Ginny's Paella al Disco("ish")

This is a dish that my wife, Ginny, can make with her eyes closed. It’s one that’s very popular with everyone in the family and has made it across the pond from the UK to here in the USA…despite the need to improvise a little with the ingredients. The twist is that this time (a) I made it (under supervision of course 🙂 !) and (b) we used the “disco” (Cowboy Wok). Oh yeah…

Technically the disco is the simplest of gadgets. Picture a plough being pulled behind a tractor, tilling a field. Those rows of circular cutters (the plough discs) start off sharp and eventually with all that heavy soil cutting need to be replaced. Southwestern cowboys of old allegedly would take an old disc, fill in the axle hole, weld horseshoes on the sides as handles and hey presto…the Cowboy Wok, or “disco” in Spanish. Food cooked on the disco was traditionally known as “discada”.

Today, you don’t have to be a cowboy to make a disco. Nor do you need to wait for a farmer’s plough to break. If those stars align and you’re handy at welding, then I’m sure it’s more fun to make your own, but fortunately for me these things are available commercially. (Check out South West Disks).

The disco is great for any sort of XXL wok cooking – rice stuff is a favourite, but so is deep frying and stir frying taco fillings and fajitas. It’s perfect for Ginny’s Paella.

I bought the disco here in the USA originally as an accessory for one of my Kamados (the large one) and although I’ve used it on the KJ and will continue to do so, there’s a useful convenience when propane gas is involved instead (shhh, that’s punishable by banishment from the FB charcoal communities !!).

So, a note on this paella. I’m not going to draw up the recipe because no doubt paella-purists will question its authenticity. So it’s paella-“ish”. It’s mostly paella. On the one hand, there’s chicken, stock, white wine, prawns, rice and paprika – all good. On the other, there’s cooked chorizo (apparently chorizo is NEVER cooked !), a little chilli to spice it up and a lot of lime. Those are definite deviations. We skip the saffron, and the more exotic seafoods too because we want the whole family to enjoy it ! And usually it’s a shop-bought herb blend (“Garlic Italian” or something). Oh and we serve it with sour cream too. So it’s “paella-ish”. Close enough….and very delicious.

Here’s a video of the cook in action, complete with Mexican beer. Thanks to my friend Carlos for the correct Spanish translation :-). Enjoy !