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Recipe · Indirect · Medium

Alicante-style baked rice on the kamado in a clay cazuela

Traditional Alicante baked rice —chickpeas, pork rib, blood sausage, potato and tomato, with a whole garlic head in the centre— baked in a clay cazuela at 220°C indirect.

Arroz alicantino cocinándose en paellera sobre el fuego
Prep
30 min
Cook
50 min
Servings
6 servings
Temperature
220 °C

Ingredients

  • round rice, bomba or senia type400 g
  • rich stew stock (ideally from the day before), hot800 ml
  • pork rib from the stew, already cooked and cut into pieces (or raw rib pre-braised 1 hr; see step 2)300 g
  • onion blood sausage (thick slices)2 ud
  • cooked chickpeas (ideally from the stew)250 g
  • medium potatoes, 1 cm slices2 ud
  • ripe tomatoes (one grated for the sofrito, one sliced)2 ud
  • whole garlic head (for the centre)1 ud
  • sweet smoked paprika (de la Vera)1 cdita
  • extra-virgin olive oil from the Valencia region4 cda
  • salt and a few saffron threads (or food colouring)1 pizca

Method

  1. 01

    Set deflector and stabilise at 220°C

    Light the charcoal, set the deflector and stabilise the kamado at 220°C indirect. It takes 25-30 minutes. Don't load the cazuela until the dome thermometer holds 220°C steady for ten minutes: an unstable temperature ruins the rice's even cooking.

  2. 02

    Tomato and paprika sofrito

    Use rib already cooked in the stew: these short times leave no margin to tenderise a raw rib, so start with tender meat. In the clay cazuela over medium heat (or the direct zone before fitting the deflector), heat the olive oil and give the cooked rib a quick sear on its faces, 2-3 minutes, just to toast the outside. Set the rib aside, lower the heat, add the grated tomato and fry for 5 minutes until it loses its water and darkens. Off the heat, stir in the paprika quickly so it doesn't burn. (If you're starting from scratch with no stew, braise the raw rib first in stock over low heat for about 1 hour until tender; the 18-20 minutes in the oven won't cook it through.)

  3. 03

    Toast the rice

    Add the rice to the sofrito and stir for 2 minutes until the grains turn translucent at the edges and coat in the oil. This step, toasting the rice, seals the grain and is key to a loose, non-claggy result. Spread the rice in an even layer across the cazuela.

  4. 04

    Build the cazuela

    Scatter the chickpeas, browned rib, blood sausage, potato and tomato slices over the rice, alternated and eye-catching. Push the whole garlic head, scored on top, right into the centre of the cazuela. Sprinkle the saffron or food colouring over everything.

  5. 05

    Pour the hot stock

    Bring the stock to a boil separately and pour it hot over the cazuela —two parts stock to one of rice, about 800 ml for these 400 g. Pouring boiling stock stops the cooking from stalling when it hits the kamado. Adjust the salt: it should taste savoury, almost salty, because the rice takes salt as it absorbs.

  6. 06

    Bake indirect 18-20 min

    Put the cazuela into the kamado at 220°C indirect and close the lid. Never stir from here on: baked rice cooks undisturbed. In 18-20 minutes the grain absorbs the stock and the surface browns. Check at 16 minutes by barely lifting the lid; if there's stock left and the grain is hard, give it another 3-4 minutes.

  7. 07

    Rest and serve

    Take the cazuela out with gloves (clay is heavy and scorching) and let it rest 5 minutes covered with a clean cloth. The rest settles the grain and finishes loosening it. Carry the cazuela straight to the table, open the garlic head and spread its creamy pulp over the top. Each diner squeezes their own roasted garlic onto the rice.

About this recipe

Baked rice is paella's dry-land cousin: there's no paella-pan socarrat or stock reducing over a roaring fire, but rather a clay cazuela that goes into the kamado as if it were a wood oven. You want stable indirect heat at 220°C, deflector in place, and a properly savoury stock —ideally yesterday's stew— in just the right proportion so the grain stays loose and never claggy. It's a humble, hearty Alicante leftovers dish, and the kamado nails it because the ceramic delivers the wrap-around heat the cazuela needs.

Why indirect and at oven-like temperature

Baked rice doesn't cook by contact with the flame but by wrap-around radiant heat, exactly as in the traditional home oven of every house in the Vega Baja. That's why the deflector is non-negotiable: it turns the kamado into a domed oven that surrounds the clay cazuela from above, the sides and below. At 220°C the stock comes to a boil, the rice absorbs in about 18-20 minutes and the surface browns without the bottom scorching. Cook it direct and the base of the cazuela would char before the top grains were done. The ceramic's thermal mass is the great ally: once stabilised at 220°C, the kamado holds that temperature even if you lift the lid to peek.

The stock: leftover stew rules

I have a firm opinion here: baked rice was born to use up the stew from the day before, and with homemade pot-stock it's on another level. If you have cooked chickpeas, already-cooked rib, bone and a rich stew broth, this recipe comes together in fifteen minutes of mise en place. From scratch, fry the tomato down properly and use real meat stock —never a stock cube alone, which adds salt and no body—; and mind the rib: raw, it won't tenderise in the 18-20 minutes of oven time, so braise it first for about an hour until tender and only then build it into the cazuela. The ratio I use is two parts stock to one of rice (a touch less than a soupy rice): the grain must stay whole, loose and dry on top, with the split garlic head in the centre perfuming everything.

Clay cazuela versus cast-iron cocotte

The clay cazuela is the tradition and the soul of the dish: low thermal mass, thin walls, it heats and cools fast and keeps the grain loose. The enamelled cast-iron cocotte is the modern alternative —it holds more heat, gives a bolder base browning and is indestructible in the kamado—, but it wants a touch less stock because it keeps cooking by carry-over once you pull it. I cook the classic clay version when there's company (the cazuela goes from kamado to table), and reach for the cocotte when I want a more pronounced base crust. Both work; the difference is nuance, not success or failure.

In 30 seconds

Kamado indirect at 220°C with the deflector, like an oven. Fry the tomato and quickly sear the already-cooked rib from the stew (if starting from raw, braise it first for an hour), build the clay cazuela: rice, chickpeas, rib, blood sausage, potato and tomato slices, whole garlic head in the centre. Pour in hot stock, two parts stock to one of rice, ideally yesterday's stew. Bake 18-20 minutes without stirring until the grain absorbs and the surface browns. Rest 5 minutes before serving. Loose grain, never claggy.

Editor's tips

  • Cure a new clay cazuela before its first use: soak it in water for several hours, dry it and rub it with raw garlic and oil. Uncured clay drinks up liquid and can crack from the kamado's thermal shock. And always add hot stock, never cold, so you don't stress the kamado's own ceramic either.
  • The stock ratio is the difference between success and failure. Two parts stock to one of rice for a dry, loose result, as baked rice demands. Too much liquid and it turns claggy and pasty; too little and the grain comes out hard. Weigh it, don't eyeball it the first time.
  • A handful of wood chunks doesn't belong here: Alicante baked rice isn't a smoked dish and smoke would mask the flavour of the stew and roasted garlic. Clean, well-lit charcoal, no aromatic woods. At most a sliver of vine cutting or orange wood, very subtle, but it's optional and not at all traditional.

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FAQ

  • Clay cazuela or cast-iron cocotte for baked rice?

    The clay cazuela is the tradition: thin walls, low thermal mass, it heats and cools fast and keeps the grain looser. The enamelled cast-iron cocotte holds more heat, gives a more pronounced base browning and is indestructible in the kamado, but it keeps cooking by carry-over once pulled, so use slightly less stock and a shorter rest. For the classic table version, go clay; for a bold base crust or frequent cooking, the cocotte performs better. Both make a great rice.

  • Why is it cooked indirect and at what oven-like temperature?

    Because baked rice cooks by wrap-around radiant heat, just like the traditional oven, not by contact with the flame. The deflector turns the kamado into a domed oven that surrounds the cazuela and cooks it evenly. The target temperature is 220°C: enough for the stock to boil and the surface to brown in 18-20 minutes without scorching the bottom. Direct, the base of the cazuela would char before the top grain was done. The kamado's thermal stability does the rest.

  • How do I get loose, non-claggy grain in a cazuela?

    Three keys. First, toast the rice in the sofrito for 2 minutes before adding stock: the oil seals the grain. Second, respect the two-parts-stock-to-one-of-rice ratio —it's the difference between dry and loose or pasty and claggy. Third, never stir inside the kamado: baked rice cooks undisturbed, stirring releases starch and clags it. Use round bomba or senia rice, which handle absorption well, and rest 5 minutes covered after pulling so the grain settles.

  • What's the difference with paella and with arroz a banda?

    Paella is cooked uncovered in a wide, flat pan over direct fire, aiming for a thin layer of grain and a base socarrat; the stock evaporates over a roaring flame. Arroz a banda is a seafood rice cooked with a rockfish fumet, served apart from the fish that gave the stock. Baked rice, by contrast, goes in a deep cazuela, covered by the oven's or kamado's dome, with wrap-around heat and stew meat —chickpeas, rib, blood sausage—, not seafood. It's an inland, leftovers dish, more rustic and hearty than its coastal cousins.

  • Can I use yesterday's stew for the stock?

    Not only can you: it's the very origin of the dish. Baked rice was born to use up the stew, and with a rich, savoury pot-stock it turns out incomparably better than with stock-cube broth. Reuse the cooked chickpeas, the rib and the stew bone too. Strain the stock, skim a little fat if it's very strong and heat it before pouring. A day-old stock has also had time to settle its flavours in the fridge. It's the most authentic version and the tastiest.

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