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[Music]
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Welcome to RP Spain Poco Poco. Hello
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Tanya. Today we're going to talk about
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paella. Pa. I'm so excited.
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You love paella.
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A good paella. A good paella. A very
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good paella. You know, you know what? I
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ain't going to lie. I love rice. I'll
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take a bad paella. I haven't had a I
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haven't had a bad paella. How about
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that? Um I've had amazing and I've had
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I'll eat it.
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I will say I've had ones I wish I hadn't
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ordered, but we'll get to that later
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because it's a certain type of paella
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that I think anyway, it's in my opinion.
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We'll get to that as we go down. So,
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let's start. Let's jump in. So, paella
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did start in Valencia. So across the
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world they think of it as a Spanish dish
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and it is a national dish of Spain but
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it is a very valencian pride um issue
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because it it did start in Valencia and
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they and they say it traces back to the
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14th 15th century um just south of
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Valencia city um is Albufera which is
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this big lagoon which is where the rice
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is grown. It's like a bomba rice a more
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round not like a long jasmine rice is
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what they use. Yeah. So, I'm sure the
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rice is also now grown in lots of
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different places, but that is probably
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one of the reasons why it was started
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here was because rice was introduced as
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a farming product here in the Valencia
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community, by the way, because we have
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Valencia city and Valencia community.
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And the paella is from the Valencian
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community, not just from the city. And
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as you just said, the Albufua is just
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south of the city anyway. So, yeah.
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Yeah, let's point that out. And just so
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people don't know, side note, Valencia
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is like New York, New York. So there's
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Valencia the state and Valencia the city
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and um and just so you know Yes. And the
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the paella is cooked on it. It it so
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paella or pa means frying pan in
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Valenciano. So that is where the name
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comes from. It is the type of pan also
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that the um excuse me that the that it's
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cooked with is called a pyro is the
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place it's cooked and then you have the
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pya which is the pan. Have I got this
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right? Because now there's a lot of you
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keep saying the L's and it's pa not pala
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not pala p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p
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p p p p per. Pera. No, no, just pira.
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Well, there are two L's. Yeah, like
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paella is two L's. Pa. Yeah. And so
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paella. Yes.
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And you got a little Spanish lesson,
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too. There you go. So pa is the frying
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pan. Oh my god. Now I can't say it at
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all. I think we're gonna jump right into
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the different types of paella that we
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have which are so there's two different
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types of pa which you have but that are
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the actual ones and then you have a
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third which is also kind of on the menu
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but anything else is an aralo. So you'll
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have a menu in a restaurant that'll have
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a lot of things that look like they
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should be pers but they're not because
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they're not the two traditional ones,
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right? They're not they're not cooked
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the same way. Like it it it varies from
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the norm. And one of them is the
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Valenciano, which is your land animal
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paella, which is rice, rabbit, your long
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flat beans, your limema beans. Um, and
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originally back in the olden timey days
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they used waterfall which was rats
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maybe. So they say we can't we don't
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have any proof of this. It's just it's
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just a rumor but I mean that would make
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sense. I mean you're the the paella in
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general is a um a dish that is a
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leftovers dish. It's something that was
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you know primarily something that was
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quick and easy and and cheap to make.
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Right. Every culture has that type of
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dish. That is what the pier is, right? I
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mean, it's peasant food, right? This is
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what what's available, what you can what
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you can gather and and make. Um, and
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then the second one is the misco. So
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that's the fish one. So that we have
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shellfish, muscles, clams, shrimp,
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langustine, calamari, fish, and it can
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be sort of any mixture of that I think
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in different places. And speaking of
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like every single town may have its own
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type of um traditional pay. will vary
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from town to town depending on what that
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town sort of had access to. And then it
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it grew into a tradition in that town
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for those things. So it will be
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different what you get sort of in the
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southern part of Valencia to the
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northern and different even from one
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town to the next that are next to each
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other. So it's quite interesting really.
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Um and and a lot of them like in the
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Valenciano they'll have chicken in it.
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They'll have snails. I know you haven't
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seen the snails yet, but I have seen it
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many times and I love snails so I'm very
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happy. I'm very glad I haven't seen
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snails on a pie yet because um not my
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favorite although they're easy to pick
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off I guess. So I would I would be okay
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with that. Yeah, that's that's fine.
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Yeah. And and then there's the mixed up
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which is the mixture of all of them. So
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that's fish and land. So that's fish and
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meat. So that's together. And the
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Valenciano would be made with a chicken
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stock and the Miscoco would be made with
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a fish stock. So the mixer I don't know
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if they're using both, but it's it's
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it's a mix of all of it together. Um,
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and that would be sort of the end of
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your you might find somewhere a list of
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paas with a lot of different names, but
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those are your three main ones. And then
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everything else technically will come
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under a different portion of the menu
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that would be called an aroth rice. And
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they are sort of basically the same
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thing. They could be cooked in a pa pan.
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They look like a pa, but they're not the
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traditional ones. So they're just called
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an aroth, right? And some of those are
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cooked in the ovens, not necessarily on
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the open flame because that is the
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thing. What also makes paella paella is
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how it is cooked on on the pierro. On
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the piero.
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Let me let me get my Spanish back. On
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the piero, which is Yeah. Very good. You
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got the double L, right? And so they
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have um and that's like on an open flame
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and traditionally it's wood. And if you
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many homes will have these brick um uh
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grilling things in their in their
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backyards to to make the paella and you
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know it the smoke and the flavor and
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that in um infuses the flavor. The smoke
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is what you want in the paella that
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taste as well. And we both I think agree
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that the the the sukra coat how do you
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pronounce that? The um so the sakarat
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sakarat sakarat you got to roll that
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off. So that's a sakarat sakarat. That
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is the delicious layer that I love that
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makes pa what pa is for me which is that
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crispy crispy rice that comes like on
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the bottom on the edges crust. It's so
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good. That is so good. And I think so we
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have arroths that are also made with the
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on with the pa pan and made in the way
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that pa is and then you have arroth
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alorno which we don't know 100. I mean
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it's made in the oven that's orno. So,
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it's it's made in the oven instead of on
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a flame. But I also think sometimes when
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you see that on a menu, especially in a
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restaurant, that they're making it maybe
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in a big pot as well because they're
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doing like a they're doing like a three
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course menu with pa and they just need a
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bunch of pa. So, it's it has all the
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same flavors and it has the pa sort of
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feeling, but you never get I've never
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received like a plate with any of that
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crispy pot on it, which is why I'm
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questioning whether it's really made in
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a pa pan. And I think maybe not, but we
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don't know. Um, but that is what that
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is. If you see aroth alo, it's just made
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in the oven instead. And paella is a
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lunchtime meal. I mean, you can go to
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restaurants and for the tourists and get
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it in the evening, but it is a lunch
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meal. It is a gathering meal. And, you
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know, harp on our token on our old an
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older episode about food that lunch is
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the biggest meal of the day here. And
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so, it makes sense you'd have this huge
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rice to burn off the rest of the day and
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then the evening you have a lighter
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meal. Um, and it is it is a very
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communal thing. I mean, they have
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festivals throughout the cities and the
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towns and people are showing off their
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their culinary skills. They'll do
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competitions. We have a we have a
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competition up here in our community in
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the summer where they do it. But that
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happens in the evening because it's so
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hot during the day that they do it in
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the they do it at night. Like you're
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literally eating pa at like midnight at
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that point because you have to wait for
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the sun to go down and for it to cool
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off. And then we also have a restaurant
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up here that speaking of festivals,
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they'll they'll do those gigantic I
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don't know if you've been to a festival
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where they've been cooking on one of
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those gigantic seen. It's amazing. Yeah,
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it's like a swimming pool. And I I did
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post a video on our social media of this
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and it's really cool to see cuz it's
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it's enormous and impressive to see
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someone cooking a pa of that size. Can't
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imagine because I haven't really managed
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to be able to cook a proper pio in a
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small size. So I can't imagine doing
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that. Um, and what's amazing here in the
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city when they have these big paya like
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cookoffs and festivals and stuff, we
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right below our apartment during FAS,
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they have one and the city drops off all
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the all the wood for the people to use
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and so they're it's all this and our
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apartment you open the doors and you
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just smell all this paella cooking and
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that's happening also in the evening. So
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they're breaking their old rule because
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they're all getting drunk and they have
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to eat it to soop up their their
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alcohol. But if you do ask, if you do
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ask and you go to a traditional
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restaurant, it might be that you have to
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have it for lunch. And they will want
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you to order your pa ahead of time, like
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the day before at least, so that they
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can have a plan and cook for it and know
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how many they're cooking. So, it is
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something you also have to book. And if
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you go into a restaurant, if you're just
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like a tourist and you don't have time,
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you're probably going to get a an a an
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aroth alorno if you get a paella and you
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don't order or it's a paella that
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they've been made all day. They make it
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in the huge the huge pan and they serve
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it out until it's gone. Because there's
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many times I've gone to a restaurant and
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they're like, "We've got these three
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items left because you decided to show
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at 3:30 and then you know Yeah. And then
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also if you have one of the other things
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that you can buy here like for cooking
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cuz you mentioned that you obviously
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want to cook it on an open flame. So
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it's kind of like barbecuing. Like of
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course you want to cook on an open
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flame. That is the ideal. Uh you can buy
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the little like a little um uh sort of
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fire circles that that you could buy
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that attached to a butane tank. So you
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can just cook on gas just like you can
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in a barbecue and you can just plug that
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thing in and go. So that is something in
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the open flame which will help you with
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the sukarot but it won't give you that
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smoked flavor that that the but you can
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just start and get going with that. So,
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I mean, even a lot of people might have
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a pile in their house or they might be
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able to go down to the park and use one
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of the public ones, but sometimes maybe
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you don't have the time. So, that's an
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option that is done a lot as well,
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right? And the color is important too,
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which is the saffron, which is is very
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important, but saffron's expensive. So,
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I think people do things like tumeric to
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cheat the color and maybe food color.
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You say tumeric. Tumeric. Tumeric.
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Tumeric. I don't know. Tumeric might be
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how do you say turmeric? Okay, that's
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another Well, this is English episode.
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Well, there's English and then there's
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English. That's true. This is true. I
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speak English. No, I'm just kidding. Um,
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so they do. Yeah, the saffron, the
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yellow color technically comes from
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saffron, but you can use the turmeric,
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but also I've seen here like pa little
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packets of pa flavorings, you know,
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which has everything in it. That's as a
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cook that sounds like cheating for sure.
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But I mean, not everybody knows how to
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cook, you know, everywhere. So, and I
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think I've also seen colorings in the in
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the section in the spice section here.
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So I think people sometimes just throw
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in the color, you know, just to get that
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look because it needs to look that way
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even if you're not using the saffron.
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And like you said, saffron is expensive.
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So that's not going to be for everybody,
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right? And I think I do think that the
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the social aspect of pay is very
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important because it is something that
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will often be the family lunch on
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Sunday. And we've definitely lived in
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places where you literally see people
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taking the pa from the restaurant and
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taking it home because they're not
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cooking it at home or maybe they cooked
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it at their grandma's house and it's
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being walked over to the other person's
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house. I don't know like what's going
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on, but you'll see people walking around
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with paellas just like down the street
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down the street. And even in the city, I
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mean, we've seen which was hysterical to
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us is that we saw a father and his his
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son walking down the street with this
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ginormous pizza box and and we looked
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like that's a huge pizza. We were so
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excited cuz maybe there's a big American
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style pizza place around here. And then
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we looked and we saw the two handles
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sticking out of the box and realized,
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no, that's a paella place cuz around the
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corner is a big uh uh paella restaurant.
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And that's very fancy. That's very
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fancy. I've never seen it covered. I've
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just seen people walking like door to
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door with with the pa and you can order
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pasar which means that you order it from
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the restaurant take it home and then
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when you're done with it you take the pa
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pan back to the restaurant like the next
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day or whatever which I think is
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awesome. So it is kind of like a a
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little bit like a pizza culture. It is.
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It very much is and it is it is their
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lifestyle here and it's it's delicious
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and it's a good lifestyle
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and I Yeah. So I will say I do prefer
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the ones that are cooked in the pa pan
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with all the crispy pot. That's my
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favorite. And thank goodness no snails.
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I'm going to leave our pock there for
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me. Well, on that note then, ciao. Until
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the next one. Until the next one. Bye.
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Till the next episode. Bye.
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