The Ten Ingredients you don’t want to miss for the Traditional Authentic Valencia Paella.
By Guillermo Bermell
“When talking about a tradition, everybody gives his own opinion “
Paella Lover
Traditional food does not escape this rule. This is exactly the case of the authentic traditional Valencian paella. And we, Valencian people, get really excited – if not stressed out and outraged, when it is time to cook paella. As the paella is a mix of various ingredients, the recipe cannot be protected by the certification of a denomination of origin. Therefore, a non-lucrative association in Valencia has agreed to find outexactly what the common ingredients are for the true authentic and traditional Valencian paella in order to keep and maintain the standard and protect the recipe from “aggressions” (www.wikipaella.org). After an exhaustive research of more than 170 restaurants and 70 particular sites, the true ingredients have been deemed to be the following:
- Garrofón (white big flat bean).
- Tomatoes.
- Green broad bean (ideally so called “herradura” or horseshoe form).
- Chicken.
- Rabbit.
- Salt.
- Olive oil.
- Rice (short and thick – we will come later to this point).
- Water.
- Saffron.
Yes, with only these ten ingredients you can be sure you will make or eat the best authentic traditional Valencian paella.
Oh, and my secret ingredient …… a little bit of Paella Lover Love ❤
At the same time, and following the results of the mentioned research, the base paella is a unique recipe, but it can be prepared slightly differently depending on the influence of the areas where it is cooked: paella has as many ways to cook it as there are villages, and in the same way, as many as there are cooks.
For instance, Valencia is a very fertile region for vegetables and it is very common to find artichokes as well as snails and/or rosemary in many recipes and of course garlic in order to increase the flavour. In other Valencian areas, people use ground red sweet smoky pepper; and near to the Albufera in Valencia (Valencian lagoon) it is very common to use duck instead of chicken. But in this case, as duck meat contains more fat than the chicken, we would use less oil in the recipe to avoid the paella being fatty. Red pepper is used as well in a region called Vall d’Albaida, towards the south west of Valencia city, and pork ribs or meat balls in Castellon, north of Valencia.
All of the above goes for the authentic traditional Valencia paella, but similar to this is the case of seafood and other paellas, where each cook can use the ingredients at hand. There are some special cases (like the traditional one) where the ingredients are already provided, but in other cases, you are the master and you can choose whatever you want to include in the paella. But please, always stay within the limits! At the same time, in case in your area/region there are not any of the main ingredients available, there might probably be similar ingredients which you can utilise which wouldn’t be too much of a sacrilege!!
At the same time, and although these are the 10 main ingredients of the traditional valencian paella, one cook equals one paella. And because I want to keep Valèncian traditions as well of course my family’s, I am sharing with you the additional ingredients we use: artichokes, snails, rosemary, pimentón (red dried sweet pepper) and garlic. Yes, I know: you might not expected snails in the paella, but they belong as well and give a nice light flavor. But don’t worry, as explained before, you can use whatever you want to include in the paella. But please: always stay within the boundaries“.
“You don’t have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces – just good food from fresh ingredients.”
Julia Child
(ATTENTION!!) At www.paellalover.com we like to respect traditions and will try to take care about the culture, folklore and rituals, but at the same time we are conscious that not everybody has the money, the time or the techniques to get some ingredients instead of the others, prepare a more refined stock or use special tools. Therefore, we try to adapt to as many people and pockets as possible, providing wisdom whenever possible, the most common practices, and at the same time tricks and ideas toimpress your guests.
Stay tuned to the www.paellalover.com blog and to your email inbox, where we will continue sharing more tips and guides to help you exploring the paella world on a deeper level. Until then, if you have any questions, concerns or requests, send us an email or leave a comment on www.paellalover.com. Looking forward to hearing from you.
HAPPY PAELLA!!!
