The Perfect Rice Recipe (Spanish Paella)

There are so many incredible rice dishes out there, but this one takes the cake as the most extravagant and simultaneously one of the easiest.

FOLLOW ME:
---------------------------------------------------------------

[diegonavarro]

Yep. Technique wise, flawless. You achieved the socarrat, did NOT stir the rice, and obtained a dry, separated rice. Despite that, chorizo is a hard no, use rabbit or pork, or even chicken instead ( please Valencians, I am trying to be a bit flexible here). Also use white big beans, that are quite common in east Spain, and there is no need to overcrowd it with sea food. Please take it as a nice critique, I do not want to be annoying or else, just to give you a bit of insight into the Mediterranean cusine.

[lucasiborrabascon]

One thing that, as a Spaniard, I must say: Use shrimp heads in the stock and fry them up in olive oil before and mash the heads a little to release the juices. Makes such a difference in the final dish!

[IRLTheGreatZarquon]

Regular viewers: this looks good af

Spanish viewers: C R U S A D E

[sjorsbertrand]

A lot of people commenting on this saying that Spaniards do not use chorizo in a paella, but fail to explain why. Chorizo isn't used in paella, not because it tastes bad, quite the opposite, but it takes away all the other flavors. Paella usually consists of individual ingredients and not pre-prepared things like sausages with a lot of spices. The idea of a good paella is that the rice absorbs the taste of all the individual ingredients. As a matter of fact, most traditional paellas do not have many ingredients at all. I do not say this to criticize - as a matter of fact my first attempt at making "paella" also was with chorizo, but I quickly learned that that is not the way how to do it.

[ednaacevedo]

I’m Hispanic and LOVE me a good paella. It may not be traditional, but I’m OBSESSED with the peas, carrots, corn, and cilantro in the pan with some heavier seafood. From lobster, crabs, shrimp to scallops, mussels, oysters, and calamari. I’m THAT foodie.

[martinlaukkanen]

Josh: * puts chorizo in paella
Spaniards: papa no kiss

[mariogarciaperez]

as a valencian I have some problems with this, such as mixing meat and seafood but the socarrat is impecable and you used saffron broth which is great. Also bomba rice, that was a nice surprise. Great dish👍

[danielagv]

Spanish here. This is one of the best paella recipes i’ve seen made by an American. Couple things to point at:
-We NEVER use chorizo.
-We don’t usually mix seafood and chicken but you can do it anyway.
-I'd have added more olive oil before putting the sofrito on the pan. Also, putting more olive oil at the end… we’re not here for it, haha.
-Personally, that paella is lacking some veggies like flat green beans.
-Lastly, you gotta put a little less rice in order to create a thin layer.

You did a very good job with that Socarrat Josh. Congrats and keep the work up!

[holly]

While I love seafood and seafood paella is great, I spent a couple months in Valencia and Valencian paella is by far one of the best things I’ve ever had. With rabbit, chicken, veggies and rice it’s much more simple than other kinds, but absolutely delicious. I still think about it sometimes

[charlottesometimes]

My dad makes paella on very special occasions. He actually makes it over our fire pit in the backyard. It's the most authentic tasting homemade paella I've ever had!! It took him YEARS to perfect his recipe, totally worth it lol💛

[JorgeGomez-cbvp]

Hey papa, spanish homie here. Although this may seem like it's no "proper" paella, it looks fucking delicious. Admitedly in Spain we never use chorizo in paella and fellow spaniards can get quite pissed off by that, but man, recipes are not set in stone. Just cause you use a single weird ingredient it doesn't make it any less of a paella. Thanks for the recipe and stay golden. Bravo!

[spanishchuckspadina]

Adding chorizo into a paella is the equivalent to adding jam to asian fried rice. This remembers me the memes that went on when actually, Jamie Oliver cooked a paella adding chorizo. But awesome job there with the colour and the socarrat very difficult to achieve actually! Well done! An advice for future paellas Josh, place your saffron in a some aluminum foil, fold the foil and toast in a pan for 30 secs. By toasting a bit the safron, avoiding it to burn, the rice will reach another dimension

[Lure_]

as a spaniard i've gotta say that a Valencian would be very angry at you, as a fellow cook i gotta say that looks amazing

[elisabm]

Very good technique and beautiful socarrat. For any non-Spanish viewers, keep in mind that this is not a traditional recipe, if you want one that's more traditional, use cheaper seafood than lobster and PLEASE don't add chorizo. No faster way to anger an Spaniard than adding chorizo to your paella.
With that in mind, I loved seeing Joshua try a Spanish recipe, and although the toppings were not the most purist, I bet it tasted amazing :)

[loufancelli]

The crust is the key! I've been making paella for a few years and it took a few attempts before I mastered the crust. One thing that you do differently from the recipe I received (from a local Spanish restaurant) is the soffrito. Their recipe calls for making the soffrito separately ahead of time, so I generally make a large batch of it the day before then use it over time. I will give your method a try and see how that turns out.

[lucasiborrabascon]

Just to clarify here: In Spain, there are paella-like dishes other than the true paella. The thing is, the true valencian paella is a denomination, so there is an actual right way to make it. Kinda like the italian ragou bolognese. That's not to say, tho, that we woouldn't deviate from it. We make the same dish in many other varieties in Spain too, the difference is that it is not called paella then, but "rice with". That way you can be as creative as you want. It's just that the word Paella is sacred. We Spaniards love rice with stuff, so paella-like dishes that use ingredients other than paella, its just somewhat of a crime to call it paella then. So what I am trying to say is that adding ingredients other than rabbit and chicken to a paella-like dish is a thing in Spain and it is also traditional, it is just called different. Although what is true is that our "rice with" dishes are more delicate then what you did. We use less protein and the sofrito sometimes is made for hours and then pureed (it's then called a salmorreta). The rice has to be the main character, and the other stuff shouldn't distract. Thats "rice with" philosophy.

[josema]

Well, in Spain we would say that's not a paella but considering you're in USA it's a really good effort, congrats

[alexchenoll]

As an Andalusian with Valencian genes this hurts me a little bit... I dont really like the seafood/mixed "paella" that is usually more common in Andalucia (south of Spain), I'm more a typical (and real) Paella Valenciana (from Valencia, east of Spain) thats made with chicken, rabbit and vegetables (also snails if you like them).

Also a few tips: we don´t realle use chorizo in ALL our meals as it seems to american/british people think, and the last touch of olive oil at the end isn't really a thing. Everything else was very well done.

Also fun fact: "paella" is really the name of the pan, not the name of the dish, but we use it anyway hahhahahahaha.

[catherinenorth]

I’d honestly love to see a video about soups. The basics and some techniques that are helpful :)

[julchni]

My friend who lives in a different country and I made this while in a Voicely chat it was so good and just generally a wholesome process. Thank you for the recipe and a reason to connect!!