Meal with a spoon and drawing a cross with the rice: the keys to cooking a traditional Valencian paella, beyond the ingredients

The Valencian paella is already Asset of Intangible Cultural Interest. At decree published In the Official Gazette of the Generalitat Valenciana this traditional dish is classified as “the art of joining and sharing” and as a “Social phenomenon”, a document that also details the traditions and festivities around this food.

Son many curiosities that we can discover about the emblematic dish thanks to this document. Although its origins date back to 330 BC, it was in the nineteenth century when it was established as a family recipe, never without controversy for the ingredients that should or should not appear.

The truth is that, beyond the flavors and foods that flavor it, there are some procedures when making it that are now customary. For example, that of add the rice to the broth by drawing a cross so that the amount is distributed equitably. In addition, the traditional paella served in a thin layer of this ingredient is end.

It is also advisable do not stir the rice when it is cooking so that the starch is not released, cook it in an orange wood fire and eat with a spoon (Better made of wood and if it is made directly from the paella so that the dish maintains the temperature).

Protagonist of many parties

If it is well known that paella is the “main feast” of many of the festivals popular, celebrations of the Valencian Community and social events -as well as meetings with friends, university parties, institutional visits or paella contests- still the reader is unaware of all the parties in which this dish is the protagonist.

Las Fallas because, according to UNESCO, “it is traditional for each casal to cook its paella, enjoying it with other falleros and falleras, accompanying good music and colorful pyrotechnic shows”. Also in the Bonfires of San Juan or in the Pilgrimage of

la Magdalena de Castellón, it is “very common for various groups to come together and prepare paellas, promoting values ​​such as tolerance or cultural exchange”.

These are the best known, but not the only ones, and that is that paella even has its own International Paella Day, which is celebrated every September 20. The Paellas of Benicàssim. the ‘World Paella Day’, the Tastarròs, the Sueca International Paella Competition or the University Paellas, are some of them.

In addition, almost all the patron saint festivities of Valencia include a paella day in their programs. As examples, the Day of the Paellas of the Paciencia de Oropesa festivities, the Night of the paellas of L’Alcúdia de Crespins or the Paellas Festivities in Nules.

It is ordered to protect and safeguard the plate

The decree was approved in the plenary session of the Consell last Friday, October 29, after requesting this statement from the Valencia City Council. The decree establishes a series of protection and safeguarding measures for the property, which will be specified in carrying out tasks of identification, description, study and documentation of the property, incorporating available witnesses with material support that guarantee its protection and preservation or ensuring its normal development as well as its transmission to future generations.

It is specified that these safeguard actions that are put in place must take into account the risks of distorting that could derive from mass tourism. It is also requested to properly value and protect the traditional trades associated with this dish.