Arroz de marisco: Portuguese seafood rice

Portugal (coastal)

Portuguese seafood rice — a loose, almost soupy preparation that is emphatically not paella, risotto, or arroz a banda. Arroz de marisco is its own thing: a tomato-based seafood stock with short-grain rice cooked to a loose, saucy consistency, heavily loaded with mixed shellfish (clams, mussels, prawns, lobster), and finished with cilantro and olive oil. It should be so loose it can almost be poured. The distinction from paella is fundamental: no socarrat, no dry rice, no restraint with stock. Arroz de marisco is the abundant, generous, imprecise opposite of paella's discipline — and its own kind of perfection.