good paella

tclubber said:
Is it possible to prepare a good paella in a normal sized pan (e.g. for 4 people) at all?

The reason I am asking is that I had some amazing paella at festivals, but it had always been prepared in a huge pan and then served portion wise.

I tried ordering "individual" paella at restaurants several times (served in a small pan) - it was never that good.

Never tried making one myself - to me, a good paella is one where the rice tastes right and has a rich "seafood" flavor itself, as if it had soaked in some flavor (and fat) from the meaty/fishy components. Not a slightest idea how to achieve that...
Click to expand...

the secrets to a good paella are these factors really:

for it to taste great, you need a good broth/stock. the difference in taste between an industrially made broth (which you can buy in any supermarket) and a home made one is massive. it's more work of course, but a home made fish broth is the basics to a perfect seafood paella.

the second thing is the pan - the secret to a perfect paella is a very thin layer of rice only. this is why a proper paella pan is completely flat, not very high, but very wide. like that, and after a good few trials you'll then slowly get the hang of it, getting to the point where the bottom of the pan has just a little crust (the so-called socarrat) while on top of the rice you've got just that tiny bit of moistness left while the rice is still firm to the bite.


here's how a perfect paella looks like

paella-de-marisco.jpg
 
I'm on the way to the paella house,how do I pronounce that word so I don't sound a fool ?
 
Okay so the in-laws are here now and looking for a good spot for paella. Must (unfortunately) have a veg or meat paella for the non seafood eaters
 
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