How to avoid a burnt paella

We all have accidents in the kitchen: if we have gone too far with the amount of an ingredient, we have accidentally cut ourselves cutting something... but in the world of rice dishes there is no worse accident than when we have a burnt paella.

We can rarely recover a burnt food, the sour and strong flavor is overwhelming and can only be removed with an even stronger flavor, which can further ruin a compromised dish. The best way to avoid this situation is, in fact, to prevent it from happening, but of course, this brings us to the question of

In this blog post we are going to talk to you about the most common causes that we can end up with a burnt paella and how to avoid them.

Causes of burnt paella rice

Lack of olive oil

Oil is essential to obtain a good socarrat, also to prevent our rice from burning and as a vehicle to transfer the flavor of the fats and meat.

When we mix water and oil in a glass of water, we observe how both liquids are immiscible (they do not mix). Since the oil is less dense than water (it weighs less), it floats on the water, which is why the oil is perfectly observed in the glass. float on water.

This happens exactly the same in a paella, the oil that we have initially added and that has been used to fry the ingredients, when we later add the water, will float in our paellas, when we add the rice, the water will be absorbed by the rice and another Part will evaporate, this will cause the oil layer to go down as the water is consumed.

It is very important to have a sufficient amount of oil so that once it has covered the entire layer of rice, there is a remnant at the base of the paella. This layer will have the double function of preventing the rice grains from burning, in addition to this layer of oil frying the rice on the base, browning the rice and obtaining the appreciated socarrat. Paellero experts recognize this part by the noise, since the sound of boiling when the water runs out is perceived as changing to a frying sound.

From this we can conclude that in the case of Valencian paella, whose meats (chicken and rabbit) are not particularly fatty, the ideal amount of oil is between 25 and 30 ml per person, in the case of using another type of oil. fattier meats like pork, and depending on the quantity, these quantities will have to be significantly reduced.

Another conclusion that we can draw from this explanation is the importance of browning the meat well, this is because when frying the meat, all the flavors and fat dissolve in the oil (liposoluble) so the oil becomes the true liquid. to transfer the flavors of the meat to our rice. As the water evaporates and the layer of oil goes down, it will travel through the grains, covering them and giving our rice the much desired palatability. In short, this is an important point so that our rice is as tasty as possible.

The quality of the oil is also essential to obtain a good result, to make paella, the best oil for paella is virgin olive oil.

Lack of broth/water

Whether during cooking due to the evaporation of water or from the beginning due to having calculated it wrong, a lack of broth will mean that the cooking of our paella cannot be done correctly and, instead of cooking our rice, we will accidentally end up frying it on our paella when we run out of broth, burning it in the process.

Make sure to calculate in advance the amount of water needed to form the broth for your paella with the sofrito or prepared broth.

Lack of control over cooking time

Every cooked dish has a pre-established cooking time for a reason: we do not want to burn or overcook the ingredients in the process of making it, and paella is not subject to this rule.

Make sure you correctly calculate the time needed to cook the rice in order to have the necessary broth. You can find the recommended cooking times depending on the type of rice in the information section, behind the rice package.

Keep this in mind, although no one wants raw rice, it is much worse if we wait too long during cooking and all the paella broth evaporates, which will cause the paella rice to burn due to the lack of broth.

Inappropriate distribution and power of the fire in the paella

Too little heat will not cook and will leave our ingredients raw, and too much will burn everything and ruin our paella. Make sure that the heat distribution and fire power in your paella is adequate.

One of the best ways to ensure that the heat distribution of your paella is correct is to have the correct size of paella and paella pan, since certain combinations of sizes can leave the rings that make up the paella pan more outside or inside the surface. bottom of the paella, causing the heat not to be distributed equally over the entire surface of our paella pan.

If you are not sure which is the right paella pan for the paella you want to use, you can visit our paella pan size chart to clear up any doubts.

In the same way, make sure to use the appropriate gas regulator for your burner, too much gas output not only means a more powerful fire that can burn our paella, it can also be a danger to ourselves. You can follow the following link to find out which regulator is appropriate for your paella burner.

Burned Socarrat

Appreciated by many and desired by even more, socarrat is that layer of crispy rice that everyone who eats paella longs to find under the top layer of rice, and although perhaps for those not so familiar it will be a surprise, this layer of rice It is not burnt rice stuck together, but a caramelization effect carried out through a chemical reaction.

The best way to prevent your socarrat from burning is, in fact, to have good hearing. When the last few minutes of cooking your paella are left, if you hear a sound similar to when you are making the stir-fry, then you already know that the socarrat is forming. Once you hear this sound, calculate 60 seconds and turn off the stove. With this time elapsed, you already know that under your layer of rice you have a top quality socarrat for you and your guests.

We hope that this brief guide ensures that all your paellas come out perfect, enjoy well-cooked rice, rice cooks!