Posted by johngl
A few weeks ago, BigDMcC got a paella pan. Not your normal run-of-mill 13-15 inch thing either. It’s a real paella pan, running right at 22″ in diameter.
Now, any bright person might wonder how in the world you cook something in a 22″ pan. More on that later.
First, you’ll need a fire pit.
Now, I know, that might be a deal killer. Any recipe that starts with a line like that is pretty daunting. But, I’ve had this fire pit for several years…
No, really though, if you get a normal-sized pan, in the 13-15″ size, you can do the same kind of thing in your oven or on the stove top. Even better, break out that old Weber Kettle grill and use it’s magic yet again.
The above photo show garlic cloves, red bell pepper slices, orange bell pepper slices, and yellow peppers in olive oil, sauteing nicely upon the old-reliable Weber.
The paella, fully assembled. This was my first one. I learned a lot of lessons. The primary one is there is a fine line between socorrat, that finely caramelized bit of rice that sticks to the bottom of the pan and burnt rice. Sadly, my first paella suffered from the latter. The paella was made up of several types of wild game birds including duck, pheasant, chukar, and quail. It wasn’t completely ruined, just not quite what it could have been. I also discovered that duck isn’t the best choice for paella.
Even a blessing from Eee wasn’t good enough to make it right.
All was not lost. The 22″ one came out just right. BigD had done his research. He used the traditional rabbit, chorizo, chicken, and bomba rice (the most favored for paella).
Note the stock warming on the fire pit. That paella pan contains the sofrito.
Sofrito is one of those magic combination of things, usually garlic, onions, and tomatoes, that can make or break a particular dish. This one tasted marvelous.
Once the sofrito is ready, the stock is added, the previously pan-seared meat is laid out, the rice is stirred in, and about 40 minutes later, 20 of which is resting, we’re ready to dig in.
This 22-incher is supposed to feed 16 people. The five of us blew through half of it in a heartbeat.
I would share BigD’s recipe, but I am sworn to secrecy. There may be a competition coming up and we wouldn’t want to reveal any secrets.
I’m preparing to enter my first paella competition here in Austin – Paella Lover’s United. I’d like to build an outdoor fire pit like yours. Do you have any instructions and advise on building it? I’m especially curious about what you put in the bottom/floor of the pit and if you lined the inside with anything. Thanks!
I used lava rock to line the bottom. The rest of the pit is just the stack stones I picked up at Lowes. This is decidedly low tech.
I was a judge at last years PLU event and their pits are even more simple than mine: Just a few concrete blocks with a grate over top.