We just got back from a trip to Valencia, home of Paella, and rode bikes to Albufera -- the lagoon and nature reserve where the special rice is grown. On the ride back, we had Arroz Negro at a sea-side restaurant in Valencia, La Dehesa Joaquín Castelló. We pestered our waiter about technique: only home made seafood stock, Albufera rice, squid ink, and a bit of squid. It was coal-black, strongly flavored, rich, but pure in flavor; no sofrito, no vegetables, not even salt, and only a small amount of squid. Take a look at the photo below of their dish: the surface is jet-black, with a lava-like texture of something boiled hot and fast leaving a surface of of proteins and starch congealed in time. The rice is only 2-3 grains deep, and the protein was minimal (like the Paella Valenciana we had the previous day). Our waiter told us the usual Bomba is used by slacker restaurants who depend on its ability to absorb liquid without exploding; his was the real deal from Albufera, and we brought back a kilo bag of it. Naturally, now that we'd tasted the Arroz Negro verdadero, I had to try to recreate it.
2024-07-01 Attempt #1: too crunchy, not intense enough
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| My version is not so rich, needs work |
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Joaquín Castelló: look at that jet black craggy surface, ¡que rico, que fuerte!
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My first attempt here was OK but has lots of room for improvement, I wouldn't serve it to guests yet. Ideas for improvement follow this recipe.
This can't be made ahead: it takes about 30 minutes to cook. In Joaquín Castelló we had snacks (olives, peanuts) while we waited, in a paella restaurant we had an array of lovely starters while it cooked.
This serves two as a light meal. Consider following with a bright tomato-based salad.
Olive Oil
166 g Valencian Round Rice (1/3 of a 500g bag)
500 g Seafood Stock
8 g Tinta de Sepia (2 packets)
150 g Squid, cleaned, tubes cut in half
Film a
30/25 cm paella pan with Oil and sauté the Rice gently until it turns a little translucent.
Combine the Stock and Tinta de Sepia in a small pot, bring to simmer, stir to combine, and keep it warm.
Add the Stock to the Rice a bit at a time, and let it cook over medium-high heat to absorb.
Repeat, turning the paella pan to ensure even heating.
In restaurants, they use live fire: our old induction burner does not heat our pan over the full width, so I have to keep shifting the center to get the outer rice to cook at all; it still wasn't even enough.
Continue cooking until the stock is used and the rice is barely cooked with just a trace of "bite"; do not overcook to the point where it explodes (Bomba is more forgiving here).
I had to add some more water to the finish cooking, continuously rotating the pan to expose the edges to the heat.
This will probably take about 30 minutes.
Serve, topping with a couple lemon wedges.
Diners can spoon out the rice themselves to plates, or eat directly from the pan.
How it turned out...
The depth was good, 2-3 grains deep.
In my rendition, the rice wasn't quite cooked enough, especially around the perimeter where our induction cooktop failed to heat evenly.
The center started developing the crunchy crusty bottom -- the "soccarat" -- but there was none at the edge.
It could use a touch of salt: our stock didn't have any.
It needed more squid ink to match the intensity of the restaurant.
Next time...
Use 16 g (4 packets) Squid Ink.
Add a touch of Salt to the Stock.
Add the Squid at the beginning to take on the ink color.
Use more Stock, try 4 * 166g = 664g.
The texture comes mostly from the rice, but the taste comes from the Stock; perhaps we should add a lot more Stock, and cook over high heat to intensify the flavor and create a bubbly surface; when we peered into one kitchen, the paellas were cooked over quite hot wood fires.
Consider adding all the Stock at once rather portioning it in over time so it has room to bubble vigorously.
Keep rotating the pan and shifting to expose the edges to the heat, or try cooking over open flame on the BBQ.
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