The Friday 5 #71 (Sherry - and Jerez - special)
Some real sherry bargains, my second #finewinefriday and how to make your rice deliciously crispy
This week I have been in Jerez - one of the three towns of the so-called ‘sherry triangle’ - where I have been struck once again by the fabulous freshness and cheapness of Spanish food. And how incredibly delicious sherry is when it’s consumed on its home turf.
Chilled manzanilla and a plate of crisply fried fish. Hard to beat tbh.
The sherry was La Guita and probably fresher than you’ll ever find it back home but it’s stocked reasonably widely including by the half bottle which is a good way to buy it. Waitrose has Hidalgo’s La Gitana manzanilla on offer at £11.25 a full size bottle though which is a pretty good deal.
The event I attended was a far cry from that in many ways: the Copa Jerez, a prestigious gastronomic competition which pits teams from all over the world. Well, Europe and the US at any rate.
I was invited because I’d been on the judging panel for the UK final which was won by two amazing young Chinese women Gail Ge’er Li and Jiachen Lu who work at a Japanese restaurant in London called Dinings SW3. (They didn’t win the ultimate trophy but got an award for best starter)
While I was there watching the contestants tweak and tweezer their way through the contest I got to thinking how best you can enjoy sherry at home.
Here are a few ideas to inspire you along with some really good value sherries to buy.