Pilar Meana from Aviles feels “overwhelmed” by the impact of winning the competition a few days ago. The Best Fabada in the World 2024with a recipe that he made in the railway pot that he usually uses in ‘La cantina de Villalegre’, in Avileslocated in a train station.
The railway pot or putxera is a utensil made of cast iron prepared to resist high temperatures, in which it is cooked slowly with the heat generated by the charcoal deposited in the lower part, an invention from the beginning of the 20th century by the railroad workers who transported this mineral from La Robla, in León, to the blast furnaces of Bilbao.
The railroad workers, on those train trips that lasted 11 hours, discovered that they could “put the charcoal in a can and at the same time cook,” explained Meana, for whom it is “a miniature charcoal stove, a little more evolved.” ” which provides “very low” fire, ideal for making fabada.
Meana, a finalist in three editions of the Best Fabada in the World contest, “always” using the same legume and compango (the chorizo, blood sausage and bacon that accompany the beans), decided this year to use the railway pot after realizing that The people love it” the result of the stews he makes in it.
Started using this pot three years agowhen she acquired the first one after her husband “discovered” it on the Internet, who “is very into research” and asked himself what was this gadget that “fit so well” with the train canteen, located in front of the Avilesina railway station.
“It is wonderful to be able to put the pots at the door of the house or take them wherever you want by running them with charcoal or wood, without the need for gas or electricity“, he assured.
The winning dish
The bean The one used by the winner of the contest comes from Pravia and is “very buttery, creamy, does not break and is not at all skinny”, without a doubt the “first main ingredient” of the dish, which is made with “filtered water, never from the tap to avoid limescale” .
To achieve the success of the fabada, Pilar Meana proposes a compango that “makes the diner sweat”, especially a “good Asturian blood sausage”.
He elaboration process He starts it by cooking the bacon and the chorizo, to which he adds the faba; Once they reach the boil, skim the foam and then add the saffron, paprika and Iberian jowl to give way to a slow cooking process, in which you wait for the time to add the blood sausage for up to half an hour before finishing the preparation of the sausage. dish.
Meanwhile, remove some of the fatwhich he reserves in case he needs to add some when serving the dish, to give it “that touch of color or power of aroma.”
The winner of the contest It doesn’t have a quick cooker: “I refuse, it doesn’t exist in my kitchen, but I understand that it is very practical for people who work.”
After last year’s winner was ‘Mesón sidrería Arturo’, MadridPilar Meana feels “super happy to have “reconquered” for Asturias the title that accredits the person who makes the best fabada, a dish that is “worth tasting” anywhere in the world.
“Although the cachopo is very popular, at the moment There is no one to dethrone the fabada“, he assured about a “unique” dish.
Surprise
The proclamation of Pilar Meana on April 16 as winner of the contest The Best Fabada in the World 2024 was an absolute surprise for the Avilesina, when she was already mired in disappointment at not hearing her name among the winners of the second and third prize, nor in the distinction for best companion.
“Already I didn’t expect anything and I was super sad,” revealed Meana, who understands that all the candidates go with “the heavy artillery and the best platform because it is the final.”
“The first thing I thought about was my motherwho has not been with me for a long time, but I perceived that love and that smell of the stew that she always had on the charcoal stove in our family home in the fishing neighborhood of Avilés, where we lived,” he revealed.
To get rid of a “thorn in the side”, Meana asks the mayor of Avilés, Mariví Monteserín, to I take you to San Agustín de la Floridathe American city twinned with the Asturian one, to cook the best fabada in the world there.
