Rice a Thousand Ways

Well, I'm sure there are a thousand recipes for rice, but I just want to point out a few familiar, flavorful, and famous ones as an example of the versatility of that tiny white grain. Each of these recipes is a cultural icon in its own right, yet each is a close cousin to the other. I'm talking about Paella (Spain), Jambalaya (The U.S. South), and Arroz Marinero (Latin America). Each of these dishes has a myriad of variations within its own culture.

There are more than ten varieties of Paella. It's likely that paella is an amalgamation of Roman, Iberian, and Moorish influences. The most traditional of which is Paella Valenciana, which centers around rabbit. Paella Marinara from the Mediterranean cost centers around seafood. Paella Blanca (white paella) is a variant that uses ham and salami. Black Rice is a paella dish, similar to Marinara except that the addition of squid ink gives it a richer seafood flavor. Here is a link to an article about the various paellas. I had my first Paella at Las Caracolas in Barcelona, Spain. It was Paella Marinara and served about six of us if memory doesn't fail me. It would be years before I truly appreciated the levels of flavor buried in that heap of yellow rice, from which shrimp tails, mussel shells, and chicken pieces peeked.

The Spanish brought rice to the New World. At the mouth of the Mississippi, two distinct versions of a spin-off developed, influenced by Cajun, French, African, and Spanish cuisine. That delight is Jambalaya. The greatest difference between the two is in the use of tomatoes in the Creole Jambalaya, known as Red Jambalaya. Both versions, and their various local variations, center around the use of the Holy Trinity, onion, green pepper, and celery. Andouille, chicken, and shrimp are the primary proteins, although rabbit, gator, venison, and other game animals and smoked meats of the region have all found their way into the dish at one time or another. Here is a link to an article on the various jambalaya recipes. Anong other facts, it supports the proposition that Jambalaya is an offshoot of Spanish attempts to bring Paella to the new world.

When the Spanish conquered South and Central America, they brought rice and paella with them. Both spread throughout their colonial empire. The result is a variety of different recipes all built upon the same base called Arroz Marinero, meaning seafood rice. The major difference is that Spanish Paella is built around Bomba rice, a Japonica variety that cooks up sticky and yields extra starch, while the South American recipes use long grain rice, an Indica variant that remains loose and fluffy.

I have found specific recipes from Ecuador, Peru, and Columbia. The Peruvian dish includes scallops, mussels, squid, and crab, cooking the seafood in the spice and broth before incorporating the vegetables and cooked rice. In contrast, the Columbian variant cooks the rice in the seafood broth before incorporating it with the braised seafood and vegetables. There is even a variant from the Philippines that more follows Paella Valenciana but uses Western ingredients such as pimento and yellow rice. I'm sure that India and Southeast Asia have their own variations, but my fingers are tired of searching. I'll leave that to you.

Since I'm not a chef, and don't play one on TV, I'll stop here and leave you with your mouth watering and looking through Google for the nearest restaurant where you can get whichever variety of paella falls within your cultural recipe box. I have recipes in my cookbook for paella, a quick version for two, and two versions of Jambalaya.

But don't stop at these tasty cultural icons. Find your own path down the long history of rice, in all it's variety, flavors, and recipes: breakfast, lunch, and dinner, soup, pudding, casserole, and candy.