Paella Is How Spices Are Meant to Be Taken
Saffron, smoke, olive oil—and zero capsules
Paella: How Spices Are Meant to Be Taken
There are dishes that taste good, and then there are dishes that explain the world.
Paella is firmly in the second category.
This is the quintessential dish — rice, heat, patience, and spice — assembled not for speed, not for convenience, but for flavor that unfolds. It’s communal. It’s theatrical. It’s ancient. And tomorrow at 4 pm Pacific, we’re making two of them live. On TikTok @drterrysimpson
One seafood paella, crowned with beautifully seared scallops.
One chicken thigh paella, deeply savory and grounding.
And yes — this dish contains nearly every spice people now try to bottle, brand, and sell back to you as supplements. The difference? This is how they’re actually meant to be consumed.
Saffron
About That Saffron
Let’s talk about saffron for a moment.
Saffron is one of the most expensive spices in the world, harvested by hand, stigma by stigma, flower by flower. If you think there’s any meaningful amount of saffron in a capsule, powder, or “proprietary blend” sold online, you are — respectfully — mistaken.
There isn’t.
That’s because saffron doesn’t belong in a pill. It belongs in food — treated properly, patiently, and with intention. We bloom saffron gently in warm broth, not oil, allowing its color, aroma, and complexity to fully release before it ever touches the rice. That step alone tells you whether someone understands the dish or is just performing it.
Tomorrow, we’ll be using the real thing — no shortcuts, no substitutes — to let saffron do what it has done for centuries: perfume the rice, deepen the flavor, and turn a pan of food into something ceremonial.
No capsule can do that.
Food First. Always.
Paella is proof that spices were never meant to be isolated, extracted, and swallowed with water.
Smoked paprika doesn’t belong in a supplement aisle — it belongs blooming in olive oil.
Garlic isn’t a pill — it’s the foundation of flavor.
Tomatoes aren’t “lycopene delivery systems” — they’re structure, acidity, balance.
When you cook this way, spices don’t just add flavor — they work together, supported by fats, proteins, and heat. This is nutrition that makes sense biologically and culturally.
Two Paellas, Two Stories
The chicken thigh paella gives us richness, collagen, and depth. Crispy edges. Savory rice. Comfort that sticks with you.
The seafood paella is lighter, brighter — and yes, the scallops matter.
We’ll be searing the scallops gently in olive oil, just until both sides develop a golden crust. Then we pull them off, reserve them, and nestle them back into the paella during the final few minutes, so they stay tender and sweet — not overcooked, not rubbery, just right.
This is technique — not trickery.
Live Tomorrow at 4 pm Pacific on TikTok
We’ll build the sofrito from scratch.
We’ll bloom the saffron properly.
We’ll talk rice, broth, timing, and that magical bottom crust — the socarrat — that tells you everything went right. If you really love someone you call them your socarrat.
Paella isn’t hard. It’s deliberate.
And once you’ve done it, you’ll wonder why anyone ever reduced food to powders and pills.
PAID SUBSCRIBERS — FULL RECIPE
Below is the exact recipe we’ll be cooking live, written out in full so you can cook along or make it later.
