What goes in an authentic paella valenciana?
Chicken, rabbit, green beans, garrofón (a large flat white bean), tomato, saffron and sometimes snails. Never chorizo, onion, peas or seafood, say Valencians: seafood paella is a dish of the coast, and the paella mixta with chicken and prawns is what tourists order, to Valencian horror.
What goes in, and what does not
The authentic paella valenciana
- el pollo chicken
- el conejo rabbit
- la judía verde green beans
- el garrofón a large flat white bean from Valencia
- el tomate tomato
- el azafrán saffron, which gives the colour
- los caracoles snails — sometimes
Never, say Valencians
- el chorizo chorizo — Whoever puts chorizo in a paella is making something else.
- la cebolla onion
- los guisantes peas
- el marisco seafood — Not in the Valencian one — see the next group.
Other paellas
- la paella de marisco seafood paella, from the coast
- la paella mixta chicken and prawns together — What tourists order and Valencians photograph in horror.
- The authentic paella valenciana has chicken, rabbit, green beans, garrofón beans, tomato, saffron and sometimes snails.
- It has no chorizo, onion, peas or seafood; in Valencia, whoever puts chorizo in a paella is making something else.
- Seafood paella exists but is a dish of the coast; a paella with chicken and prawns together is, for a Valencian, a crime.
La paella valenciana auténtica lleva pollo, conejo, judía verde, garrofón, tomate, azafrán y, a veces, caracoles.The authentic Valencian paella has chicken, rabbit, green beans, butter beans, tomato, saffron and, sometimes, snails.
No lleva chorizo, ni cebolla, ni guisantes, ni marisco; el que pone chorizo en una paella hace otra cosa, dicen en Valencia.It has no chorizo, no onion, no peas, no seafood; whoever puts chorizo in a paella is making something else, they say in Valencia.