The paella
Paella is a dish of rice, meat and vegetables prepared in a paella over a fire, is paella pan or stove. Originates from the marshes of the Albufera of Valencia, in the natural region of Ribera del Jucar, south of the city of Valencia, which is eaten at any occasion, especially when you bring together friends and families, Saturdays, Sundays or traditional festivals and is considered the Valencian dish par excellence.
The paella was, in principle, in Valencia, a simple meal is made with the four things you had on hand, along with rice, a little rabbit meat, chicken or duck, vegetables (beans, beans and tomatoes ), oil, water, saffron and salt. Over time has become more sophisticated and entering the restaurant, which is being treated as well tour profitable, especially if you carry seafood: lobster, shrimp, lobster, etc.
Valencian paella made in Altea
Foto: Toyah
A macro-paella in Cornudella de Montsant
Foto: John Dalton
Spectacular seafood paella
Foto: Manuel M. Vicente
Its international expansion has led to the creation of so-called paella dishes that have little to do with the Valencia original. Some add peas, brown rice and wine. Some meat mixed with seafood, shellfish and vegetable variety. To avoid the confusion created by this situation, a group of chefs from Valencia, led by Rafael Vidal and which include the Restaurant Association of the Province of Valencia Dining & Living and the Valencian Association of restaurateurs, have stated the need to formalize a single recipe, and therefore apply to other recipes the appellation of origin and never less than that of paella. Although not officially accepted, the Generalitat Valenciana also offers a recipe similar to the adjective Valencia.
Some authors place the emergence of the paella between the XV and XVI, while others do so in the eighteenth or nineteenth century with the appearance (XVIII century) and general distribution (nineteenth century) of the required iron paella to cook. According to Francisco de Paula Martí, in the sixteenth century imitated the paella in the neighboring territories of Catalonia and Murcia. There is an eighteenth century manuscript recipe book in the Library of Barcelona Episcopal citing first technique to cook this dish, although still not mentioned the name paella, which already includes the distinction between the point of dryness rice as if "the Catalan" or "from Valencia, and the technique required to obtain them. Until the nineteenth century, written references are not explicitly mentioning the word paella, which in the beginning is always paraphrase as rice cooked paella, paella go, etc. The fact that does not appear in older cookbooks can be a product of rural origin.
On the other hand, the fact that no name would not mean that did not exist, because the homemade dishes usually do not have names until they go public in books or in restaurants, and it seems that this name was first put only when outside (especially in Madrid, and there by some French chefs), was discovered this dish of peasants and began to want to describe it. It should be noted that at that time and in these areas of bourgeois cuisine, traditional home cooking, let alone the Valencian not enjoy the respect they have today.
Thus, in 1885 in Madrid shows the cookbook “practical manual newest Spanish cuisine”, with a recipe for paella rice containing fried whole peppers, duck, pork, eels and sausages, among other unusual ingredients in their country of origin.
