We talk a lot about the excellence of the paella, how to find the perfect rice, its ingredients, how good it is if it has been cooked over wood and not gas. In short, you can talk about countless topics about paella. They already see him with me almost every week, giving them the turra with the unrepentant paella. It is a wealth of content, its universe and culture not only pervade local gastronomy, it is a global trend. Everyone is talking about paella.
However, no one, except a Valencian, would think of talking about the leftovers, the remains of rice attached to the bottom of the paella, which together with the territorial boundaries or cavallonets, have ended up in a common grave with the appearance of lunch box Can you imagine an Italian talking about the edges of the pizza left on the plate? Or the poultice that the risotto has become ten minutes after serving? No, no way. Any gastronomic civilization with a certain level considers that the remains of a meal have already been amortized at the time of serving. We Valencians, who are already part of that elite, are reluctant to abandon such an ugly and vulgar custom.
Today, if you continue reading, more than one is going to make that popular phrase their own to mislead when they are full of emotions: “I think something has entered my eye.”
The respect of the Valencians for rice is enormous, for this reason, when paella is left over, we keep it. Not like in Madrid, where they plant it overheated as a “tapa” in a coffee saucer with a teaspoon and a Mahou. Here it is kept like gold in cloth in a lunch box. It is a privilege that is reserved for a few, it is almost always the eldest son of the house, “el xiquet”. That even if he is over forty or fifty years old, he will continue to be “el xiquet” as long as his mother or his grandmother lives.
We can see this daily in the workplaces where there are common areas for eating. In mine, for example, I have colleagues who, when they put the lunch box in the microwave, their egos rise to the ceiling and without cutting a hair, they say out loud: “Hui plays paella del diumenge” “ieeee… l ‘Arròs de ma mare!”. It does not matter if it is paella or baked rice, envy is served and that can be felt in the environment. Especially for those unfortunate people who are going to eat a plastic salad from Mercadona, or a sad boat of “Yatekomo”. That is where the category of each individual and his position on the social scale are shown. With a paella tupperware we know if someone is part of a structured family or, on the contrary, is a lost soul. In other words, pack or lone wolf.
There are those who take things to extremes, like a co-worker whom we will call “M”. She eats the same thing every day, baked rice, yes, every day, baked rice or arròs-al-forn. Am I exaggerating? No. Because if I could I would do the same too. For a majority, in which I include myself, the leftovers of a rice are just as good or better than freshly made. Because? Because eating reheated paella any day during the week, contrary to what it seems, is not bizarre, it is an Asian luxury, since it brings to mind the memory of Sunday, the aromas and flavors of that unique moment in communion with family and friends. It is undoubtedly the best of our gastronomic culture.
Happy holidays and cook a lot for yours. It is the most beautiful way to show affection.
