Jambalaya ...

[Reverend Al]

For some reason I just had a sudden hankerin' for some Jambalaya lately so I made a great big pot of it last night. I tend to make large quantities of my soups and stews and chowders and then freeze several portions in containers for quick meals when I just don't feel energetic enough to cook. I made this Jambalaya with onions, garlic, diced tomatoes, and rice with a goodly helping of Cajun spices and some hot sauce. I let it simmer for about an hour and then I added generous portions of sauteed chicken and pork that I diced into bite sized morsels and then I added some diced up small diameter links of pepperoni sausage. It was pretty good last night for dinner, but it'll taste even better for dinner tonight now that it's aged a little bit! While it's re-heating on the stove tonight I'll make a big batch of cornbread in my Lodge cornbread skillets ...

(Hmmm ... I wonder what the poor people are eating for dinner tonight?)

[Lead pot]

Sounds very good Rev. A pot full like this always is better the next day.

[Winger Ed.]

Sounds good. Around here we have some real Cajuns.
They make it with what you listed, plus shrimp (Pronounced as 'swimp'), kielbasa or boudin sausage, thyme, basil, and lots of red pepper.
I found it addictive, and they also add a powdered spice called 'file' (pronounced fee-lay).

[WheelgunConvert]

Sounds good. Around here we have some real Cajuns.
They make it with what you listed, plus shrimp (Pronounced as 'swimp'), kielbasa or boudin sausage, thyme, basil, and lots of red pepper.
I found it addictive, and they also add a powdered spice called 'file' (pronounced fee-lay).

Are you thinking gumbo?

File is ground sassafras leaves

[Winger Ed.]

Are you thinking gumbo?

File is ground sassafras leaves

From what I've seen, gumbo is similar, but more of a soup commonly served over rice rather than rice being cooked with it.
Jambalaya would be drier, and sort of look like Chinese fried rice that was made in Louisiana.

[hicard]

I just got an 8 qt size pressure cooker and used a recipe to fix my first big pot of jambalaya and it was so good, I had to make another big pot of it. If I didn't ever eat anything else in my life I would be satisfied, it was that good.

[Winger Ed.]

I just got an 8 qt size pressure cooker and used a recipe to fix my first big pot of jambalaya and it was so good, I had to make another big pot of it. If I didn't ever eat anything else in my life I would be satisfied, it was that good.

I can't get enough of it. I've sat around for hours- as full as a tick after eating that stuff.

[Reverend Al]

Yes, I have several recipes that call for "file" (sp ?) powder, but have never been able to find it up here in Western Canada. I should try some of the local specialty spice shops to see if they have it. I just checked online and there is a recipe to make your own file powder (if you can find some sassafras trees locally that is) ...



Find some sassafras trees. Sassafras typically has three leaf shapes present on one tree: a simple oval, a three-lobed maple leaf shape, and a two-lobed mitten shape. Unlike mulberry trees, which can also have all three leaf shapes, sassafras leaves have smooth margins with no teeth. Another way to identify sassafras is that every part of the tree smells like root beer when crushed.
Snip off the tips of a few branches with 5-10 leaves attached. Bundle these together with rubber bands and hang them in a dry place away from direct heat or light. They should be crispy dry within a week. Only dry them indoors. Drying them in the sun can turn them brown and greatly diminish their flavor potency.
Strip the leaves from the branches. Process the leaves in a coffee or spice grinder until they become a green, aromatic powder. You can also grind the leaves with a mortar and pestle.
Sift the powder through a fine sieve, if desired, to remove any pieces of stem and other bigger bits. This can be time-consuming if the sieve is too fine; alternatively, you can simply pick out any pieces that won't dissolve in liquid.

Store the powder in a tightly covered glass jar away from direct light or heat.

[skeettx]

https://www.target.com/p/zatarain-s-...E&gclsrc=aw.ds

[Hossfly]

You can also boil the roots to make sassafras tea, old folks said it was a good blood thinner, IDK, but Caliafornia says it is a carcinogen, but it ain’t killed no one around here that I know of.

[Winger Ed.]

Yes, I have several recipes that call for "file" (sp ?) powder, but have never been able to find it up here in Western Canada.[/I]

If nothing else, the little brown truck can bring you some.
Not sure what difference it makes, but I've always heard you're supposed to add it last, a few minutes before the dish is served.
Not sure what the difference is in peppers, but I use cayenne instead of what's labeled as powdered 'red pepper'.
It might be a rumor, or my imagination, but I think cayenne has more flavor and is a little hotter.

[KMac]

(Hmmm ... I wonder what the poor people are eating for dinner tonight?)

We are having roast beef cooked in the crockpot with rice.

[gbrown]

Try Pastalaya sometime. Something I dearly love. Use linguini instead of rice. Break the sticks up into like thirds. I use my smoked sausage and chicken. The OP uses tomatoes. Cajuns did not have tomatoes in theirs, that is the New Orleans/Creole version. Nothing wrong with it, just pointing out that there are 2 variations of Southern Louisiana cooking--Creole and Cajun. Cajun usually has the trinity, garlic and roux.

[high standard 40]

Try Pastalaya sometime. Something I dearly love. Use linguini instead of rice. Break the sticks up into like thirds. I use my smoked sausage and chicken. The OP uses tomatoes. Cajuns did not have tomatoes in theirs, that is the New Orleans/Creole version. Nothing wrong with it, just pointing out that there are 2 variations of Southern Louisiana cooking--Creole and Cajun. Cajun usually has the trinity, garlic and roux.

This is correct. I live near Gonzales, La., which has been crowned the Jambalaya Capital of the world. I've been eating Jambalaya all my life, even several times a week. We have an annual Jambalaya Festival with cooking competitions. There is no tomato in real jambalaya. It has been said that those who do use tomato do so in order to get flavor into the rice because they don't know how to get flavor from the meat into the rice. Competition cooks here use chicken, smoked sausage, garlic onion, salt, & pepper as basic ingredients. It is cooked over an open oak wood fire in large cast iron pots. The flavor is incredible. Traditional jambalaya made with shrimp does use some tomato, otherwise, no..
That being said, to each his own.

[high standard 40]

Try Pastalaya sometime. Something I dearly love. Use linguini instead of rice. Break the sticks up into like thirds. I use my smoked sausage and chicken. The OP uses tomatoes. Cajuns did not have tomatoes in theirs, that is the New Orleans/Creole version. Nothing wrong with it, just pointing out that there are 2 variations of Southern Louisiana cooking--Creole and Cajun. Cajun usually has the trinity, garlic and roux.

This is correct. I live near Gonzales, La., which has been crowned the Jambalaya Capital of the world. I've been eating Jambalaya all my life, even several times a week. We have an annual Jambalaya Festival with cooking competitions. There is no tomato in real jambalaya. It has been said that those who do use tomato do so in order to get flavor into the rice because they don't know how to get flavor from the meat into the rice. Competition cooks here use chicken, smoked sausage, garlic onion, salt, & pepper as basic ingredients. It is cooked over an open oak wood fire in large cast iron pots. The flavor is incredible. Traditional jambalaya made with shrimp does use some tomato, otherwise, no..
That being said, to each his own.

[Reverend Al]

I have to admit that I basically used the ingredients that I had on hand and didn't follow the recipe 100% ... which is what my Grandfather used to call "Slumgullian" ... a soup or stew made with whatever ingredients were on hand and available at the time you made it. I think it was a term that was coined during the Great Depression?

[high standard 40]

I have to admit that I basically used the ingredients that I had on hand and didn't follow the recipe 100% ... which is what my Grandfather used to call "Slumgullian" ... a soup or stew made with whatever ingredients were on hand and available at the time you made it. I think it was a term that was coined during the Great Depression?

Mulligan stew fits the same bill

[gwpercle]

I have to admit that I basically used the ingredients that I had on hand and didn't follow the recipe 100% ... which is what my Grandfather used to call "Slumgullian" ... a soup or stew made with whatever ingredients were on hand and available at the time you made it. I think it was a term that was coined during the Great Depression?

A good cajun cooks with whatever he has on hand...that's the beauty of jambalaya , any meat, poultry, seafood, reptile , animal or bird you have on hand combined with rice and sausage ,can be make into a tasty , filling meal. There isn't one recipe....you make it the way you like with what you got .
Way to go Reverend Al ....call yourself an honorary cajun !
Gary

[WRideout]

Yes, I have several recipes that call for "file" (sp ?) powder, but have never been able to find it up here in Western Canada. I should try some of the local specialty spice shops to see if they have it. I just checked online and there is a recipe to make your own file powder (if you can find some sassafras trees locally that is) ...



Find some sassafras trees. Sassafras typically has three leaf shapes present on one tree: a simple oval, a three-lobed maple leaf shape, and a two-lobed mitten shape. Unlike mulberry trees, which can also have all three leaf shapes, sassafras leaves have smooth margins with no teeth. Another way to identify sassafras is that every part of the tree smells like root beer when crushed.
Snip off the tips of a few branches with 5-10 leaves attached. Bundle these together with rubber bands and hang them in a dry place away from direct heat or light. They should be crispy dry within a week. Only dry them indoors. Drying them in the sun can turn them brown and greatly diminish their flavor potency.
Strip the leaves from the branches. Process the leaves in a coffee or spice grinder until they become a green, aromatic powder. You can also grind the leaves with a mortar and pestle.
Sift the powder through a fine sieve, if desired, to remove any pieces of stem and other bigger bits. This can be time-consuming if the sieve is too fine; alternatively, you can simply pick out any pieces that won't dissolve in liquid.

Store the powder in a tightly covered glass jar away from direct light or heat.

So I'm told, the file powder serves to make the sauce slippery (slippy if you live in Pittsburgh.) I always use okra for the same purpose, which is the other semi-official additive.

Wayne

[Thundarstick]

I call mine gumbo. It's mainly okra, tomatoes, and meats. I start with two large pots. In the first goes a whole chicken to boil until the meat can be removed from the bones, and the broth saved. Into the second goes oil, a diced onion, several garlic cloves, and about a gallon of okra. Fry the okra until it begins to caramelize and the slime isn't stringing anymore. Add a quart of diced canned tomatoes to this and continue a slow boil. Add cajun seasoning salt and pepper to taste and heat along with chicken stock, andouille sausage, and the chicken meat. Add stock until it's the consistency of a medium stew. When the tomatoes are done to your liking, make up a dark roux and add to the pot. Just before taking it off the fire I add filee (I like the taste) and shrimp (because my wife likes them). Mine turns out like a thick stew and my family is quite fond of it.

For filee, if you live in the South sassafras trees are quite common and wild. Harvest the tip first year growth leaves during the August full moon, dry and grind, even better to dry, place in the freezer in plastic bags, and grind just before use.

What about dirty rice? Is it more akin to jambalaya, or something totally different?