About Paella

Paella is a rice-based dish originating from the Spanish community Valencia, but over time became one of Spain’s best known national dishes. What tourists consider Paella might differ dramatically from what the Spanish consider Paella. Furthermore, most Spanish consider the Paella to be a Valencian dish. To make the confusion complete, several regional varieties do exist.

A Short History of Paella

Paella is basically made of baked rice, which has been cultivated in the Valencia area since the 18th century at the Albufera freshwater lagoon. Rice has been cultivated in Europe since the 10th century, starting at the eastern sides of Spain. Though rice already became a basic food of this region during the 15th century, the Paella as we know it today emerged only during the 19th century.

The first paella recipe dates back to the 18th century, as it appears into a Catalan book of recipes. In the book it is written about most of the aspects of preparing paella, including how baked the rice has to be, but also the difference between Catalonian rice and Valencia one. Today, Paella is usually prepared with rice from either the Bomba or the Calasparra area.

The popularity of this dish started to grow after the end of the 18th century. Nevertheless, the famous French 19th century chef Auguste Escoffier, who happened to write a book just about rice still ignored paella. Still, the recipe became famous in countries like Belgium, especially in Brussels where it was called Valencian Rice. It was also the beginning of the 19 century when Paella became a dish served at family meetings and became a symbol for the reunion of the family.

In 1885 appeared the book “New practices manual for Spanish cuisine” that lines out the »true« Paella recipe. Since the 20th century the Paella faced a considerable international expansion. The dish served in New York with the name »rice with chicken« – one of former American president Franklin Roosevelt favorite recipe – is just an example. In other restaurants across the world, such as in Soho, London, Paella it is served in French restaurants. All over Spain Paella was transformed in recipe which includes Frankfurt sausages or Chorizo. In Barcelona, at the beginning of the 20th century, a dandy called Juli Maria Parellada made Paella dish popular which included the ingredients already cut. To his honor, it was called Paella Parellada.

From Europe the Paella made it also to Latin America where it gained quite some popularity in several varieties, which are often considered a version of the Spanish Paella. The Paella influenced also an American dish – called Jambalaya – which some gastronomy experts say it to be more a kind of Pilaf rather than Paella.

However, the touristic boom in Spain, starting during the 1960’s brought many people to the Spanish East coast. It was their association of Paella being a national dish of Spain which this way created also a demand for this recipe in areas where paella originally had not been cooked, such as Madrid for example. Today, many Spanish bars, Paella might be served even as Tapas.

Types of Paella

The Traditional One: Valencian Paella

The traditional Paella comes without doubt from the Valencia region. Traditional ingredients are rice (white, mostly from Bomba or Calasparra), green vegetables, meat (rabbit, chicken and duck), snails, beans and seasoning, including saffron, which contributes to the typical yellow color of the Paella.

The best known one: Seafood Paella

The seafood Paella skips the meat but makes usage of various seafood, especially shrimp, lobster, cuttlefish and fish. The snails are replaced with mussels. As vegetables tomatoes and red bell pepper might be added, beans are typically not used for the Seafood Paella.

Popular and Common Variations: Mixed Paella and International Paella

Mixed Paella is nothing else than a combined mix of freely chosen ingredients. It became a very popular way of Paella cooking all over Spain, adding ingredients like Chorizo, different seasoning, vegetables such as bell peppers of all colors and meats. Not really a fish from the Sea, but tasty and cheap to be used in Paella is surprisingly Pangasius. As the variations can be sheer endless, especially with certain variations used all over the globe, we just invite you to browse our stock of Paella recipes.