Rouxbe

I'd add some uncooked prawns along with the chicken and chorizo when adding it to the semi-cooked rice for the last ten minutes of cooking.

Dave

In my honest opinion I think it´s better.
Name this recipe, for ie: Rice near Paella style or "arroz caldoso of chorizo and chicken"

This recipe is more near to a rissoto than to a Paella.
A Paella is cooked on an open wide pan, the rice is not moved o shacked during boling and , finaly, rice is served almost dry.

Just only to preserve the original denomination Paella.

Like many of our dishes, they are inspired often by traditional dishes with the added culinary personality of the cook or chef that created them. This dish is just simply a great quick dish. It has rice, meat, tomatoes, olive oil saffron and like Dave's comment, adding seafood (prawns or shellfish near the end) would make it like a Paella. However, true to Jesus' comment, a "Paella" is actually a unique cooking pan with a somewhat unique cooking method.

So, we've changed the name from Paella to Arroz con Pollo to address the above concerns.

Cheers, Joe

During the addition of the meats to the dish, the narrator specifies "no stirring." What's the reason for not stirring the meat? (During the chicken meat addition she says stirring will decrease the pan's temperature, but wouldn't adding the cooler meat [or any ingredient] drop the pan temperature regardless if the meat's stirred or not?) I can think of only one reason not to stir, and that's to enhance creation of the fond. Am I right?

I also add fresh mushrooms. This is one of my favorite dishes.

One of the most tempting things to do when trying to pansear food, is to jump right in and stir. In the case of this dish, watch how we add the chicken. At first, only some of it hits the bottom of the pan. If we were to spread this out all over the bottom of the pan, the cold meat would cool the pan down more. If the pan cools too much, the meat could stick and not brown properly. You want to maintain as close to the right temperature as possible. So add, don't stir, wait, wait, until the temperature rises, then stir, wait, wait, then once the chicken is hot... go to town.

Thanks for the reply, Joe. Now, a follow-up question: I've always read when browning/searing meat, not to crowd the meat in the pan because otherwise the meat will steam, not brown. Yet the chicken in the video is put in on top of the chorizo with no room between the pieces of meat. How does this recipe get around that?

Ken, You should be teaching about cooking :) Yes, if you want to brown/sear, you should not overcrowd the pan as this does result in some steaming. For this dish though, we actally end up steaming (the rice and when we add the chicken back to the pan) so a little steaming is okay. The more important thing to keep in mind here is to maintain pan temperature. Temperatures in cooking are one of the more important element in my opinion. The video does not show it too well (my apologies) but I actually stacked the chicken up a bit to avoid covering the entire bottom of the pan. Again, I wanted to gradually heat the chicken up before stiring around. Add and wait.... Hope this makes sense. Joe

I made this dish last night and it turned out great. I would be interested in a wine recommendation for deglazing though, as I used an interestingly flavoured, and quite strong, Spanish white and it affected the flavour of the dish a lot.

Made this last night. Great taste and an easy one pan meal. I added prawns at the final stir and kept the lid on for 10 minutes off the heat - turned out perfect.

The recipe seems very good, but its not considered "Arroz con Pollo" here in San Juan, Puerto Rico since it also has seafood in it.

Here instead of the chorizo, we use diced ham hocks and the chicken. A good flavor boost is to deglaze with beer instead of wine and we also use sofirto which is a pureed mixture of garlic, onion, cubanelle peppers, sweet mall peppers called "ajicitos dulces", cilantro & recao. No toamto is used, only soe achiote oil ( annato oil)

To finish , we garnish with roasted red peppers and serve with red kidney beans " guisadas" and sweet ripe fried plantain slices . A slice of avocado is always welcome with a spritz of olive oil and some diced red bermuda onion. This is an "Arroz con Pollo " Dinner in Puerto Rico

First time I made this I was unable to get fresh Chorizo, so I used cured and added it with the chicken instead of before. My family liked it so much I made it the very next week but I used fresh sausages and followd the recipe exactly. It was even better.
We drank an Austrian Grüner Veltliner and it was a perfect match.

For me it is always about taste accompanied by how my plate looks when ready to serve. I am trying this recipe for the first time tonight for my sons girlfriends parents (first meeting of the families) and want everything perfect.

I guess I have to buy some nice little casserolettes to place on the main dinner plate surrounded by the vegies??? I thought I'd accompany with the french green beans and the baked carrots, both easy additions and figure out some other garnish

yeah shopping!

Kevin, the main reason for the wine is to add the acidity (thats why you always cook off the alcohol). You'll find many recipes calling for either wine, lemon juice, or vinegar and all for the same reason; acidity to balance the flavours of the dish. When choosing wine for this dish its best to use an acidic white that's has very little to no oak. Options that come to mind are Spanish Albariño, Austrain Grüner Veltliner, Pinot Gris/Grigio, dry reisling, and unoaked Sauvignon Blancs. Also, I never cook with a wine that I won't drink and often I'll cook with the same wine that I'm using to accompany the meal. Cheers!

@Ruth H.

Green beans and the baked carrots are a good choice. If you are looking for another option, a nice salad would go well with this one for sure - maybe even as a starter. The spinach salad with goat cheese and maple walnut dressing is amazing.

Good luck. Let us know how it goes.

Once again Rouxbe has made me look like a true chef. This recipe was so full of flavor and a breeze to make. I used the cured Chorizo, not knowing that my grocery had the fresh, but it was still very good. I also added the prawns which added that extra texture. Next time I will use the fresh Chorizo for sure. Thanks again Rouxbe!

So I made this dish the other week, and it went really well. I certainly recommend it. However, I would like to say that the onions and celery took way too long to reduce, and were a bit overpowering in the dish. I would personally cut back to 1 Vidalia Online, or 2 smaller sweet onions for this dish. I also would cut back a bit on the saffron threads as the dish turned out a bit too bitter from the Saffron, I would add about 1/2 a tsp of threads. Lastly, make really sure you don't add a bitter wine... I used a local variety that I thought was more of a Pinot, and turned out to be more of a Resiling which killed a lot of the flavors in the dish. I think the wine adds a lot to the overall taste of the dish and choosing the right wine is paramount to your success with this dish, so make sure you choose something that either has a very clean flavor or isn't too overpowering to rule out the saffron and paprika.
Good Luck! and it really is a great dish.
-Paul

Hi Paul, thanks for your feedback. Glad you like the dish...good suggestions.

By the way, I love your "SuperStar" profile picture :-)

I don't usually make this type of recipe as I am not a sausage eater but I found this dish to be very tasty. I bought spicy chiken chorizo at Trader Joe's in Washington as I couldn't find Spanish. I have no idea what the difference in taste would be. I had to cook the rice a little longer ( I used jasmine and don't know if that is a medium rice). I also followed the suggestion to reduce the saffron - I don't find it overpowering but I do find it expensive:) I think I was tempted to try this because of all the comments. I enjoy reading them and especially got a chuckle out of all the name changes:) I guess I am now a suasage eater as I was eating those pieces before the chicken.