Mexican chefs, Alfonso Ovalle and Rogelio Castañón, with the paella that earned them first place in the contest. Courtesy (Freixenet)
Rogelio Castañón and Alfonso Ovalle are still exultant almost a week later.
The two Mexicans - 30 and 32 years old, respectively, and originally from Guadalupe, Zacatecas - are the chefs of the "best paella in the world", a title they achieved in the 61st edition of the Sueca Valencian International Paella Contest, one of the the cities where the traditional recipe was born.
At the time of the interview, they are under the Arc de Triomf in Barcelona, where they have been visiting.
Through a call, the cooks of Crocus Gastronomic Services, say that the next day they will go to Madrid and, from there, they will fly to Zacatecas, where they seek to implement the classic recipe of the contest (with chicken, rabbit, garrofó,
bajoqueta
[bean ],
vacant
[a type of snail], saffron…).
The chefs say that, to prepare this dish, they trained "two months" without rest and moved to the coast to practice in similar conditions.
Like someone preparing for a half marathon.
Question:
How did you celebrate the victory?
Alfonso Ovalle:
We are still very ecstatic for the great honor we had that day.
Rogelio Castañón:
We shout from the rooftops “Long live Mexico!”
It seemed surprising to us and, at some point, we did dream about it.
We have worked a lot and to see it materialized is something impressive.
Q:
You are from Guadalupe, Zacatecas.
Is there a lot of paella culture in that city?
RC:
No, in fact there is not so much knowledge about the “saucer”.
The recipe of the Valencian paella as it is is not very fixed.
In fact, what excites us is to present the recipe that they have here.
Q:
Do you normally use other ingredients?
RC:
It is far from what Valencian paella is.
In Mexico there is a misconception of what paella is.
We have been since 2018, and now more than ever, with the commitment to spread the official recipe of the contest, to let people know what Valencian paella is.
In the first instance with our clients, to whom we offer the dish.
Now that it is national news in Mexico, it is time to spread it and remove that idea they had of paella.
Why not be ambassadors to do it?
Q:
In the contest everyone used the same ingredients.
What is the secret to getting the best?
AO:
It is the perseverance, dedication, effort, preparing ourselves day by day to prepare it.
We have been practicing this paella since 2018. Companionship is also important, “Roger” [Castañon] and I trust each other.
RC:
The best secret is to practice, practice and practice.
Make paellas, control the fires, the times, treat each ingredient with great care, with the respect that the recipe deserves, getting the best out of each ingredient that we incorporate.
Q:
How is the idea of traveling from Guadalupe to Sueca presented?
RC:
It arises as a "chat" between friends.
We met 12 years ago in college.
In Freixenet México, in Querétaro, the semifinal is held to represent the country in the contest.
In 2018 I told Alfonso [Ovalle] that it would be a good opportunity to give him talent.
Since then we know the real recipe for the contest and we started working.
In other editions we did not get the first place, but this time we were the lucky ones.
We prepare for Querétaro by offering paella to our clients and, after winning in Mexico, we begin a much more exhaustive preparation.
In Zacatecas we have a fairly high altitude compared to sea level and, to prepare ourselves with the best training, we moved to a place near the coast in the State of Sinaloa.
Q:
As a high performance sport...
AO:
Like everything that leads to perfection, we prepare ourselves “without taking our finger off the line”.
Everything is decided at the moment when the fires begin to light.
Q.
Do you have more star dishes?
RG:
In the
catering
service we handle dishes of all kinds, but people recognize us for paella.
In Zacatecas we are the people who make the rice dishes and, with the original recipe, we are the only ones.
It is our distinctive badge, when people want a paella, they turn to us.
P.
What plans do you have now?
AO:
We have distinguished ourselves by being very hard-working.
You don't have to lose your feet off the floor.
This is the day-to-day effort.
Later, we plan to open a small business so that there are more possibilities to try paella.
RC:
Currently we have the
catering
service , and it is an experience beyond the plate.
We go to the place where they hire us and there we seek to convey what paella means: it is coexistence, it is friendship, it is family.
We want the customer to take away this experience as well.
They ask us for the paella, we move and, in the presence of our client, we prepare it.
subscribe here
to the
newsletter
of EL PAÍS México and receive all the informative keys of the current affairs of this country