Jamie Oliver's Paella causes outrage

[Morning Glory]

Television chef Jamie Oliver has inadvertently angered hundreds of people – most of them Spanish – by posting a link to a unorthodox paella recipe on his Twitter account.

“Good Spanish food doesn’t get much better than paella,” the innocuous-seeming tweet read. “My version combines chicken thighs & chorizo.” It included a link to a web page hosting the full recipe.

The tweet prompted immediate outrage. Furious replies came thick and fast: “Come to Valencia to try the real paella and stop making ‘rice with whatever’”, wrote Spanish journalist Vicent Marco. “Your dish is everything but paella.”

Other critics were less restrained. “Your paella is an abomination,” wrote one. “An insult not only to our gastronomy but to our culture,” said another. There were many, many more.

The biggest problem with the recipe, it transpired, was the inclusion of chorizo, a major no-no.

The Spanish take their paella extremely seriously, and traditionalists are quick to become angry when an outsider tries to improve on their dish.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...ngers-spaniards-with-insulting-paella-recipe/

 

[Yorky]

I agree entirely - like putting curry sauce with fish and chips!

 

[Yorky]

Just for information, JO's mushie peas are garden peas boiled and mashed with a potato masher. God forbid if he ever tried that in Yorkshire.

I guess being from Essex could be construed as being a slight excuse.

 

[Lullabelle]

I agree entirely - like putting curry sauce with fish and chips!

 

[Morning Glory]

Just for information, JO's mushie peas are garden peas boiled and mashed with a potato masher. God forbid if he ever tried that in Yorkshire.

I guess being from Essex could be construed as being a slight excuse.

I let the Essex comment pass (I spend a lot of time there and love it). But I agree that there is no point in using garden peas.

 

[Morning Glory]

I agree entirely - like putting curry sauce with fish and chips!

Perhaps I'm wrong but I thought the curry sauce was meant for when you just got chips on their own - I rather like that. Although no-one could really call the curry sauce an authentic curry sauce!

 

[Smokeydoke]

This is a comment from his site:

"A typical paella is: “judía ferradura” (a special flat green beans), extra virgin olive oil, chicken, saltz, fresh tomato, “garrofón” (big white beans), saffron, water and white rice. Can also have (optional): sweet paprika, fresh rosemary, garlic, duck, pork ribs, artichokes, snails. “tavella” (butter beans). This is the “paella valenciana”, but in the rest of the Spanish state often it is called paella to other combinations which may include seafood or other ingredients, but that is not the original paella."

I learn something new everyday, I've never had authentic paella before!

 

[Smokeydoke]

I wonder how they would react to a cookbook I read that used safflower instead of saffron to give it that distinctive orange-yellow color.

 

[Cinisajoy]

On the saffron are we talking the expensive good stuff or the cheap saffron from Mexico?

 

[Morning Glory]

I wonder how they would react to a cookbook I read that used safflower instead of saffron to give it that distinctive orange-yellow color.

That really is sacrilege.

 

[Morning Glory]

On the saffron are we talking the expensive good stuff or the cheap saffron from Mexico?

What is cheap stuff? I only know of one kind of Saffron and it comes from the stamens of the crocus. If it isn't from the crocus then it isn't saffron. I buy mine from Amazon and recently started using powdered saffron (made in Spain), which is wonderful.

 

[Cinisajoy]

Quick Google tells me it is safflower marketed as saffron.

 

[Lullabelle]

This is a comment from his site:

"A typical paella is: “judía ferradura” (a special flat green beans), extra virgin olive oil, chicken, saltz, fresh tomato, “garrofón” (big white beans), saffron, water and white rice. Can also have (optional): sweet paprika, fresh rosemary, garlic, duck, pork ribs, artichokes, snails. “tavella” (butter beans). This is the “paella valenciana”, but in the rest of the Spanish state often it is called paella to other combinations which may include seafood or other ingredients, but that is not the original paella."

I learn something new everyday, I've never had authentic paella before!

A few years ago we were in Barcelona, we walked passed a restaurant that was really busy at lunch time so we booked a table for the evening. We ordered paella and tbh it wasn't the most exciting meal I have had.

 

[Berties]

Paella does vary from region to region slightly ,some versions even have snails,rabbit is another ingredient used and various beans,deciduous to the area ,my brother n law spends a lot of time at his house north of Valencia and they even have a paella room with a open fire under the pan,and he is a paella purist only using the local ingredients
I am sure Jamie never ment to offend just putting his spin on a dish,making it appeal to a wide audience

 

[Lullabelle]

Paella does vary from region to region slightly ,some versions even have snails,rabbit is another ingredient used and various beans,deciduous to the area ,my brother n law spends a lot of time at his house north of Valencia and they even have a paella room with a open fire under the pan,and he is a paella purist only using the local ingredients
I am sure Jamie never ment to offend just putting his spin on a dish,making it appeal to a wide audience

It is 1 of those recipes that have a standard base that can be added to depending on who is cooking and personal taste. I am a big fan of chorizo.