A paila () is a type of

cookware Cookware and bakeware is food preparation equipment, such as cooking pots, pans, baking sheets etc. used in kitchens. Cookware is used on a stove or range cooktop, while bakeware is used in an oven. Some utensils are considered both cookware ...

that in several Spanish-speaking

South American South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

countries refers to a large shallow metal pan or

earthenware Earthenware is glazed or unglazed nonvitreous pottery that has normally been fired below . Basic earthenware, often called terracotta, absorbs liquids such as water. However, earthenware can be made impervious to liquids by coating it with a ce ...

bowl A bowl is a typically round dish or container generally used for preparing, serving, or consuming food. The interior of a bowl is characteristically shaped like a spherical cap, with the edges and the bottom forming a seamless curve. This makes ...

which oftentimes is also used as a serving

plate Plate may refer to: Cooking * Plate (dishware), a broad, mainly flat vessel commonly used to serve food * Plates, tableware, dishes or dishware used for setting a table, serving food and dining * Plate, the content of such a plate (for example: ...

for the foods prepared in it. Dishes served in clay pailas are often prepared in the paila itself by way of baking in an oven. By extension, the word ''paila'' is also used for the dishes that are eaten from it, such as

paila marina ''Paila marina'' is a traditional Chilean seafood soup or light stew usually served in a paila ( earthenware bowl). It usually contains a shellfish stock base cooked with different kinds of shellfish and fish. These are complemented with a ...

and paila de huevo. An advantage of the clay paila is that clay retains heat well and keeps foods warm. Its Valencian equivalent is the

paella Paella (, , , , , ) is a rice dish originally from Valencian Community, Valencia. While non-Spaniards commonly view it as Spain's national dish, Spaniards almost unanimously consider it to be a dish from the Valencian community, Valencian region ...

, which is simply referred to as ''arroz'' (

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima ''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown i ...

) by the locals.

Etymology

''Paila'' derives from

Old French Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intelligib ...

''paele'', from Latin ''patĕlla''. It is first attested in Spain in the 16th century, and both is diminutive (pailita) and aumentative (pailón) appeared at the time. Its cognates include modern French ''poêle'' and Catalan ''

''. Nowadays, the use of the term is widespread in Latin America but relatively rare in Spain, where the

doublet Doublet is a word derived from the Latin ''duplus'', "twofold, twice as much",