Properties of a good paella pan

Question

I was bought a paella pan for my birthday. It had a small label on it with only the brand name on, which I've since washed off. It is steel (I think), with rubberised handles and dozens of concentric dimples on the surface. I was wondering what these impressions were for and by extension, what makes a really good pan for making paella in?

Asked by Gary

Answer

I believe the dimples are for two reasons. One, they possibly help to make the pan, which should be fairly thin, more rigid. Secondly, they are a reminder of the time when these pans were hammered by hand - so, in a way, they make a factory-made pan seem more authentic.

The pan should be fairly thin, yet rigid, and conduct heat well. You don't want localised hot spots, but a strong, even heat.

The pan should probably not be too non-stick - you want to encourage the formation of socarrat - the slightly crusty layer at the base of a good paella.

The "how to cook" series in the Guardian are excellent for researching various recipes and deciding on an evidence-based amalgam - have a look at http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/aug/18/how-to-cook-perfect-paella.

Answered by Jane Sales

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Spanish Codfish with sous-vide

Question

I recently made a Spanish codfish. It's called Bacalao al pil pil. The trick is to render the gelatin from the fish at a low temperature, reserve the fish meat and then mount the gelatin with oil. The whole process is somewhat longer.

The question is that codfish has a thick part and a thin part. So over/under cooking is always a problem. That's where I thought of the sous-vide technique. At what temperature could the fish be perfectly cooked and at the same time release all the gelatin?

Asked by BaffledCook

Answer

Per this paper, you want an extraction time of 15-60 mins at 113F / 45C. This patent uses temperatures below 131F / 55C. Both of those temperatures may be too low to make the cod actually taste good / cooked. 140F is a fairly typical temperature for sous vide fish. While 113F has some interesting results, it may or may not work for your dish as the result comes out quite different than standard cooked fish. However, I don't think that using a higher heat will have a negative effect on the gelatin extraction, so I'd start with 140F and work down from there.

This process may cause other problems though. In addition to extracting the gelatin, any other juices from the fish will mix with your gelatin. In a pan, these may steam off, but with sous vide you're stuck with them. I think you're likely to end up with a mixture that's much more watery than if you used a pan. You may find that this needs to be boiled down a little bit in order to get the desired consistency of your emulsion.

As always with sous vide, you've also got potential safety issues. You'll never reach pasteurization at 113F. You should check Douglas Baldwin's A Practical Guide To Sous Vide for cooking times (which are highly dependent on width).

Answered by yossarian

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Cracked Mexican/Spanish style rice

Question

I've been trying to reproduce my favorite kind of Mexican or Spanish style rice that I find in some restaurants. It is dry and fluffy and seems to be cracked or split open. I've gone through many different recipes and videos but the rice always seems to have more moisture than I'm looking for (intentional, for the recipes I'm following) and no split-ness.

I've tried both standard pan and a pressure cooker methods.

Anybody know what the style of rice is called, more specifically, by my description of "cracked/split" and perhaps the secret to making it?

Thanks!

Asked by uosɐſ

Answer

You have to use the right type of rice - Spanish Rice, (such as Arborio Rice or Valencia Rice). This SA post may be helpful to you. You can buy Spanish Rice on amazon.

Don't use rice cooker or pressure cooker. You suppose to toast the rice in oil and fry it with ingredient. See this post for more information.

If you want to increase further the "crack-ness" of the rice, I suggest to soak it in water for few hours before rinsing it. Every time I left the rice forgotten in water they end up breaking apart after cook.

Answered by KMC

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What type of sherry is typically used when cooking?

Question

Not having used sherry before, what is the type used when a recipe just calls for "sherry"? I see cream sherry, dry sherry, and very dry sherry at my local grocery store. Does brand matter much?

Asked by hobodave

Answer

Cream sherry is very sweet - likely too sweet for most recipes that don't explicitly mention it.

If a recipe simply calls for "sherry", it usually means dry sherry, as that's the most common kind of available. In fact, I don't think I've ever even seen "very dry" around here. So I would definitely stick with the dry.

As for brand, I believe that sherry is the brand (somebody correct me if I'm wrong). If you see several different bottles all labeled sherry, I don't think it matters too much which one you pick - at least if you're using it for cooking and not drinking.

P.S. If you're using this as a substitute for rice wine, the commonly-accepted substitute is indeed dry sherry.

Answered by Aaronut

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How to prepare Spanish Migas?

Question

Spanish Migas is a stale bread based regional dish. It's prepared with different ingredients all over the peninsula. The Portuguese have their own variant.

1. How can the bread be cut with the least amount of crumbles? (does it depend on the bread type, the time the bread has gone stale, should the bread be fresh or completely dry, etc)

2. How can you fry the bread in such a way that the outside is fried and the inside is moist? (is there an amount of water that can be measured, how hot should the pan be, which pan should be used, how much oil should be used)

Asked by BaffledCook

Answer

Regarding your questions:

1) How can the bread be cut with the least amount of crumbles?

Traditionally migas de pastor (shepherd's migas) were the result of rubbing a piece or very dry bread with a couple of rough hands. If you don't rough hands, another way is rubbing 2 halves (lengthways) of a bread stick. This way the migas are all crumbs, but those are traditional migas.

If you want to chop the bread and have dices of bread to fry: Traditional recipes call for dicing bread the day before you cook migas. I advise you to dice the bread (size of normal dice would be fine, bigger would be ok too) when the bread is still soft. Because, if bread is too dry can be even a bit dangerous to chop...

(does it depend on the bread type, the time the bread has gone stale, should the bread be fresh or completely dry, etc)

Type of bread: Tradicional recipes call for breads such as chiabatta / candeal. These breads have a strong crust. Nowadays, breads like baguette or, if you're living in Spain, the common "pistolas" are ok too (and easier to chop / dice too).

Time for bread going stale: it depends of the real quality of bread and your living location. Meaning: the more artisan the bread is, the longer time time would need to go stale. A common bread is normally not so good, so it really depends where you live. Regarding your location: If you live close to the sea, bread would go even softer, like chewing gum, don't expect like stone-stale bread. If you live in a drier environment, it will get dry and stale in a couple of days. I would wait much time, because believe me it is really difficult to chop and dice when bread gets very dry.

Therefore, experience is the key for every migas cook! I know it's not very exact, but that's the way it is...

About purchasing the bread fresh or not: In Spain, in places where migas are a very common dish, you can find diced migas ready to fry in a normal supermarket. Outside these regions, you would only find normal "fresh" bread.

1. How can you fry the bread in such a way that the outside is fried and the inside is moist? (is there an amount of water that can be measured, how hot should the pan be, which pan should be used, how much oil should be used)

Water and oil needed: Any spanish granny would say that there is no measure for this... crazy, huh? I found some recipes which call for 1 glass of water (250 ml) per half bread stick. Some recipes say to wait 12 hours to moisture bread, some others don't... Oil: this is really your choice. I advise to cover the base of a frying pan with olive oil and some garlic cloves, when it is hot, add the diced bread and cover bread with oil. If you see oil hasn't moisture all the bread in the pan, add some more, little by little. Greasy migas are not so good...

About the pan: it is better to use a pan like this, not so deep not so flat either.

Oh, and you didn't say anything about chorizo or panceta (fresh bacon). Without them migas are not real ;) Fried them before adding to the migas.

Hope this helps!!

Answered by Ana_ILTdP

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What's the difference between gazpacho and normal soups?

Question

Gazpacho is (afaik) a tomato-based soup, eaten very cold. I was wondering if there is a difference between gazpacho and other soups, apart from the temperature eaten at.

Could you heat gazpacho and eat it like a normal soup? Could you chill a normal tomato-based soup and call it gazpacho? Are there ingredients that are mandatory when making gazpacho? Or things you certainly cannot add?

Asked by Mien

Answer

Gazpacho is possibly Spain's most famous chilled soup. The main difference aside form the temperature is that it's raw, meaning that the soup is not actually cooked it's just blended and chopped vegetables and occasionally bread. There is nothing inherently wrong with heating up gazpacho but it would lose its fresh texture and flavour which is why it's chilled and according to Wikipedia was popular with labourers who used it to:

"cool off during the summer and to use available ingredients such as fresh vegetables and stale bread"

The main reason you couldn't just chill a normal soup and call it gazpacho is because gazpacho is made up of by no means just tomato. It contains tomatoes, a bit of garlic, cucumber, occasionally bread, some vinegar for tang and a drizzle of olive oil at the end.

If you wanted to make it your own (after all you're the chef!) you could add some Tabasco, bell peppers, spring onions or croutons at the end, basically anything you might find in a salsa dip. Use your common sense for what not to add but even in Spain they have variations that are not at all like what I would think of as gazpacho: in La Mancha they use it like a stew and add game (usually rabbit) and even wild mushrooms!

Hope this helps and gives you some inspiration, if you want a recipe a quick search on Google gives a multitude of results.

Answered by Sebiddychef

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Is the Tortilla de Patatas modification to include carrots reasonable and can you cook inside a casserole dish to make it taller?

Question

I want to make Tortilla de Patatas but I have extra carrots that I would like to use somewhere. Can I include them in the frying phase? And can the dish be cooked in a casserole dish in the oven instead to make a very tall 'omelet'?

Answer

If you would like to add carrots, make sure you cut them small enough (since it takes quite a while to get them soft). I'm not 100% sure it would be a good fit, but that's up to you.

You certainly can make a tortilla in the oven, I've done so in a spring form. I think I did it for about 45 min in an oven of 180°C/350°F. But this depends of course on how much food you use and how big your form is. Just keep an eye on it, the egg should be fully cooked and the potatoes soft.

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What type of Paprika is the generic stuff one buys at a grocery store chain?

Question

I have read this very good link on the differences in paprika, but I did not learn all that I need to learn as far as buying these different varieties. When I go to my grocery chain to do my weekly shopping and I see the spice container which says Paprika, is that just going to be "Plain" paprika. I ask because I need to go out and find both sweet paprika and hot paprika which probably will require a little more effort on my part to find. Maybe a Whole Foods or something?

Answer

This information should be indicated on the label: sweet, sweet&sour, spicy, smoked...

Generic paprika is sweet and will probably not have much flavor (that is why paprika can be used in paella together with saffron - see this question)

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Why do you need to fry onions and garlic before adding other ingredients to a dish?

Question

I've been using an online Paella recipe that instructs you to sweat some onions for 5 minutes, then add garlic for a few minutes, followed by the vegetables, tomatoes, rice and stock.

Is there a reason the onions need to be added and fried first (and before the garlic)? Does it affect the taste at all?

Recipe was Saffron Seafood Paella

Answer

It's not so much the taste as the texture. If they haven't been sauted first, the onions stay relatively crunchy during the rest of the cooking. The same is true of the garlic, but you'd usually have cut the garlic into much smaller pieces so it doesn't take as long to soften up, hence kicking the onion off first and adding the garlic a bit later.

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What's in a 'Paella'?

Question

Answering this question, I made an ass of myself claiming that

1. Onions are not used in a real Paella.
2. Tomatoes neither.
3. Paprika / Pimentón neither as this will overpower the saffron flavor.

I've seen loads of recipes with all of these ingredients in some way or other (and I posted a recipe with all of these ingredients :-( ).

As I understand it, onions are not used because the will 'pass' the rice. I have no idea whether this is true or not, but I've never eaten a paella with onions. Not that I usually eat paella.

The tomatoes and pimentón will impart too much flavor so it will overpower the saffron taste (by far the most expensive spice on earth). Food coloring can be used to make the paella 'saffron' yellow.

The question is, what defines a real paella? One definition of paella is the 'pan' or 'skillet' itself, meaning that whatever rice dish you make in it can be called paella, but I'd rather have a more 'traditional' view as to what ingredients can or cannot/should or shouldn't be used.

• Onions (yes or no)
• Tomato (yes or no)
• Paprika (no :-)
• Saffron (yes)

Answer

Penelope Casas' The Foods and Wines of Spain explains that

Paella is a word that has come worldwide to mean a Spanish rice dish with a variety of seafood and usually some chicken. However, the word originally referred only to the pan in which the food was cooked--the paella or paellera, from the Latin word for pan, patella. Paellas actually come in endless varieties, depending on the chef and on regional specialties.

She emphasizes the technique more than traditional ingredients (which she notes that no two Spaniards will agree on), but includes recipes for a number of different rice dishes from many regions, all prepared in basically the same manner.

Interestingly, her Paella a la Valenciana (Tradicional) actually doesn't call for saffron (it does call for paprika). The meats are snails and rabbit, and she does call for an onion, but it's only used to steep for a while in the broth, and later discarded. She includes a single tomato which is cooked down with green peppers and garlic. Most of her other paella recipes include onion in this step, but it is notably absent from this recipe. She also calls for lima beans and "wide, flat string beans", and serve the dish with scallions on the side.

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Why do you need to fry onions and garlic before adding other ingredients to a dish?

Question

I've been using an online Paella recipe that instructs you to sweat some onions for 5 minutes, then add garlic for a few minutes, followed by the vegetables, tomatoes, rice and stock.

Is there a reason the onions need to be added and fried first (and before the garlic)? Does it affect the taste at all?

Recipe was Saffron Seafood Paella

Answer

It's not so much the taste as the texture. If they haven't been sauted first, the onions stay relatively crunchy during the rest of the cooking. The same is true of the garlic, but you'd usually have cut the garlic into much smaller pieces so it doesn't take as long to soften up, hence kicking the onion off first and adding the garlic a bit later.

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Trying to adjust a recipe to recreate Peruvian Tres Puntas rolls

Question

Having visited my family I fell in love with 'Pan de Trigo' that we call 'Tres Puntas'. This is a wheat bread that appears to be folded over to have three points. After baking it puffs up and a large hollow exists in the center. The bread "shell" itself is chewy and slightly sandy in texture. I believe the hollow exists due to the folding. It reminds me a bit of a focaccia-style roll flavor and texture. I found a recipe a while ago on a site that is no longer active and have copied it here for comparison. I'm sorry that it's partially in Spanish but I am posting it here as I found it. I did try to make it but it didn't resemble what I was hoping to create. It had more of a crumb than a "hole" (if that makes sense) but this may be due to my method more than anything. Having mentioned focaccia, I was thinking of reviewing the process and recipes for this style of bread and combining the two so maybe this is the trick? Could someone more knowledgeable in bread making review this recipe and see if I'm on track? Could this recipe create what I've described provided I adjusted my technique?

Here is the recipe. Note that this is not the wheat version that we prefer. I'm concerned that a wheat version would be even heavier if not done correctly.

PAN DE TRES PUNTAS

INGREDIENTES:

1 lb flour
1/4 C + 1 t sugar
3/4 t salt
2 packets active dry yeast
1 C water2 Kilos de Harina sin preparar
1/2 taza de azúcar
1 y 1/2 cucharadita de sal
70 grs. de levadura fresca
2 tazas de agua

PREPARACION:

• En 2 tazas de agua tibia disolver la levadura con una cucharadita de azúcar. Dejar fermentar en un sitio tibio por una hora.
• Agregar el resto de la harina hasta conseguir una masa que desprenda de las manos y la mesa. Dejar reposar por 1/2 hora en un lugar tibio y cubierta por un plastico.
• Aceitar la mesa de trabajo y comenzar a tomar pedazos de masa. Hacer bolitas de mas o menos 50m gramos.
• Sobre latas aceitadas darles la forma de 3 puntas y dejar levar por 1/2 hora mas.
• LLevar al horno de panaderia por 10 minutos con calor fuerte

Thanks for any help!

Answer

1. There is not enough water in your dough to form the hole you want (focaccia is a good point, look at focaccia hydration). You probably want at least 375 g water per 500 g flour, more is better if you can work with the dough.

2. Your conversion is off, your English recipe contains double the amount of sugar of the Spanish one. I would go with the smaller amount first, 25 g sugar for 500 g flour. Makes the dough easier to handle, and the taste isn't too sweet.

3. That's way too much yeast, both the Spanish version (21 g fresh yeast per lb flour) and the English version (a correct conversion from the Spanish would have had 7 g active dry yeast per lb, 2 packets is probably more than twice that). 21 g per 0.5 kg would be around the upper limit of yeast, used for richer breads like brioche. Use 10-12 g fresh yeast or 3-4 g active dry yeast per 0.5 kg flour. A bigger amount of yeast rises quicker, but the first cells die and start stinking of the waste products of their own fermentation (including acetic acid and ammonia). Don't rush the recipe, let it rise well in a not too warm place, you'll probably need more than 1/2 hour per rise.

4. Don't forget that for high hydration dough, you need bread flour, not AP. Else the dough will fall apart. Also, bread flour will make it chewy.

The procedure with a quick sponge, a rise of the kneaded dough and a rise of the formed shapes seems pretty standard (I hope this is what your Spanish text says, because I don't understand it well). As I said, rising times will be longer with less yeast, giving you better taste. The dough will be somewhat hard to handle because of the higher hydration, but it shouldn't be too problematic. Once you have mastered it with 75% hydration (375 g water per 500 g flour), you can try more water.

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What is 'Cooking Chorizo'?

Question

I have a recipe that calls for "Cooking Chorizo" what is this, would normal cured Chorizo be an acceptable substitute, any advice?

Answer

Spanish Chorizo comes in two forms both of which to the best of my knowledge are fully cured (cooked): one which is more for eating on its own (like salami) and the other which tends to have a higher ratio of fat in it and is used primarily for cooking. The latter one being what the recipe is referring to as "cooking chorizo". Oftentimes the cooking chorizo is in a paper casing that must be removed (unless you need some extra fiber in your diet). Either one of these would work, however you might need to add a little oil to the pan if you need to cook other things in the fat that would normally be rendered out.

Mexican chorizo is always a raw product which must be cooked and is usually in a plastic casing.

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How does gelatin interact with grease (fat)?

Question

I made an escalivada (eggplant, red pepper and onion in the oven, peel, cool) yesterday, and today I've added gelatin to make a nice presentation.

I used about 5gr of gelatin for 150ml heated 'escalivada juice (lots of olive oil)'.

The result was all right, but the top layer stayed liquid. The rest stayed together.

Any idea as to why the top layer stayed liquid? Does the olive oil affect the gelatin?

Answer

Gelatin works by creating a very fine mesh of proteins, between which the (hidrophilic) liquid gets trapped.

A mixture of fat and water isn't a liquid. It can be either a rough two-phase mixture, with visible fat droplets swimming around in the water, or it can be an emulsion, with invisibly small fat droplets dispersed through the water. Emulsions appear smooth, e.g. milk.

When you try to use gelatine on the mixture, two things can happen. In an emulsion, the fat droplets can be smaller than the protein mesh. Then they get trapped as well as the water, and the result is gelled emulsion, just like you'd expect.

But if you have big globules of fat, they can't be trapped between the proteins. So it looks like they got squeezed out of the mesh and bubbled up to the surface, if it hadn't been there all along. On the surface, gelatine molecules couldn't find each other between globules of fat to crosslink, or maybe the motion of the globules broke any nascent links in the small amount of water between them, so it couldn't gel. So the conclusion is: you can't set soup/stew with gelatine. (I know that concentrated stock hardens from its own gelatine, but it has the fat filtered out first).

On the practical side, if you want to have thick stew juice, you have to use something else than gelatine. It is probably simplest to create an olive oil based roux with the stew juice. Or you can gel with xanthan. Both will result in a "juice" which is creamy, instead of solid wobbly blocks of juice, with xanthan retaining the authentic taste and a roux-based sauce being a novel variation.

If it is real jelly you are after, you'll have to emulsify first and use gelatine after that. Xanthan itself should emulsify well, or you can probably use lecithine. AFAIK, there is no problem to use lecithine and gelatine together, but somebody with more experience in gelling agents should confirm that. In any case, emulsifying will lead to your liquid getting quite opaque. This is inavoidable, as it has to do with the way the collection of individual micro fat droplets break and reflect light rays.

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