Gastronomy

Grilled Nécora from Elkano (Getaria). Gastro Planet / Luis de las Alas

The cold waters of autumn and winter mark the arrival of the best specimens of nécoras and, although they are usually cooked cooked, they accept all kinds of recipes, from stews to rice

One of the first dishes with which Tickets premiered, in March 2011, was a nécora sauteed at the time in its kitchen in sight. Albert Adrià and his team were fascinated by a recipe learned in Rías de Galicia , seafood restaurant of the Iglesias brothers, their partners in Grupo elBarri and, in turn, owners of Grup Iglesias. The marine flavors of the juices and interiors that this decadopod and hexagonal crustacean stores are enhanced by contact with fire, giving rise to an authentic gastronomic party . At present, in the mother house of the Churches in the Barcelona Parallel, the nécoras can be tasted both boiled and grilled.

With Necora puber as a scientific name and known as Andalusian, sea crab or swimmer, this fast and nocturnal shellfish , with shell (which periodically changes) between brown and reddish, some villi and bumps and red eyes (between which it is eight and ten small teeth), usually comes from the Atlantic and, specifically, from the Galician estuaries (where its smoother meat stands out) and from the Cantabrian , cold waters that guarantee its elegant marine flavor, together with the fact of living near the coast, to times in rocky areas and always at depths not exceeding 70 meters.

With a crab shape of medium to large size (about eight centimeters wide and between 100 and 300 grams in weight), its shell covers a very tasty white meat and brown and greenish interiors with roe or coral. Of heavier weight and more meat and roe, females are always the tastiest . How do they differ? Her abdomen is wider and rounded, while the male's is triangular.

'Fabaricas' of El Corral del Indianu, in Arriohdas (Asturias). Borines waters

The cooking of this healthy seafood ( 124 calories per 100 grams and low in fat, with uric acid as a nutritional handicap ) is its most frequent elaboration, in which a series of steps must be respected: sea or tap water can be used with salt (and bay leaves); When breaking to boil, the nécora is introduced and, when the boil returns, the time begins to be counted ( four minutes for the small one, from 80 to 125 grams, and six for the fat one, from 130 to 300 grams ).

«We bring them from the Rias Bajas and sometimes from Asturias. Particularly, I think the former are of better quality; they tend to be around 60 euros a kilo, ”explains Diego García , from Grupo Pescaderías Coruñesas, who, apart from a store that provides numerous Madrid dining rooms, owns O'Pazo, El Pescador and Filandón. "In our restaurants, we prepare them cooked," says Garcia .

Other seafood restaurants in the capital to take into account to enjoy good Galician specimens are Sanxenxo, Burela, Naveira do Mar, Portonovo or La Trainera . In Galicia, you have to write down tracks like Modesto (Ferrol), Casa Caneiro (Pantín), A Mundiña (La Coruña), Cierto Blanco (Teo), San Miguel (Orense), Mauro (Vilaboa) or, of course, in O Grove (Pontevedra), where they prepare to salt.

With the cold

Andalusian chili with steamed bread from Gloria (Gijón and Oviedo).

Autumn and the beginning of winter (with the myth that the months with “erre” are good in seafood) are the best dates for the nécora (in Galicia, its ban was lifted on July 1, when its campaign of extraction, which lasts until December 31). Cold waters are the best habitat for nécoras to grow beautiful in size and content , as the key is that they are well filled. For Aitor Arregi, owner of the Elkano guipuzcoano (grill opened in Getaria in the 60s by his father, Pedro Arregi), "the best is winter and the one that lives in rock." The barbecue proposes "grilled or grilled as a great alternative to cooking", says the Basque, who recommends "get live nécoras, locally sourced and have been fed on rock. These are the determining factors for its flavor and texture, ”he emphasizes .

Umami?

For the grill, Abel Álvarez opts in Güeyu Mar , in Playa de Vega, seven kilometers from Ribadesella (Asturias). "The broth of the Andalusian is to levitate," announced this barbecue on his Instagram account with a photo of half a nécora with his juice, adding features such as umami, that fifth flavor that many find in this crustacean . And incidentally, take advantage of the preferred name in Asturian lands, where you can try good specimens in El Uría (Bowls) or find recipes such as Fabaricas , “fabas with an Andalusian flavor”, created by José Antonio Campoviejo, in El Corral del Indianu (Arriondas) : a trickster made with a mold and concentrated broth of kernels. In Asgaya , an Asturian place in Madrid, they have prepared dishes such as crab lasagna with vegetables and cream of Andalusian.

A Cantabrian tour around this seafood would be lame if Asturias and the Basque Country (with the surroundings of Guetaria as the axis) Cantabria, where the Festival of the Nécora de Noja - held on October 19 and 20 - does not take place tribute to this crustacean and, in particular, to the pieces of the beaches of Ris and Trengandín . In this Cantabrian town, we find clues like the hotel-restaurant Arillo ; Sambal, with its famous roasted nécora in papillote , or Mijedo , where, like other seafood, they are accompanied by potatoes, onions and eggs cooked with them.

Cooked lobsters from Lobito de Mar (Madrid).

No ceremonial

Of course, if you eat whole, either cooked or roasted, it is better to assume that you do not need more protocol than using your hands, with the help of tongs and seafood fork . The first is to open the shell manually to herd and separate the other part with the five pairs of legs (the first are two tweezers, used to feed and defend and always larger in males). We are, therefore, before a seafood to entertain, because it takes time to eat and enjoy it thoroughly. In the Madrid headquarters of Lobito de Mar , a marine concept opened by Dani García in September, open Galician pieces are served that are presented on the menu as cooked at the time .

From rice to spoon plate

Beyond cooking, grill or iron, the nécora has multiple gastronomic possibilities. Sometimes, it is an ingredient of rice to which it brings marine flavor, in combination or not with other crustaceans. In Toc al Mar , on the Aiguablava Beach (Begur, Gerona), we bet on dried rice of nécoras and rosiñols, prepared on the grill ; in the aforementioned Rías de Galicia , for a broth with nécora de las rías , also available in its casual format Cañota Casa de Tapas , and in Auga e Sal (Santiago de Compostela), Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón Utrera (son of the former mayor of Madrid) offers the socarrat roller of rice of nécora and bivalves, "made in nonstick skillet in the style of those of Quique Dacosta", explains the hotelier.

Dry rice of necoras and rosiñols from Toc al Mar (Gerona).

They can give rise to a plate of spoon, for example, the potatoes with yellowish octopus and crustaceans as andaricas dispatched in Casa Maire (Madrid). They are even part of an exotic recipe: chili crab , created in Singapore in 1950 by chef Cher Yam Tian. Usually, crab stewed in sweet and sour chili and tomato sauce is used, somewhat thick and served with a brioche to dip the sauce. In Spain, it is usually prepared with nécoras, such as the version of Nacho Manzano in Gloria , his food house with double headquarters in Oviedo and Gijón, where he serves Andalusian Chili with steamed bread .

If Manzano asturianizes the Asian recipe with andaricas, Iñaki Bretal, chef of Eirado da Leña (Pontevedra), the galleguiza with nécoras in Farmacia de Guardia , open galactic kitchen bar in Malasaña (Madrid), and serves the cauldron of nécora al wok , A very tasty version of chili crab . And it assumes other textures, such as pate, with brands such as O'Submarino, A Perla-Islas Cíes Pazo de Coruxo or Conservas Ares , which opts for «a powerful flavor, without softening or disguising, with a low fat texture». Thus, some Galician teaches can be tested in La Probeta , Madrid's laboratory of combined and pecking of La Tita Rivera (project of Sons of Rivera), spread on mariñeiras cookies. Or as the main ingredient of a good bechamel for some croquettes of nécoras, in La Vaquería Montañesa (Madrid) , with a recipe that represents «the most potent flavor of the Cantabrian with fresh milk bechamel from the dairy of La Cántara». It becomes a coulis in Atrapallada (Madrid) to be a glazed scallop dressing ; while assuming a bisquet form accompanied by crispy vegetables and mussel powder in El Cucufate (San Sebastián de los Reyes).

Haute cuisine

On the side of haute cuisine, the dishes tend to strip the shellfish from its shell to facilitate the enjoyment of the diner, while combining it with various products. This is how creations such as chard pence with tomato powder and crunchy nuts from Nacho Manzano, in its matrix Casa Marcial (La Salgar); the cappuccino of nécoras or the fabas of Lourenzá with clams and juice of nécoras of Marcelo Tejedor, in the compostelano Casa Marcelo ; the dishes nécora, creamy rice and avocado or cod kokotxa , grilled nécora and its corals by Josean Alija, in Nerua (Bilbao), or the nécora, anemone, mussel and codium by Javier Olleros, in Culler de Pau (O Grove , Pontevedra).

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