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Good Eats: It's a Pan, It's a Dish, It's Paella
Alton turns his attention to paella, the food and paella, the cooking vessel. The cooking vessel would seem a unitasker, but Alton reveals the versatility of paella, which makes this specialized pan useful indeed. He also shares his take on Paella and offers some variations eaten elsewhere in the world. Some folks eat snails in their paella. Alton, thankfully, does not take it to that extreme.
| 8/10 (2 Votes cast) |
Episode Info
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Episode number: 13x19 Production Number: EA1315H Airdate: Thursday April 29th, 2010 |
Recap
Alton has a great many cooking vessels hanging in his kitchen, but there is one that is unique – his paella. The word comes ultimately from the Latin patella which means “plate” (and is also the source of the proper term for the kneecap). Alton explains why a paella is unique: it is composed of high carbon steel so that it conducts heat faster than other materials. Like cast iron, he warns, it will rust if not cared for properly. It is very light, unlike most entries in the better classes of cookware. This means it won't heat evenly except over a wide heat source. It is large, but has low sides, so whatever cooks within will be spread thin. The loop handles make it difficult to get this pan into an oven. And it comes in a wide variety of sizes – from very small all the way up to nearly five feet in diameter, but never with a lid. The casual observer might see a dreaded unitasker, but Alton sees... Good Eats!..Read the full recap
Episode Notes
Cards
- Have a gas grill? Crank your grill to high and keep it there. It may take a little longer but your patience will be rewarded.
- The largest paella in the world was made with a 21m diameter pan that fed 110,000 people.
- A special tribunal called the Safranschau was formed to “deal” with shady saffron dealers in 15th century Germany.
- True paella fans cherish the crust or socarrat that forms on the bottom of the pan.
Episode Quotes
Alton: Calling it a paella pan would be like calling it a “pan pan” which would make me sound either really silly or like a guy selling pizza.
Alton: That's right, kids: paella is a grilled rice dish.
Alton: (holding up a tomato skin he has neatly removed with a box grater) Look at this. You could make a wallet outta that!
Alton: If we're not going to go with rabbit and we still want to maintain any kind of credibility with our paella, at least with the Valencians, then we're gonna have to add... snails! Which I think are easy to... (gives the camera a level look) ... you're not ready for this, are you?
Alton: This is another of those, 'your patience will be rewarded' situations.
Cultural References
The episode title is probably a riff on “It's a bird... it's a plane... it's Superman!” This phrase has been associated with the Superman character for most of his history. Created in 1932, Superman was among the very first Superheroes, and possibly the first who could fly. Awestruck civilians watching him hurtle across the sky would utter this phrase.
Alton mentions that calling his paella a “paella pan” would be equivalent to calling it a pan pan, and says this might make him sound like a guy selling pizza. He refers to a series of ads from Little Caesar's Pizza. In 1979, the chain created the “Pizza! Pizza!” slogan to emphasize the fact that they would sell customers two pizzas for what other stores charged for a single pie. Later, when they introduced a pan pizza, they altered the slogan to “Pan! Pan!” This slogan was spoken quickly in a nasal voice by an animated character intended to resemble a stereotypical Roman.
Advising viewers to “eat rabbits before they eat us,” Alton recalls the film “Night of the Lepus.” This film, based on a novel titled, “The Year of the Angry Rabbit,” tells what happens when an ecological imbalance created by careless humans results in a rabbit overpopulation. Attempts to control this population go disastrously wrong, ultimately leading to the creation of large and carnivorous rabbits that kill many people before the protagonists finally succeed in destroying them. Alton's small, fanged rabbit puppet suggests this sort of sinister mutation.
Alton compares the size of a 52” paella pan to the size of a gong that “John Bonham whomped on” during a 1977 tour. Until his death in 1980, John Bonham was the drummer and percussionist of Led Zeppelin, a hard rock act formed in the late 1960s. Bonham's death ended the group's formal association, although the members have gone on to work together and do solo projects. Among fans, Led Zeppelin ranks with the Beatles and Rolling Stones in importance to the rock genre.
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