Chef Isabel
All Cremat de Vilanova
All Cremat de Vilanova is Catalan boat cooking: garlic taken dark in olive oil, then tomato, fish stock, and firm fish, no potato, just a broth with nerve.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
All i Pebre d'Anguila
Created by
All i pebre is Valencian marsh-country spoon food: eel, garlic, sweet pimentón, and cracked potatoes cooked in water until the starch and picada turn the broth glossy and deep red.
Soups & Stews
Spanish
Comfort Food
One Pot
Special Occasion
25 min
Active Time
35 min cook•1 hr 5 min total
Yield4 servings
All i pebre d'anguila is Valencian, from the marsh country of l'Albufera: eel cut thick, plenty of garlic, sweet pebre roig, potatoes cracked into the broth, and a picada pounded at the end to pull it together. It is cocina de cuchara, spoon food, not a coastal fish stew painted red. No tomato sofrito here. No stock. The eel gives gelatin, the potatoes give body, and the garlic and paprika give the name.
The step that decides it is the pimentón. Let the garlic go only pale gold, pull the cazuela from the heat, stir in the paprika for a few seconds, and add the water before it catches. Burn that paprika and the whole pot tastes bitter. Treat it gently and the broth goes brick red, glossy, and sweet, with the potatoes breaking at the edges just enough to thicken it.
If you're far from Valencia and no eel is coming through your market, ask first for cleaned conger eel in center cuts, or use monkfish tail in thick chunks. Conger keeps more of the gelatin; monkfish gives you the firm bite but less richness, so the picada has to do more work. No hace falta haber pisado España. You need a wide pot, good pimentón, and the patience not to rush the base.
My margin note for this one is plain: water is right here. The eel, garlic, and potatoes make their own broth. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.
All i pebre belongs to the villages around l'Albufera de València, especially El Palmar, where eels from the marsh were cooked in simple cazuelas with garlic and pebre roig. The name is Valencian for garlic and pepper, a plain description of the base that flavored a fish abundant in the rice-growing wetlands. The same landscape of ditches, boats, reeds, and rice fields fed both eel stews and the rice dishes of Valencia, but all i pebre stays a spoon dish, broth and potato, not a paella.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
cleaned eel
Quantity
900g
skin on, cut into 5cm pieces
waxy potatoes
Quantity
750g
peeled and cracked into 4cm chunks
extra virgin olive oil
Quantity
90ml
garlic cloves
Quantity
12 (about 45g)
peeled, 10 lightly crushed and 2 reserved for the picada
dried guindilla or small dried chilli
Quantity
1
sweet pimentón or Valencian pebre roig
Quantity
14g
water
Quantity
1.1 litres, plus a little more if needed
fine sea salt
Quantity
10g, plus more to taste
blanched almonds
Quantity
30g
day-old rustic bread
Quantity
25g
torn
flat-leaf parsley leaves
Quantity
5g
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| cleaned eelskin on, cut into 5cm pieces | 900g |
| waxy potatoespeeled and cracked into 4cm chunks | 750g |
| extra virgin olive oil | 90ml |
| garlic clovespeeled, 10 lightly crushed and 2 reserved for the picada | 12 (about 45g) |
| dried guindilla or small dried chilli | 1 |
| sweet pimentón or Valencian pebre roig | 14g |
| water | 1.1 litres, plus a little more if needed |
| fine sea salt | 10g, plus more to taste |
| blanched almonds | 30g |
| day-old rustic breadtorn | 25g |
| flat-leaf parsley leaves | 5g |
Equipment Needed
- •Wide shallow cazuela or heavy saute pan, 30cm
- •Mortar and pestle
- •Slotted spoon
- •Ladle
Instructions
- 1
Prepare the eel
Ask the fishmonger to clean the eel for you, and keep the skin on; that skin is part of the gelatin that gives the broth its body. Pat the pieces dry. Crack the potatoes instead of slicing them cleanly: push the knife in partway, then twist so the pieces break with rough edges. Those rough edges shed starch into the broth, and that matters.
- 2
Make the picada
Warm 2 tablespoons of the measured olive oil in a wide cazuela or heavy saute pan. Fry the bread until golden on both sides, then lift it out. Add the almonds and turn them for a minute until lightly golden, not dark. Pound the fried bread, almonds, 2 reserved garlic cloves, parsley, and a pinch of the salt in a mortar until you have a coarse paste. This is the picada, the pounded thickener that finishes the stew.
No mortar? Chop everything very fine, then crush it with the side of a knife. A processor makes it too smooth if you let it run. - 3
Build the base
Add the remaining olive oil to the cazuela. Put in the 10 crushed garlic cloves and the guindilla, and cook over medium-low heat until the garlic is pale gold and smells sweet. Pull the pan off the heat, stir in the pimentón for 5 to 10 seconds, then pour in the water right away, carefully down the side of the pan. This is the step that decides the dish: pimentón blooms in oil, but if it burns, it turns bitter and no picada will save it.
If the pimentón smells sharp or acrid before the water goes in, stop and start that base again. Better to lose garlic and oil than the whole pot. - 4
Simmer eel and potatoes
Bring the red broth to a lively simmer. Add the potatoes, eel pieces, and the rest of the salt, pressing everything just under the liquid. Simmer uncovered for 18 to 22 minutes, shaking the cazuela now and then by the handles instead of stirring hard. The potatoes should be tender at the center and frayed at the edges; the eel should be opaque and pull cleanly from its center bone.
- 5
Thicken with picada
Ladle a little hot broth into the mortar and loosen the picada, scraping up every bit. Slide it into the cazuela, shake the pan gently, and simmer 4 to 5 minutes more until the broth turns glossy and clings lightly to a spoon. It should be a broth, not a paste. If it tightens too much, add a splash of water and shake the pan again.
- 6
Rest and serve
Take the cazuela off the heat and let it rest 5 minutes so the oil settles red at the rim and the potatoes finish drinking in the broth. Taste for salt. Serve from the cazuela into deep bowls, with bread for the broth and a warning about the bones. Tal como se hace allí.
Chef Tips
- •Buy eel cleaned, cut, and very fresh. It should smell clean and faintly briny, never strong or sour. Keep the skin on; remove it and you lose the gelatin that makes all i pebre taste like itself.
- •If you cannot find freshwater eel, ask for conger eel center cuts first. It has bones, so serve it carefully, but it gives a better broth than most white fish. Monkfish tail is the next honest substitute: use 800g in 4cm chunks, simmer the potatoes alone for 12 minutes, then add the monkfish for the final 7 to 8 minutes.
- •Use sweet pimentón or Valencian pebre roig that still smells alive when you open the tin. A very smoky pimentón de la Vera can take over here; if that is what you have, use 10g smoked pimentón and 4g plain sweet paprika.
- •Water, not fish stock. Stock makes the stew taste muddled. The clean flavor should be garlic, paprika, eel, potato, and the nutty picada.
- •This is best after a short rest, not boiling-hot from the fire. Leftovers keep 1 day in the refrigerator and reheat gently in a covered pan with a spoonful of water. Do not freeze it; potatoes come back grainy.
Advance Preparation
- •Have the fishmonger clean and cut the eel the same day you cook it. Keep it cold and cook it as soon as you can.
- •The picada can be made up to 4 hours ahead. Cover it and loosen it with hot broth only when it is time to add it to the cazuela.
- •The finished stew can rest off the heat for 20 to 30 minutes before serving. Rewarm it gently without hard boiling.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 660g)
Calories
830 calories
Total Fat
51 g
Saturated Fat
9 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
43 g
Cholesterol
285 mg
Sodium
1150 mg
Total Carbohydrates
43 g
Dietary Fiber
7 g
Sugars
3 g
Protein
49 g
Where cooking meets culture.
Culinary guides, cultural storytelling, and the editorial depth that makes cooking meaningful.
Discover Culinary ExplorerMore from Fish & Seafood Soups & Pots
Browse the full collection
Chef Isabel
Borrida de Rajada Mallorquina
Borrida de rajada is Mallorca's Lenten skate stew: tender ray, potatoes, and a light broth made rich at the end with a picada of fried almonds and hard-boiled egg yolk.
Chef Isabel
Bullit de Peix Eivissenc
Bullit de Peix is Ibiza's fisherman's meal in two turns: firm white fish and potatoes lifted from a saffron broth with allioli, then short rice cooked in that same broth until dry.
Chef Isabel
Caldeirada Gallega
Caldeirada Gallega is Galicia's fishermen's pot: potatoes, onion, bay, and firm white fish cooked gently, then dressed at the end with ajada, the garlic and pimentón oil that makes the stew.