How José Andrés Makes A Massive Open-Fire Paella

[upbeat music]

Hello, people of America.

I am Chef José Andrés

and welcome to my house.

Well, this is actually my backyard.

And today, you and I,

we're gonna make paella together.

Paella, my friends,

is the name of the pan,

the very shallow pan

where we cook rice in 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 gonna 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 am gonna show you

how to make the paella in an open fire

like my father showed me

almost more than 40 years ago.

[bright music]

We have the bounty of all the vegetables

in the farmer's 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 gonna 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 gonna give some agility.

It's a nice texture on 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.

[bones cracking]

Do you hear?

Oh, yeah, I broke the bones.

No big deal,

but it's gonna make it easier

to find that place

that you're gonna go with a knife

and you're gonna be almost separating the legs

from the breast and the carcass

with almost no effort.

You go and you put the knife,

and there you can see that much

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 gonna 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 gonna be cutting

right here like I'm doing.

When you find something here towards the neck

that is kind of hard,

that's the wish bone.

I'm gonna cut through the bone like this.

You see?

Wah.

One time.

If you do it hard,

you're not gonna hurt yourself.

It's easy.

But I already cut 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 are even more than the meat.

This is what's gonna 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's bone in

and everything.

They will cut the chicken in smaller pieces,

but farmers, the same size.

And now, my friends,

I have all these whole chicken

and all these chicken wings.

And with this

and all these vegetables,

we're gonna make a great paella,

or arroz,

of chicken with vegetables.

All right?

[upbeat music]

Okay, people.

Ready to cook the paella.

Ah, this is a big one.

So you see, this is the paella.

It looks like a UFO.

Yeah, it does look like a UFO.

Even I have one that can fit 500 people.

It's like two meters 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 gonna 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 gonna start with the vegetables.

This is kind of strange

because usually a paella

everything goes in and nothing goes out.

But this way

we're gonna 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 smaller.

Why?

Because vegetables cook fairly quickly.

Thicker, it's okay,

don't go for 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.

[vegetables sizzling]

That's a celebration.

Do you see how the vegetables are getting brown?

That's good news.

And now we're gonna 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 gonna put them right here

at the last moment.

And now,

now we're gonna add some salt.

Why?

Because the vegetables are telling me.

Can you hear them?

[vegetables sizzling]

Don't worry,

it's not too much.

So now I'm gonna start taking the vegetables out

and I'm gonna be putting them back

in the same pots I had.

Now they're all happy

because they're all together.

Okay, babies,

don't be unhappy.

You are gonna come back.

Sometimes you need to talk to your vegetables

and to your ingredients

so they know what's going on.

They're very much like us.

Yeah, don't worry.

And yeah, you got it.

We need more oil.

Why?

Because it is 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's 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 gonna be using water today.

So we're gonna have to be cooking the chicken

with the 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 cooked inside.

This way, the paella is gonna be even better.

Make sense?

And there we go with the chicken wings.

And now we put the breasts.

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 gonna be wondering why now.

Well, the carrots are a root, right?

They're under.

And now it's 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 it's an important moment.

Everything in the middle,

I open a little bit on the edges.

Pimenton.

What is pimenton?

Pimenton is paprika,

a Spanish paprika

that is 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 are making like a sofrito,

only with the oil,

the pimenton

and the tomato.

But the sofrito will be a base,

a mother sauce

that will allow you to make many other dishes.

Here it's gonna be caramelizing,

getting all this flavor.

It's gonna be amazing.

So I'm gonna put the saffron,

and I'm gonna cook it very quickly

or I'm gonna burn it.

Saffron, obviously,

we grow it in 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 gonna put 15 quarts of water.

I'm crazy?

Yeah, probably.

15 quarts of water

because I'm doing one and a half kilos.

One pot of rice is 1 to 10.

I think it's something very profound

when you are able

to make a paella from scratch,

from water.

And this is another trick.

Put the saffron in this hot broth.

It's like if you're making 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 it's boiling,

even this boiling,

you have to put more wood in this side

because the flames are gonna be moving.

Just 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.

[Crew] Do you stir this or no?

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 nonstop.

Who does that?

Spanish people,

we drink,

we watch, we smile,

we celebrate,

and we let the fire do its work.

So we are using this amazing rice,

a friend of mine, Molina Roca.

It's unbelievable.

Comes from Valencia,

bomba rice that everybody knows.

There is more rice than bomba.

We have a lot of different types.

Paella rice,

bomba rice.

It's called bomba.

In a way, it's almost like a little ball.

It's a very small,

very short grained rice.

This is gonna be tripling,

quadrupling in size.

It's how much this rice gelatinizes

and is absorbing the liquid.

That's it.

And in this moment, my friends,

with all the rice,

now I'm gonna 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 gonna be around 16 minutes and a half, 17.

This is good.

Already the evaporation began,

already the rice starts.

And now, my friends,

is the moment I'm adding the vegetables.

Right now, an ingredient that is as important

is this 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 we can never forget.

This is the moment

you're gonna 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,

one minute or two,

I take now all the rosemary out.

You see the boiling keeps going

and still we are eight minutes away

from being finished.

But there still is a lot of water

that needs to evaporate

so I need this to still be heavy.

[upbeat music]

But now is when this is getting hot

and without any moisture.

The rice very quickly

may be sticking to the bottom.

But there is a very thin line between

achieving that perfect

crunchy round 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 it has no more liquid.

So now you see

we have a perfect layer in the bottom,

not too thick.

It is 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?

[Crew] Over to the table, yeah.

People!

The rice is talking to me.

The rice is saying,

José, I'm happy.

Oh, my God, my elbow.

[José speaking Spanish]

Are we putting it here?

My wife knows?

[Crew] Yes.

You want her to kill me?

I'll kill you.

Okay.

Well, you see,

this looks like a very precious,

gorgeous paella pan with beautiful rice

that has been perfectly gelatinized

with the chicken,

the vegetables that play the role.

Actually, I don't care about the vegetables,

I don't even care about the chicken.

I only want the fork

that is gonna go into my mouth

to be this one bite of amazing flavorful rice.

That's paella 101.

Oh, yeah, precious.

Ah, look at it.

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.

Mm.

I am in Valencia.

I am in Spain.

I'm such a good cook.

And obviously

we got some socarrat.

You can see the brownness in the bottom.

But you can see

that the brownness in the bottom was achieved.

You know,

you are only as good as the last meal you made.

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.

It's the best feeling in the history.

The best feeling in the history.

[gentle music]