The fricandó from La Boqueria which has been spoken of for days with euphoria

BarcelonaThere was a day when in La Boqueria they weren't talking about the fried crests sold under the name of potato omelette or chicken paella, nor about the juices nor the squid legs displayed for hours at the fish stalls. There was a day in La Boqueria when everyone was talking about Quim de la Boqueria's fricandó. What a fricandó! The cook Carme Ruscalleda said so, the chefs from Disfrutar (Oriol Castro ate two plates), Albert Adrià and Rafa Zafra. Also all those who passed by his stall on the evening of the 150th anniversary party of Damm, which was celebrated on Sunday, April 26th, between the Liceu and La Boqueria.

"It was a dream that night for everything it implied, for the peace and feeling that was felt, because people wanted to have a good time and because not every day you see so many personalities together in La Boqueria", explains Quim one midday when he has fricandó as his daily suggestion. He doesn't always make it, he has it off the menu, and for Damm's 150th anniversary party he chose it from a list of proposals made by the organizing agency, GSR (which belongs to the Vocento group and previously to Roser Torras). "Among all the dishes they suggested we bars could prepare, I liked the capipota and the fricandó; since the capipota was chosen by bar Clèmens, I kept the other one", Quim continues explaining, underlining again the words of praise he received from Carme Ruscalleda and Oriol Castro. "Carme went to get Joan Font and Rosa Mayordomo, president and vice-president of the Catalan Academy of Gastronomy and Nutrition, so that we could also eat the fricandó she had prepared; it made me very happy to hear what they told me, they recognized the way I had cooked it".400 servings, 40 kilos of veal loin

Let's go to the Moll de l’os. How did Quim de la Boqueria, the chef who next year will have been working at the La Rambla market in Barcelona for forty years, cook the recipe? He bought eighty-four kilos of Angus beef flank. "I ordered it a month in advance from the Soler Capella stall; then I called Petràs to ask him for morels and, finally, I bought local pine nuts". With the most important ingredients bought, the day before the festival, Saturday, at 6 in the morning, he started by coating the flank with flour, turning it over and over, and setting it aside. "I started at six in the morning, because at eight, when we opened the stall, I already had it all fried and reserved, and then I could continue with the sofrito".

The sofrito was made with onion, green pepper, leek and natural, hanging tomatoes. Then water was added, and it was left to simmer. Once well fried, the sauce was pureed and passed through a sieve to make it very fine. All this is quick to explain, but the amount of fried Angus beef flank and sofrito was for four hundred people. "When I had the sofrito ready, I divided it into pots, because then it was time to add the meat", so that everything would blend together with the morels, which were added immediately along with a splash of beer and another of rancid wine. This step is crucial, the pots must be shaken constantly because the meat, being coated in flour, could stick to the pot, and if it did, the whole preparation would be lost: the smell of burning quickly spreads to the preparation and makes it unpalatable. "That's why shaking the pot is so important". The last ingredient added was the pine nuts, national, which had previously been sautéed in a separate pan. And the salt and black pepper.At this point, we pause to talk about beer and fortified wine. "Before, I only added fortified wine, which sweetens the preparation, but twenty-five years ago or more, a fishmonger, Engràcia, told me to add beer to the fricandó, because the touch of bitterness it would give would make it more delicious." Quim took her advice, and he was right. The contrast between the bitterness of the beer and the sweetness of the fortified wine makes Quim de la Boqueria's fricandó so popular. That and his skill.While stirring the pots, over low heat, Quim spent two hours on it. Those that did not fit on the stove because from eight in the morning there were other dishes to cook, he put them in the oven, at 170°. After two hours, he let it cool off the heat, and then let it rest for twenty-four hours. "Fricandó, like all stews and braises, gains up to 40% more when left to rest".The next day euphoria arrived. Everyone who ate it praised it. "Seeing La Boqueria dressed up, with so many well-behaved people, was understanding that the market could be the best gastronomic center in the world". Quim believes it still can be, that if the opportunity were given for renowned chefs to set up there, it could resemble Madrid's San Miguel. It seems, however, that the market is not going in that direction. "A month ago, they made us vote if we wanted to open on Sundays; it's not the first time we've voted, and this time it came out as no again, but each time there's less difference between one option and the other: the yes is left with fewer votes". Quim believes it's because an important group of stalls belong to the same owner, who would want to open on Sundays. The rest, those who have been there all their lives, those who fight to reconcile work and family life, are fewer each day. And it is precisely at this point where everything begins and where everything ends. If in La Boqueria there are so many stalls of battered fritters that carry "potato omelette" and "chicken paella" as their title, it's because uniformity in ownership has spread. And despite all this, there was a day when La Boqueria dressed up: it celebrated the 150th anniversary of the Damm brewery with a fricandó that everyone talked about for days with euphoria.