Paella pan....carbon steel?

[sudsy9977]

So what is the best kind of paella pan?.....i don't know too much about them......any recommendations.....i got a cheap budget......a friend wants one for Xmas and i wanna get them one they can enjoy......do they make one like those old like french steel pans......Ryan

[sudsy9977]

Would something like this be good?

[littleroundman]

Geez, that's expensive.

Even Australia has genuine "commercial grade" traditional style Spanish made pans cheaper.



Paella World Paella Pan, Original, 42cm thin hi-carbon AUD$35.00

Even the Paella world Pata Negra extra thick carbon steel is only AUD$74.95
http://www.everten.com.au/_search.php?page=1&q=paella

[tgraypots]

I have yet to cook paella, although I've eaten it in a friend's home. I think that's a pretty neat pan, maybe even for more than paella. Foodservicewarehouse.com has them a tad cheaper, and I've had pretty good luck dealing with them. I'm spending more time cooking in my old kiln shed -- grilling, brick oven, etc, and I might have to add one of these to my wish list. I want to build a fire ring, burning wood, for stir-frying anyway, and this pan would work well on the ring.

[Lukas]

In Spain, we use 4 kinds:

1. what we call "polished" steel, your regular carbon steel pan

2. Enameled steel, same as before, but with an enamel coating

3. Inox steel

4. non-stick

if you want to go the traditional route, pick one of the first two, I personally like the carbon steel, 11 inches for 2 people, no need for seasoning.

It seems that La Tienda stocks everything you need, and don't forget that the burner is as important as the pan.

[add]

Great info, thanks Lukas!

[dbesed]

Here is a episode of good eats about paela: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apvdg7wgc38
I think there's a lot of useful information about the paela pan

[Lukas]

There's a great cooking TV show in the basque country, and they have made paella a couple of times

1. seafood paella: http://blog.daviddejorge.com/2011/08...anda-socarrat/ by Quique Dacosta, 2 Michelin stars, one of the greatest chefs we have right now

2. rabbit paella: http://blog.daviddejorge.com/2010/07...la-valenciana/

the show is obviously in Spanish but it shouldn't be too hard to follow and the recipes can be translated with Google Translate.