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Hello people of America. I am Chef Jose Andres and welcome to my house. Well, this is actually my backyard and today you and I we're going to make paella together. Paella, my friends, is the name of the pan. The very shallow pan where we cook rice in a Spain. A paella is about the rice. The rice is like a sponge and that sponge absorbs all the flavor of all the ingredients and possible the bottom is going to get crunchy, what we call the socarrat. And if you are able to achieve this, this is perfection. So, the most traditional paella, paella valenciana, will be things like chicken, rabbit, green beans. But today I'm going to show
you how to make the paella in an open fire like my father showed me almost more than 40 years ago. We have the bounty of all the vegetables in the farmers markets all across America in the middle of the summer. I got the vegetables I found. But the important part here, the chicken, my friends. I guess the first thing you do is you take the head out. I mean, we can put it. You want me to put it? I'm going to put it, yeah. Okay, goes in there. I go and I cut the neck right there. Then I go and I cut the wings. Then the feet. And my friends, my feet go into
the paella. Why? Because they're going to give some more gelatin. It's a nice texture in your lips. So, we go and we cut the wings. Let's go. One and two. There we go. So, what I like to do sometimes is use upside down. Take a look. Listen. Do you hear? Oh, yeah, I broke the bones. Not a big deal, but it's going to make it easier to find that place that you're going to go with a knife and you're going to be almost separating the legs from the breast and the carcass with almost no effort. Usually go and you put the knife and there you can see that almost without cutting you are almost separating the bone from the rest of the carcass.
Down here, right now, you got the first leg. Piece of cake. You do the same with the other one. And obviously we keep the skin. Why? Because I love the skin. Why? Because it's going to be protecting the meat. And why? Because the skin is very delicious. You have the line right here that shows you where to cut. And you're going to be cutting right here like I'm doing. When you find something here towards the neck that is kind of hard, that's the wishbone. I'm going to cut through the bone like this. You see? Wow, one time. If you do it hard, you're not going to hurt yourself. It's easy, but I already cut it through it. I already separated the two breasts.
Make sense? Great. I'm not deboning anything. I want all the bones part of the paella because the bones, even more than the meat, is what is going to be giving the flavor to the stock that we are about to make in the paella itself. That's why it's so important to be using the whole chicken bone in and everything. They will cut the chicken in a smaller pieces, but almost the same size. And now, my friends, I have all this whole chicken and all these chicken wings. And with these and all these vegetables, we're going to make a great paella or arroz of chicken with vegetables. All right? Okay, people.
Ready to cook the paella. Ah, this is a big one. So, you see, this is the paella. Looks like a UFO. Yeah, it does look like a UFO. Even I have one that can fit 500 people. It's like 2 m long, bigger. So, you know, the paella is very shallow, right? Because if you make a paella that is this thick of the rice, the rice that is right in the middle always is going to be cooking more. If you make a paella that the layer is thinner, the rice cooks so much more evenly. This is what makes paella cooking so extraordinary to cook the rice to perfection. I'm going to start with the vegetables. This is kind of a strange because usually a paella everything goes in and nothing goes out. But this way we're going to be having
certain control over these vegetables. The squashes, even the green beans, the cauliflower. And it's better that you cut them slightly bigger than a smaller. Why? Because vegetables cook fairly quickly. Thicker it's okay. Don't go for a small. My wife loves vegetables. And the more I put, the happier she is. So, who you think is in charge? Look at how happy they are. You see? They're celebrating. Listen. That's a celebration. Do you see how the vegetables are getting brown? That's a good news. And now we're going to add the mushrooms.
Why at the end? Because you know, mushrooms they have so much water content that will make the entire pan watery very quickly. So, I'm going to put them right here at the last moment. And now we're going to add some salt. Why? Because the vegetables are telling me. Can you hear them? Don't worry, it's not too much. So, now I'm going to start taking the vegetables out. And I'm going to be putting them back in the same pot they had. Now they are all happy because they are all together. Okay, babies. Don't be unhappy. You are going to come back. Sometimes you need to talk to your vegetables and to your ingredients so they know what's going on. They are very much like us. Yeah, don't worry. And yeah, you got it. We need more oil.
Why? Because it's the time for the chicken to come into action. And the chicken goes in. It's always good to put one piece to make sure that it gets hot and then everything goes in. First, everything else that is not the breast. The reason we are cooking the vegetables separate from the chicken is this. We're going to be using water today. So, we're going to have to be cooking the chicken with a water around 10 minutes. Why? Because those 10 minutes I am making the stock. The chicken is cooking, but the chicken is giving flavor. I already got the flavor in the water. But these 10 minutes that I'm saving from the vegetables being cooking side.
This way the pie is going to be even better. Make sense? And then we go with the chicken wings. And now we put the breast, but it's okay if you put it before. Okay, people. Now the chicken, you can see the color. I'm adding the carrots right now. And you're going to be wondering why now? Well, the carrots are a root, right? They're under. And now is a good moment to add the salt. I like to do it at the end. Why? The same as the vegetables. To make sure that the salt doesn't let the chicken start crying and giving water away too early.
And now is an important moment. Everything in the middle, I open a little bit on the edges. Pimenton. What is pimenton? Pimenton is paprika. It's Spanish paprika that is a slightly smoked. This moment, I don't want the pimenton to burn. That's why the wine is handy. Now, the pimenton got the aroma. Ah. Oh, yeah. And the wine is helping to make sure I don't burn it. I mix. Again. And this is the moment I add tomato.
Skin and everything. And right here we're making like a sofrito. Only with the oil, the pimentón, and the tomato. But the sofrito will be a base, a mother sauce that will allow you to make many other dishes. Here is going to be caramelizing, getting all this flavor. It's going to be amazing. So, I'm going to put the saffron. And I'm going to cook it very quickly or I'm going to burn it. Saffron, obviously we grow it in a Spain. Are the pistils of the crocus sativus. That's the Latin name for this amazing beautiful purple flower that when comes to life gives you three pistils of saffron that people pick by hand one by one.
And it's such a delicacy. And my friends, this is the moment of truth. I'm bringing the water. I'm going to put 15 quarts of water. I'm crazy? Yeah, probably. 15 quarts of water because I'm doing 1 and 1/2 kilos. One part of rice is 1 to 10. I think it's something very profound when you are able to make a paella from a scratch, from water. And this is another trick. Put the saffron in this hot broth. It's like if you are making a tea. Like an infusion of saffron itself. This is another way to release not only the aromas of the saffron, but the other part of the saffron. The beautiful reddish orange color that saffron
provides to the rice dish. So, remember that then if here is less boiling, even it's boiling, you have to put more wood in this side because the flame is going to be moving. You should be ready to sweat. So, now we got the saffron infusion. Oh, yeah. And in this moment it's time to taste before I add the rice. But I like to try the broth before I add the rice. Do you stir this or not? Yeah, we're not like the Italians, and I like Italians. They're good people. But there's so many injuries with the risotto, man. I call it the risotto elbow. They make you stir rice for 30 minutes non-stop. Who does that? Spanish people we drink, we watch, we smell, we celebrate,
and we let the fire do its work. So, we are using this amazing rice, uh friend of mine, Molino Roca. It's unbelievable. Comes from Valencia, uh bomba rice that everybody knows. It's more rice than bomba. We have a lot of different types. Paella rice, bomba rice. It's called bomba rice almost like a little ball. It's a very small, very short grained rice. This is going to be tripling, quadrupling its size. This is how much this rice you let the rice is absorbing the liquid. That's it. And in this moment, my friends, with all the rice, now I'm going to make sure the fire doesn't stop. Because if it stops, I'm in trouble. Because now from the moment it's finished, it's going to be around 16 minutes and a half, 17th. This is
good. Already the evaporation begins. Already the rice is start. And now, my friends, is the moment I'm adding the vegetables. Right now, one ingredient that is as important is this is smoke that the fire is giving. The smoke that the wood gives to the paella is an ingredient as important as the rest of the ingredients. That's why the smoke can never forget. This is the moment you're going to be putting some branches of rosemary, doing a little infusion. I want only to release a little bit of the aroma of the rosemary into the paella. Rosemary has a very intense flavor. After some time, 1
minute or 2, I take now all the rosemary out. You see, the boiling keeps going, and still we are 8 minutes away from being finished. But there's still a lot of water that needs to evaporate, so I need to stir this be heavy. But now is when this is getting hot and without any moisture the rice very quickly maybe stick into the bottom. But there's a very thin line between achieving that perfect crunchy brown rice in the bottom from a rice that burns and you will have the aroma of burn. So that's why to bring it down to this dry perfection is so important. I'm controlling the overcooking of the rice used by making sure has no more liquid. So now you see we have a perfect layer in the bottom. Not too thick. It's very
shallow. Now is the moment to take it out and this is too big for me so I need help. Okay people. Okay, one. Where are we going? There? Over to the table, yeah. People. The rice is talking to me. The rice is saying, "Jose, I'm happy." Oh my god, my elbow. And you? Are we putting it here? My wife knows. Yes. You want here to kill me or kill you? Okay. Well, you see this looks like a very precious gorgeous paella pan with beautiful rice that has been perfectly latinized with a chicken, the vegetables that play the role and actually I don't care about the vegetables. I don't even
care ABOUT THE CHICKEN. I ONLY WANT the fork that is going to go into my mouth to be this one bite of amazing flavorful rice. That's paella one on one. Oh yeah. Precious. Ah. Look at you see we got a little bit of the brown. I'm serving myself the neck of the chicken and why not a wing. Oh yeah. Oh my god, the aroma. Mhm. I am in Valencia. I am in Spain. I'm such a good cook. And obviously we got some socarrat. You can see the brownish in the bottom, but you can see that the brownish in the bottom was achieved.
You know, you're only as good as the last meal you make. And the paella is the perfect dish to prove that you are one person with a fire, with your paella pan, and with your destiny. Time is the most precious thing we have. And when you put that time, if you like cooking, invest it into mastering the art of cooking a paella in an open fire, is the best feeling in the history.
