Salsa Brava Madrileña

Salsa brava is Madrid’s brick-red bar sauce, a smooth pimentón gravy made to cling to rough cubes of fried potato. What makes the madrileña sauce itself is not tomato, and certainly not ketchup, but olive oil, flour, light broth, and the measured heat of pimentón dulce and picante. It should pour in a ribbon and bite cleanly, not sit on the potato like paste.

The flour decides whether it works. I cook it gently in the oil until it loses its chalky smell and turns pale straw, then take the pan off the heat before adding the pimentón. The flour needs several minutes. The pepper needs seconds. Scorch the pimentón and the whole pan tastes bitter, however much broth you add afterward.

No hace falta haber pisado España. If hot Spanish pimentón is difficult to find, replace it with another 4g of sweet pimentón and 0.5g cayenne. The heat will be sharper and less rounded, but the sauce will still serve you well. The Margin beside mine says only this: toast the flour, not the pepper. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.