If you love eating and cooking paella – the exquisite Spanish rice dish – you’re at the right place. Paella pans are essential household items that define the preparation of this divine dish.
So, we’ll discuss everything about the right kind of paella pans you must use to make this exotic dish and garner compliments from your guests for making it so well.
What are Paella Pans?
The key feature of paella is to cook crispy, golden-crusted rice, which contributes to its extraordinary flavour and fascinating crunch.
Specifically curated to prepare paella, these pans are shallow and wide with a large surface area. The shallow surface allows the liquid to evaporate faster and cook the rice effectively.
From the massive variety of paella pans available in the online and offline market, you must choose the best one, and for that, you need to have in-depth knowledge of the right paella pan for your kitchen.
Ready for a Paella? Let’s Get Started
Before investing in a quality paella pan, you must consider the right size, the appropriate material, the best value skillet, and the affordability.
You can navigate the options to take home the right paella pan and save yourself from making a bad investment. Here are some important factors to consider before you make your purchase:
- Choose a paella pan with two handles and a slightly domed bottom.
- Choose the right size which aptly fits your heat source. It’s worth taking measurements before purchasing to ensure you get the perfectly-sized pan.
- If you have a paella gas burner, you can pick the largest paella pan (up to 40 inches wide)
- For an outer grill or a stove, go for a medium-sized pan (approximately 26-30 inches wide)
- For a furnace, stick to a 17-18 inches-wide pan
- Pick the right material. Let’s look at the different types of materials that can be used in cookware for making paella, along with the unique characteristics of each, to help you decide which type to buy:
a. Enamel Paella Pan
Enamel pans are light, easy to maintain and clean, and are priced well within most people’s budgets. Their sizes range from 15 to 40 inches, and they are imported from Spain.
These pans are oven and grill safe, but you must take precautions while cleaning them. They tend to get scratched or flaked with repeated use, so you must clean and maintain them well.
b. Paella Pan for Induction
These are slightly heavier and could be a little more expensive than the enamelled ones. However, these also guarantee top performance on all cooking surfaces, offering you great value for money, along with a lifetime guarantee.
c. Paella Pan in Polished Steel
A polished steel pan is an authentic option that is super thin and can transfer heat quite well. It is also dishwasher safe and comes with a lightly domed bottom.
Since this pan is made of steel, the cooking process is faster, and you will be able to achieve different levels of crispiness, flavour, and texture of rice as you please.
These pans can be found in various sizes. Cleaning them is simple; all you need to do is soak them, scrub them lightly, and rinse them.
d. Paella Sets with Gas Rings and Steel Paella Pans
Planning a picnic or an outdoor meal? You can’t miss having paella and a picnic basket in such a scenario. What could be better than a paella set that comes with a carbon steel pan and a burner?
Cooking your paella rice over an open fire will enthral your guests and add a unique aromatic flavour to the dish. Your portable paella set can also be used for a day-out picnic or a beach party.
The set encompasses a polished steel frying pan, a double gas burner, wheels for moving and storage, a gas pipe with an attached regulator that should be connected to the barbecue gas cylinder, and a storage tray.
The burners maximize heat distribution and are best used for preparing authentic paella.
- Go for multi-functional paella pans. As the name suggests, these pans are primarily used for cooking paella, but that doesn’t mean they cannot be used for other food items.
You can use these pans for unique dishes that can be made on a large and flat surface, like fish, bacon, chicken, pancakes, roasts, omelettes, steaks, etc.
Conclusion
With the right knowledge about your paella pan, you are better equipped to make the best choice. So, before you make your purchase, be sure to consider the above-mentioned tips and options to get the perfect pan for your needs.
Wheel&Barrow is one of the most trusted sites where you can browse and purchase top-quality, durable, and affordable paella pans available on the market. Take your pick and invest in one, so you can relish every bit of your well-cooked paella rice.