paella

Paella

A large seafood paella served in a paellera
Origin
Place of origin	Spain
Region or state	Valencia
Dish details
Course served	main course
Serving temperature	hot
Main ingredient(s)	white rice meat seafood vegetables
Variations	Valencian seafood mixed
Other information	Popular throughout: Western Europe Latin America North America The Philippines

Paella (Spanish pronunciation: [paˈeʎa]) is a rice dish that originated in its modern form in the mid-19th century near lake Albufera, a lagoon near the eastern coast of Spain's Valencian region.^[1]

Many non-Spaniards view paella as Spain's national dish. However, most Spaniards consider it to be a regional Valencian dish. Valencians, in turn, regard paella as one of their identity symbols.

There are three widely known types of paella: Valencian paella (Spanish: paella valenciana), seafood paella (Spanish: paella de marisco) and mixed paella (Spanish: paella mixta); but there are many others as well. Valencian paella consists of white rice, green vegetables, meat, snails, beans and seasoning. Seafood paella replaces meat and snails with seafood and omits beans and green vegetables. Mixed paella is a free-style combination of meat, seafood, vegetables and sometimes beans.

Most paella chefs use calasparra^[2][3]or bomba^[3]rices for this dish. Other key ingredients include saffron and olive oil.

Etymology

Paella is a Catalan word^[4] which derives from the Latin word patella for pan.^[5] Patella is also akin to the French poêle,^[6] the Welsh padell,^[7] the Italian padella, ^[8] the Old Spanish padilla^[9] the Polish patelnia ^[10] and the New Mexican Spanish puela.^[11] The Proto-Indo-European root for these words is *petə-.^[12][13]

Valencians use the word paella for all pans, including the specialized shallow pan used for cooking paellas. However, in most of Spain and throughout Latin America, the term paellera is more commonly used for this pan, though both terms are correct, as stated by the Royal Spanish Academy, the body responsible for regulating the Spanish language.

Paelleras are traditionally round and shallow, made of polished steel with two handles.^[14]

A popular but inaccurate belief in the Arab world is that the word paella derives from the Arabic word for leftovers, baqiyah, (Arabic script:بقية) because it was customary among Arab sailors to combine leftovers of previous meals which purportedly led to a paella-like creation in Moorish Spain.^[1]

History

Moorish influence

Raw bomba rice

The Moorish people of Al-Andalus often made casseroles of rice, fish and spices for family gatherings and religious feasts, thus establishing the custom of eating rice in Spain. This led to rice becoming a staple by the time the Catholics drove out the Muslims in the 15th century. Afterwards, it became customary for cooks to combine rice with vegetables, beans and dry cod, providing an acceptable meal for Lent. Fish always predominated with rice along Spain's eastern coast.^[15]

Valencian paella

On special occasions, 18th century Valencians used paelleras to cook rice in the open air of their orchards near lake Albufera. Marsh rat was one of the main ingredients of early paellas,^[16] along with eel and butter beans. Novelist Vicente Blasco Ibáñez described the Valencian custom of eating marsh rats in Cañas y barro, a realist account about life among the fishermen peasants near lake Albufera.^[17]

Living standards rose with the sociological changes of the late 19th century in Spain, giving rise to reunions and outings in the countryside. By then the original ingredients were replaced by rabbit, chicken, duck, seafood and sometimes snails. This dish became so popular that in 1840 a local Spanish newspaper first used the phrase paella to refer to the recipe rather than the pan.^[15]

The most widely used ingredient list of this era was as follows: short-grain white rice, chicken, rabbit, snails (optional), duck (optional), butter beans, great northern beans, runner beans, artichoke (a substitute for runner beans in the winter), tomatoes, fresh rosemary, sweet paprika, saffron, garlic (optional), salt, olive oil and water.^[15] (Poorer Valencians, however, sometimes used nothing more than snails for meat.) It's these ingredients, and only these, that Valencians insist go into making modern Valencian paella.

Seafood and mixed paella

Coastal residents substituted seafood for meat and beans, thereby inventing seafood paella. Later, Spaniards mixed seafood into the original Valencian recipe and mixed paella was born.^[18]

During the 20th century, paella's popularity spread past Spain's borders. As other cultures set out to make paella, the dish invariably acquired regional influences. Consequently, paella recipes went from being relatively simple to including a wide variety of seafood, meat, sausage, (the most popular being Spanish, chorizo)^[19][20] vegetables and many different seasonings.^[21] However, the most globally popular recipe is seafood paella.

In Spain, mixed paella is very popular. Some restaurants in Spain (and many in the United States) that serve this mixed version, refer to it as Valencian paella but Valencians insist only the original Valencian recipe can bear the name paella valenciana.

International paella

Paella is now an international dish with recipes calling for ingredients very different from paella's original version.^[22]

Various international versions of paella are well known in Australia,^[23][24] Asia (especially the Philippines^[25]), Latin America (very popular in Mexico and Venezuela), the U.S., and Western European countries such as Portugal, Germany,^[26] Sweden,^[27] Norway^[28] and Denmark.^[29]

Basic cooking methods

According to tradition in Valencia, paella is cooked by men over an open fire, fueled by orange and pine branches along with pine cones. This produces an aromatic smoke which infuses the paella. Also, dinner guests traditionally eat directly out of the paellera.^{[1][15][18][30]}

Valencian paella

Wikibooks Cookbook has a recipe/module on Paella valenciana

Valencian paella

This recipe is standardized^{[30][31][32][33]} because Valencians consider it traditional and very much part of their culture. Rice in Valencian paella is never braised in oil, as pilau, though the paella made further southwest of Valencia often is.

• Heat oil in a paellera.
• Sauté meat after seasoning with salt.
• Add green vegetables and sauté until soft.
• Add garlic (optional), grated tomatoes, beans and sauté.
• Add paprika and sauté.
• Add water, saffron (or food coloring), snails and rosemary.
• Boil to make broth and allow it to reduce by half.
• Add rice and simmer until rice is cooked.
• Garnish with fresh rosemary.

Seafood paella

Wikibooks Cookbook has a recipe/module on Paella de marisco

Seafood paella

Recipes for this dish vary somewhat, even in Valencia. Below is a recipe by Juanry Segui, a prominent Valencian chef.^[34]

• Make a seafood broth from shrimp heads, onions, garlic and bay leaves.
• Heat oil in a paellera.
• Add mussels. Cook until they open and then remove.
• Sauté Norway lobster and whole deep-water rose shrimp. Then remove both the lobster and shrimp.
• Add chopped cuttlefish and sauté.
• Add shrimp tails and sauté.
• Add garlic and sauté.
• Add grated tomato and sauté.
• Add rice and braise in sofrito.
• Add paprika and sauté.
• Add seafood broth and then saffron (or food coloring).
• Add salt to taste.
• Replace the whole deep-water rose shrimp, mussles and Norway lobster.
• Simmer until rice is cooked.

Mixed paella

Wikibooks Cookbook has a recipe/module on Paella roja

Red, mixed paella

There are countless mixed paella recipes. The following method is common to most of these. Seasoning depends greatly on individual preferences and regional influences. However, salt, saffron and garlic are almost always included.^[35][36]

• Make a broth from seafood, chicken, onions, garlic, bell peppers and bay leaf.
• Heat oil in a paellera
• Sear red bell pepper strips and set aside.
• Sear crustaceans and set aside.
• Sauté meat until golden brown.
• Add garlic and sauté until brown.
• Add grated tomatoes and sauté.
• Add onions and bell peppers. Sauté until vegetables are tender.
• Add dry seasonings except for salt.
• Add rice.
• Braise rice until covered with sofrito.
• Add broth.
• Add salt to taste.
• Add saffron (or food coloring).
• Simmer until rice is almost cooked.
• Replace crustaceans.
• Continue simmering until rice and crustaceans are finished cooking.
• Garnish with seared red bell pepper strips.

For all recipes

Paella usually has a layer of toasted rice at the bottom of the pan. This is considered a delicacy in Spain and is essential to a good paella.^[37] The toasted rice develops on its own if the paella is cooked over a burner or open fire. If cooked in an oven, however, it will not. To correct this, place the paellera on a burner with a high flame while listening to the rice toast at the bottom of the pan. Then, remove it from the heat once the aroma of toasted rice wafts upwards. The paella then must sit for about five minutes before serving to absorb whatever broth remains in the rice.

Competitions and records

It has become a custom at mass gatherings in the Valencian Community (festivals, political campaigns, protests, etc.) to prepare enormous paellas, sometimes to win mention in the Guinness Book of World Records.^[38] Chefs use gargantuan paelleras for these events.

Each year chefs from the region of Galicia compete for the title of "Paella King". The competition is held in a different town each year in that region.^{[citation needed]}

Valencian restaurateur Juan Galbis claims to have made the world's largest paella with help from a team of workers on 2 October 2001. This paella fed about 110,000 people according to Galbis' website.^[39] Galbis says this paella was even larger than his earlier world-record paella made on 8 March 1992 which fed about 100,000 people. Galbis's record-breaking 1992 paella is listed in Guinness World Records^[40]

Similar dishes

Wikibooks Cookbook has a recipe/module on Arroz negro

Arròs negre (also called arroz negro and paella negra)

Valencians do not refer to all saffron rice recipes as paella. Traditional Valencian cuisine offers recipes similar to paella valenciana and paella marisco such as arrós al forn, arrós a banda and arrós en fesols i naps. Fideuà is a noodle dish variation of the paella cooked in a similar fashion, though it may be served with allioli sauce.

The following is a list of other similar rice dishes:

• Thieboudienne
• Biriyani
• Arroz a la valenciana
• Arroz con pollo
• Arròs negre
• Jambalaya
• Pilaf
• Risotto

See also

• Valencian cuisine
• Spanish cuisine
• Hispanic cuisine
• Mediterranean cuisine

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Paella

• Paella and the Carnestoltes Carnival in Catalonia, Spain
• Easy paella