I Never Had REAL PAELLA Before... (Valencia, Spain)

Paella is a rice based dish that is cooked in a wide steel pan, in this case over wood fire. Paella originates in Valencia, Spain. It can be consider's Spain's National dish abroad. The base ingredients are Rice, short grain from Valencia, saffron, broth, tomato, garlic, olive oil. Then for the classic paella Valenciana, snails, rabbit and chicken and beans are added. Paella de marisco is seafood paella and can be served with different types of seafood, including langoustine, shrimps, mussels, fish, squid...

Head over to Wikipaella to find more information about REAL Paella.

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Director, Author, Host & Camera : Alex
Editor and Co-Author : Joshua Mark Sadler
Producer : Eva Zadeh
2nd camera operator : Antony Gomes
2nd Editor: Luca Hohler, Sean Miller

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Salut,

Alex

[Joseju]

OMG I'm so glad you got to experience an authentic paella. It's one of the best dishes we have. Good socarrat (the glazed starch at the bottom of the pan) is to die for. You might already know this, but most Valencians will tell you that real paella has no seafood in it, which is true. The most traditional form of paella has chicken, rabbit, green beans, a local bean called garrofó and sometimes artichokes. It has a different flavor profile but it's just as good if not better. While I'm no purist, I would encourage you to try the original paella recipe, because it's a perfect harmony of flavors and I'm sure you'd like it.

Love your videos! Cheers!

[maxgomez]

As a fellow Spaniard, THANK YOU. I've seen countless videos of people thinking they know how to make paella but it's so complex and hard to master. My grandma used to make it every Sunday for the whole family, and this dish is as special to me as the Bourguignon is to you. It just takes me right back to my childhood.

[Chronomatrix]

It's always sad when you hear people say they went to Spain, tried paella, and didn't like it. There's so many places serving bad paella, but the reason is simple: it takes a lot of time to do, it's hard to cook and even harder to do it well, so many restaurants do it the lazy way and sell the idea it's just rice with lots of things on top. If you are still in Spain you should try Fideuà as well.

[scothunter]

My stepdaughter lives in Valencia, and while visiting her, she took me for some “real“ paella. It really was as amazing as you described. I hope you will follow this video up with your experiments on how to prepare it yourself. I would love to learn that.

[thespanishchef]

Hi Alex! I knew this day would come!!! And you got it, it is a very technical dish and rice just like wheat, are the most difficult ingredients to master. Please let me help you master the dish I have dedicated more time in my life than anything else I have ever done. I am sure you are going to love the experience. My book Paella will be coming out in a few months and literally I just finished writing it after 2 and a half years on the making so I have ir all fresh in my brain. All the best amigo

[ironicsara]

I've been following you for years, and honestly, this is the series i've been waiting for the most. Enjoy the paella travel and the lovely caramelized crust called 'socarrat'

[Nara_NorthBlue]

As a Spaniard myself, this video warms my heart. A quick curiosity I don't think many will know, we tend to tease each other and sort of fight over what should or should not be in a paella, as in some people absolutely despise seafood paella, others say beans are out of the question, and whatnot. Probably because there are thousands and thousands of variants of it, with pretty much every family in the country having their own recipe to their own tastes.

[MrJoaquin]

I have never realized how much I wanted Alex to make a series about paella until this very moment, as a valencian im so looking forward to this

Man, watching you wait all by yourself really puts a note on the social aspect of really enjoying the meals we have here, the “sobremesa” talk that starts when laying the table up to a couple hours after the desserts are finished.

[yobgodababua]

Back in the early 2000s we were on the south coast in Nerja and walked down to the beach where a little restaurant was making Paella over open fires. As it was getting to evening, the local fishermen came in with their catch of assorted Mediterranean langostines, clams, squid, and other assorted sea-life which went pretty much straight from the boat directly into our Paella.
The flavors were so clean and rich, and the rice was perfect. It is still to this day on my list of "Top Ten Things I have eaten" .

[Kolvert]

As a native valencian I'm glad you enjoyed it. That bottom rice grains have a specific name in Valencian, it's called: "Socarrat" it translates as toasted to point of almost burning it.

[todo]

The thinness allowed by the width of the pan for the smaller amount of food is key here, it allows the rice to air out and not clump from the glaze, while also making the glaze at the bottom sticky and browned.

[rrrrricard]

As a Valencian, I am exited to see you'll be focusing your next series on our national dish!

[deetow__]

I just love how respectful Alex is with every gastronomy there is. It doesn't matter where he is, he always finds a way to put it out flawlessly and actually makes me want to try everything he talks about. I am becoming a better cook since I've followed his channel. I actually love cooking and his influence and charisma always hits.
I hope, as a Spaniard, to see more content from this beautiful country 😍

[lhoeo]

I'm so glad that you bring Spanish food to this channel! I have Spanish roots and I always thought that this cuisine is way too much underestimated! I hope and trust you will make it shine to the right, well deserved level. I can't wait to see your paella serie, and hopefully more videos on typical dishes from Spain (what about croquetas?). Cheers, salut

[roybackhouse]

I first tasted paella in Nerja. Ayo on Burriana Beach on a Sunday morning. An open restaurant. A big pan on a fire. What was happening. Then I watched. Transfixed at the performance of a master chef. Adding chicken, vegetables by the bucket load. The paella was 2 metres wide. Stock was poured in. Bubbling and alive.

I could not take my eyes off the whole amazing theatre. On a beach in Spain.

Then people started to come to the restaurant. Like a congregation to a church. To enjoy the paella. As a family together.

I was the journey and I look forward to your series Alex. Salut!

[DavisOnABike]

The most shocking thing for me was also the simplest. That is that the rice was basically in a single layer. In America the pan is filled very nearly to the rim. (My sister made it and there was an overflow pot, yes, gasp, a med saucepan, for the overflow, lol) So you get several bites without any caramelization at all. But here you get that in every single bite.

[annahernandez]

I am living in Valencia and swear my boyfriend’s mother paella is out of this world. Valencian people are VERY picky about their paella, and it’s true, once you try one of the good ones, all other paellas feel like a disappointment! I would recommend you try the classic “Paella Valenciana”. I prefer it to the seafood one 🤤

[Bucciamarcia]

I went to Casa Carmela last summer, after some locals (friends of friends) recommended it. Even after 7 years living in Spain, that was on a whole different level. Happy you got to enjoy it too!

[ThisIsMyFullName]

I just had dinner but this video still got me hungry. I've had Paella in Spain and I still dream about it sometimes. Those sticky crispy rice with a hit of tomato flavour together with the delicate seafood, it's a brilliant dish!