Jum-buh-LIE-uhhhh

Cafe Society
1

After an exhaustive search of my memory banks over the past 30 seconds or so, I can’t recall ever making jambalaya. Of course, my memory is about as long as my whatsis these days, so it’s hard to say for sure. I’ve made shrimp creole many times, beans and rice, bananas Foster, but . . .::searches database again:: …nope, no jambalaya.

I’m not all that happy with recipes I’m finding online, although I could churn out a decent dish with the ingredients I’m seeing. But I’d rather have a gen-you-wine Lousiana type tell me what’s what. Keep in mind that it will be a futile quest to try to find either andouille or tasso up here.

Any hep appreciated, either from a Doper or from your mom and them.

2

1 lb sausage – sliced ¼ inch thick

1 ¼ lb boneless skinless chicken, cut into about the same size as the sausage.

1 Large onion

1 tbs. Minced garlic

¼ tbs. Thyme

¼ tbs. Basil

¼ tbs. Black pepper

¼ tbs. Red pepper flakes

2 cans Chicken stock- approx. 2 ½ cups

1 heaping cup of long grain rice.

½ tbs. Parsley chopped leaves

Brown sausage then chicken in large pot. Lower heat to medium and add onions and garlic – sauté until onions are limp and clear.

Add thyme, basil, black and red pepper and simmer over low heat for 5-10 minutes.

Add stock and bring to boil. Add the rice and parsley and reduce the heat to medium and stir to insure rice doesn’t stick to bottom of pot until full boil.

Reduce heat to lowest setting and simmer, covered, for 25 minutes – do not remove the cover while the rice is steaming.
I’m not from Louisiana, but I live just across the river from it! This recipe is what I’ve always used; I like it.

3

I know some Louisianans are going to say that my method is wrong or inauthentic, but I make a pot of this every so often and it’s always a hit. This is a Creole or a “red” jambalaya, using tomato paste.

Prepare beforehand:

4-5 links andouille (I dice 'em or slice them on the bias)
A few-3 boneless skinless chicken breasts (large dice - 1")
A pound of shrimp
A huge onion, diced
1-2 bell peppers, sliced
2-3 stalks celery, chopped
(These last three comprise the “Trinity” - the Louisiana version of mirepoix)

Have also:
a small can of tomato paste (6 oz)
some chopped green onion
Tony Chachere’s creole seasoning (or a mix of cayenne, garlic powder, salt, pepper)
Olive oil (a few tbsp’s)
Chicken stock (you can use water but stock is always better, or canned broth)
Rice

In your biggest and most battered stock pot, brown the sausage in a few tablespoons of olive oil (to help them render). When the sausage is done, remove them to a holding container and reserve the fat. Brown the chicken, seasoned liberally with Tony Chachere’s. Remove to container and reserve the fat - you may need to add more olive oil to the pot. Sweat the Trinity for a bit, then add the tomato paste. Stir the tomato paste-Trinity mixture constantly and continue to cook over medium heat until the paste turns a deep mahogany color. Now return the sausage and chicken to the pot, add about a cup-cup and a half of rice, and stock to cover. Bring it to a boil. Stir occasionally, leave the pot uncovered. Adjust the seasonings as necessary (I dump in a LOT of TC’s, but that’s just my style). Serve when the rice is tender. I season the shrimp with the Tony Chachere’s and cook them separately so they aren’t overdone (just a little olive oil and TCs in a pan), then serve on top of the jambalaya with a little chopped green onion.

Add Crystal’s as needed and serve with some crusty French bread and butter. I most often serve jambalaya in the height of summer, although I was pining for it last week so I had a pot. It makes fine leftovers. It’s also easy to adjust the method ('cause a recipe it ain’t) up or down as needed or desired (sometimes I like it a little more sausage heavy). I’ve made a full five gallons of the stuff once.

You can also sub in any seafood for the shrimp - or any meat, for that matter.

4

Oh! I can’t believe I forgot the garlic! Sweat 3-4 cloves minced garlic with the Trinity. Now you’re good to go. :smiley:

ETA (again) - just noticed what you said about andouille. Sub in whatever spicy sausage is around, maybe. I bet it would be awesome with some spicy moose sausage. :slight_smile:

5

We can get the national brands of hot smoked sausage, and locally can get hot reindeer sausage, so no problem there. I’ll go with a recipe that includes tomato, even though most Cajuns spin in their graves at the mere mention of such sacrilege. I’m thinking the following for meats: smoked hot sausage, smoked pork chop, chicken and shrimp. I also have Penzey’s hot Cajun spice, which has a lot of nice things going on in there.

6

You have to use rabbit if you want it to be authentic. Or you could just go all Alaskan with the reindeer sausage along with some king crab, maybe some ptarmigan or bald eagle for the bird, and some moose tasso.

7

I add a little tomato in mine as well, diced instead of the paste and I know my friends in Baton Rouge would be looking at me cross-eyed because of it. The only other difference would be that start off peeling my shrimp and then boil the shells for the stock.

Maybe Ill make a batch for the Superbowl :stuck_out_tongue:

8

Moostasso? Sounds like a Spanish mustache. With all that game, you’d be tipping over into bigos territory.

9

Try some of the recipes in Talk About Good. They come from Lafayette, the heart of Cajun country, and date from before Cajun food became popular and being a name for throwing spices on stuff or burning it. We got our copy when we lived in Lafayette.

The version I linked to is from 1967, ours is maybe a bit later.

10

I have that book, thanks.

Well, it came out pretty damn good. I added a diced red bell pepper to the mix and it’s very tasty. Tomorrow should be even better.

11

You could order it? This place has both. If you’re gonna do it for the first time, you wanna do it right, right? Though, it might be expensive seeing as how you’re not in the contiguous 48.

12

Here a link to where I get my Andouille. I’m not in the Baton Rouge area as often as I used to be so I usually pick up a mass quantity every time I’m in the area and freeze it. You’ll have to contact them for shipping rates to your location.

I wouldn’t hesitate to compare their andouille with anybody’s - nicely smoked, lean and spiced just right.

Benoit’s

13

Basil? Not in my world.

I make this:

Eckrich sausage cut in 1/4 inch slices, onion, bell and garlic - cook

tons of parsley and thyme

a can of tomatoes of whatever you have on hand - cook til boiling

rice and whatever leftover shrimp you have

cover at low for 25 minutes

pig out

14

I use a combination of two Weight Watchers (yes, I know) recipes that the family seems to love.

Let’s see if I can remember off the top of my head…

1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
A bunch of garlic (just keep mincing…)

Cook in a big saucepan in a knob of butter or maybe a tablespoon or two of canola oil until the onion is translucent and the kitchen smells so good you can’t stand it.

Sprinkle over this:

1 Tbsp. flour

and stir around quickly. I’ve found this gives me good results.

While doing all this, in another pan, brown:

1/4 lb Sausage Or Ham Of Choice.

My choice is Elgin hot sausage recently, but I did use Eckrich polska kielbasa for years. Set the browned sausage aside.

Dump into the vegetable-filled pot:

1 can Ro-Tel Tomatoes and Chiles, Original strength. It’s the same thing people dump in a bowl of Velveeta and microwave and dip chips in.

1 cup chicken stock

Stir in. Cook low for long enough to take out another small pan (it’s a messy one, this recipe)

3 oz. (by weight) rice

and brown it in some butter. Add this into the jambalaya pot when you get impatient with browning rice and stir it all up with the rest. Add the sausage at this point, too, and turn up the fire to let it start boiling. Just like regular ricemaking, when the stuff starts to boil, turn it down low and cover it. Shouldn’t take more than 20 minutes for the rice to get nice and soft.

Shrimp is the LAST ingredient. When the rice is done, stir in however much shrimp looks like enough depending on the size of the shrimp and your liking for them. When I made a quadruple recipe I used about 50 shrimp and that seemed like a good (and shrimpy) proportion. Keep the fire on very low and bury those shrimp in the middle of the pot (just stir a few times until they’re not really on top much anymore). The heat from everything around the shrimp will cook them up beautifully.

When the shrimp are pink and curve around like a C (fish one out or stir one back up to the top to check this), start spooning and turn off the heat. If they are pink but curved all the way into an O, they are O-vercooked, but probably still fine, just not as tender.

Serve with crusty bread and butter, because you can’t get enough starch. :stuck_out_tongue:

15

The surcharge for Alaska that you quoted would stop me from ever buying anything from those people. It’s a rip-off that many companies employ because they’re either (a) stupid, (b) ignorant, or (c) both. All services do ground delivery to Alaska now, and there’s that little-known service called the U.S. Mail. It’s a pit-worthy subject.

16

Having lived in Hawaii, I couldn’t agree with you more. It’s not that you shouldn’t expect NEXT DAY delivery to be more expensive, but what’s the surcharge for? I mail stuff from work all over the world and the only thing that I do differently for international items is press a different on the postage meter for the more expensive postage and key in the destination country code. I can’t really see how even that could justify a $12.50 surcharge.

17

A different BUTTON…gah! :smack:

I think it’s time I pay my dues around here so I can edit freely.

18

Doesn’t jambalaya translate to something like ham and rice? I’m not seeing much ham in these recipes.

19

Well, etymonline simply says:

1872, from Louisiana Fr., from Prov. jambalaia “stew of rice and fowl.”

Wikipedia says:

I’ve certainly had tasso (ham-like pork product) in jambalaya before, but I don’t think ham is a required ingredient. I usually just make jambalaya with chicken, andouile, and/or shrimp.

20

Many of the recipes I saw online called for tasso or smoked ham. It would seem, though, that it’s a dish with as many variations as there are cooks, much like any stew.