A modest Paella

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Rasmussj
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Re: A modest Paella

#21

Post by Rasmussj »

eastprong wrote:No Ralph, the secret to paella is the rice. Paella is a rice dish embellished with seafood and meats. Inland the Spanish use snails instead ocean shellfish.

Any good medium grain rice will work, but if you want the real thing:
http://www.tienda.com/food/products/rc-03.html?site=1

It's important to let a fond (crust) form on the bottom of the rice, so you do not stir. It's also the reason that paella pans are wide and shallow.
That is the only rice I use, just remember it is 4 parts liquid to 1 part rice. It also takes a while to cool compared to standard rice types. I use chicken stock to help flavor the rice a little more.
Jason

Mistermike
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Re: A modest Paella

#22

Post by Mistermike »

Interesting topic. The Portuguese section of Newark, which is known as the Ironbound is still around and going strong. It’s called the Ironbound because it’s separated from the rest of the city by an elevated rail line that is built on a tall rampart made with massive blocks of granite. The first time I visited the Ironbound I found the contrast with rest of Newark, which is basically a ghetto, shocking. There was absolutely no trash or graffiti, and one of the restaurants had elaborately carved wooden doors. When I asked someone how it is that no one has damaged the doors, they looked at me somewhat incredulously and told me that the bad element knew better and wouldn’t dare test their luck.
As for Paella, I have been playing around with it for years, both cooking it on the stove and outside over a camp fire. In my experience the short grain rice from California, which is commonly used for sushi, is virtually indistinguishable from the far more expensive rice from Spain. The brand I use is called Kokuho rose. The ratio that has worked for me (depends on the temp of the heat source) is 2-2.5 parts of liquid to 1 part rice. La Española Meats out of L.A. is a great source for pans, chorizo, and many ingredients from Spain.

ablecane
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Re: A modest Paella

#23

Post by ablecane »

Regarding chorizo, this is the best I've found.
http://www.mulayssausage.com/chorizo-sausage.htm

sevilla315
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Re: A modest Paella

#24

Post by sevilla315 »

Having a wife from Madrid, and having spent Summers and Christmas (well, Reyes) there for the past dozen years or more, I can definitely say I've had a few!
My father-in-law cooks them on a huge paella dish on the outside wood barbeque, enough to feed 4 families with seconds! He's perfected and refined his recipe for probably more than 40 years, and his contains chicken, prawns and crayfish. As stated above, no stirring of the soupy liquid, it's normally covered for the last 10 minutes with foil then served/eaten immediately after. My father-in-law declares it's ruined if not eaten immediately after the cooking. And as for day old paella... ;)
S

Pancho
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Re: A modest Paella

#25

Post by Pancho »

Like I said, not I'm not a cook but, my wife enjoys it a lot. It was a great Sunday

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ablecane
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Re: A modest Paella

#26

Post by ablecane »

Oh man....my mouth is waterin'.

NewUtahCaneAngler
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Re: A modest Paella

#27

Post by NewUtahCaneAngler »

Forgive me for bouncing a 4-year old thread, but I just ran across this and figured that the paella lovers might like some eye candy. I still have the complete kit, which I bought to feed my wedding guests a few years back. the pan is 36" and I had a custom holder with a ring on a tripod made to sit over the Cowboy Grill fire pit (or the ground when camping with large groups). Since I was the groom, I had someone else assemble and cook it after I prepped everything. Note, if you are new to paella cooking, DO NOT stir at this point in the process!

It fed 50 with enough leftover for another 20. If I make it to a local boo gathering, perhaps I could bring it if everyone pitches in for the ingredients. There are 14 1/2" and 17" pans for comparison. The 17 will feed 6 adults.

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Last edited by NewUtahCaneAngler on 02/03/21 18:36, edited 1 time in total.

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Rolf Jacobsen
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Re: A modest Paella

#28

Post by Rolf Jacobsen »

NewUtah I for one stand in awe! Here is our humble contribution.

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Brook Trout are God's way of saying everything is going to be all right.

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munsey w
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Re: A modest Paella

#29

Post by munsey w »

Rolf- that looks amazing....my parents lived in Puerto Rico for a while and learned to cook it there...absolutely one of my all-time favorites!

NewUtahCaneAngler
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Re: A modest Paella

#30

Post by NewUtahCaneAngler »

[quote="Rolf Jacobsen"]NewUtah I for one stand in awe! Here is our humble contribution.

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Nothing humble about your contribution. We share the same setup for small groups (you can do almost anything on a Weber kettle!). BTW, it appears that you pre-cook clams, and possibly shrimp, which is not necessary. Just add them in while there is still liquid in the pan...and always cook until you hear the rice speak to you. This is how soccarat is created :-). In this example, I quickly pre-cooked the shrimp in the pan to add flavor to the base, then set them aside until the final few minutes and then added them back. The clams will open in a few minutes.

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snorider
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Re: A modest Paella

#31

Post by snorider »

One of my favorite spanish dishes, but being inland by a 1000 miles with nary a snail to be found I often make it with shrimp, and a variety of grilled meats. I let the veggies, shrimp and maybe some chunks of cod cook with the rice, then as the rice is finishing I add grilled seasoned meats like grouse, elk, beef, chicken, sausage whatever I have around. It is like the spanish equivalent of hot dish!
Leave it as it is. The ages have been at work on it and man can only mar it. T.R.

Mistermike
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Re: A modest Paella

#32

Post by Mistermike »

eastprong wrote:
10/20/14 19:35
I think the secret to paella is the rice. Paella is a rice dish embellished with seafood and meats. Inland the Spanish use snails instead ocean shellfish.

Any good medium grain rice will work, but if you want the real thing:
http://www.tienda.com/food/products/rc-03.html?site=1

It's important to let a fond (crust) form on the bottom of the rice, so you do not stir. It's also the reason that paella pans are wide and shallow.
I get excellent results with Kokuho Rose rice from California. I have also used various paella rices from Spain at a significantly greater cost but failed to find a noticeable difference with the Kokuho Rose. As you said, obtaining a nice crust is key, requiring a bit of patience and skill, especially if cooking on a gas burner rather than a wood fire where it's actually easier to manipulate and control the heat.

Mistermike
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Re: A modest Paella

#33

Post by Mistermike »

KohanMike wrote:
11/22/21 14:21
Hello, I have a question. Is it necessary to sautee the rice when making Paella? I see recipes online, and they're always heating the rice for 3 minutes with sauteed garlic, onions, and peppers. Is this step necessary?

Why is it done anyways, and what would happen if I eliminate this process?
I don't think it's critical to toast the rice, but I believe it subtly improves the final product in terms of texture and flavor. Doing this is also a common technique for other rice dishes such as risotto, pilaf, and Mexican rice.

AlexP
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Re: A modest Paella

#34

Post by AlexP »

KohanMike wrote:
11/22/21 14:21
Hello, I have a question. Is it necessary to sautee the rice when making Paella? I see recipes online, and they're always heating the rice for 3 minutes with sauteed garlic, onions, and peppers. Is this step necessary?

Why is it done anyways, and what would happen if I eliminate this process?
Agree with Mistermike. Sautee / toast for a couple minutes the rice before you add the hot broth to the pan. There are people that add the broth first, I do sometimes so it is not a deal breaker. My main tip is to not overcrowd the pan with many ingredients, the rice is the star of the dish.

If you have Instagram, look my cooking profile: alejandroprietospain I have a couple posts with paellas and very short videos with the steps.

I think cooking an excellent paella is a very difficult dish to execute. Sure, you can cook rice with ingredients in a paella pan and get a tasty dish, but takes years to really mastered an exceptional paella.

Tight lines
Last edited by AlexP on 11/25/21 20:31, edited 1 time in total.

RaspberryPatch
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Re: A modest Paella

#35

Post by RaspberryPatch »

https://raspberryfisher.wordpress.com/2 ... t-version/

Frequently made in our housemade, and you see I have adapted some ingredients to what I can get. I prefer baked garlic, like using smoke duck, with shrimp, scallops and of course saffron. Lately, I have been using a finely chopped fig sausages.

Mole-Patrol
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Re: A modest Paella

#36

Post by Mole-Patrol »

I have found variations in the paella we have eaten in Spain. Some are mass produced in the cheaper tourist restaurants and bear no resemblence to those prepared by people with the time to build the dish stage by stage. One of the most enjoyable paella dishes was served in the Ebro valley region. It differed from the normal restaurant dishes in that it did not have the monotone paella spice taste and colour. In many restaurants all you can taste is the paella spices.

What this guy did is start in the middle with seasoned meat, in this case rabbit coated in smoked paprika. Once these had been given time to cook he added chopped chorizo and smoked ham. Around that went chopped tomatoes with basil, then onions, garlic and peas went around the outside. When they were almost cooked the rice was added over the onions and garlic and a few minutes later the hot stock that contained the paella spices was poured over the rice. Then it was dressed with a bit of sea food.

The individual flavours of the smoked paprika, rabbit, tomatoes, basil, smoked ham and chorizo could all come through strongly unlike the typical tourist restaurants where all you can taste is paella.
Regards,
Clive


I walk the paths where no one goes and cast to fish nobody knows

AlexP
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Re: A modest Paella

#37

Post by AlexP »

Mole-Patrol wrote:
12/05/21 15:19
Once these had been given time to cook he added chopped chorizo and smoked ham.
The vast majority of Spaniards think that adding chorizo to a paella is sacrilege. There was a serious uproar a few years ago when Jamie Oliver made a paella dish with chorizo.

I don't doubt that the dish you ate was delicious, but chorizo is a no no for paellas. Usually when they add chorizo, people do not call it a paella, but "arroz con cosas", rice with things.

I do love chorizo with rice, not picking up an argument here, just an observation. Good rice dishes do not have that tourist taste you referenced. The good dishes do not have that bright yellow color, obtained by heavy use of a colorant, usually derived from turmic.

Glad that you have enjoyed good rice dishes in Spain.

Tight Lines

Mole-Patrol
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Re: A modest Paella

#38

Post by Mole-Patrol »

AlexP wrote:
12/05/21 18:55
Mole-Patrol wrote:
12/05/21 15:19
Once these had been given time to cook he added chopped chorizo and smoked ham.
The vast majority of Spaniards think that adding chorizo to a paella is sacrilege. There was a serious uproar a few years ago when Jamie Oliver made a paella dish with chorizo.

I don't doubt that the dish you ate was delicious, but chorizo is a no no for paellas. Usually when they add chorizo, people do not call it a paella, but "arroz con cosas", rice with things.

I do love chorizo with rice, not picking up an argument here, just an observation. Good rice dishes do not have that tourist taste you referenced. The good dishes do not have that bright yellow color, obtained by heavy use of a colorant, usually derived from turmic.

Glad that you have enjoyed good rice dishes in Spain.

Tight Lines
Might be a Catalonia thing. It wasn't the only paella with chorizo we ate on that trip. Rick Stein also features chorizo in a recipe he claims to have discovered in that region. Hopefully, covid allowing, we will be following the Ebro all the way down from source to sea next spring. It will be interesting to see how the local dishes compare as we travel through various regions.

The yellow all over dishes are usually served in popular restaurants in tourist areas. Unless you get off the beaten track there is littls else offered.
Regards,
Clive


I walk the paths where no one goes and cast to fish nobody knows

eastprong
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Re: A modest Paella

#39

Post by eastprong »

Toasting (or sauteing) rice: I have found that by sauteing rice in oil first keeps the grain separates instead of lumping together. It must have something to do with starch release.

Chorizo in Paella: See the Wikipedia discussion on Chorizo. A Spanish food writer researched it and and found chorizo was indeed used historically.

Yellow rice: nothing beats the perfume of saffron, but if you're using smoked paprika or chorizo it can get overwhelmed. Try steeping achiote seeds in your oil before using, the New World approach to yellow rice, but of course it won't be "authentic" (but it's better than the taste of turmeric).

Mole-Patrol
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Re: A modest Paella

#40

Post by Mole-Patrol »

I find it hillarious that people can get so worked up about things like this. Possibly a result of social media enabling people to be outraged from the comfort of their own armchair.

I'll keep it quiet that I also use chorizo on my pizzas. Don't want to find a virtual horse's head in my bed :rollin
Regards,
Clive


I walk the paths where no one goes and cast to fish nobody knows

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