Five great places to eat in Aracena


Restaurante Arrieros, Linares de la Sierra Chef-proprietor Luismi López draws people to this tiny village from as far away as Seville for his modern Spanish cooking. 2 Calle de los Arrieros, +34 959 46 37 17, arrieros.net


Restaurante José Vicente, Aracena Chef Jose offers some of the best traditional cooking in town. The slow-cooked Iberico pork ribs are a must. 53 Av. De Andalucia, +34 959 12 84 55


El Manzano, Aracena This mushroom-themed restaurant offers more than 20 dishes made with the mushrooms of the region, which the owner, Manuel, picks every day in season. Plaza Marqués de Aracena, +34 959 12 81 230


Restaurante Casas, Aracena A locals’ favourite, it’s the best place to have a plate of jamón Cinco Jotas, washed down with fino, of course. Calle Pozo de la Nieve, 37, +34 959 12 80 44


Puerta 20, Aracena This newish bar and restaurant offers traditional cooking with a modern twist. Try the partridge pâté. Plaza Marqués de Aracena, +34 959 09 93 50


Where to stay in Aracena Hotel Convento Aracena This hotel is a stylishly converted convent and the smartest bed in town. Doubles from £92 per night +34 959 12 68 99, hotelconventoaracena


the cuisine had among tourists on the Costa del Sol. Indeed, there were few really good Spanish restaurants in London back then. That’s all changed now, of course.” Thanks to importers, such as Brindisa, for whom Pizarro opened three restaurants, we now have access to premium Spanish ingre- dients and a growing number of excellent Spanish restaurants. In short, we don’t mind paying for quality Spanish food – top Spanish ham, particularly. OK, so it’s not cheap – Pizarro sells the Iber-


ico ham for £26 for 65g, but Pizarro reckons his customers understand the work that goes into it and are willing to pay for it. “It’s an affordable luxury and, judging by the number of people who drop by for a glass of fino [dry Spanish sherry] and a plate of ham, my cus- tomers agree with me. But it has to be sliced correctly, and that’s no easy task,” says Pizarro. You need to practice, and keep practicing, he says. He reckons it will take someone eight hours a day over five days, practicing on five hams a day, to master how to slice it. “It always tastes better when you know the carver has enjoyed slicing it,” he adds.


“It always tastes better when you know the carver has enjoyed slicing it” José Pizarro


José Severiano Sanchez enjoys slicing ham.


He is Cinco Jotas’s master carver, and he travels the world showing off his skills. “The ‘punta’ is the palest, sweetest bit of the leg, while the ‘maza’ is the darker bit in the middle that most people favour, and then there is the chewiest bit, the ‘jarrete’, nearest the hoof, where all the mus- cles come together, offering an explosion of fla- vour,” he explains, giving us a little of each. And it’s not just the Iberico ham that Pizarro gets excited about. The fresh Iberico meat – particularly a cut called the pressa, is second on Pizarro’s wish list. “You don’t have this cut in the UK, as you can only get it on this breed of pig, but it’s right next to the shoulder blade and it cuts like butter,” he enthuses. Pizarro is rather partial to Iberico pork ribs too, and we head out for dinner to his favourite place to eat them – José Vicente Restaurant in Aracena, where they are slow-cooked for five hours. They arrive, Flintstones-style, piled on to a large platter, after a plate of more ham, this time served over a dish of fried wild mush- rooms with a sprinkling of fresh thyme. Wild mushrooms are big here, along with peppers and pumpkins, and the cuisine shares similarities with Pizarro’s home region a little further north and elsewhere. “There’s a lot of influence from Portugal in the cooking here as it’s only a few miles away. For example, corian- der is used liberally – but it’s very subtle,” explains Pizarro, who dreams that one day he will own a 25-hectare finca here. “I’ll just drink sherry and eat ham all day – what else is there?” For more information about Cinco Jotas, go to cincojotas.com


www.thecaterer.com March 2016 | Best of Chef | 25


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