Where there is a good plate of steaming escudella and carne d'olla, nothing else is needed. Even if it is another pot as popular as the Asian ramen, which continues to be a rage in European cities. In Barcelona, without going any further, for many years queues have been forming at the entrance of places that serve it at an affordable price. And on the other hand, it is increasingly difficult to find the traditional escudella and carn d'olla, which in many homes long ago became a gastronomic relic that is only seen on the table on Christmas Day.
But trends can always take a turn; or so the renowned Catalan chef Jordi Vilà believes, who has embarked on his own crusade to combat the ramen mania. The question, according to him, is not so much to eradicate it, but to make it coexist with escudella and carne d'olla, which he is convinced should be normalized, in the same way as so many other culinary specialties traditional Catalan. And one way to achieve this is to take it to the streets, "just as our mothers and grandmothers used to do it", and adapt it to a new format. That's why he has just launched his Escudella Street, a takeaway version that will be sold with the soup, in which the different pre-gelatinized meats are submerged in a terrine that is heated in a large pot of broth before serving. Organic meats cut to a size to be eaten with a spoon. It is cooked for 15 hours and the ingredients include the hock, chicken, pork face and nose, cured jowl, black and white sausage; also potato, turnip, carrot, cabbage and chickpeas. And, of course, there is no missing the precious ball, which Jordi Vilà defends with pine nuts and, above all, without garlic!
The chef assures that, without going against any other tradition, the time has come to bet on the escudella: "Normalize it and make it attractive for young people". That's why the question was asked: what if instead of a plate to eat at home or in a restaurant, we served it in a biodegradable cup that allows us to enjoy it on the street, hot? This is how it will be served from next week at the new Va de Cuina store (Comte Borrell, 54) that will be opened by the chef of Barcelona's Alkimia and Al Kostat. It is his second establishment of the same name (the one in Sarrià will also sell it, in both cases at 12.80 euros per portion) and it is close to the Sant Antoni market, of which he confesses to being an enthusiast.
Vilà has dedicated his professional life to studying, reviewing and working on the evolution of traditional Catalan cuisine to create his dishes. The escudella and carn d'olla, without a doubt one of the most representative, as each territory has its own escudella, has been one of this chef's obsessions. Last year Al Kostat surprised diners with a completely new product, the escudella and carn d'olla made in a very interesting version, based on game meat. He did it with a menu served in two sequences: the first more subtle, with birds and replacing the traditional biscuits with pheasant-filled ravioli immersed in a succulent consommé, and the second more forceful, with partridge meats stuffed with pork, venison loin, black hare sausage, wild boar cheek, pheasant ball or cooked duck. A successful experiment that he has repeated and that is already served these days, cooked for 72 hours not only with the mentioned meats but also with autumn and winter tubers, such as potato, black turnip, goat's beard, yellow beet and carrot
But the desire to turn the traditional version (there are many versions of escudella) into a popular street cuisine dish goes far beyond this unique exercise that he likes to do with hunting. Vilà's work in his stores is aimed at taking artisan cuisine to the limit in order to be able to serve it in the quantities he can afford with the most natural ingredients and without using ultra-processed products or artificial preservatives, which is why he resorts to analysis in a recognized laboratory.
