Spanish Paella is one of the three most famous dishes in Western cuisine, alongside French escargot and Italian pasta. After immigrating to Spain, it can be enjoyed in many local restaurants. Spanish Paella originates from Valencia, the rice and fish capital of Spain, and is a rice dish made from Spanish-grown short-grain rice. Its Spanish name "Paella" actually refers to a type of frying pan—this pan has two handles and is a shallow, wide, round iron pot, typically no deeper than five centimeters. The people of Valencia use this pan to cook rice, adding meat, seafood, and other ingredients, with the key ingredient being saffron.
Paella portions are very large and are usually cooked outdoors in a large frying pan. The size of the pan is determined by the number of guests, with larger pans requiring longer cooking times, resulting in more flavorful rice. Because saffron is used as a spice, the cooked rice grains take on a golden color, making it visually appealing, especially when topped with various seafood, making it hard to resist this culinary delight.
There are many varieties of Paella, with the yellow ingredient being a plant powder that can eliminate the fishy smell of seafood and make the rice shine. There is also a squid ink Paella, which locals refer to as black rice. It is said that hundreds of years ago, when the Spanish Armada was battling in South America, the cook ran out of the yellow powder and, unable to purchase more, simply replaced it with squid ink that was originally intended to be discarded. Surprisingly, the flavor was exceptionally delicious, and the starving soldiers quickly devoured it, leading to the cook receiving an award. Since then, squid ink Paella has been included in Spain's traditional recipes.
Spaniards typically squeeze a bit of lemon juice over the black rice to reduce the fishy taste, and also order a side of salad for a balanced meal. Year after year, the size of Paella has continued to grow. In 2001, Madrid featured a Paella with a diameter of 21 meters, using a total of 6,000 kilograms of rice, 12,000 kilograms of meat, and 1,100 liters of olive oil, enough to serve 110,000 people, setting a Guinness World Record.