Paella Valenciana

Name: Paella Valenciana
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 1 h 15 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Spain
Ingredients: 500 g bomba rice (or calasparra, do not substitute long-grain or arborio rice); 500 g rabbit, cut into 8 pieces; 500 g chicken pieces (thighs and drumsticks); 200 g ferraura beans (wide green beans) or flat green beans, cut into 5cm pieces; 150 g garrofó (large white dried beans, soaked overnight) or butter beans from a tin, drained; 3 medium very ripe tomatoes, grated on a box grater (discard the skin); 150 ml olive oil (extra virgin); 1 tsp sweet smoked paprika (pimentón de la Vera); 0.5 tsp saffron strands, toasted briefly in a dry pan, dissolved in 100ml warm water; 1.5 litres good chicken stock (hot); 2 tsp salt; snails (optional but traditional in the Valencian original); Lemon wedges, to serve

The original paella: Valencia's Sunday lunch cooked outdoors over orange wood on a wide, shallow pan: rabbit, chicken, ferraura beans, garrofó beans, ripe tomato, sweet paprika and bomba rice absorbing golden saffron stock until the bottom caramelises into the coveted socarrat

Origin: L'Albufera, Valencia, Spain

From the journey of Saffron.

Paella Valenciana is one of Spain's most misunderstood dishes internationally and one of its most protected domestically. The Valencians are passionate about the point that their paella, the original, contains rabbit and chicken (never seafood, never chorizo), ferraura (wide green beans) and garrofó (large white beans), and is cooked over orange or pine wood in the open air on a wide, shallow paella pan. The word 'paella' itself refers to the pan, not the dish. The dish emerged in the rice-growing region of L'Albufera (a coastal lagoon south of Valencia) in the 18th century, when Valencian farmers cooked rice in the fields with whatever was available; rabbit, snails, local vegetables, water from the irrigation channels. The Arabs had brought rice to Valencia in the 8th century via their sophisticated irrigation systems; the Valencians developed a rice-cooking technique unique in Europe. The socarrat: the caramelised, slightly crispy rice crust that forms at the bottom of the pan; is, like the Persian tahdig, the most coveted element. A great paella is a fundamentally outdoor cooking experience.

Ingredients

Rice

500 g bomba rice (or calasparra, do not substitute long-grain or arborio rice)

Meat

500 g rabbit, cut into 8 pieces
500 g chicken pieces (thighs and drumsticks)

Vegetables

200 g ferraura beans (wide green beans) or flat green beans, cut into 5cm pieces
150 g garrofó (large white dried beans, soaked overnight) or butter beans from a tin, drained

Sofregit

3 medium very ripe tomatoes, grated on a box grater (discard the skin)

Fat

150 ml olive oil (extra virgin)

Spices

1 tsp sweet smoked paprika (pimentón de la Vera)
0.5 tsp saffron strands, toasted briefly in a dry pan, dissolved in 100ml warm water

Stock

1.5 litres good chicken stock (hot)

Seasoning

2 tsp salt

Optional traditional

snails (optional but traditional in the Valencian original)

Serving

Lemon wedges, to serve

Method

Heat the olive oil in a 40–45cm paella pan (or the widest frying pan you own) over medium-high heat. Season the rabbit and chicken pieces generously with salt. Fry in the hot oil, turning occasionally, until deeply golden-brown on all sides; about 12–15 minutes total.
Push the meat to the edges of the pan. In the centre, add the green beans and garrofó beans. Fry for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Push to the sides with the meat.
Add the grated tomato to the centre of the pan. Fry the tomato, stirring, until all its water has evaporated and it is thick, dark and concentrated; about 5 minutes. This is the sofregit.
Add the paprika to the centre. Stir for 30 seconds only; paprika burns in seconds and becomes bitter. Immediately pour in the hot stock and saffron water. Season with salt. Bring to a vigorous boil.
Taste the stock; it should be well seasoned and slightly salty (the rice will absorb a lot of the salt as it cooks). Redistribute the meat and beans evenly across the pan if needed.
Sprinkle the bomba rice evenly across the entire surface of the boiling stock; do not stir it in, just sprinkle it. Lower the heat to medium. Cook for 8 minutes at a steady simmer. Add the snails if using, pressing them into the rice.
After 8 minutes, reduce the heat to low and cook for a further 7–8 minutes until the stock has been almost fully absorbed. In the final 2 minutes, increase the heat to medium-high to create the socarrat; listen for a crackling sound from the bottom of the pan. This is the rice caramelising into the crust.
Remove the paella from the heat. Cover the pan with a clean kitchen cloth or newspaper (not cling film; you need to absorb steam, not trap it). Rest for 5 minutes. Serve directly from the pan at the table.

Notes

Paella is outdoor food, cooked over wood or a paella gas burner that delivers an even, wide heat across the full base of the large pan. The challenge of domestic paella is that a standard hob does not distribute heat evenly across a large paella pan: the centre over-cooks while the edges under-cook. To compensate: use the largest burner on your hob, rotate the pan a quarter-turn every 2 minutes during cooking, or finish it in the oven at 220°C for the final 10 minutes after the stock reduces. Paella is never, under any circumstances, covered with a lid during cooking in Valencia. The steam that would be trapped makes the rice soft and stodgy rather than dry and individual.

The Gastrographer

Mapping Culinary History

To explore — select an ingredient below.

To explore — select an ingredient below · click any location dot on the map for recipes and stories · browse the information panel on the right · trace the full journey on the timeline.

Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control