Paella

[Bueller]

Hi, all. I'm in Curitiba now and plan to be here for a while, six months at minimum. I'm not on a serious wife search, but this is a great place anyway. There are women of virtually every color here, many of white European descent (but with better hygiene), African, Asian, indigenous, etc. Wow. Well, no hurry.

  A while back there was a thread about paella, the specialty of Valencia, Spain, where I just moved from. Some people asked how to make it, and in anticipation of leaving Valencia I asked about a dozen locals how to make it, then made it myself at home about 20 times to get it right. Traditionally, paella is made by the man of the house on weekends, to give the wife a break from cooking. I'm not sure how on-topic this is, but if it's "your turn to burn", and you want to impress your honey with some excellent food from the Old Country (assuming she's not from Brazil), read on [end of International Dating content}:  

  The typical hardware for making paella is a round metal pan without a lid which usually ranges in size from about 30 cm. across and 5 cm. deep to 65 cm. across and 7 cm deep, although there are smaller and larger sizes as well. The pans themselves are quite cheap, starting at about $2 for the smaller ones, and about $13 for the 65 cm. size. These require special treatment to avoid rust. The other day at the local hardware store I noticed stainless steel paelleras with gold-plated handles for almost triple the price. If you buy a normal steel paellera, you have to boil water and vinegar in it for about 20 min. before the first use to remove impurities, so say many Valencianos. You then need to dry it thoroughly over heat, then immediately wipe it down with vegetable oil to keep it from rusting. Even then, if it sits for a while unused it will develop some rust and will need to be scrubbed, dried, and oiled again before use. In Valencia you can buy a special gas burner (around US$22) to make paella; there are a few sizes, and each size matches a certain size range of paelleras. Once you get it home you will have to adapt it to the type of gas and fitting which is standard for your area, ie. you\rquote ll have to hook it up to a bottle or something, like a gas barbeque. For the larger paelleras you can also get a folding tripod ($14), or you could also just put the burner on an outdoor picnic table or some improvised stand. Also in Valencia, you can see the devices which are used to make paella over a wood fire: a few pieces of iron welded together to support a paellera about 25 cm. off the ground and allow for a fire underneath. Maybe after seeing one you could improvise something for your backyard.  I never got the chance to make paella that way, but people say it is the best way of all. If you want to have any of the above sent to your home, I got mine at Ferretería Guillermo Pedrós at the Mercado Central: Plaza Mercado, 20. Phone 963- 91 60 21 or 963- 91 78 91. He takes Visa/MC and will pack your purchase for shipping, and if memory serves he said mail service to the US usually runs about $75 for a large and a small paellera, burner, and tripod, or about $50 if you can wait three months for surface mail. If you bring one suitcase over, you could take the hardware back as a second suitcase (check airline size regulations). Without having Valencian hardware, you can probably make paella just fine with a metal skillet, though you won't be able to make very much of it at once, as it is meant to be made in a wide, shallow pan.

  Start by heating olive oil in the pan. When you pour it in, it should cover about half the surface of the bottom of the pan when it first splashes in.

  Next add meat. Paella valenciana typically calls for chicken, rabbit, and snails. Rabbit there cost twice what chicken costs, and tastes about the same. I've joked about the snails here before, but here's what Manoli at Casa Ricardo told me about them when I cooked with her--she is known for keeping a clean kitchen, and is proud to have people line up into the kitchen on Sundays when they are especially busy: she will add snails to a special-order paella upon request, but is reluctant to order a paella with snails from other restaurants unless she knows the restaurant/owner well, because to clean them properly requires soaking and rinsing them at least eight times, and she says some places just can\rquote t be bothered. So remember that if you are in Valencia and are offered paella with snails. I just have a hunch that Bar Mercado Rojas Clemente has high cleanliness standards, or at least I hope so since Ive eaten paella with snails there many times. Their kitchen is out where the customers can see everything, and they have been in business for three decades now serving locals only, so they are probably all right in that regard. But you can make paella just fine with chicken only, and paella uses meat more as a flavoring, so you don't really need much--about an eighth of a chicken per person should be plenty, in fact thats more than I use. In Valencia the chicken is chopped into small pieces, so the drumsticks wind up chopped in half, etc.

  Put the chicken in the oil and fry it until it is nice and browned, about fifteen or twenty minutes. Then add the vegetables. Problem: this is really messy; the oil and chicken fat splatters all over the place. My shortcut: cook the chicken in the microwave (let's pause while the gasping and tittering from the gallery of purists subsides), then add it to the vegetables which you have sautéed in the meantime. Much neater, and since the objective is to make a broth and then cook the rice in it, it doesn't affect the outcome of the recipe. But since you are making a broth, be sure to use all the chicken--fat, skin, bones, etc.

  So let's start the recipe over where we put the olive oil in the pan. Put the chicken in the microwave, then begin sautéing the vegetables in the olive oil. Valencianos use a long, flat green bean, cut in inch-long segments, about 15 segments per person. Then about eight to ten garrafones per person. Garrafón in Valenciano has nothing to do with garraffón in Castilian Spanish: it is a large, white broad bean which is sold dried in stores and must be soaked in water at least a day in advance. Once the green beans and garrafones have been sauteed for a few minutes, add about a half a pressed or minced garlic clove per person, but not too soon, as garlic burns easily. Then add about one medium tomato per person. You can use canned chopped tomatoes if you want; I always use chopped fresh tomatoes, and it doesn' t seem to make any difference in taste whether you bother to remove the skin or seeds. Sauté until the tomatoes are done, then add the chicken and drippings.

  Now it's time to add the water, and a generous amount of salt. If you are using a real paellera, you add as much water as you can without it overflowing while boiling, then boil it *uncovered* for 30-60 minutes at a full boil down to just below the rivets of the handles (about a 35-40% reduction). I went to L' Estimat, the most famous paella restaurant in Valencia, to try their paella. One of the people I went with told me that when chefs at L'Estimat are hired out to cater elsewhere in Spain, they bring Valencian water with them, as it is the best for making paella. Funny thing, Valencian water is very hard and tastes awful. You wouldn't believe the debris of disintegrating pipe, etc. which I cleaned out of the faucet filters in my apartment, which was of recent construction. So get your paella water straight out of the tap, the garden hose, whatever. And if you live in Jacksonville, Florida, you will probably make better paella than anyone!:-)

   Here comes the point where you will just have to experiment a few times to get your ratio of water and rice right. Once you have had about a 35% reduction in broth, add the spices: about a half teaspoon of ground SWEET red pepper (paprika)--not hot paprika--per person, about a quarter teaspoon of powdered rosemary per person, and about an eighth of a teaspoon maximum of ground saffron per person. You can use branches of rosemary, or flakes of rosemary, while my favorite is rosemary that is ground into powder. The only rosemary you want to avoid is rosemary in little needles, or you will be picking it out of your paella like fish bones. If you have the little saffron leaves (is that what they're called?), fold them in a piece of paper and heat it in a frying pan for a minute to make them nice and brittle, then grind them with your fingers. All the above spices are available at the Mercado Central. Also at the Mercado is a special powdered yellow food coloring which can be used instead of saffron. Saffron has a funny metallic taste, and I find that the artificial coloring works just as well and is cheaper. I even made paella once without saffron or other coloring just to tell the rest of you how it worked out, and it tasted fine; it just looked funny. Yellow food coloring from the States? Try it, who knows.

  As soon as you've added the spices, scoop out about an eighth of the broth and set it aside. Using the right type (round/short grain) and quantity of rice is absolutely the most important part of making good paella, and setting some broth aside ensures you can keep the ratio correct by adding some broth back in if necessary.

  Here's the general idea of how much rice to add, and again, you'll have to experiment to get a feel for this: a little over two handfuls of rice per person, which should be about 1 part rice to 2 parts broth. Be sure to add what you think is too much rice; if it is too much rice, you can always put some heated broth back in. In fact, you can even add hot water with salt if necessary. But if you don't add enough rice initially, once it starts cooking it's too late and there's nothing you can do but call for the dog.

  Cook the paella at a pretty full boil--*uncovered*, keeping your nose nearby to make sure you're not burning the rice. While it is still possible in the first few minutes, run a spatula flat around the bottom of the pan to even the rice out and to mix it around a little bit. After ten minutes, reduce the heat to a simmer, just enough flame that it doesn't go out, and let it cook for another five to ten minutes. During this time, I like to be able to splash just a little bit of broth across the top of the rice, if I can add more without ruining the rice. Ultimately, you can't get the top layer of rice to cook perfectly without oversoaking the bottom layer, though. Once the ten minutes is up, shut off the flame and let it sit for a few minutes and serve with a slice of lemon. The rice should not be hard and grainy, although if it is just slightly hard and grainy, that is far better than soft and mushy.

 Paella valenciana is complemented best by a well-chilled bottle of 2002 vintage San Miguel, although a 2002 Widmer Bros. Hefeweizen would probably be great with it, too. :-)

  Teo

[Gregory]

... in response to Paella, posted by Bueller on Mar 27, 2002

Hi Bueller, Im going to Colombia in May to search for the special one. If things dont work out their was thinking of going to Brazil in Sept. Can you tell me how are the ladies there? Are they receptive to meeting foreigners for marriage? Are there any agencies there? Thanks for any information.

[Bueller]

... in response to Re: Paella, posted by Gregory on Mar 27, 2002

Gregory, I´m just getting my bearings myself, and still am struggling with the language. There are a gazillion pretty women here, yes: blondes, brunettes, Asians, Africans, indigenous, and mixes of the above. Having talked to some locals, it seems that Curitibanos have a reputation for not being as warm and friendly as in the rest of Brazil--at least toward other Brazilians--, so I rented a car to check out Florianópolis, which is where I am at the moment. I´m going to pick one place to put down some roots and stay for a year and a half. It´s hard to know just how they feel toward foreigners yet, because with the racial makeup here I just blend right in; it´s not like other countries where you stick out like a sore thumb and attract attention from the ladies, etc. After almost two years in Spain, the clothes I wear are not from the U.S., and unless I open my mouth and try to talk to someone they wouldn´t know I´m not from here. But generally they seem quite friendly.
  Agencies? Well, there´s LatinEuro and Fire&Passion, but both have drawbacks. I´ll let you know as things progress, but I´m going to put down roots, send out résumés to translate Spanish, study Portuguese, and get to know people here in general. I´m not specifically looking for a wife at this time, but given what I´ve seen so far, don´t bet against me staying here longer than a year and a half-- on a spousal visa! :-)

  On my way down here, I pulled off the highway to take a quick nap, and one of the neighbors (Portuguese descent) came over to invite me to park in the shade in his driveway. When I woke up, he and his wife (German descent) offered me "fruta del conde", or "the Count's fruit" fom their yard to eat. Want to know what it's like? Well, the skin is yellow, it's the size of a softball, and the flesh is white and barely sweet. Other than that, you just have to taste it for yourself. Something tells me there are going to be a lot of things I won't be able to describe about Brazil; you just have to visit. But how's that for Brazilian friendliness? They said they've never traveled outside Brazil, but this seems like one country where just living here is enough.

  One last thing: late-model 200cc Honda motorcycles are popular here, and I just saw one towing a car down the freeway. I had to mention that.

  Cheers,
  Teo

[Jim L]

... in response to Paella, posted by Bueller on Mar 27, 2002


Wow, Bueller, You got this paella creating down to a science, man.

I've made this before myself. I really just winged it from reading recipes I grabbed off the net. (Actually got a sign in my kitchen that says: "Danger - Men Cooking" ;-) But this Dominican gal I worked with said it was gustoso and actually asked for the recipe (!)

The cost of saffron is off the charts so I just used the Goya yellow rice.

Hey Bueller, No mejillones? chorizo? peppers? peas?  camarones? The paella I've had in the Latin neighborhood here in DC got all kinds a stuff goin on in 'em!

Anyway, thanks for the intersting change of pace. I for one enjoyed it. I think, however, unless we can provide the details of how we charm our way into Latina hearts with our paella rustling skills, this thread is bound for Patrick's recycling bin.  :-))

Jim

[Patrick]

... in response to Re: Paella, posted by Jim L on Mar 27, 2002

Since we're talking about one of my favorite dishes, I'll waste a little disk space myself-

I don't know where you live, but I live in San Diego and a trip to Mexico takes all of 30 minutes (coming back got much longer after 9/11 though!).  We buy saffron in Tijuana.  I feel like we're buying gold dust when we buy it up here, but in TJ, the price is MUCH lower.  I think it was around 1/7th of the US price if I remember correctly.  Why there's such a huge price difference is beyond my limited intellect.  It looks and tastes like the same stuff to me.

[Michael B]

... in response to Saffron, posted by Patrick on Mar 27, 2002

Same thing with vanilla extract, they sell it in 1/5 bottles for about the same price the grocery stores here charge for the 2oz. bottles. Only reason that I can figure out is the same reason why they charge $4.00 a pill for an Rx in the US and 27 cents a pill in for the same medicine Mexico---Because they CAN.

[Pete E]

... in response to Re: Saffron, posted by Michael B on Mar 28, 2002

Be carefull with the vanilla extract.Some of it produced in Mexico has some bad chemical residuals in it.I think it come from chemicals used in the processing.I was at a food show and there was a guy from mexico explaining the difference.I forget the details except the vanilla that is allowed in the US is the stuff processed without the bad chemicals.Of course this guy was there for a reason,to promote the type he wanted sold.I think he was with a mexican trade orginization.I forget the chemical residual,but it was something bad like arsenic,not just a typical health food nut hypocondria story.
Sorry,I don't remember more,but if I was using it I would search the web for imformation.

Pete

[Pete E]

... in response to Re: Re: be carefull with mexican vanilla, posted by Pete E on Mar 28, 2002

I did a web search under "mexican vanilla".It stated that the whole bean variety was OK but beware of liquid products claiming to contain vanilla extract.Some contain coumarin,baned in the US for about 50 years and thought to cause liver damage and other problems.

Pete

[Bueller]

... in response to Re: Re: be carefull with mexican vanilla, posted by Pete E on Mar 28, 2002

I grew up in Orange County, and that was something my mother warned me about more than once--not to pick up vanilla while in TJ.

[Bueller]

... in response to Re: Paella, posted by Jim L on Mar 27, 2002

Jim, there are something like thirty variations on rice in Valencia, and this was just the most typical. People outside of Valencia often improvise things like you described. Anyway, yeah, I don't figure Patrick will want to take up disk space in the archives for this subject, but some people did ask about it a while back.
 
  Cheers,
  Teo

[cedro]

... in response to Paella, posted by Bueller on Mar 27, 2002

n/t