Paella, a delicious misunderstanding

Source: Global Times

Since 2018, Paella's hometown of Valencia has held the "World Paella Day" every year, and chefs from all over the world gather in the Iberian Peninsula to compete in the Mediterranean sunshine. This year, due to the epidemic, the World Paella Competition was moved to the "cloud", and chefs from 8 countries such as China, Italy, Japan, and Australia posted their works to social media, and netizens voted according to the "hue". Although the lack of "incense" and "taste" of the food competition is extremely regrettable, but in the context of the spread of the global epidemic, even if the taste is all imaginary, people can feel the hope of returning to a better life from the "cloud".

In fact, a paella with "red seedlings" has no seafood, just as "there is no fish in the fish and meat shreds" and "no wife in the wife cake", the famous name of "paella" is just a "delicious misunderstanding" translated by Chinese. The Spanish word for "Paella" refers specifically to the production of this delicious pan (pictured), which in the early years was widely spread in Valencia on the west coast of the Mediterranean, because of its extensive cooking methods, local ingredients, rich flavor, and full of portions, so that working people can bear the burden of life.

Strictly speaking, Paula's translation at that time was more appropriate as "pan risotto". Start the pot, heat the olive oil, throw the rabbit meat, beans and other desirable ingredients into the pot and fry until semi-cooked, after the olive oil will stimulate the aroma of the vegetable meat, the tomato sauce and bell pepper powder appear, the tomato sauce is the soup "before the station", the bell pepper powder is responsible for adding a touch of smoke flavor of the "human fireworks", put in the water when the ingredients in the pot are hot, from the frying mode to the stew mode, at this time need to slow down the rhythm, reduce the fire, wait until the hot air rolls in the soup, everything is ready, Rice fang finally appeared.

Come to think of it, there are few delicacies in the world that are willing to add luster to rice and take such pains, and the short-grain rice produced in Valencia, the land of fish and rice, enjoys such high standards. Valencia short grain rice is directly into the pot as raw rice, thinly covering the entire bottom of the pot, each grain of rice will be completely immersed in the rich soup, with a posture of sitting and enjoying the success of lazily absorbing all the previous ingredients to complete a pot of soup, starting a transformation from "ice and jade" to "passionate and unrestrained".

In order to make it more delicate, people do not hesitate to use saffron to add color to it. The short-grain rice that is loved by thousands of people also lives up to expectations, and in the process of slow simmering over a small fire, the color, aroma and taste of the whole pot of ingredients are collected in the body, and finally cultivated into a fairy under the completion of saffron, golden and fragrant, no one can eat a bite and stop.

Paella has no strict rules on ingredients, from the rabbit, chicken, and lentils that are readily available to the early low-level farmers, to the various ingredients that bloom everywhere in the pan after it spread throughout Spain: onions, peppers, all kinds of seafood, and even the soup has begun to turn over the tricks to "add" to Valencia's short-grain rice, seafood soup, chicken soup, lest it is not bright enough. There are more mischievous people, using cuttlefish juice as a soup, and the whole plate of Paula is instantly "blackened". The process of Paella's renovation is also a portrayal of people's lives on the Iberian Peninsula that are better than a day, and the more fresh ingredients that should not be preserved, the more relaxed the life. Until the "golden combination" of mussels, prawns, squid and Valencian short-grain rice formed a "golden combination" that Chinese diners fell for it and gave it a straightforward name: "paella". Paella's openness gives chefs around the world the freedom to play, but olive oil and saffron are the soul of Paella.

By the way, this year's paella world champion is the work of Chabe Soler, the chef of a family restaurant in Valencia, who uses no variety of ingredients or outrageous techniques, a pan that restores Paula's original appearance: chicken, beans, tomato sauce, bell pepper powder, saffron, olive oil, and even a scoop of water for the soup. Her victory may also illustrate people's misses and expectations for the "original beauty".