Smoked Bomba Paella Rice

Carlos Piernas is in love with smoke. To him, it recalls a past when all people cooked over a wood fire and smokiness was a part of all food. He opened his workshop in Cataluña to reintroduce this fundamental flavor to a variety of foods, from salmon to extra virgin olive oil to Bomba paella rice. When we met him we could tell by his gruff voice that he spends quite a bit of time working in and around plumes of fragrant smoke!

At Carpier (short for Carlos Piernas) he uses pine cones from the local forest as the fuel for the smoke. The recipe for quality is low temperatures and time. The rice is placed in the smoker in small batches and smoked for two hours at low heat, so the smoke thoroughly penetrates the grains without cooking them. The result is a rice that has natural smoke at its core, and imparts the smokiness of a wood fire to paellas even when they are cooked in the kitchen.

Bomba is the king of Spanish rice, a rare breed that absorbs a large amount of broth without losing its shape. This aspect is ideal for paella, where each grain of rice should be separate from the rest, yet full of flavor. The key is that Bomba rice expands like an accordion so that it keeps its integrity - unlike short grained rice you might use for Italian risotto, which is supposed to break down and blend with the other ingredients.

Gluten Free.