Currently, I’m on 100 Day Chef Stage, touring different Michelin starred restaurants in the World. Read about chef life; the mistakes I make, the lessons I learn and the characters I meet, as I learn from some of the best chefs in the world. (My journey so far.👉)
Follow Nicola Fairbrother on Instagram
How to cook the best paella in the world
The staff meal at El Monastrell, the restaurant, where I’m on a chef stage usually lands on the pass around 12.30am; if we are lucky it will come in from the outdoor fire pit, and it will be a paella cooked by head chef, Federico Pian.
Federico needs guinea pigs. Not literally (I hasten to add), but he needs mouths to feed. In September, he will compete in the International World Paella Championships, and is practising the recipe daily.
Today it turns out we are in luck.
The door swings open and smoke blows into the kitchen from outside. A paella pan is lifted onto the pass, so large its edges overhang the countertop.
“A comer!” commands Federico, and we don’t need to be told twice.
Chicken, Rabbit and Snail Paella
It’s soon gone. Each caramelised grain of rice is scraped from the base of the pan, the last smears of red saffron oil mopped up with bread.
Soon, the rabbit is just bones on our plates, the snails just empty shells.
It is one of Federico’s best. We tell him, he barely nods, giving little away, he knows this paella business is a fickle art to master.
Best authentic spanish paella recipe
At the World Paella Championships each team will attempt to to cook the best paella recipe using the exact same paella ingredients.
As well as rabbit, chicken, green beans, white butter beans the official recipe also calls for snails.
Temperature control is vital to ensuring the rice cooks properly, but that’s not easy over an open flame. It’s all about instincts.
Watching Federico cook a paella reminds me of a shark circling its prey.
Heat Control
For 16 minutes or so the rice is cooking, Federico doesn’t stop makes adjustments. He moves quickly around the flames, watching for the right amount of bubbles, intuiting if he needs to push more wood through so the flame burns hotter.
Staff meals are incredible
Over the next month, I eat 17 paellas for staff meals.
Eating world class paellas are a huge perk of this life a chef stagiare and was meeting Mugaritz head chef Andoni Aduriz a few days ago.
For me it’s also a crash course in understanding the finer details of paella.
By rice number 9 or 10, I’m beginning to get it.
My education is helped by the kitchen staff who verbally dissect each last grain. Put any group of Spaniards around a paella, and they will do the same.
Chefs are no different, and lunch soon becomes an examination.
What about the arroz? Does it have enough bite? Too salty? Too bland? Is the rabbit still tender? Is it the right colour?
Socarrat
And the all important question: is there socarrat?
Socarrat is the sought-after caramelised bottom layer of rice. Just the right side of being burnt, a good socarrat should be deep brown, sweet and nutty. Nail the socorrat and you are well on the way to making the best paella recipe of your life.
What makes a good paella great?
Despite being made with the same ingredients, each paella is subtly, yet significantly different.
And it’s mastering those differences that turns good paella into the best paella recipe in the world.
Practise makes paella perfect
The only way to master any skill is to repeatedly practise it. But even that is not enough. To get better you need to be constantly focusing on the details, and feeding that information back into your set of skills.
To progress, you need to be asking a set of three crucial questions:
What about has worked? What hasn’t? And what do I need to better the next time around?
This trio of questions stood me in good stead while I was training to become a world judo champion.
The best paella ever
By September Federico is practising almost daily, and our staff meals are consistently delicious. There’s no doubt in our minds Federico is going to nail it – but will the judges agree?
The judges blind taste the paellas taking into account the cooking of the rice, the taste, and of course the socarrat, the colour, the symmetry of the ingredients.
Eventually, competition day arrives. Teams from Japan, Australia and all over Spain gather in Sueca, near Valencia to battle for the paella prize.
Federico and Victor win the silver medal, only beaten by the Bon Aire restaurant in Valencia who officially make the best paella in the world.
Here’s the official world paella silver medal winning recipe:
El Monastrell, Alicante
Day 1 – What’s an Olympian doing in a kitchen anyway?
Day 4 – Why work for free?
Day 7 – Knife Skills, go as fast as you can but no faster
Day 10 – Mugaritz: You don’t have to like something to like it
Day 12 – The best paella recipe, in the world
Day 14 – Chef Life, it’s not all liquid nitrogen and lobsters
