On his new TV present, celebrated chef José Andrés goes right into a restaurant kitchen in Spain and confronts an enormous moray eel. Solely one among them is leaving that kitchen intact.
Andrés oversees as cooks put together the eel for it’s last flourish — deboned, sliced paper skinny, dredged in three sorts of flour after which deep fried with cilantro.
“Individuals of the world, I do know you don’t normally eat eel. However should you attempt it, you’ll adore it,” he says to the viewers. “Nothing may be extra easy and extra refined on the identical time.”
That eel is only one scrumptious second in Discovery+’s “José Andrés and Household in Spain,” which follows the chef, restaurateur and humanitarian on a meals tour via his homeland along with his three American-raised daughters, Carlota, Inés and Lucia Andrés.
The women be part of their dad as they go to such locations as Barcelona, Madrid, Andalusia, Valencia, the Canary Islands and Asturias, the place he was born and the place the meals, he says, made him who he’s. It’s a journey present, a cooking present and a parenting present, all wrapped up in a celebration of Spain and proud fatherhood.
“I feel going with my dad and going to all of those locations was simply so particular as a result of he’s such a curious particular person,” Carlota Andrés says in a current interview along with her dad at The Bazaar, the elder Andrés’ rooftop bar on the The Ritz-Carlton in New York. “That’s the kind of particular person that he’s and no journey is similar if he’s not there.”
All through is José Andrés’ infectious and ebullient spirit, a whirlwind of ardour for meals and respect for the place it got here from. He cheers each the deconstructive brilliance of august restaurant El Bulli and likewise humble road meals.
Tapas seems to be an ideal reflection of his philosophy on consuming — going from place to position consuming many issues, cold and warm, fish and meat and greens — and making it a celebration of components, exhausting work and life.
“If I used to be the president of the world, I might make it obligatory that each particular person has to go all over the world for a yr of their lives — nation to nation, tradition to tradition, continent to continent. If all of us did that, the world can be a magical place. That’s what this present celebrates,” he says.
In Barcelona, José and his daughters trip electrical scooters across the metropolis, popping into eating places, markets and cafes as dad bearhugs his outdated culinary pals, providing a scrumptious insider tour that includes tapas, crimson shrimp, glowing wine and croquettes.
The elder Andrés — who has drawn consideration to Spanish meals and helped put a highlight on humanitarian disasters along with his World Central Kitchen — can hardily comprise himself. “He’s already within the kitchen inflicting mayhem,” one among his daughters feedback.
In Andalusia, they drink the celebrated summer time vegetable soup gazpacho and take a look at numerous dishes, highlighting blue-fin tuna, an area delicacy. They have a good time the North African affect on the area in dishes like ham and eggs with artichoke and with grilled lamb skewers.
“Happiness occurs if you combine totally different folks and totally different colours and totally different locations multi function plate,” José Andrés says onscreen. In one other second, he provides this glorious problem: “Inform me what you eat, and I’ll let you know who you might be.”
There’s flamenco dancing, and a visit to purchase candy treats baked by secretive, cloistered nuns — dubbed the household’s “religious cookie second.” The daughters attempt their hand at making churros and later a shrimp fritter known as Tortillitas de camarones. They milk goats, harvest salt from tide swimming pools, paraglide, and scuba dive for goose barnacles, identified in Spain as percebes.
Throughout all of it, José Andrés is a hype man for Spanish delicacies, playfully arguing that surf and turf, pizza, open-faced sandwiches known as tostas, and beer have been all concocted in his place of origin, and that Spanish variations of crème brûlée and prosciutto are vastly superior to different international locations’ variations. “All the pieces was invented in Spain!” he shouts.
“I feel each tradition must be pleased with who they’re and even chauvinistic about it. In my case, generally I take it to the acute,” he explains later. “Defend your personal, defend what you already know. In a manner, you’re celebrating all people else.”
Spicy potato dish patatas bravas, glasses of sangria and pyramids of royal pastries have been on the menu in Madrid, whereas Valencia provided the vacationers the world’s greatest paella. “You assume you’ve tasted the actual factor — assume once more,” the chef warns viewers.
The household hopes that the sequence will encourage different households to exit and discover, particularly after the pandemic. “Spain is the excuse,” says José Andrés. “Typically we have now essentially the most thrilling issues in entrance of our eyes.”
“You’ll be able to go into the Chesapeake Bay and have an incredible second of discovery. You’ll be able to go to Virginia and uncover the wine nation of Virginia. All people thinks that it’s a must to go to essentially the most distant components of your world. The thrill just isn’t within the locations. The thrill is inside your self.”