Arroz Negro Valenciano

Arroz negro is Valencian coastal arroz, a dry rice stained black with sepia or squid ink and cooked in a wide pan until the grains sit separate and glossy. This is not a paella painted black, and not every arroz is a paella. The ink, the cuttlefish, the fumet, and the sofrito, the slow onion and tomato base, are what make it this dish and not its neighbour's.

The method that decides it is the same one that decides most good dry rice from the coast: build the flavour before the broth goes in. Cook the sofrito low until the tomato is dark, thick, and almost sweet. Add the rice and move it through the oil until the grains look glassy. Then add hot fumet all at once and leave it alone. Stir after that and you work loose the starch, and the dry finish you wanted turns heavy.

If you are far from Valencia, no hace falta haber pisado España. Use short Spanish rice if you can, bomba, senia, bahía, or Calasparra. If not, use a good short-grain rice and know it will take a little less broth. Frozen cleaned squid is fine, and frozen ink packets are often better than ink you can't get fresh. What you cannot skip is a real fish stock; water gives you black rice with no sea behind it.

Serve it from the pan with allioli at the table. A small spoonful against the black rice is enough. My Margin beside this one says only: don't fuss with it once the broth is in. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.