Dish · spanish
Paella
Rice cooked in a wide, shallow pan with saffron, meat or seafood, and vegetables, left alone near the end so the bottom layer forms a crisp, toasted crust called socarrat.
Where it comes from
Paella comes from the rice fields around Valencia, where the original version used rabbit, chicken, and local beans rather than seafood. The seafood versions served elsewhere are a later, coastal adaptation of that inland dish.
What cooks argue about
The lasting fight is what counts as real: Valencians insist true paella uses rabbit, chicken, and snails, no seafood and no chorizo, while most paella served outside Spain leans on shrimp, mussels, and squid.
Nobody has published a paella recipe yet. The page stays out of search until one exists, which is the rule for every thin page here.