recommend it. And also I did want to mention in terms of the origins of the Valencian paella. It was considered to be a low class food.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:You know it's like kind of like in many areas of Italy. You know pasta was not seen as something that was really fancy before. It's, you know, simple, cheap, like you know it's it so it was perceived to be that way. So that's just something interesting to to kind of think about there.
Speaker 1:And I was just gonna say that I well, I mean, I wouldn't eat it for dinner anyway, but it is a lunchtime meal.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we'll talk about that in the rules. So we actually have like some rules around paella Nalini. Why don't you tell us a little bit about, from your kind of perspective, right, the the rice dishes from around the world, because I know we've got paella here in Spain.
Speaker 1:But well, I think what's really interesting is that you know people get really worked up about their cuisine, their culture, traditions, etc. But when you just look at the history of the world, you you can probably name five or six different dishes. I mean, all of Asia is rice-based. Yes, I mean I'm going to guess, but I don't think sort of Northern Europe is rice-based.
Speaker 2:I feel it's more, I think the only kind of really I was trying to think Well, I was in Azerbaijan a few years ago and and they had this dish that just blew my mind because it was I. I thought to myself oh my goodness, this is like pie inside a pie, and it was interesting yeah, it was like saffron rice, you know, inside a layer of um, like what do you call it? Uh, yeah, the thing you use to bake, you know okay, oh, okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's pretty cool that well, you have obviously rice through Italy rice dishes you have risotto you have Portuguese, then you, you know, you move to the Americas. You have jambalaya and of course, all of South America has a variation on rice.
Speaker 2:And I do think jambalaya has got a strong influence of paella in it. I mean, you can just kind of see it.
Speaker 2:The creole right, that kind of part with the spice, etc. But cooked totally differently. I actually went to a cooking class in Houston. They taught us how to make jambalaya and I thought to myself, you know, because you go in thinking, is this going to be sort of similar to paella? But it is not, like there's some concepts in it, and I think that's one of the reasons sometimes that when you order paella in the US, you know people kind of make it similar to jambalaya and say, oh, it's paella. You know, because we threw chorizo in there. We threw, like whatever is regarded as a Spanish ingredient. People order it in the US.
Speaker 1:yes, I'm just like stuck on that.
Speaker 2:There are places you can yes, so and this is really I was actually invited out once and like oh, you're Spanish, let's order paella.
Speaker 1:I'm like let's not order paella in the US because this is not going to be good, but yes, so, yeah, actually, colleagues, you run into somebody, you're having a conversation, they find out where I live and they say, oh, so well, I was in Barcelona last year and, um, do you like paella? And for them they didn't like it. Yeah, but what I've realized is that if you come from a culture where you have very heavily spiced food and you're used to that flavor profile. It's not spicy at all.
Speaker 2:It is not spicy.
Speaker 1:It's actually got like zero spice in it. But what I try to explain to people is that paella is an experiential dish, so it is, I think, more equally. Not just about the ingredients, but the fact is is that you do not make this dish as one person. No, it is for a family.
Speaker 2:And let's put it this way If you're making paella just for yourself, good luck.
Speaker 1:Like I mean, that is a little bit intense, no, but it's, I think, a tradition that will have been passed down from you know, whoever's making it in the family, to the next generation, hopefully, and you would maybe have it on a Sunday afternoon or a Saturday afternoon, it's 100% like a Sunday lunchtime.
Speaker 2:Family get together. You're feeding a bunch of people. Crazy fact the largest paella that was ever made fed 110,000 people. Oh my goodness, yes, I think it's like the guinness book of records. Imagine the size of the pan. Yeah, that is actually crazy and then the other thing as well that's pretty cool about the paella itself is that the real paella you don't going to see? Like you know, three fingers of rice, it's a very thin layer of rice. So should we talk about the rules? The rules, yeah let's hear it.
Speaker 2:So rules of paella like you said, cooked over fire, never rushed Right. Actual Valencian paella. I don't know if you can even make paella in an induction, or you know it's got to be. I think it's got to be fire, and we'll talk about that in our slice of life as well. Never stirred as such once the broth goes in, because you want to get that crust that we call socarrat. Yeah, and some people, uh, and some people, even in my family, that's the only part of the paella they want it's the one.
Speaker 2:That's a little bit. The rice is almost gone dark, it's gone crispy and it's kind of cool. In valencia they actually have a place where they somehow have figured out how to turn that socarrat into almost like a crib and they take it and they use it like a sandwich.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's yeah it's really cool.
Speaker 2:Only short grain rice, like you said, like bomba or senya, and always served at lunch, never dinner. So if you want to look like a tourist and you go to one of these restaurants and you sit there and you order a paella for dinner, you're gonna look like a tourist 100 or if it's sitting out on and you're having it at eight, nine o'clock at night, maybe not a good idea and also valencia's, will judge the paella on that fact alone.
Speaker 2:okay, meaning that are you gonna go to a restaurant that's their paella at night, like I don't know about that, and that you know? To go to a restaurant that serves paella at night, like I don't know about that and that you know. Then you start, you know, with all the traditional pieces as well, and then also, because it is a dish that takes some time, you know it doesn't really connect for a lot of people to have it at dinner because it takes a long time to cook.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:And it's a kind of heavier dish that you want some time to walk off and you know, do not just kind of go to bed after you have paella, and I think the important part of it is just the fact that it is a tradition.
Speaker 1:It has not changed. The ingredients haven't changed, it hasn't been really modernized or fusion. You know we're going to add this or that. It is a set of principles that is followed and you have a great time, you know, sitting around, you share it as a family. Even if you go out for a big lunch with friends, sometimes you're near the water and it's really beautiful to be part of that tradition. And I'm saying again as an outsider so am I. Is it heavily spiced? No, but is it about the people that you're with? The tradition of the dish itself? The long lunch, the extra little bits, the Spanish wine, the sunshine, that is what when? I think?
Speaker 1:of yeah, the dish that is what I'm thinking about.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. And I think the one thing as well that I wanted to mention, nalini, is that when we talk about paella valenciana and we just mentioned the ingredients, some people may go like what? That's not the paella I've had. No, and again, not even here in Spain. People will tell you, just because it's in a big pan and it's yellow and blah, blah, blah, it's not paella. It's just rice with things.
Speaker 1:No, but there's also a dish where it's rice in the oven.
Speaker 2:Right. So we've got a few different ones that I wanted to mention because it's very interesting. When I started doing the research, you know we were kind of talking about okay, what about this, what about that? I realized that a lot of these that I had taken for granted were all over the Valencian community. They're from like one town, one city. So the original Valencian we already mentioned it.
Speaker 2:The flat greens oh, of course we didn't mention some of the stuff that goes at the beginning, like the olive oil, tomato saffron, but for again, we'll talk about that. In our slice of life, a lot of people don't use saffron, they use the food coloring, right, because it gives it, you know, a different flavor as well. And then you have the seafood paella. Now, seafood paella is usually more alicante, denia, gandia, and that makes sense because, guess what, there's more seafood available. It's, you know, there are big ports there. There's access to seafood that developed later and there's no snails and no beans in that Right. Developed later and there's no snails and no beans in that right. So that's like your monkfish mussels, shrimp prawns, no meat. That's the kind of the.
Speaker 2:The seafood paella, paella de marisco is what it's called. This one, I would say I have, like, I don't really like. It's the paella mixta and this is usually something that is less common among locals which is your combo of meat and and, yeah, like a surf and turf sort of thing, which, again, it's probably made for the tourists. I don't know who came up with that, but for a lot of people they will tell you that is not paella. Um, can I mention, uh, fideua?
Speaker 2:oh yes, because it is a twist on paella I read Can I mention Fi de Wa?
Speaker 1:Oh, yes, for sure, because it is a twist on paella. I read that it originated in Gandia. Yes, it did, because the chef on a boat that had to feed the crew ran out of the rice. So it is actually. I mean, if you think of a paella without the rice, it is the short little thin noodles yes, pasta noodles. So it is a version, but with pasta and only made with seafood.
Speaker 2:But it's really good.
Speaker 1:It's really good.
Speaker 2:Most of the time. If you actually ask me what would you prefer, like fideua or paella I would say fideua. Yeah, it's really good.
Speaker 1:It's just very tasty and it's very particular to here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so that one's from Gandia to the northern coast of Alicante, so you're talking very specific sections. The other one is the black rice. Have you ever seen that one?
Speaker 2:I've seen it, but I don't want it. Well, some of you may have figured out, how do you get black rice? Well, a bunch of squid ink, so it's very fishy, usually has cuttlefish and it's usually accompanied by alioli, and it's specially in Alicante, okay. So again, it's so specific, right. And then finally the arroz al horno, which you don't really call paella, but it's arroz al horno, oven-baked rice, right, that is more inland, like alcoi shatiba, and it's like chickpeas, pork ribs, black pudding, tomatoes, potatoes in the rice.
Speaker 2:So, completely different ingredients, completely different ingredients, but you don't even really call that paella, okay. So that's kind of a bit of a breakdown. And even there's one since we went to Elda for the shoe episode. Near Elda Elche, they have a very special rice that they make there that is called arroz con costra and it's the oven baked but with a layer of egg at the top and it has like chorizo. And again, I can see why in Jamie Oliver's defense. You know, if he was just making a rice dish and a Spanish rice dish, hey, chorizo is in some of those, just not in Valencian paella.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, firestorm. I don't think he's ever lived it down, but he did double down on it. When he was interviewed recently after the you know incident, he said that it tastes better with the chorizo. You know that's in his opinion, which, um, I guess you know it tastes. Just it's personal. But when you start taking a dish that has a tradition in a certain way and a story and a family you know legacy to it, I wonder how italians feel about pizza. You know, I mean I'm pretty sure they don't want pineapple on pizza.
Speaker 2:Or the deep pan one.
Speaker 2:Anyway, yes, so, I have to say, though, my favorite Jamie Oliver moment of all times. Do you remember when he made that documentary and he was taking all the kids to show them how the chicken nuggets were being made? And it is pretty disgusting. Like McDonald's McDonald's chicken nuggets. It is horrible. They put this goop in it. That is like not even chicken. That's no one knows what. It really is right anyway. So it's the grossest thing ever. Like they're grinding different bones of the chicken to put them in there. And the kids are watching all of this and what he was trying to get at is eat healthy and different nutrition and try things. So at the end of the whole process, he turns around to the kids and he's like so what are you going to pick? And he shows them like a healthy option and like this, you know chicken nuggets and they all go chicken nuggets, even after watching all that, and I'm like there you go, that's kids for you. That's actually kind of funny. Yeah, it is Awesome.
Speaker 1:So, nalini, why don't key places to eat paella in Valencia? Any recommendations for restaurants? Okay, we'll talk about our experience for our traditional experience in our slice of life, but I would just say, at least for here, where we are close to us, I love the restaurant Elk.
Speaker 2:Crank. Yes, that one's really good. You're right in front of the sea.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I mean good luck getting a reservation if you want to eat, and they make fideuader as well.
Speaker 2:Yes, and the fideuader is fantastic, so good.
Speaker 1:You need to book ahead of time, like at least a month.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely yeah. I think one in Valencia that is a known institution. When you go there you will see pictures from every famous person you can imagine, even Franco like, because it's been there for a few years. It's called Casa Carmela and it's at the beach front. I wouldn't say they make the best paella in the world, but it's one of these debates I think you're going to speak to very few Spanish people that will admit that any other paella is better than their own mother or their own grandmother or their aunt.
Speaker 2:You know, because paella is such a labor of love that when you eat it at a restaurant it's never going to taste the same. No, it's never going to be. You know, sometimes it's salty or it's too much oil or whatever, because they're cooking fast. It's normal, right? It's not like you're cooking for your family?
Speaker 1:No, and you even said when we had paella in Valencia, you said oh, I think my mom's is better.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, and I honestly I meant it like I didn't mean it in a nasty way, but yes.
Speaker 1:No, but you're also holding on when you say that. You're also holding on to your family tradition and the memories that you have of your, your mother, making it and sharing it together.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and your grandmother awesome. So time for a slice of life. Yeah, slice life. Yeah, cheers, we got some fresh.
Speaker 1:Yeah, this is nice. It's special edition apparently Absolutely beautiful.
Speaker 2:So let's talk about our experience into the rural Valencia.
Speaker 1:Okay, listen. First of all, it was really magical. It was so. We did our mascletas faes the day before, had a nice breakfast, and then we dropped your husband to the airport. We were a bit early, but we had to go out to this. It is a rural area. It's on the outskirts of the it's still agricultural farmland.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Like when you're driving out there there's like tomatoes being grown, artichokes.
Speaker 1:You also see carriages being pulled by horses. Yes, very beautiful horses Very beautiful, so you found this place that makes traditional Valencian paella.
Speaker 2:It was recommended on Elle magazine, right, and it was amongst the top three paella places recommended in the whole of the Valencian community. Okay, and I'm like, ooh, that's interesting because all the other names I had seen before, right, but this name I hadn't seen. And it started with Barraca. Right Now, a barraca is like a hut or wherever.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's basically like a barraca is somewhere that you could say you put all your farming tools in, right, so it's not like a house, house, no, and it was this, and I want to get it right and shout out to mr tony baraka, tony montolio yes it's what it's called we'll put the information on our website as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, um, but you called the saturday afternoon because we were trying to find a place to have a traditional experience.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and because you know, like nalini said, we think no one else is thinking of what we're thinking. They don't want to go where we want to go. So we show up at fires in Valencia thinking, oh yeah, we'll just go to one of the top three places yeah, and not have a reservation, but I think things work out for us?
Speaker 1:I don't know they do and I do feel at times we believe that we can just waft around in life and arrive, which is not true at all.
Speaker 2:Sometimes it works. Sometimes it works. So we showed up. Sorry. First we called and you know I was like hey, you know, we really want to have this experience and we're from out of town and it was a two hour drive. Do you think you could fit us in? Yeah, we'll try and fit you in.
Speaker 1:She called back. She was really good, she called back. They gave us a reservation, okay. So we get to the area and it is again a rural kind of. I mean, it's paved road. It's a paved road but still it is quite rural. You're, you know, you're away from everything and we're following and we think let's see what the place looks like so there are signs that have you know. It says Tony on it, so you kind of follow it. We see it from a distance and it really does look like a garden shed.
Speaker 2:Yes, from the outside it looks like a garden shed, at which point we're starting to get a bit worried, because that is where they have the press for it. Yes, but, it's not the actual place.
Speaker 1:No, because press for it, but it's not the actual place.
Speaker 2:No, because we were early. You know, we drove up there. I'm like oh my goodness, what is this?
Speaker 1:place.
Speaker 2:No, we're going to be literally eating on like plastic chairs.
Speaker 1:Because that's what it looks like. I mean, there's some buckets outside some farm equipment.
Speaker 2:And I think Ayrton, I'm thinking Elle magazine do your research at that point, but know it's like okay no, he's in the back seat and he's laura.
Speaker 1:What where? Are we where did you find this?
Speaker 2:and he kept asking me what's gonna be in it and I kept, you know, making sure I didn't mention the snails. I'm like, okay, yeah, but we get there anyway. So we, we actually ended up crossing over the highway somehow, we found a way to get up in alboraya, yes, where they make the horchata and we actually went to a very famous place just by accident, but they also, they were surfing there.
Speaker 2:We were true Valencianos for, like, the weekend. So, yes, they were surfing. It was absolutely beautiful. So let's describe a little bit about the experience at Tony's place.
Speaker 1:Okay, Well, laura drives a very large vehicle and Tony's track to get in. I mean, thank goodness your husband didn't see it, because I thought, oh my God.
Speaker 2:I hope he doesn't listen to this episode, but the car survived.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he would not be happy with where we are right now. Anyway, you got the car in with the help of let's see Three men, yeah, three men, which I didn't need the help of. No, yeah, back out, pull the car in, put it this way, park this way. Anyway, the car made it in without any scratches or damage. Yes, but it is a. I mean it's kind of like a little collection of, would you say.
Speaker 2:It's like a finca it is. It's like, basically, it was a barraca, it was an initial hut that then expanded. So, this gentleman, I think the way this may have started is, you know, very traditional blah, blah, blah, probably on Sundays, and then it's expanded, and expanded, and expanded, I think when all in all, there must have been around 140 people there at least yes, and they start showing up.
Speaker 1:So your reservation is I think ours was two or whatever, I think everyone's supposed to show up around two. Right and they let you in. You kind of maneuver your vehicle and you're parked in sort of this dirt track area. They have donkeys, goats, chickens, all kinds of things.
Speaker 2:A supposed museum that I will say. You know, I'm not sure if I would categorize it as a museum, more like a shed with some very interesting stuff in it.
Speaker 1:Right. So yeah, it's like going to your grandpa's shed with just old stuff. So, upon entering this place, which is actually very magical, upon entering this place, which is actually very magical, so if you are picturing a quintessential afternoon in the Valencian countryside eating a traditional paella, you literally have a wall of rice being cooked by the chef, all different pans bubbling at different times.
Speaker 2:And I would say each one of those paellas would feed at least 50 people.
Speaker 1:At least. Okay, super nice guy. But there's a man in the front sitting at this table and he has a gigantic pile of these beans. What are? It's abas, Abas, Abas. Okay. So do they use these in paella?
Speaker 2:I don't know, oh, I know what they were making hummus with it.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay, because he I mean this poor man, he was shelling these beans and we were there for maybe three hours. He shelled beans for three hours and then when the pile finished, he had there was. I said, oh my God, this man is in bean purgatory.
Speaker 2:And Nalini was like he's still there, he's still got more to go. But it was almost like meditation watching it. You know you could see he's like boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. It's just like when people, I guess, are peeling potatoes or something like that. You know, it's just something that you can do in high quantities, yeah.
Speaker 1:And I said, whatever he did this past week, he's not going to do it again because he got put on bean patrol for those Sundays.
Speaker 2:Tony doesn't take this the wrong way, but we noticed very quickly that, although this is the barraca of Tony, tony wasn't doing a lot of work.
Speaker 1:No, that was my son's observation, by the way. So it's a bit chaotic.
Speaker 2:You sit down, you get a drink and then they give you I don't't know what are those little things that we had. They're really good. Uh, well, they're called chochos and I sorry, that's what they're called. Okay, it's also the how we call the female parts in spanish, but that's what they're called chochos. They're also called altramuces.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, chochos, it's easier to say yeah, it is easier that was a very complicated word but they're sort of, they're just cooked little beans yes, they are, they're they.
Speaker 1:I don't even know exactly what they are, but yeah but that's what they serve as a little snack, some beer, yeah, and you have a beer, a glass of wine or what have you. You're in the sunshine, you're outside, you can smell the rice and all the. You know, know people taking pictures and you know people are dressed really nice for a Sunday lunch. Now Tony comes out, rings a bell and makes an announcement so lunch now. You have to proceed. He does not take reservations on you know the fork, it's a paper, he's the pen and paper kind of guy.
Speaker 2:Pen and paper with a bunch of chicken scratches on it which I couldn't even realize, like okay, how is he actually being able to organize all these people? The other thing that's interesting, the only part because there were a few people and I overheard it on other tables. They were like oh you know, can we order ours without the snails? And he's like no, there's only one kind of paella, that's it. And I went to look on their website. They can only make modifications for groups of 50 plus.
Speaker 1:No, let's just say he's very strict. Yes, he's very strict. You are going to eat what he makes and you are not leaving until you eat all of it.
Speaker 2:So picture this. You eat all of it. So picture this. They had brought out six starters, including a dish made with eels. When I looked into Nalini's eyes and she asked me what kind of fish is this and I said eel, she was really about to freak out. Yeah, I said I'm not having this. So six starters, and then we get to the paella.
Speaker 1:Okay, let's just talk about the size of the salad he puts out. Yeah, for three people. It I'm not eating, I'm not having, so six starters. And then we get to the paella. Okay, no, but okay, let's just talk about the size of the salad he puts out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for three people it was a salad that could have fed like six people easily, and although we love food, we're not big eaters, so not to that no and then they bring out the yeah, they serve it.
Speaker 1:It's a lot of food and the paella is like a big dish of paella. Yes, for each person. Yes, okay. Then I said now, laura, I mean, we're parents, we're moms, we have to get back, we have things to do, we're two hours away from home. Yes, um, I said, listen, we got to get back. You got to pick up you got to move my daughter valentina.
Speaker 1:Yes, and um, I told my son. I said, pierre, just take the money, can you go pay the bill? Ayrton goes into the kitchen. He gets shouted at by Tony himself. Yes, by the man. Yeah, you are not leaving until you have dessert.
Speaker 2:Yeah, at which point we can barely breathe from the amount of food we ate.
Speaker 1:And it's probably maybe 4-ish now and we need to be back by 5.30. And Ayrton comes back and says he won't let me pay, he won't take the money Until we've had dessert.
Speaker 2:Until we have had dessert, because that's the other thing. It's a closed menu, so you don't know what you're getting. You show up and they just start serving things, and it's actually very inexpensive.
Speaker 1:It's not no.
Speaker 2:Drinks and all the food and everything for three people was 105 euros and a lot of food, a lot of food and very, very artisanal, like you know, the salad, everything was from their farm.
Speaker 1:They grow it, they harvest it there. Now Tony shows up to clear our plates. He's very put out that we didn't want dessert and we need to leave early. He brings the dessert, and now he wants to know why we didn't finish all our food. Did we not like it? Yes, but we can't eat anymore, no, and also we were. I mean, laura is not a foreigner, but clearly my son and myself were.
Speaker 2:You were the truly I think. And again, I'm kind of a foreigner sometimes because I'm half and half and all that, but we were the only non-valencian people, because the other thing is well, all the tables around us they were speaking valenciano not spanish, and they were looking at us. Yes, like what are these people doing here in the middle of the farmland?
Speaker 1:yeah, I mean not in a bad way, but just more curious. Curious like how did these three find this place in the middle of nowhere? You know?
Speaker 2:well, picture this. There were, because I guess we got the late reservations. We were in a hut where there was no floor the floor was gravel and there were cats coming in and out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I ate the whole meal actually have a pic. We have a picture where my knees my legs up on the table but anyway, tony was very put out. We did not eat all of his rice and we said listen, and Ayrton's like, oh sorry, you know he's telling him like we're really, really full. But Ayrton did make a comment halfway through the meal. He said you know, he's like I see Tony walking around and talking, but I don't see Tony cooking.
Speaker 2:And we actually asked the gentleman that was cooking the paellas how many paellas have you cooked? And he said I don't even want to think about it.
Speaker 1:Like 10,000 or something.
Speaker 2:He said when I started working here, my hair was dark and now it's gray and every part of my gray hair, every gray hair, is at least one paella I've cooked here for 50 people but honestly, a fantastic experience.
Speaker 1:It's funny. It's fun. It doesn't matter if you're foreign or not, I mean it's not super cool yeah you don't feel not welcome it's just we had to go so we kind of like eating at someone's house. Really.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So, nalini, let's try our paella that we have here today. If you want, I'll serve you. Thank you. So, because with the microphones and everything else, we are not going to eat directly from the pan, like we said, because that would be a bit messy, so we will just eat from the plates, thank you, just eat from the plates, thank you. And actually, this paella has a lemon to match my little outfit here in the middle, and it is very common to squeeze a little bit of lemon. Do you want some? Yeah, it smells delicious by the way.
Speaker 2:There you go. Okay, we went for Valencian paella today, but without the rabbit, okay I am outing laura right now okay she's spanish, by the way. This isn't me no, so okay, I am half english in my defense. And ever since I was a little kid I have this really terrible habit of eating paella with ketchup. You know, please don't attack me, like for the paella lovers, you know. Okay, so let's talk a little bit about how is this paella Nalini?
Speaker 1:Oh, it's really nice Wow.
Speaker 2:Do you want to tell our listeners a little bit about what it was like for you going to my mom's house afterwards, because I did mention to you? Hey, you know, I know Tony's paella is pretty good, but my mom's is better, and then she made one for us.
Speaker 1:She did and she actually said she learned to make it because the paella that you guys had at school Was so bad. Was so bad, and your grandma used to make it, so then she took over the reins.
Speaker 1:I guess learned from her mom and taught herself how to do it. But the scary part is actually lighting the fire. It's not easy, I mean, because the first ring has to go, then the second ring has to go. It's not just one ring of fire, there are actually stages of it and to me that was. I was really afraid because you're trying to light the gas and make it work, really afraid because you trying to light the gas and make it work, that took maybe 10-15 minutes to get it actually hot. The pan. And then the technique of doing it, where she puts the chicken in first with the olive oil, she cooks that and then it starts to move to the end of it and then the other ingredients she starts to add and then she said once you add the rice and you put the caldo stock in, that's it, you don't turn it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so all in all it was 45 minutes.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So that was kind of start to finish. So that was a little bit of our paella experience. We really hope you've enjoyed this episode. Before moving to the sentence of the day, I do just want to thank Nalini for actually suggesting that we do an episode on paella, because it has brought about so many fun experiences to do this episode and it was really really lovely.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it was really magical to be in your parents' house and watch your mom do that and be part of that family lunch Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Okay, so let's go to the sentence of the day. Okay. So the sentence of the day today is Okay, so let's go to the sentence of the day. Okay. So the sentence of the day today is me importa un pimiento. And it's because we have pimientos in the Bible.
Speaker 1:Okay, so your pepper is important.
Speaker 2:Me importa un pimiento Like try to translate that Definitely a pepper, Okay, and you import the pepper. No, like I import. That is like care I care is equivalent to a pepper. Okay so that's an insult. It's like saying, if you tell me something and I'm kind of offended and I go, I don't care about that. Right, me importa un pimiento, I care as much as a pepper.
Speaker 1:That's actually kind of cute.
Speaker 2:Me importa un pimiento. I might start using that one. So, we got peppers in the paella today, so I thought that would be appropriate. So thank you very much everyone for joining us on this journey, eating in barracas and, you know, in my mom's kind of garden cooking paella. It's been absolutely great. We're looking forward to the next episode where we're going to be touring the Alhambra in Granada coming up next.
Speaker 1:So we're prepping for that and, yeah, we're going to share our experience with you absolutely so.
Speaker 2:Please remember to follow and subscribe. Don't miss an episode. We want to hear from you looking forward to the Alhambra episode. Bye for now, hasta luego.
Speaker 1:The Made in Spain podcast is an Everything's Rosie production with executive producers and hosts Nalini Sharma and Laura Senior, with special thanks to production assistant Ayrton Nath.