Spain

Etxebarri, by Juan Pablo Cardenal & Jon Sarabia

Etxebarri, by Juan Pablo Cardenal & Jon Sarabia

A couple of years ago, I bought a pizza oven, a proper one, one that took four people to lift into place. I burn kiln-dried logs in it, and it hits almost 500c. It cooks a pizza in about two minutes, maybe less, and those pizzas are like nothing else I’ve ever tasted. The wood [...]

Books

EL BULLI – Cooking in Progress

El Bulli: Cooking in Progress

The process of cooking fascinates me, the way in which things change and transform under the eye and hand of a cook, how they become something more than they started out as. I realise the gulf in technique and understanding between an enthusiastic amateur and the professionals … I cook a lot, but I merely [...]

Food politics

Pollo a la montanesa, or Santander mountain chicken

Pollo a la montanesa, or Santander mountain chicken from Nicholas Butcher’s Recipes From the Spanish Kitchen

This might sound stupid – and that’s mainly because it is – but the reason I tried this recipe is simply so that I could chop up a whole chicken with a massive cleaver. I’ve spent years in fear of dinging the edge of my ridiculously expensive German knives doing something as mundane as jointing [...]

Food & drink