18/08/2016
The chef, Xavier Matarrodona, already boasts more than 27 years behind the stove. Born in Barcelona’s Sant Andreu district, he has been for more than a decade an executive chef at the Cullera de Boix restaurants, which are specialising in rice dishes and paellas and are located in downtown Barcelona. This restaurant prepare one of the best paella in Barcelona.
Where did the inspiration come from to devote yourself to cuisine?
I always liked it. It also comes from family tradition: my grandfather had a restaurant in a farmhouse of Manresa. Later on, my father inherited it, and then I took over the kitchen.
Managing a restaurant is one thing and quite another the restaurant kitchen. Whom or what is your cuisine imbued with?
My reference is my mother’s and my grandmother’s cuisine, who were both home cooks of the sort who spends hours in the kitchen. I always try to work as well with local produce and prepare them in the most traditional way possible.
At the core of the Cullera de Boix cuisine are rice dishes. Are they also your specialty? Formerly, I opted for signature cuisine and felt at ease with some rice in broth and some risotto. At present, I am actually totally focused on the varieties of paellas and rice dishes.
What is so special about the rice dishes at Cullera de Boix?
Mainly, the raw material, the basic produce to prepare the paella, which is of very good quality. And, above all, the broth. The preparation of our broth is the key to success. For instance, it takes three days to cook the onions we use for the broth, and to prepare the broth itself we devote three to four hours. In addition, at Cullera de Boix we suggest each day at least one rice dish on the menu, a menu we draw up with great care and using carefully selected products.
What is the secret of a good rice dish?
A good broth, as I said before, and good rice. We use rice from Molí de Rafelet (Deltebre). It is rice that is entirely harvested in the same area, which allows it to boil evenly when cooking and thus turns out better.
How can you tell whether a rice dish or a paella has turned out well?
My indisputable reference is my mother’s paella. I have no doubt about it. I compare everything to her flavour and texture or my grandmother’s. Thus, to know if it is fine, I recall the taste of those paellas. However, product quality fully determines the outcome of a paella, plus you have to know how to cook the ingredients, of course.
When you go to a restaurant, do you ask for a paella?
Sometimes. (Laughs) Especially, when I am on vacation.
Besides rice dishes, what is Cullera de Boix’ cuisine like?
Mediterranean homemade cuisine. Sometimes, we seek to give it a different touch, but we do not set ourselves much apart from traditional cuisine.
What are the ingredients that never fail in Cullera de Boix’ cuisine?
Onion and tomato to make a good stir-fry, a good broth, that is, a good beef stock, and good rice. To prepare a good broth, from the moment we start to cook the first ingredient, it takes us three days. You cannot cook it just like that.
Are there different types of paella or rice dishes on your menu? Which one is your «house special»?
Precisely the one called Cullera de Boix, a fish and seafood paella. We believe in a good stock and good fish. To cook the broth we use lobster, red shrimp, mantis shrimp, monkfish and hake, among other products. It has a strong flavour with lots of taste, and it turns out great.
Among the dishes on the new menu, which do you recommend?
Besides rice dishes, I like casseroles, especially the sea and mountain versions. I think they are one of the best examples of Catalan cuisine. As starters, I would choose the nibbling option, the warm apple salad and the croquettes. The croquettes are totally homemade, with free-range chicken and Iberian ham. It takes us two to three days to prepare them. Indeed, we have customers who come specifically to eat our croquettes.
Where do you think is today’s cuisine heading to?
Back to traditional cuisine, the cuisine of a lifetime. People are looking for a good product that it is well cooked. In any case, I think they are not contradictory per se: you can offer traditional cuisine and signature or experimental cuisine at the same time. It is not contradictory.
What chef inspires you?
Firstly, my reference is my mother. On the other hand, I worked with the chef, Jean Luc Figueras. I learned from him. I also liked a lot the beginnings of Martín Berasategui and the Roca brothers. I think that, if you follow a line and do not go for foams or chemistry, if you experience new things, but keep true to your line of sound cuisine, then you are doing fine. Both Ferran Adrià and many others followed a less experimental line in their beginnings.
What are the requirements to become a good cook?
Basically, you need the willingness to learn. To show interest. The passion to focus on a dish that you know will take you two hours to prepare and prepare it with maximum intensity from start to finish.
Subscribe to the newsletter and get
promotions, menus and last minute news
from Cullera de Boix!