Inflight Magazine of Brussels Airlines

In search of paella

When asked where to find great paella in Spain, any gourmand will tell you to go to Valencia. Yet more often than not the hunt for a truly authentic dish remains Valenciaelusive

When seeking out good paella in Valencia what you need is a guide. And who better than Santos Ruiz Álvarez, the head of the Denominación d’Origen Arroz de Valencia and co-author of Arroces Contemporáneos (Contemporary Rice) with chef Quique Dacosta of the celebrated restaurant El Poblet in Dénia? Ruiz knows his paella better than anyone.

Rice-growing in this part of the world has a long, chequered history. Introduced by the Moors in the 8th century, it flourished around the vast shores of the Albufera Lake just south of Valencia. But by the time the Catholic rulers Isabella and Ferdinand came to the throne in the late 15th century many people in the area were dying of typhoid, cholera and a malaria epidemic. The paddy fields were blamed, and a ban on rice cultivation was imposed.

It was not until the 19th century that botanist Josep Cavanilles’ research proved that the cultivation of rice could actually regenerate stagnant water and improve the quality of Albufera’s eco-system.

Today, the paddy fields span a massive 15,000 hectares, stitched together by a network of small lanes and acequias (water channels). But we didn’t come here for a boat ride; we came to eat. And Ruiz was going to show me where.

“They say brown rice is healthier than white,” he says. “It’s a lie! If you are looking for fibre, you’re better off with asparagus. If you want vitamins, eat fruit. But if you’re looking for a conductor of flavour, choose rice.”

The Denominación d’Origen Arroz de Valencia was formed in 1997 and recognises only three types of rice: senia, bahía and bomba. All are short grain varieties that fold out as they expand, trapping flavour between each layer. According to Ruiz, senia is the best because it has more layers, absorbing the most flavour and providing the creamiest texture. Unfortunately, its outer layer can break easily during cooking, turning the dish to mush. Bomba, the most popular gourmet rice outside of Valencia, doesn’t do this. It’s more stable in the pot and consequently more expensive.

Paella is named after the pan it’s cooked in. According to tradition, it should always be cooked over an open flame, and eaten in the shade of a vine or a fig tree in the breeze of a gentle wind known by locals as El Paellero. It should be stirred with an olivewood spoon and eaten directly from the pan. Above all, it must have the revered socarrat – the deliciously crispy, caramelised bit you scrape up from the bottom of the pan.

“The best paella is made with seasonal products,” Ruiz says, hurtling through the paddies in his little Peugeot. “It should be made with whatever is to hand. If fishermen make it then of course it’s going to be fish. The notion that a paella marisco [seafood paella] is a tourist invention is nonsense. Around the lake it wasn’t uncommon for people to put Albufera rat in paella. It lived in the water and tasted much like rabbit, but it’s not necessarily easy to find a good one these days.”

Where to eat paella in Valencia
El Palmar, a village on an island in the middle of the Albufera, was originally famed for its paellas, and has many restaurants serving typical dishes such as arroz con fesols y naps (rice with turnips and white beans), but Ruiz declares it touristy and unfit for anyone in search of truly good paella.

Instead he heads for Casa Carmina, an elegant and welcoming place in El Saler. The food is so good that businessmen from Valencia think nothing of driving here for lunch. The kitchen is busy with the clatter of paella pans, the air scented with the sweet mix of olive oil, langoustines and fish. The menu boasts both paellas (a dry rice dish) and melosos or caldosos (wet rice dishes), which range from a paella de sepia y alcachofas (rice with cuttlefish and artichokes), to arroz con rape y setas (rice with monkfish and wild mushrooms).

To a Spaniard, there are really four types of paella experience, and they’re all about ritual. There’s the one where you sit by the sea and tuck into a paella marisco such as those found at La Pepica. Beloved by Valencian Sunday lunchers and hoards of tourists, it’s not the best paella place on earth, but it captures a spirit of conviviality and tradition.

Then there’s the paella de la huerta (country paella), which should be eaten in a rustic restaurant where rice studded with rabbit, snails, artichokes, green beans, butter beans and sausage is the norm. On a nondescript street in L’Alcúdia (about 45 minutes from Valencia) Galbis is an old-fashioned joint that currently holds the record for making the biggest paella ever – it fed 100,000 people back in 1992. The house special is a rib-sticking concoction of chicken, rabbit, three types of beans, snails and saffron.

Then there is the new, deconstructed paella created by Dacosta at El Poblet. He has applied new techniques to traditional recipes, resulting in such modern-day classics as senia rice with morels on a bed of caramelised Barbary duck, and paella with cauliflower socarrat.

But it’s communal paella that local gourmands agree is always the best – paella that heralds a day off work to celebrate the coming together of good friends and family, a bottle or two of local wine, and a warm breeze whistling through the branches of an olive tree.

The Paella little black book

Casa Carmina
Calle Embarcadero 4, El Saler; tel. 
La Pepica
Paseo Neptuno 6-8, Playa de la Malvarosa, Valencia; tel. ; www.lapepica.com
Galbis
Avenida Antonio Almela 15, L’Alcúdia; tel. ; www.galbis.com
El Poblet
Ctra Les Marines km 3, Dénia; tel. ; www.elpoblet.com

A la recherche de la Paëlla

Ce sont les Maures qui auraient introduit la culture du riz dans les années 700, le long des rives du lac Albufera, au sud de Valence. Mais lorsqu’en 1400, la population locale fut décimée par la malaria, on pointa les rizières comme responsables de l’hécatombe et la culture du riz fut bannie. Grâce aux recherches du botaniste Josep Cavanilles vers 1800, les habitants d’Albufera purent établir les bienfaits du riz pour l’écosystème. Aujourd’hui, les champs de riz s’étendent sur 15 000 hectares.

Le nom Paëlla dérive de la poêle dans laquelle on prépare ce plat. D’après la tradition, on devrait toujours cuisiner la Paëlla au-dessus d’une flamme en continu, et la déguster à l’ombre d’un arbre, bercé par un vent léger appelé El Paellero. On ne devrait remuer la préparation qu’avec une cuillère en bois d’olivier et la manger à même la poêle. Et point le plus important, elle doit comporter la succulente socarrat, les délicieux morceaux de riz croustillants, caramélisés, que l’on gratte au fond de la casserole. “Si vous recherchez des fibres, mangez des asperges,” explique Santos Ruiz Álvarez, co-auteur de Contemporary Rice. “Mais si vous êtes à la recherche d’un conducteur de saveur, optez pour le riz.”

Pour un Espagnol, il existe trois façons traditionnelles de manger la paëlla, chacune avec son rituel. Le long de la mer, la paëlla marisco (aux fruits de mer), dans un restaurant campagnard, la paëlla de la huerta (de la région) au lapin, aux escargots et aux légumes. Mais c’est sans conteste, la paëlla familiale qui l’emporte, à partager avec de bons amis autour d’une bouteille de vin local, une chaude brise affleurant dans les branches d’un olivier.

Op zoek naar Paella

Rijst werd in Spanje door de Moren geïntroduceerd in de 8e eeuw en aan de oevers van het Albufera meer ten zuiden van Valencia ontstonden rijstvelden. In de 15e eeuw stierven de lokale bewoners er aan malaria. Aangenomen werd dat de rijstvelden verantwoordelijk waren en de teelt werd verbannen. In de 19e eeuw bewees plantkundige Josep Cavanilles dat de rijstteelt het ecosysteem van Albufera kon verbeteren. Vandaag strekken de rijstvelden er zich uit over 15.000 hectare.

De naam paella komt waarschijnlijk van de pan waarin de rijst wordt bereid. Volgens de traditie moet paella altijd worden bereid op een open vuur en worden gegeten in de schaduw van een boom, bij een briesje dat bekend staat als el paellero. Het gerecht moet worden omgeroerd met een olijfhouten lepel en rechtstreeks uit de pan gegeten worden. Bovendien moet het de unieke socarrat hebben, het krokante, gekarameliseerde laagje dat je uit de pan kan schrapen. “Als je op zoek bent naar vezels, eet dan asperges”, zo schrijft Santos Ruiz Álvarez, co-auteur van het beroemde Arroces Contemporáneos (hedendaagse rijstgerechten). “Maar als je zoekt naar een smaakgeleider, kies dan voor rijst.”

Voor een Spanjaard zijn er drie traditionele manieren om paella te eten, alle drie bijna ritueel. Aan de kust kan je genieten van een paella marisco (met zeevruchten) of je kan een paella de la huerta (plattelands) bestellen in een traditioneel restaurant met konijn, slakken en groenten. Maar de meest klassieke is de paella valenciana, die het best smaakt in het gezelschap van vrienden, een fles streekwijn en een warm briesje door de takken van een olijfboom.

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