How to choose a good paella

Paella is a classic recipe of our gastronomy that has become a common resource in all homes, especially for weekdays and family gatherings. Rice dishes and fideuás are perfect recipes to satisfy everyone, and many times you can even eat with a single dish.

To prepare a paella you need 2 essential things: good food and a good paella (or paellera, as the manufacturers say). Today we analyze why it is worth investing in a good paella pan, which paellas we recommend and the differences between Carbone paella and De Buyer's Mineral.

Benefits of having a good paella

To make rice or fideuá you need to distribute the food very well to make a very thin layer, which you will cook with broth. This implies having a large surface, even cooking for a few, which means that the paella is, in most cases, much larger than the gas, vitro or induction plate. Why do I mention this? Well, because a good distribution of the temperature throughout the utensil is vital for homogeneous cooking of these recipes, especially when the food (rice or noodles) is so susceptible to quickly absorbing the water from the hot broth (which is why it has to rise of temperature in a homogeneous way).

Disadvantages of a low quality paella

In the market there are many paellas (or paelleras), many of them very thin and simple. The drawbacks of poor quality paellas are:

• They are extremely thin , which implies on the one hand that the utensil does not have time to distribute the heat correctly , causing the heat to quickly concentrate in the center and become very hot at that point, burning the rice or noodles, and not many times not even boiling at the ends, and making the food there remain raw.
• Thinness also implies deformation : many of those simpler paellas deform with the heat, making it unstable and the juices concentrating in one part of the paella pan, not achieving (once again) homogeneous cooking.
• Use of unhealthy materials : there are paella pans on the market that claim to be made of iron, but they may be low-quality alloys , with the presence of heavy materials such as lead or cadmium in the alloy, undesirable for health. On the other hand, there are very simple non-stick paella pans, which will lead you to not distribute the heat well or not last long with their non-stick properties in good condition.
• Another thing to take into account in the simplest paella pans is the enamel: there are paella pans that are enameled (painted or covered with enamel) with enamels that may not be very suitable for health or for getting too hot. In this sense, it is important to get a paella pan from recognized brands, which are concerned with the use of quality materials.

Our recommendation when choosing paella

The first thing you should decide is if you want a nonstick or iron paella pan.

If you are looking for the convenience of having a paella pan that is not excessively heavy, distributes the heat well and ensures that the food will not stick, opt for a non-stick paella pan. Good options for this purpose is the BRA Efficient nonstick paella pan : it has a quality nonstick, which will last a long time in good condition if you take care of it* and it has removable handles, making it totally suitable for the oven. All this, with a really high value for money.

For those who are looking for traditional cooking and do not care about the weight of the utensil, we certainly recommend choosing an iron paella pan. In the store we have two from De Buyer with which you get fabulous results and they are one of the most popular paella pans, for good reason: the Carbone paella pan and the Mineral paella pan . They require certain considerations when maintaining them (since iron is easier to stick or rust), but when you get used to them and see how easy everything is, there is no color in the results and uses that you give.

From left to right: Efficient non-stick paella pan from BRA , Carbone paella pan and the De Buyer Mineral paella pan .

Both the Mineral and Carbone paella pans are made from an iron plate to which they shape. They are quite thick (which makes them somewhat heavy), but the great advantages they have are :

• The thickness of the paella pan helps to better distribute the heat, and also to retain it, keeping the paella hot for longer as well.
• They are made with natural materials, non-stick free.
• It is totally traditional cooking, and you get some of the most fabulous flavor results.
• They are eternal paella pans, they will last a lifetime in the kitchen, because there is nothing in them that can be damaged (the iron darkens, but it is part of the curing process, they are pieces that will last forever).
• Both are suitable for the oven.

Differences between the Mineral paella pan and the De Buyer Carbone

The two De Buyer paella pans are very similar, but the main differences to consider when deciding on one or the other are:

1. The handles: in the Mineral paella pan they are made of steel and look more elegant, but the truth is that those of the Carbone are very comfortable to grip.
2. La Mineral only exists in the 32 cm size (one of the most common formats in paella pans, if not the most); instead the Carbone offers many diameters to choose from (from 24cm to 50cm).
3. Curing: the Mineral paella pan comes with a natural beeswax coating. This coating, an organic component that allows you to make a simple curing with oil (before using the paella for the first time, you will only have to heat a finger of oil for about 10 minutes and remove it, to fill the pore that it may have and prevent it from sticking and oxidizing) -you can see how to cure a Mineral here . In the case of the Carbone, it does not have any previous treatment and you have to make a traditional cure, first by boiling potato peelings in it and, the second step, boiling a finger of oil ( here you will see how to make this cure).**
4. The % of iron in each paella pan: to make the Mineral paella pan, practically pure iron is used (greater than 99% iron), while for the Carbone an alloy of minerals is used, it is not as pure as the previous one. Despite this, it is more than 90% pure iron, and it has no implications since paella pans, unlike frying pans, are not utensils that we use daily (in which we want to use the most natural utensils). always possible).
5. For this matter of finishes and qualities of the handles, materials and treatment with beeswax, the Mineral paella pan is somewhat more expensive than the Carbone.

GRADES:

*By taking care of a non-stick pan we mean: do not use metal utensils to cook in it, wash by hand and heat over medium low heat at first, until the entire surface has been heated.

** Curing the paella pans is really easy, don't be scared. If you see the videos to which we have left a link you will see it. It's just a step or two before first use, but it's completely uncomplicated and you'll have it done in a few minutes. With this, you will get a natural protection in the paella pans that will help you prevent your rice dishes and fideuás from sticking, and it will also protect against oxidation.