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I thought amongst all these wonderful recipies, that there should be some section for discussion and hopefully display of cooking, eating and storage implements. So have at it :)

I've seen some good recipes float around on Social Media from Colonial Williamsburg, too, and thought I'd share this one first as this really sounds good I might try it on the grill. Chicken Pudding Recipe and looks easy as well as delicious. Feel free to post more Colonial Williamsburg recipes you found or liked.

I am currently working on a variety of articles on food during the golden age of piracy. It was originally going to be one article, then three, then five and now it's completely spiraled out of control and will probably end up being 25 articles. I have been working on it for over two years now. It will probably take another two to finish it at this rate. Most of the articles look at the five basic types of long-haul sailor types I have identified - navy, merchant, privateer, buccaneer and pirate. Some of them add sixth category - explorer. Nearly all of them are data-driven, presenting all sorts of statistics on what I have discovered. (I have this unbelievably complex assortment of Excel spreadsheets.... but enough of that.) Anyhow, there are still going to be 5 basic articles. Think of them as the overarching articles. Three are finished, one is partially finished (actually, it has been split into about 20 articles, but there is a top page for them). The last one hasn't been started. The underlined words are hotlinked to articles. (Because they are complete. Sort of. I keep finding new material as I research new articles and will eventually go back and add the new material to the old articles. I digress...) The five overarching articles include: 1. Food and Health - Food was intimately tied into health and humor theory, with each food having humoral properties. This article will eventually be tied into the series of articles I am currently working on which is about the individual food found in sailors' account during the the GAoP. These are organized by food type, including: Fruits - Vegetables - Grains - Non-Meat Proteins - Meat Proteins - Fish. (I am presently working on Non-Meat Proteins.) 2. Food Procurement - Looks at how each of the five types of sailors got food, some of it legitimate, some of it not, including - gifts (of food), sharing, purchasing, taking, hunting, fishing, catching turtle and live animals (animal pens). Each section provides statistics on the percentage of sailors I've found who used each method. 3. Food Organization - The first third of this article is primarily about the complex structure of navy food procurement and dissemination. Since nearly all sailors were in the navy at one time or another, parts of this structure were disseminated to the other types. These are treated separately and include the East India Company (which was a thing unto itself), non-EIC merchant ships, privateers, buccaneers and pirates. It talks about food-related officers including pursers, masters/supercargos, stewards, quartermasters on legal and illegal voyages (their roles were different) and cooks. You get a generous dollop of info on the cookroom at then end of the article. 4. Provisioning Locations - I decided to talk about two categories: English navy provisioning stations and the pirate locations. To be fair, any port city could be a provisioning location, so I focused on those places frequented by pirates mentioned in accounts from around the golden age of piracy. This includes three areas - the Western Hemisphere (Bahamas, Jamaica, Barbados and Juan Fernandez Islands), the Eastern Coast of Africa (Azores, Madeira, Canary Islands, Cape Verde Islands, Sao Tome, Principe & Annabon, St. Helena and the Cape of Good Hope) and the Western Coast of Africa (Comoros, Mauritius & Reunion and Madagascar. ) You will notice only a handful of them are hotlinked and that is because only the navy and Western Hemisphere locations are complete. These will probably be the last articles I write. 5. Sailors and Food - This is the article the average person wants to read. What did each type of sailor eat? How and where did they eat it? I quit the Provisioning Locations article to write this and as I got into it, realized it would be much easier to finish if I wrote a complete account of the individual foods found in the sailors accounts. (Remember, back at #1?) I was NOT going to write those article because I knew they would be a giant PITA, but... here I am writing it now. Been writing just these for over a year. At least I've learned a lot. (I mean A LOT.) So you must wait for this one until I finish that one.

Salmagundi is an old recipe that came to be known as a pirate meal. "Cut cold roast chicken or other meats into slices. Mix with minced tarragon and an onion. Mix all together with capers, olives, samphire, broombuds, mushrooms, oysters, lemon, orange, raisins, almonds, blue figs, Virginia potatoes, peas and red and white currants. Garnish with sliced oranges and lemons. Cover with oil and vinegar, beaten together." (from The Good Huswives Treasure, Robert May, 1588-1660) "A mixture of minced veal, chicken or turkey, anchovies or pickled herring, and onions, all chopped together and served with lemon juice and oil." Salmagundi is also purportedly a meal served on pirate ships. It is a stew of anything the cook had on hand, usually consisting of chopped meat, anchovies, eggs, and onions, often arranged in rows on lettuce and served with vinegar and oil, and spiced with anything available. The following is taken from a reprint of "Mrs. Hill's New Cook Book", originally published in 1867 and republished by Applewood Books of Bedford, Massachusetts. I've found some other recipes on the internet as well. They're all different! http://www.bigoven.com/130402-Salmagundi-recipe.html http://www.celtnet.org.uk/recipes/elizabethan/fetch-recipe.php?rid=eliz-salmagundi http://www.ifood.tv/recipe/salmagundi http://www.recipe-collection.co.uk/Salmagundi/14771.html http://www.cookadvice.com/recipes/salmagundi-14633-recipe.htm http://www.allbritishfood.com/salmagundi.php

Here's links to a couple videos I enjoyed. Townsends Tasting History with Max Miller

I've written another article for my site, this time on period correct food for Anglo-American sailors and pirates from 1680-1740. This is only the first part, there will be a second since the subject is way too big for one article. Hope you all enjoy: http://csphistorical.com/2016/01/24/salt-pork-ships-biscuit-and-burgoo-sea-provisions-for-common-sailors-and-pirates-part-1/

Pea Soup Ingredients: 4 c. dried English peas 4 quarts water 6 peppercorns 2 cloves of garlic, chopped 1 large onion, chopped 2 or 3 potatoes, chopped into small pieces salt as needed 1 T. sage (optional) 1 T. thyme (optional) 2 T. lovage (Optional) Maple Syrup (optional) 1. Place the peas in the water and add the seasonings. 2. Put the pot on a brisk fire until it boils and skim off any foam which rises to the top. 3. Simmer until almost done, possibly several hours depending upon the age of the peas. 4. Add potatoes. 5.Cook until potatoes are soft. 6.Add more water if the peas start to stick to the pot. 7.Serve with Johnny Cakes or Slapjacks. Note that this soup can be made with peas that have gotten woody at the end of the season and that it is also much improved by the addition of a quart of good ale in place of a quart of water. Kale and Onions- 1 lb fresh Kale, stemmed and torn in large pieces ½ medium onion sliced thin olive oil to cover bottom of pan 1.wash kale. 2.Saute onions in olive oil over medium heat until soft. 3.Add kale and cook until kale is soft and has turned darker than it was when you put it in the pan. 4.Add salt to taste. Serves 3 or 4 people as a side dish. Note: when you first put the kale in the pan it will look like a lot, but as it cooks it shrinks up. Okra- Fresh okra- 1 or 2 per person Cornmeal Hot Water Butter Onions (Optional) 1. Slice the okra. 2. 2.Mix some cornmeal with hot water to make a dough that can be made into balls easily. 3. Put a piece of okra in middle of cornmeal and form small ball around it. 4. fry in skillet with butter over medium heat. 5. It is done when the cornmeal is golden brown. Note: Fry the okra with onions if you want to. Forcemeat Balls Take a little fat bacon, beat it in a marble mortar, take two anchovies, two or three pigeons� livers, chop them together; add a little lemon-peel shred, a little beaten mace, nutmeg, cayenne, stale bread crumbs, and beef-suet an equal quantity, mix all together with an egg. Makes 16 balls about 1 inch/2.5 cm in diameter 4 oz/110 g/2 cups breadcrumbs 2oz/50g/scant ½ cup shredded suet 2 canned anchovy fillets, soaked, chopped and pounded 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley or ½ tablespoon dried oregano grated rind of ½ lemon salt and pepper pinch each of grated nutmeg and ground mace a few grains of cayenne pepper 1 large egg, beaten egg wash for glazing (optional) The original mixture is stronger in flavour and fattier than we want for most purposes today, but you can add a finely chopped chicken liver and chopped bacon rasher (slice) to the milder �mix� here if you wish. Mix together all the ingredients and adjust the quantity of breadcrumbs if required to make a mixture which will cohere when squeezed. Roll into small balls, coat with egg wash and fry or bake until heated through. (Black, The Jane Austen Cookbook, p. 79) Fish in Corbullion Serves 6 1 fish, about 3lb/1.4 kg, and 2 inches/5cm thick, gutted and scaled spice bundle containing 5 black peppercorns; 2 whole cloves; 1 large blade mace; 1 slice fresh ginger root; 1 shallot, halved; 2 red radishes, halved; a sprig each of fresh thyme, marjoram and rosemary; 2 bay leaves 10 fl oz/275 ml/1 ¼ cups medium dry white wine 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar sea salt to taste garnish of cooked prawns if serving hot or of sliced radishes and preserved lemon slices if serving cold Any fairly large fish was generally �boiled�: that is, poached in a fish-kettle, having first been wrapped in a cloth. An oval pot-roaster or a stew-pan is suitable for most fish; one measuring 12 x 9inches/36 x 23cm is a convenient size, holding about 7pints/4 litres/17 ½ cups liquid when brimful. Ask the fishmonger to gut and scale the fish. Prepare the spices. A square of butter muslin makes a good �bundle�. Put in the centre the dried spices, ginger root, radishes and herbs, then tie the opposite points together. Wrap the cleaned fish in another piece of muslin folded over on top to make unwrapping easy. Put it on a trivet or serving dish in a stew-pan or pot-roaster. Add the spice bundle, then pour the liquids, including about 4 pints/2.3 litres/10 cups water, over the lot � the fish should be just covered. Add salt to taste and leave to soak for about an hour. Remove the wrapped fish and gently bring the cooking liquid to simmering point. Replace the fish and poach very gently for about 15 minutes. Unwrap to check whether it is done. When it is, lift it out, and drain it well. You can serve it hot, preferably skinned, with some prawns and the wine sauce on page 73, or cold with the radish and preserved lemon slices, new potatoes and a salad. Substitute scrapings of fresh horseradish for the radishes if you have any. (Black, The Jane Austen Cookbook, pp. 50-51) Oblietjies (Rolled Wafers) 2 eggs 450 g brown sugar 10 ml (two teaspoons) ground cinnamon 10 ml (two teaspoons) pounded naartjie peel 120 ml (half cup) wine 250 g butter 450 g cake flour Beat the eggs and sugar and allow to stand. Add the spices, wine and melted butter and fold in the flour. Form into balls the size of walnuts and place in the middle of the heated wafer iron. Close securely but without forcing. Bake for half a minute on each side until lightly browned and lift out with a spatula. Roll up immediately into a trumpet shape or a roll open at both ends. Serve with honey and cream. (A wafer iron is in appearance very much like a waffle iron) Bean Soup 500 g dried white beans 1 kg beef or marrow bones 125 g pork speck (if meat is lean) 4 l water (16 cups) 1 onion 1 sprig of parsley 1 mace leaf salt and pepper to taste Soak the beans overnight in cold water. Drain, boil for half an hour in fresh water and drain again. To the beans add the 16 cups of water, the meat (or bones) and speck, braised onions and the finely shredded leaves and flavouring. Simmer for 3 to 4 hours stirring occasionally and adding water when necessary. This filling soup was often the main dish at evening meals, particularly in cold and rainy weather. Dumpling Soup Make a soup from: 1 kg beef 2 mace leaves 2.5 to 3.5 l water (8 to 12 cups) 6 cloves 1 spray of sorrel salt to taste For the dumplings melt 1 tablespoon soft fat or butter in one cup boiling water and thicken with 2 cups of flour. Allow to cool, fold in two eggs and shape into dumplings the size of walnuts. Steam the dumplings in the soup. Sweet Potato Fritters (as dessert) 500 ml (2 cups) sweet potato, cooked and mashed 60 g (half cup) cake flour 2 eggs, beaten cinnamon sugar Mix the sweet potato and flour and add egg and cinnamon sugar to make a soft batter, adding little milk if necessary. Form into patties and fry in hot fat. Serve with honey and lemon. Souskluitjies (cinnamon dumplings) 120 g (1 cup) cake flour 10 ml (2 teaspoons baking powder) 1 ml (quarter teaspoon) salt 12.5 ml (1 tablespoon) butter 1 egg 125 ml (half cup) milk cinnamon sugar Sift dry ingredients and rub in butter. Beat the egg and milk and mix in the dry ingredients to make a thick batter. Boil 500 ml water with a little salt in a large, shallow saucepan with a tight fitting lid. Spoon the batter into the boiling water with a teaspoon, each time dipping the teaspoon into the boiling water first. The dumplings must cook separately, not touching each other. Cover and simmer for about 10 minutes. Remove dumplings from water with a perforated spoon, butter them lightly and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. To make a sauce, stir cinnamon sugar and butter into the water in which the dumplings were cooked. Roast Sucking Pig A sucking pig with an orange in its mouth was traditionally served at wedding receptions. The wedding feast was a splendid occasion held at the home of the bride. Clean the sucking pig thoroughly and sprinkle the body cavity well with salt and fill with stuffing. Twist the front legs backward and the hind legs forward and fix with meat skewers. Rub the sucking pig with butter and wrap in greased brown or wax paper. Place in a roasting pan with water and roast in a hot oven (200ºC) for about 2 1/2 hours. Remove the paper and continue roasting until brown, constantly brushing the surface with melted butter. Place a potato, apple or orange in the mouth and serve on a platter. Stuffing: 500 ml(2 cups) minced meat 25 ml (2 tablespoons) minced ham 7 ml (1.5 teaspoons) coriander 1 thick slice of bread soaked in milk 2 ml (half teaspoon) pounded cloves salt and pepper 12.5 ml (1 tablespoon) vinegar 1 egg Mix all the ingredients and use for stuffing the pig. Cherry Soup adapted from Das Brandenburgisches Kochbuch (1723) In a large frying pan, gently warm a large can of pitted cherries (never fear, they would have used preserved cherries in the 18th-century as well) in butter, having discarded the canning syrup. Add a bottle of nice dry red wine (this wine needs to be tasty, cooking wine will not do). Add sugar and cinnamon to taste. When thoroughly warmed put the contents of the pan through a food mill and serve. Turnip-Soup TAKE a gallon of water, and a bunch of turnips, pare them, save three or four out, put the rest into the water with a half an ounce of whole pepper, an onion stuck with cloves, a blade of mace, half a nutmeg bruised, a little bundels of sweet herbs and a large crust of bread. Let these boil an hour pretty fast, then strain it through a sieve, squeezing the turnips through; wash and cut a bunch of celery very small, set it on in the liquor on the fire, cover it close and let it stew. In the mean time, cut the turnips you saved into dice, and two or three small carrots clean scraped, and cut in little pieces: put half these turnips nd carrots into the pot with the celery and other half fry brown in fresh butter. You must flour them first, and two or three onions peeled, cut in thin slices and fried brown then put them all into the soup with an ounce of vermicelli. Let your soup boil softly till the celery s quite tender and your soup good. Season it with salt to your palate. (18th century cookbook, The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, by Hannah Glasse)

I've written a new post for my blog about what life was like in New Providence. It's called "The Strongest Man Carries the Day," Life in New Providence, 1716-1717. http://csphistorical.com/2015/07/26/the-strongest-man-carries-the-day-life-in-new-providence-1716-1717/ Find out all kinds of interesting information about life in this pirate stronghold during it's peak years. Learn about the geography of the port, where the pirates came from, what structures they lived in, what women did in the settlement, and more. The beginning of the article includes a convenient click-to-jump-to table of contents.

For a long time now I have been looking for the earliest reference to a "tin kitchen", a kind of half-round reflector oven. To date I have only been able to find references to around the time of the Revolution. That is until tonight. On the 18th Century Material Culture's Facebook page I found two paintings dating to the late 1600's with clear depictions of the "tin kitchen." "The Cook, 1657-1667" and an untitled work dated sometime prior to 1678. So now I will buy a tin kitchen and use it secure in the knowledge that it is at least period. Now, can anyone find a reference to one of these, or something similar, being aboard a ship?

On a recent episode of Jas. Townsend and sons, they show a recipe for Onion Rings in an 1801 cook book If you search the web, most of the pages place Onion Rings no earlier than the early 20th century and not really popular until the 20's or 30's. I think Jas. Townsend speaks of it as 'late 1700's' I wonder if there are any other possible earlier references for other fried foods (other than the dutch donuts) and how long would fried onion rings have to be around for them to be listed in a published cook book? I want some onion rings with my fried oysters ;-)

just been reading about oysters and came across this.... on this site: http://www.colonialtable.com/recipes-3/sea-food/sea-food/17th-century-oysters/ ""TO FRY OYSTERS The Accomplisht Cook, Robert May 1685 Take two quarts of great Oysters being parboil’d in their own liquor, and washed in warm water, bread them, dry them, and flour them, fry them in clarified butter crisp and white, then have butter’d prawns or shrimps, butter’d with cream and sweet butter, lay them in the bottom of a clean dish, and lay the fryed oysters round about them, run them over with beaten butter, juyce of oranges, bay-leaves stuck round the Oysters, and slices of oranges or lemons."" So is this from a cookbook of our period? It seems to say the receipt is from 1685. anyway, I am all for a period oyster fry. :-) sounds yummy

Someone suggested I start a thread talking about English Katchup and as I was digging through my period cookery books trying to find the earliest possible receipt (that's a recipe to modern cooks) I realized we could play with this a bit more. There are a number of options a Pirate might have. So this should be the first in a series on period condiments & sauces. However, none of them would be the tomato based ketchup we know today. Tomatoes are pretty much absent from period cookery books. But you might be surprised what does show up. Early ketchup was a fish & vinegar based sauce imported from somewhere around Indonesia (exact place of origin seems to be a bit fuzzy). It was an import showing up in newspaper ads well into the 18C. It is often found alongside soy sauce (see the trend here?). At some point we start seeing English Ketchup in these ads. And it shows up in recipe books. It's still a vinegar and fish based sauce, throw in some spices, shallots and wine, and after a week or two it's ready for consumption. Anyone who has searched online for a home made version of a Starbucks coffee can relate to the desire to make your own. Period cooks were no different in this respect. Then there is walnut ketchup and mushroom ketchup. One thing that tends to tie the original ketchup, English ketchup, and mushroom ketchup (as well as soy sauce) together is that they all have that umami taste to them. Mushroom ketchup is a great way to add mushroom flavor to things when you may not have them around, and it would last through the season when they weren't available. I will try to find my notes so I can provide better details on things like dates. We're in the middle of selling our house so some things are hiding at the moment. I can tell you from personal experience that both the English Ketchup and Mushroom Ketchup are quite tasty. They are also quite different from one another.

To make a good Spanish Olio PERIOD: England, 17th century SOURCE: The Accomplish'd Lady's Delight In Preserving, Physick, Beautifying, and Cookery, 1675 DESCRIPTION: A stew of beef, lamb, veal, & poultry with vegetables & herbs Take a Rump of Beef, or some of a Brisket or Buttock, cut it to pieces; a Loyn of Mutton with the Fat taken off, and a fleshy piece of a Leg of Veal, or a Knuckle, a piece of inter-larded Bacon, three or four Onions, or some Garlick, and if you will, a Capon or two, or else three great Tame-Pigeons. First, put into the water the Beef and Bacon, after a while the Mutton, Veal, and Onions, but not the Capon or Pigeons, only so long till they are boyled enough; if you have Garavanza's, put them in at the first, after they have been soaked with Ashes all night in heat, wash them well in warm water; or if you have Cabbage, Roots, Leeks, or whole Onions, put them in time enough to be sufficiently boyled. You may at first put in some Crusts of Bread, or Venison Pye-Crust; it must boyl in all five or six hours gently, like stewing; after it is well boyled, a quarter, or half an hour before you intend to take it, take out a porringer full of Broath, and put to it some Pepper, and five or six Cloves, and a Nutmeg, and some Saffron, and mingle them well in it, then put that into the Pot, and let it boyl, or stew wuth the rest a while, put in a bundle of sweet Herbs, salt must be put in when it is scumm'd. ...bacon.

Chris Wills pointed me to this link for Jeff Pavlik, a Boulanger and historian out of Michigan. Jeff's site has some excellent descriptions, images and recipes for baking bread and other food of Colonial North America. http://colonialbaker.net/ The site even contains a write-up about the 'sea biscuit'. http://colonialbaker.net/english_sea_biscuit.html

Found this tidbit on a different site I moderate on, in our new 17th Century Forum: http://www.godecookery.com/engrec/engrec.html

so i was sitting here thinking about hardtack and wondered if there were any records of what was aboard any of the ships of the era for food.. (pirate, merchant or naval) and what a daily alotment would have actually been. we all know about the rations of rum, but i mean how many pounds of barrelled pork, how many pieces of biscuit. were there dried beans or rice aboard? now before anyone jumps in and says pirates would have taken it off a captured ship, well yeah- but what is documented that they took. I'm looking for things like blackbeards treasure that was on board the adventure as recorded by maynard. a few pounds each of sugar, cocoa, coffee or tea and some meats. not much in the grand scheme of a captain of 400 men in the end is it?

I was slightly fascinated by a description of a food called Manyoco from the 3rd Edition of the General History of the Pyrates by Charles Johnson. The text was not written by Johnson, rather "they were communicated to me by an ingenious Gentleman, lately arrived from those Parts." This information comes from a section in the Howell Davis account in the General History called "A Description of the Islands of St. Thome, Del Principe, and Annobono" (São Tomé, Príncipe and Annobón are islands in the Gulf of Guinea off the western coast of central Africa.) I was particularly curious about the 'engine' he mentions in this account: It turns out what the writer called 'Manyoco' (Manyoko) is a product of the Yuca Root. I learned this via a forum called Arrowheadology which is devoted to the study of Indians and Indian artifacts. Forum user MidlandMan on that site gives an explanation which agrees with the General History in many ways, although the General History author appears to have used the term 'manyoko' - an element of the processed yuca root - with the yuca itself. I was most interested to learn what the 'engine' referred to. You can read the full thread which includes several photos here on the Arrowheadology site.

I'm in "Hog Heaven" at the moment, my neighbor .... who's a hunter ..... gave me some wild pig ..... I've been smokin' a shoulder all mornin' and it's getting close enough to done that I'm able to start sampling ..... This might be better'n bacon!! Of course I'm not aiming to dry it out, we're having a mini pig roast here at the house, I have to mix up some RUM PUNCH to wash it down. I took the shoulder and covered it with Garlic Powder and Adobo, threw it on the smoker ..... fat side up..... with Mesquite charcoal and tossed on Oak logs cut to fit the fire box and let it go. We're roasting some yams and Acorn Squash to go with it ............ Joyous tidings ........ I found a bottle of Rum Punsh, that wasssss already mixxxed up .... Mistakenly thought it wassss Pussssserrr'sss until I tasted it!!!! Huzzah!!!!

So what is the difference between what is called a jelly, jam, preserves, or something like apple butter? Is it a difference in name, manufacture, or content?

All right, this one has me stumped. From John Woodall's book the surgions mate, we have this quote, a prescription for what to feed a patient following an operation: "...a comfortable Caudle [caudle is a syrupy gruel containing spices and wine or ale] for the first [day], if you see him weak; and afterwards Broths and Pannadons..." (Woodall, p. 175) Anyone have any idea what 'Pannadons' are? You should be aware that Woodall's book contains some of the most horrific spelling I have yet seen in a GAoP-era book, so the spelling of the actual word could be quite different.

If I have to explain it any further, you obviously don't understand.

I don't know if Shepherds Pie is a period dish but we eat it at least once a month during the cooler weather. How do you make yours?

Squids ain't my cup of tea, but they get mentioned as food in my stories. Not the big submarine-attacking type, but something more like the Caribbean Reef Squid. I haven't heard much about squid-eating in the Golden Age other than the possible use of squids in a chowder. How were squids used as food back then? How'd they get the squids? What class of people would eat them? Anything else I should know on the subject? If it helps, the ethnic groups involved would be mostly British and French colonials. Thanks!

Going back a few weeks ago, I caught the "Good Eats" episode on Paella. I've always wanted to try it, and the funny thing is, I think I first heard about it on an episode of "Seinfeld" (a show I rarely ever watched). So last weekend, while on a random shopping excursion looking for drapes (well Kate was looking for drapes, I was tagging along ), I was wandering around the kitchen wares aisle of the discount store (you know that one where they sell off the brand name stuff for cheap because they got all the goods from an overstocked factory or a business going under). Anyways, I saw a paella pan on the shelf an looked at it, and I was blown away by the fact that it was only $7! So I bought it, and then went out the next day to buy all the ingredients I needed to cook up a batch. Let me tell you, I was very happy about my $7 purchase. So I did some more reading, and have found there are a lot of variants on paella. I've found vegetarian versions, seafood versions, mixed almost jambalaya versions... I don't think I have been so excited about a food preparation style since I tried risotto some years back. But Paella is soooo much better than risotto! So, I was wondering if there are any others out there who have had the obsession in the past, or still do, and what recipes you have tried or particularly like? Edit -> I looked into the history of the dish a little, and while the modern version seems to have come about in the early 20th century, the concept is traceable back to at least the early to mid 19th century. It might go back further than that, but in my quick first glance at the easy sources, it looks like it doesn't go back too much further than that. If anyone has more information about the history of the dish, I'd love to hear about that as well!