[french fries]

That is correct. Paella was born in the Region of Valencia, in Spain, that's middle east. That region is well known for its extremely high quality oranges. They export oranges to all european countries. Valencia has been growing and selling oranges for more than 500 years. Orange wood is very aromatic, and gives rice a special note. If you need any info about real paella, you can ask me. I'm spanish, living in Spain, and I'll be very happy if I can help you understand our food and traditions

Hi Sheila, do you think you could share your detailed technique and recipe for paella Valenciana with us? I've been making paella for years and I absolutely love it and so does my family however I'm convinced I'm still doing it wrong. And I would love to go back to that childhood taste I had during my trips to Spain!

That would be amazing if you took the time to share the details with us.

Thank you!!

 

[french fries]

Hi French Fries! No problem.

I've seen through the net lots of paella recipes in big recipe blogs that people just copy and paste from other blogs and so on like a kids game, but nobody really knows how to cook paella or has ever cooked paella before. That's why I decided to start my own blog about what paella really is and how to cook it. The "start" is going to be my next post, but I give you in advance what it is about cause my idea is to share and bring paella to tables in a right way. The most, listen, I reapeat, THE MOST important step is the beginning and it is called "sofrito". The "Sofrito" has its own recipe and it is not cooked always the same way. It depends on the type of rice you are going to cook (seafood paella, rice soup, baked rice, meat rice.........) The TOTAL ingredients for sofrito are onion, garlic, peppers (red or green depending again), tomato (always fresh), olive oil extra virgin and the meat, vegies or fish. You don´t use always all the ingredients for sofrito, it depends again on what you're going to do, that's why there is a unique recipe for each type of paella or rice. And also, you don´t follow always the same order when adding the ingredients to the pot or pan. I know it is confusing. Of course, the second very important point is the broth. For seafood paella, depending on the main fish or shellfish, you choose a specific fish for the broth. At this point, I hope everybody understands that cooking paella is an art. The third point is the type of rice and the fourth point the type of water for the broth (yes, type of water). Because of the difficulty of giving you a specific recipe, I invite you to look around my blog (some pages aren't written yet because the blog is brand new) and pick a recipe. Then, before cooking it, we can discuss it here for tricks and tips. I will suggest to start with an easy one like the one I suggested in this thread before (arroz del senyoret). Must read the post about the different types of rice and check if you can find a proper one close to you. Also, be sure that you use a paella pan and not a frying pan. See you soon, and regards

That's awesome, thanks so much for the details. I've looked at your blog, lots of great info but unfortunately no meat paella yet... I'll be more patient!

Do you have any tips regarding gauging or measuring the ratio of rice to water? I never know the exact ratio and keep having to adjust with water toward the end which is probably far from perfect technique....