False myths about paella

Everyone seems to have the secret to cook the perfect paella, and what for some is the most important point to cook the perfect dish, for others is an authentic madness. There are some false myths about paella that we want to clarify. It doesn’t matter if your spanish or foreigner, surely you have heard one of these myths at some time.

• Lemon is used to hide the taste of bad paella

The habit of using lemon in paella is a topic that has generated discussion for a long time. Moreover, in a famous cooking show of spanish TV a judge recriminated a candidate (the candidate was from Valencia, by the way) for putting lemon on the paella. The judge said that lemon is only used when you want to hide the taste of a bad paella.

The truth is that formerly the lemon was a good way to remove soot stains, so it was used for cleaning purposes, but some people like paella with lemon too. The use of lemon is optional and depends on the tastes of each person. In our Paella School we don’t use it since we believe that it deteriorates the taste of the paella, but there are many people who like to add it.

• Paella pan enameled or steel

It is essential to have a good paella pan to cook your paella properly, no other container is valid. There are two types of paella pan: one made of polished steel and another enameled (they are totally black with white dots). The difference between them is that the enameled one doesn’t rust and is easier to clean. In addition, they are the ones we use for our paella courses.

• The best paella is the one cooked with Valencia water

How many times have you heard that if the water is not form Valencia the paella is not so good? It is a very common myth that is due to the characteristic hardness of Valencia water, very different from other places. The reality is that you can cook delicious paellas without having to make them with Valencia water.

• The container in which the paella is cooked is called "paellera"

In Spanish it is called "paella" to the plate and "paellera" to the container in which it is cooked, something incorrect, since the container in which it is eaten is also called "paella", hence the name of the dish.

Did you know this false myths about paella? If you wanna learn how to cook paella with our professional teachers book one of our paella courses!