People Can't Stop Talking About Emeril Lagasse's 'Kicked Up' Paella

You may love your paella, and you might have tried a variety of different types, but we're betting you've not really seen anything like Emeril Lagasse's latest creation, which he shared on Instagram and simply captioned: "Paella, kicked up a notch," with a BAM hashtag. 

While mussels, shrimp, and squid might be some of the kinds of seafood you might find in regular paella (via Epicurious), Lagasse's is served with a twist: a whole piece of what looks like a deep-fried and battered whole fish with all its bits — from head and fins to tail — included. The paella might be unorthodox, but received plenty of love on social media, where fans shared their support for the unique dish with plenty of fire, heart, and applause icons. One social media user also shared a question most of us probably had when we saw Lagasse's take on this classical Spanish dish: "I would like this recipe please. Does anyone know if you can marry a food dish cause I am in LOVE!"

Traditionalists can be forgiven for wondering what was up with Emeril Lagasse's take on the traditional Spanish rice dish. After all, while seafood is a common ingredient in paella negra (cooked with squid ink), paella de marisco or paella marinera (paella with seafood), or paella mixta (paella with seafood, meat and chicken), according to Spain at M, paella aficionados aren't likely to have seen the dish with fish cooked whole, nevermind battered. Even one of Lagasse's more well known adaptations of the dish, his "New New Orleans Paella" doesn't mention serving up fish this way (via Emeril Lagasse) — then again this version of paella features a collection of shellfish that include lobsters, clams, mussels, and shrimp.

We're guessing Lagasse took two of his classic dishes to create a meal worthy of social media by serving up his seafood paella with a piece of his famous beer-battered fish dressed up with Creole seasoning, (via his website), making for a real kicked-up dish indeed.