Paella of the Land Recipe (2024)

I've lived in Spain for nearly 40 years and do a lot of paellas. Purists throw up their hands in dismay over onion, chorizo, etc., but I find paella works with all sorts of ingredients. I do, however, shy away from chorizo as its strong flavor can overpower things like rabbit or chicken.Bacon is a good substitute for the "jamón" (expensive & hard to find), and in the US Italian "risotto" rice (alborio or carnaroli) is a fair substitute for Spanish short-grained rice.

Que manía con el chorizo en una paella.
Let's see, a paella, an authentic paella, NEVER has chorizo-it's a matter of substance-; an oven-baked rice can carry chorizo- now it's a matter of taste-, and there is more than a subtle difference between these two ways of cooking and tasting rice, at least in Spain.
By the way congratulations for recommending Calasparra Rice, I agree it's the best in the world for paella.

My Basque grandparents cooked in cast iron but were flexible re chorizo. Calm down...

You can grill the meats in a grill pan, and cook all together either in a hot oven or over gas burner.

I'm just some filthy Canadian, but I've never had a paella that didn't have chorizo in it. I can't imagine it without and was surprised to learn from these comments that chorizo isn't considered a paella ingredient.If I've learned to accept that poutine can contain ingredients beyond fries, curds and gravy and still be considered poutine, then I think we can apply the same flexible thinking to other national dishes. Food is great and not a contest; don't let anyone tell you how to enjoy it.

does anyone care? chorizo tastes great in paella.

I've used both Iranian and Spanish saffron and prefer the Iranian by far; it has a rich, dreamy aroma. Definitely worth seeking out.

Just great. Very flexible and delicious

Chorizo. Paella is the name of the pan. As a result, a multiplicity of flavored rices can be cooked in it. All are paella. In Valencia, the Arabs planted rice in a large fresh water lake, the Albufera. Here is where paella originates. It is Arabic in spirit. The flavors are as important as the contrast of textures, crunchy, mellow, and chewy. Chorizo, like paprika, is from Castille. It has a different spirit: wintery, hardy, bold —and pasty, buttery. It is not a summer, textural team player.

I'm just some filthy Canadian, but I've never had a paella that didn't have chorizo in it. I can't imagine it without and was surprised to learn from these comments that chorizo isn't considered a paella ingredient.If I've learned to accept that poutine can contain ingredients beyond fries, curds and gravy and still be considered poutine, then I think we can apply the same flexible thinking to other national dishes. Food is great and not a contest; don't let anyone tell you how to enjoy it.

I do like a bit of chorizo in my paella, but I take it out of the casing and brown it in the pan with the onions. They nicely soak up the fat. I find it flavourful but not overwhelming of other meats or veg this way.

I was looking for a different way to do chicken thighs, and this fit the bill well. No rabbit, which is ridiculously difficult to find, so we did without, but I'd love to try it with. I did this as a one-pot dish, and it worked out great, though I used a pound bag of rice, not a kilo, which would have been overkill, and a quart of chicken stock was pretty well sufficient. I would counsel against using heavy salt on the chicken thighs, since there's quite a bit of salt in the sausage and ham.

My Basque grandparents cooked in cast iron but were flexible re chorizo. Calm down...

Not a great recipe. Took so long for the rice to cook. Chicken thighs are not a great addition. Would never cook this again

Sounds good. I wish I knew where to buy rabbit. Maybe I need to go hunting soon.

I've lived in Spain for nearly 40 years and do a lot of paellas. Purists throw up their hands in dismay over onion, chorizo, etc., but I find paella works with all sorts of ingredients. I do, however, shy away from chorizo as its strong flavor can overpower things like rabbit or chicken.Bacon is a good substitute for the "jamón" (expensive & hard to find), and in the US Italian "risotto" rice (alborio or carnaroli) is a fair substitute for Spanish short-grained rice.

I, as well as the other 30 people I cooked this for, loved it. Including the chorizo.

Please I beg you don't add chorizo and ham to the paella.
Thank you.
I am from Spain.

Que manía con el chorizo en una paella.
Let's see, a paella, an authentic paella, NEVER has chorizo-it's a matter of substance-; an oven-baked rice can carry chorizo- now it's a matter of taste-, and there is more than a subtle difference between these two ways of cooking and tasting rice, at least in Spain.
By the way congratulations for recommending Calasparra Rice, I agree it's the best in the world for paella.

Hi everyone,
Why do you have a 1-kilogram bag short-grain Spanish rice listed? Can you suggest some substitutes for the weight of the bag and for the Spanish rice so that we can check out our local grocers. Thanks very much.