Haha. supposedly only need a few "threads"

Never try to cook it myself after learning about the authentic way of cooking from a Spanish - way too much trouble.

The taste between the Authentic, really good one and the "make shift" way of cooking (including those made by Spanish themselves) is really big, when no Saffron is used.

The key is to have lots of stock (soup) made by fresh seafood (or chicken, sausage, rabbit, if you are skimming the costs), and then use the rice to soak up the soup. Slow cooking to make the stock very tasty is the key.