Comments on: “The Last Supper” – Seafood Paella with Squid Ink

By: Ciela Tanjuatco

Ciela Tanjuatco — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 09:46:57 +0000

I love Paella! When I visited Spain, I was surprised to find out they had so many ways of cooking it. Paella Negra is still my favorite. And I agree, the darker the better. Claude Tayag cooks a very mean Paella with his custom made, 4 feet diameter paellera. He cooks it the traditional Spanish way, outdoors, for everyone to feast on. And it’s a fact that the larger the dish the more difficult it is to cook. And for your paella bursting with seafoods… I just love it. Go ahead, add more to your heart’s delight. It’s one of the reasons I love paella, aside from being meant to share in large family gatherings, it’s such a complete dish.

By: goodtimer

goodtimer — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 18:14:46 +0000

yes, MM, I literally struggled to keep those fresh sacs intact (which was really a pain in the ass to remove!). they burst into a beautiful inky jet black color upon contact with heat. however for some of the bigger sacs (which have tougher skins) they have to be mashed into the rice, and boy, you’d be amazed at how they generate all those ink! i’m sure you’ll get it all black next time what with all the suggestions in this site. have a nice vacation! i could already imagine all your foodie stories from europe that you’ll be sharing with us soon. i had the best vongole spaghetti in florence. tiny clams in a simple but flavorful olive oil and garlic base. hope you can get those yummy recipes!

By: Marketman

Marketman — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 13:28:49 +0000

goodtimer, you dont burst the ink sacs? Maybe that’s what I did wrong besides not using enough of it… hmmm, one more try when I get back from vacation…

By: goodtimer

goodtimer — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 12:12:06 +0000

Couldn’t resist cooking paella negra last weekend to experiment with the ink and the procedure to make it black. Upon my mom’s suggestion, I used ink from 1.5 kg lumot squid, took great care to extract the ink sacs without bursting, for a recipe using 1 kg Carnarolli rice (about 5 cups). Initially I put in half of the ink after sauteeing the rice, then added the seafood stock. At this point the rice stock turned a really jet black color. As the rice absorbed the liquid, I added the remaining ink a sac at a time, and I was happy to note how the rice got blacker everytime an ink sac burst in the hot liquid. I figured with this amount of rice, ink from 1 kilo lumot would have sufficed, though I loved the intense flavor(and color!!)brought about by the abundance of squid ink. No need for ink sachets!

By: mike

mike — Sun, 23 Apr 2006 11:46:24 +0000

hi MM! i had paella negra a couple of weeks ago at a friend’s place and it really was black . . . will ask her how she achieved the right colour! i have also been promised by another friend a paella negra treat at her place one of these days . . . will also try to document that!