Perfect paella

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Posted at 12:02PM, 24 May 2010 by Gregor Shepherd - Chief sub-editor, olive magazine

I've been trying to perfect my paella recently, so I was very pleased to be asked along to Pinchito Tapas in London, WC1 for a paella masterclass.

There isn't really one, true paella recipe from which all others deviate

I learnt there isn't really one, true paella recipe from which all others deviate, and many people from Valencia, where it originated, have different opinions on what paella should be, and how it should be cooked. Valencian paella, generally, is cooked with meat (chicken, rabbit, pork ribs, snails), tomatoes (peeled and grated), paprika, rosemary, saffron, garlic and various types of bean or sometimes artichoke. Seafood paella dispenses with the meat, and usually the beans and rosemary, and replaces it with seafood of various types. Mixed paella is the most widely eaten in Spain outside Valencia, and also abroad, and is made with chicken and various types of seafood.

A mixed paella with chicken and cuttlefish was demonstrated, and the tips I picked up were as follows.

Don't use an onion, as it produces too much liquid. A whole head of garlic (peeled and chopped) was used for a paella to serve six.

The saffron was folded up in a piece of foil and toasted, briefly, over an open flame before being added, as this way it releases more flavour.

The meat was fried first, followed by the seafood, then the vegetables. You're trying to get all of the flavour from all of the ingredients into the rice. In Valencia, people eat paella straight from the pan, all eating the triangle in front of them, and discarding the meat and fish in a pile at the centre of the pan - the rice is the treat, and these bits are only eaten at the end if you are still hungry.

When the veg, meat and fish are cooked (this is called a sofrita), the paprika should go in and be mixed through, quickly, to avoid burning, which gives it a bitter flavour. Then the rice should be mixed in, then the stock should be quickly stirred in. From that point forward, it shouldn't be stirred at all, because the grains of rice should stay separate. To stop it from sticking though, what you can do is shake the pan. Towards the end of the cooking, stop shaking it, because you do want it to stick then, in order to have a thin, crispy layer of toasted rice on the bottom, known as soccarat (the most delicious bit of all). Take it off the heat before the rice is totally cooked through, and cover the pan in tinfoil, leaving it to cook under its own steam for 5-10 minutes.

Finally, don't serve it with lemon wedges - if you do, people will immediately squeeze the lemon onto the paella without tasting it - in Valencia, apparently, lemon is only used to adjust the flavour if the paella hasn't turned out right (and alioli should only be served with arroz negro).

Do you have any paella rules?

Comments

christine

25 May 2010, 10:43AM
christine

more importantly, do you pronounce it pie-ella or pie-ay-ya?

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Lushious

25 May 2010, 8:26PM
Lushious

Pie-ay-ya is the correct Spanish pronounciation.

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Girl Flower

26 May 2010, 9:40AM
Girl Flower

I say Pie-ella, Im not spanish and fear I may sound like an idiot trying to speak it! Love the stuff though and I'm liking the tips given here for a good paella! Thanks

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orangespoon

31 May 2010, 5:52PM
orangespoon

I may well enrol in this class; looks good fun

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Jem1923

9 June 2010, 7:07PM
Jem1923

actually it's none of them :) It's pa-e-ya and I am spanish :) but I am sure spanish people pronounce english words worse than the way english pronounce paella.

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Jem1923

9 June 2010, 7:10PM
Jem1923

oh! and something else that even we spanish people get wrong unless you live in Valencia or around is that paella is not the dish but the special pan where they make it. Yes! 31 years calling it paella to the rice and I had to go to Valencia to find out about it! There they actually call it "rice in the paella" but obviously everyone else calls it paella.

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Vatel

14 July 2010, 6:00AM
Vatel

I believe the correct pronunciation is the latter. I know it rolls off the tongue easier. It is a great dish and I make it quite often. It is often difficult to find all the correct ingredients and a lot depends on where you are in the world.

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halle butt

14 July 2010, 8:22AM
halle butt

The best rice dish I had cooked in a paella had no seafood in it, chicken, pork, rabbit, snails, pigeon,chorizo.

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DANIEL NEWTON

20 November 2010, 4:37AM
DANIEL NEWTON

I cook paella following the Valencia traditional recipe. I learned my Spanish language from Spanish teachers educated in Spain. The CORRECT Spanish pronounciation of "paella" is with the LL not pronounced as "ya" like the way it is done in the Mexican dialect which most Americans thought to be Spanish Language.

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Eduard Lopez

6 December 2011, 11:39PM
Eduard Lopez

First of all, I would like to congratulate Gregor for the post. It's a very good information provided about this internationally-known dish. Nevertheless, being born in Valencia (Spain), and having had paella cooked by my grandmother and, then, my mother, on Sundays, I would like to make some corrections to the information displayed on the post. It's true that there are many ways of cooking paella. With different ingredients and cooking methods, but the original recipe is the Valencian paella, made with rabbit and chicken (sometimes duck), but NEVER garlic or pork ribs. The rest of the ingredients mentioned are correct. By the way, the correct pronunciation is "pa-eh-ya". Thanks again Gregor for the effort and overall accuracy. Eduard.

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Billyboy

10 May, 1:03PM
Billyboy

I have been married to a Valenciana for for fifty years. I lived in Valencia for many of them. I lived in the city centre in Avda. Perez Galdos. I am a chef and owned a restaurant for many years in Fuengirola (with a Spanish menu and extensive tapas list). I learned to cook paella in a resaurant in El Saler, Valencia it is regarded as the best paella in Spain. I have never seen people eat from the paellera or to section the meal. I have never used ribs in my Valencia paella, occassionally I now put a little chorizo for extra flavour. Incidently Gregor, a sofrito is a tomato salsa. We use it a lot for breakfast on oiled bread, it is called 'Pan Catalan'.

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