|
|
|
|
Paella
|
| |
|
| |
Paella is a rice dish which originated in the Spanish Autonomous Community of Valencia near lake Albufera, a coastal lagoon in eastern Spain. Outside Spain, paella is considered one of the Spanish national dishes. Spaniards, however, consider it a Valencian dish, and Valencians often see it as one of their identity symbols.
There are three widely known types of paella: Valencian paella , seafood paella and mixed paella ; but there are many others as well.
Discussion
Ask a question about 'Paella' Start a new discussion about 'Paella' Answer questions from other users |
Encyclopedia
Paella is a rice dish which originated in the Spanish Autonomous Community of Valencia near lake Albufera, a coastal lagoon in eastern Spain. Outside Spain, paella is considered one of the Spanish national dishes. Spaniards, however, consider it a Valencian dish, and Valencians often see it as one of their identity symbols.
There are three widely known types of paella: Valencian paella , seafood paella and mixed paella ; 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 and sometimes beans.
Most Valencian chefs use Calasparra or Bomba rices for this dish. Other key ingredients include saffron, and olive oil.
This dish has gained considerable popularity throughout most of the Spanish-speaking world, including the Hispanic regions of the United States. It also enjoys moderate popularity throughout Western Europe.
Etymology
Paella, although widely considered a Spanish word by foreigners, is in reality a Catalan loan word which derives from the Latin word patella for pan. The modern Spanish word which derives from the Latin patella is padilla which can mean frying pan or small oven.
Valencians (the originators of the paella recipe) use the word paella for all pans, including the specialized shallow pan used for cooking the subject of this article. However, in most of Spain and throughout Latin America, the term paellera is more commonly used for the 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.
A common, but inaccurate, belief in the Arab world, is that the word paella derives from the Arabic word for leftovers, baqiyah, (Arabic script:????) because it was customary among Arab sailors to combine leftovers of previous meals which purportedly led to a paella-like creation in Moorish Spain.
History
Moorish influence
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. Afterward, Valencian cooks combined rice with vegetables, beans and dry cod, providing an acceptable meal for Lent. Fish always predominated with rice along the coast of Valencia.
Valencian paella
On special occasions, 18th century Valencians used paelleras to cook rice in the open air of their orchards near lake Albufera. The rata de marjal (marsh rat) was one of the main ingredients of early paellas, along with eel and garrafones (butter beans).
The rat-eating habits of the people of Valencia's rice-growing region were immortalized by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez in his novel Cañas y barro, a realist account about life among the fishermen peasants of the Albufera marshes in Valencia.
Later, 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 and seafood. Sometimes snails were also added. This rice dish became Valencian paella where it was customary for men to do the cooking.
In 1840, a local Spanish newspaper first used the phrase paella valenciana to refer to the recipe rather than the pan.
The most widely used, complete ingredient list of this era was as follows: short-grain white rice, butter beans, great northern beans, chicken, rabbit, snails (optional), duck (optional), runner beans, artichoke (a substitute for runner beans in the winter), tomatoes, fresh rosemary, salt, sweet paprika, saffron, garlic, olive oil and water. (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.
Today, in the Valencian region, paella is popular as a spring and summer picnic dish and during the Falles.
Seafood and mixed paella
Valencian 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.
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)vegetables and many different seasonings. 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. Also, many Valencians strongly disapprove of combining seafood with meat in a paella. They feel that only paella valenciana and paella de marisco should be ever called paella.
International paella
Paella has evolved into an international dish. These international recipes include ingredients very different from paella's original Valencian version. Today, paella is well known in Australia, Asia (especially the Philippines), Latin America (very popular in Venezuela), the U.S., and West European countries such as Portugal, Germany, Sweden, Norway and Denmark.
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.
Recipes
Valencian paella
This recipe is standardized 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, 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
Recipes vary for this dish somewhat, even in Valencia. Below is a recipe by Juanry Segui, a prominent Valencian chef.
- Make a seafood broth from shrimp heads, onions, garlic and bay leaf.
- 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 rose shrimp, mussles and lobster.
- Simmer until rice is cooked.
Mixed paella
There are countless mixed paella recipes. However, 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.
- Make a broth from seafood, chicken, onions, garlic and bell peppers.
- 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 peppers strips.
For all recipes
Once the rice is nearly done, the paella is removed from the heat and left to absorb the remaining water. Paella usually has a crispy, caramelized, toasted bottom (called socarrat in Valencia but pegado in Latin America) that is considered a delicacy. There are two ways to achieve socarrat/pegado: The first is to time the evaporation of the water properly with the completion of the rice; the second is to use a high flame while listening to the rice toast at the bottom of the pan. The chef then removes the paellera from the heat once the aroma of toasted rice wafts upwards. The paella then must sit for about five minutes before serving.
For more recipes, see :Wikibooks:Cookbook:Paella.
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. 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.
Valencian restaurateur Juan Galbis claims to have made the world's largest paella, with help from a team of workers, on 2 October 2001 and then fed it to about 110,000 people according to Galbis's website. 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
Similar dishes
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. The following is a list of other similar rice dishes:
See also
- How to do a Paella. Video Included! (Spanish)
- Spanish cuisine
- Mediterranean cuisine
- Philippine cuisine
|
| |
|
|
