Recently Evan LeRoy posted a video making a BBQ paella for a sponsor event, but without any real recipe given. I've never actually had any form of paella before, let alone cooked one, but spurred me to come up with something close. I started with a bunch of Paella Valenciana recipes for ideas and ratios, and wrote up a full recipe from scratch. All the family got together yesterday for Memorial Day weekend, and this ended up being a big hit. Surprisingly I think I managed to get most ratios right.

Changes I would make next time:

- The almost sacrilegious takeaway for me was "too much meat." If I was to make this again (which I will) I would each add some small cubed brisket (like I did the pork below) and skip the topping, or make the topping brisket half the size each piece and half the amount.

- I cooked this on the stovetop using the griddle burner, but it did NOT generate enough heat. Since almost everything in it is smoked already I skipped burning the extra wood to do it outdoors, but knowing the heat issue now I would do it the traditional way next time. I ended up with very little real socarrat, with a small area really burning instead.

So here's the recipe I wrote up, not counting the above changes:

Texas BBQ Paella

Ingredients

• 1 qt beef broth/stock
• ~20 threads saffron
• Beef tallow, ¼-½ cup
• 8oz Mexican chorizo, removed from any casing
• 8oz Kielbasa, cut into coins
• 8oz smoked pork shoulder, cut into ½” cubes
• 1 poblano, fine dice
• ½ onion, fine dice
• 1-½ cups tomato, peeled and grated
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• ½ tsp smoked paprika
• ½ tsp ancho chili powder
• Salt (as needed)
• 1 and 1/3 cups of short grain paella rice (Arroz de Valencia or Bomba)
• Red bell pepper, cut into ¼”x2” slices, to top
• Brisket slices, about 1-½” squares, to top

Steps

1. Warm beef stock and add saffron; set aside and keep warm
2. Place paella pan on stovetop or open flame on grill
3. Add ¼ cup tallow to coat pan
4. Add chorizo and cook until it starts to break up
5. Add kielbasa and pork cubes and cook until browned
6. Add onion and poblano and cook until they start to soften; add more tallow if too dry
7. Add tomato and garlic and keep stirring for about 1 minute
8. Add paprika and ancho, stir for 30 seconds
9. Add beef stock and bring to a boil; adjust salt as desired
10. Add rice, trying to pour evenly across the entire pan (a spiral pattern works well).  DO NOT STIR again after this point.
11. Sprinkle red bell pepper slices around top
12. Boil for 10 minutes
13. Arrange sliced brisket on top.
14. Lower heat and continue cooking until rice is cooked through, testing occasionally
15. Check for socarrat; if not developed yet raise temperature for 1-2 minutes
16. Remove from heat and cover for 5-10 minutes before serving

Note:   If using a griddle burner on a stovetop rotate frequently, particularly once rice is added.