If you haven't already, visit Albert Bevia's blog "Spain on a Fork" He may have a paella you might like.

Thanks for the suggestion. That's another that boils the protein with the rice--calamari rubber bands.

Thank-you! That sounds like paella!

I used to be a big paella snob, considered the only worthy paella to be the original poor rural folk paella made with rabbit and snail, and had to be made over a wood fire or don’t bother. I’m less pretentious now, I’ll make it with seafood on a grill or even on burners indoors. We haven’t had our 2025 paella party, the year is so discombobulated we may not get around to it :-(

I'm not a snob on it--my mother used paella to hide leftovers--but I appreciate the purity of yours above. It's the kind of thing I think of as "real" paella. No boiling already cooked squid! I've never had snails in. That sounds cool, though I'm wondering how they come out with a dinner fork. In fact, I think I've only had snails in garlic butter. ;) I get the must of the woodfire when your cook is timed to the lifespan of the fire. I've had good (non-purist) paella made in a big cast iron on an electric stove. It's the heat in the pan that matters, not how it got there, except for the romance of it all, and the fact that it's so flippin' humid in many parts of Spain in the Summer that lighting the stove inside is a, um, non-starter. The "gazpacho" I loved as a kid (not something my mother made) was a cooked variation I ran down the origin of online long enough ago not to remember it, but the Andalucian recipe that's my current favorite is pointedly thickened with bread because there was no way the shepherds were going to light a fire in the Summer to make their soup.

I don't think there's A paella. It depends on where in Spain you are. Whether you have snails, chicken, fish.....

If you want and can read spanish put. es after your search!

Duh! Thanks for the search tip. I didn't think of that!

You're right, of course that there isn't a single kind, and I imagine all those recipes on the English-speaking part of the 'net, claiming authenticity, may truly be some Spanish granny's recipe. It's just when bad cookery is part of the directions, I don't care if it's "authentic" and if the grandchild thinks squid is supposed to have the texture of rubberbands because granny made it that way, doesn't make it a good recipe. There are similar nostalgic for bad cooking foods in my family history, but .i'd never publish them as "authentic", which they are, because they're not good. John's rather romantic and exacting method agrees with the kind of paellas I've seen and eaten, with my mother's housewifely versions, with the ones I've seen on TV travelogues... I accept, especially with Spanish round rice, not toasting the rice plus cooking it with the sofrito, and other variations, and even building the proteins in the pan before the rice and boiling them if they're old goat and tough chicken.

My problem with paella is that it gets cold too fast, and so I have never bought a paella pan. I make Jambalaya instead, which can be made with the same ingredients as paella (if you wish) and does not get cold in the pan. I will never make anything with rabbit (which I've had in the past and did not like), but I do like snails. I've had paella at El Cid Sunset in Silver Lake, which we visited for the flamenco dancers, and it was terrible, although the dancers were good. I've also had it at parties, where it was better but still got cold quickly.

I've had churros in Mexico and Texas and never wanted to make them myself, mainly because I do not think they would be worth the effort. I do make cream puffs and eclairs, however, plus popovers, which are a bit similar in that they have a crunchy exterior and are hollow.

There is a Catalan Restaurant in Rancho Mirage that I have driven past many times, and it has intrigued me, but we haven't been there yet. I haven't been to Spain, and so I've had limited experience with Spanish food. I've been to La Española Deli (near San Pedro), but I mostly just bought ham, chorizo, and cheese there - not any prepared dishes. I think I would enjoy a good tapas restaurant - there are a couple in the Coachella Valley.

I'd love to hear what desert tapas are like, Lars! (I assume less about the bounty of the sea.) Do tell us if you go.

I'm not a great fryer, but making churros isn't that hard. I've only done small batch, so I've only made 6-8", in a smaller pot, but they came out fine. There might be more of a trick to getting the centers right on the full length ones, I could use a churro tip, though. My star tip is okay, but the ridges aren't quite as sharp. Close, though. ;)

I do believe we will make a paella this fall again, it's been a lovely summer to lead into a crisp fall -- we've done it many times through the years in differing variations, never snail and rabbit, but not always seafood either. - often chicken and sausage or vegetarian... to me, the vegetables (tomatoes!, red peppers ! fava beans or the like), broth and rice with a perfect socarrat make it to die for ! Purchasing Colman Andrews 'Catalan Cuisine' made a nice addition to our eclectic cookbook collection.

We have 2 paella pans, the first a 17 incher when we served a crowd but I like the cast iron 12 inch one very much for us nowadays. It's been awhile, but we cook it over a firepit and will try it on our new breeo grill gadget soon, maybe being able to raise/lower it will help. The trick is keeping the fire right, I have burnt the socorrat more than once... it's always fun though with forgiving adventurous friends

Regarding tv shows, I remember watching Bobby Flay make it on tv years ago before I'd ever heard of it -- it was inspiring but it seemed like it was just a show and demonstrating the idea rather than a real recipe . I miss the older food network shows, they seem like competitions nowadays. They are very fun to have on, I can see my TV from my kitchen :)

Anyway, thank you all for your conversation , I appreciate your fun ways and inspiration!

Here's something that sprung to mind all these years later :

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/aug/18/how-to-cook-perfect-paella

The comments are brilliant. Forgive me but I hope it's worth it to post such a long comment from the guardian article, I thought it a well-written, memorable and entertaining story :

(from 'joemateix' in the guardian article) .

Unless you are in Valencia (Region, not city), you can do what you want. If you are dealing with Valencians, it's sound advice to look and learn. Ten years ago I was building a railway station north of Barcelona, and the contractors were from Valencia. Always keen to keep their architect happy, they proposed a "paella" (which is in fact the name of the flat pan, not the dish) following the next site visit. We arrived on site at the same time as the ubiquitous white van arrived, towing a small trailer carrying a 2m diameter paella. Work stopped as the 30 strong team of builders began chopping down the obsolete timber telegraph posts situated adjacent to the track, carefully avoiding the lower two metres as they were impregnated with creosote. Meanwhile the steelworkers expropriated some reinforcing bars and soldered up a stand for the paella. The wood was then chopped into pieces the size of a swiss roll, the fire prepared and the paella placed on the stand. 5 ducks, half a dozen rabbits, a bucket of garrofó beans (similar to large round butter beans), a bucket of green beans, a couple of sacks of rice, a dozen heads of garlic, a couple of trays of over ripe tomatoes, a sack of onions, a bucket of soaked garbanzos and a plastic water tank emerged from the white van. The contents of the van all came from La Albufera, the large semi-saline lagoon to the south of Valencia City: the ducks and the rabbits had been shot a few days before, and the water drawn from a well that very morning.

The ducks were plucked, the rabbits skinned, and the carcasses roughly cut up and thrown into the paella with some olive oil and browned. The meat was then removed, and first the onions, then the whole heads of garlic and finally the mashed tomatoes were chucked into the oil and meat juices. The temperature was controlled by judiciously squirting water on to any pieces of wood deemed to be burning too fiercely, and the paella was occasionally removed by four men to prevent burning and to allow the sofrito to "rest". The rice, a cup of saffron stems,the green beans and garrofós were all added, left to fry gently for about 5 minutes whilst being stirred with a huge wooden paddle until various litres of were added. Once about half of the water had been absorbed, the meat was returned to the paella, and all stirring ceased. Cold beers were then taken whilst the foreman and his gang carefully raked and squirted the fire to ensure the right temperature, and everybody else just shot the breeze under the awning of the partially demolished bowls club house, which had mysteriously acquired a huge working fridge since the week before. About 20 minutes after the addition of the meat, the paella and stand were removed from the embers and left to stand for a further 10, covered with a layer of rosemary sprigs. Meanwhile, a table had been made of timber shuttering on concrete blocks, and the chilled valencian red wine was served. I probably do not need to describe the results, although I would just like to point out that roasted/boiled whole heads of garlic acquire the texture of butter after that kind of treatment. Three hours later I signed the site safety notebook declaring all building work suspended due to inclement weather, and prohibited anybody from going on site or within 5 metres of the railway line, along which zoomed the Barcelona-Paris/Zurich express at regular intervals.

Don't try this at home folks.

What a delightful article (even though there was further abuse of squid) and even more delightful story of the workmens' build as you go paella fire and stand. That is very cool!