Chef Isabel
Arroz con Almejas Gallego
Arroz con almejas is Galician spoon rice: loose, briny, and built on good clams, their strained liquor, a slow sofrito, and enough stock to keep it brothy.
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Chef Isabel
Arroz Caldoso de Bogavante Alicantino
Alicante's lobster rice is cocina de cuchara, spoon food: bomba rice, strong fish fumet, and salmorreta cooked loose and glossy, never dry like a paella.
Chef Isabel
Arroz con Pato de la Marisma
This Sevillian marsh rice belongs to La Puebla del Río: wild duck browned well, simmered tender, then finished loose and brothy with rice from the Guadalquivir marisma.
Chef Isabel
Arroz Negro Caldoso con Chipirones
A Levantine coastal arroz, not a paella: short rice cooked loose in fish stock blackened with squid ink, chipirones, and a dark sofrito, then finished with allioli at the table.
Chef Isabel
Arròs amb Bledes i Cargols
Arròs amb bledes i cargols is Valencian cuchara food: rice, chard, snails, and white beans in a saffroned broth, carried by a slow sofrito and eaten with a spoon.
Chef Isabel
Arroz Caldero del Mar Menor
Arroz Caldero del Mar Menor is Murcian fishermen's rice: rockfish broth, dried ñora, garlic, tomato, and short-grain rice served first, with the fish brought after.
Chef Isabel
Arroz de Escribano Murciano
Arroz de Escribano is Murcian cocina de cuchara: chickpeas, huerta vegetables, and short rice cooked meloso in their own broth, thick from the legume liquor, not from cream.
Chef Isabel
Arroz a la Zamorana
Arroz a la Zamorana is Castilla y Leon's inland pork rice, red with pimenton and built from the matanza larder. It should finish meloso, glossy and loose, never dry like a paella.
Chef Isabel
Arroz Santanderino
Arroz Santanderino is Cantabria in a wide pot: short-grain rice, clams, squid, and prawns cooked loose and brothy, with a dark sweet sofrito doing the quiet work.
Chef Isabel
Arròs Negre de l'Empordà
Catalan black rice from the Empordà, cooked in a cassola with cuttlefish, pork rib, ink, and a slow dark sofregit. Keep it moist, not dry, and serve allioli beside it.
Chef Isabel
Arròs a la Cassola
Catalonia's casserole rice is cooked in a cassola, not a paella pan: rabbit, chicken, and pork rib over a dark sofregit, finished juicy with a small picada.
Chef Isabel
Arroz a la Marinera Catalán
Arroz a la marinera is Catalan coastal rice, not paella: a loose, spoonable arroz built on dark garlic-tomato sofrito, good fish stock, squid, mussels, and prawns.
Chef Isabel
Arròs Caldós de Pollastre i Conill
Valencia's brothy chicken and rabbit rice is cocina de cuchara, spoon food: the sofrito gives depth, the short-grain rice gives body, and the broth stays loose enough for a spoon.
Chef Isabel
Arroz Meloso de Marisco Valenciano
Arroz meloso de marisco is Valencian coast spoon rice: round rice, shellfish stock, sofrito, and seafood cooked loose, creamy, and glossy, not dry like paella and not soupy like arroz caldoso.
Chef Isabel
Arroz con Cangrejo de Isla Mayor
Sevillano marsh rice from Isla Mayor, loose and spoonable, built on red crayfish shell stock and a dark sofrito. This is not paella; it should reach the table brothy.
Chef Isabel
Arròs Brut Mallorquí
Arròs brut is Mallorcan spoon rice, dark from sobrasada, liver, mushrooms, and sweet spices. It should be loose and brothy, never dry like a paella.
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