Paella is one of the most complex and beloved dishes from Spain, which takes food connoisseurs several years to perfect. However, now it looks like a robot can prepare some delicious paella, even as expert chefs work hard to get the taste and consistency right. A Spanish company, BR5, has developed a robot that can cook one of the world's most renowned dishes in a jiffy. Is it any good? According to a Reuters report, a Spanish master chef who tried the dish seems to think so. The success of the dish has even caused some hotel chains and resorts outside Spain to take interest in the product, the report said.
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“Of course, a homemade rice dish on a Sunday will always taste different…” founder of BR5, Enrique Lillo, told Reuters. “We are not aiming at reaching that, our goal is to travel around the world and be able to eat the same rice that we eat in our country, in a different country.”
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Mr Lillo explained further that several amusement parks and resorts in Japan already have their own paella robot, given the popularity of the dish.
But it is not just people in distant lands, but also locals who can benefit from the paella cooking robot, think food experts. “In my opinion, it's a wonderful tool and ‘Ole!' for the developers because I loved it,” Maria Munoz, paella chef and director of “Cocinea” gastronomy school was quoted as saying after trying the robot-made paella.
But, how does the robot actually cook the complicated dish? The robot consists of an electronically controlled stove and a mechanical arm.
The arm is used to add the sauteed ingredients over the paella pan, followed by the rice. It then stirs the dish with a slotted spoon before pouring in the fish stock. All ingredients have to be prepared in advance and are already measured for one paella. Once all the ingredients are in the pan, the robot stirs and shakes it constantly until it is done.
Ms Munoz further said that the robot would be very useful for restaurants because it helps make more paellas at a time. “If you only have one paella cook you can only make 20 at most because it's crazy, especially finding the sweet spot for the paella,” she added.
Sharing the Reuters report on Twitter, social media users had mixed reactions. One user said, “What do I tell my mom now? Sorry, mom. A robot cooks better paella than you. Stop the madness, please.”
“Not the future we were promised, but still bright stuff ahead,” wrote another user.
BR5 also shared the video of the robot cooking the dish on Instagram along with a caption in Spanish, which roughly translates to, “Dressing the rice. Adding the rich prawn! We also like it with aiolí. Be a robot.”
Well, we may not have a robot but we have the recipe for some yummy paella that you can try at home.
So, tell us what you think about the robot and its talent to rustle up some paella.