JAmbalaya recipes?

[wch]

What's your fave, and how do you cook it?

[Tom-ADC]

Nothing fancy here I buy a box of Zatarains Jambalaya fix and have at it. I like their Gumbo also.
http://www.zatarains.com/Recipes/Mai...Jambalaya.aspx

[Dale in Louisiana]

Growing up, 'jambalaya' was the natural follow-on to Mom's garlic-stuffed potroast. The recipe was simple: Cut the remainder of the roast off the bone, add a little water to the gravy. Make a pot of rice. Dump the rice into the simmering potroast and gravy. Stir. Presto! Jambalaya.

The rice stretched the living daylights out of a little potroast and gravy.

Wasn't until much later in life that I found out that people actually cooked a jambalaya from scratch.

dale in Louisiana

[Artful]

I don't have a family secret so I steal others for southern cooking

Paula Deen Jambalaya
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/p...ipe/index.html

Ingredients
Jambalaya Mix, recipe follows

Jambalaya Mix:
1 cup long-grain rice
3 tablespoons dried minced onion
1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes
1 tablespoon beef bouillon granules
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 bay leaf
In a small bowl, combine rice, onion, parsley, beef bouillon, thyme, garlic powder, black pepper, cayenne pepper, salt, and bay leaf.
Pour into cellophane bag. Store in an air-tight container.

2 1/2 cups water
1 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
1/2 pound fully cooked smoked sausage, cut into 1/4-inch slices
1/2 to 3/4 pound medium, fresh shrimp, peeled and deveined

Directions
In a Dutch oven, combine mix, water, tomatoes, tomato sauce and smoked sausage.
Bring mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Cover, reduce heat and let simmer for 20 minutes.
Add shrimp and cook for an additional 5 to 7 minutes, or until shrimp are pink.


Alton Brown Shrimp Gumbo
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/a...ipe/index.html

4 ounces vegetable oil
4 ounces all-purpose flour
1 1/2 lbs raw shrimp, whole, head-on medium-sized (31-50 count)
2 quarts water
1 cup diced onion
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup diced green pepper
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1/2 cup peeled seeded and chopped tomato
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 bay leaves
1/2 lb andouille sausage, cut into 1/4-inch pieces and browned
1 tablespoon file powder
Directions:

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2) Place the vegetable oil and flour into a 5 to 6-quart cast iron Dutch oven and whisk together to combine.
Place on the middle shelf of the oven, uncovered, and bake for 1 1/2 hours, whisking 2 to 3 times throughout the cooking process.

3) While the roux is baking, de-head, peel and devein the shrimp. Place the shrimp in a bowl and set in the refrigerator.
Place the heads and shells in a 4-quart saucepan along with the 2 quarts of water, set over high heat and bring to a boil.
Decrease the heat to low and simmer for 1 hour or until the liquid has reduced to 1-quart.
Remove from the heat and strain the liquid into a container, discarding the solids.

4) Once the roux is done, carefully remove it from the oven and set over medium-high heat.
Gently add the onions, celery, green peppers and garlic and cook,
moving constantly for 7 to 8 minutes or until the onions begin to turn translucent.
Add the tomatoes, salt, black pepper, thyme, cayenne pepper, and bay leaves and stir to combine.
Gradually add the shrimp broth while whisking continually. Decrease the heat to low, cover and cook for 35 minutes.
Turn off the heat, add the shrimp and sausage and stir to combine.
Add the file powder while stirring constantly.
Cover and allow to sit for 10 minutes prior to serving.
Serve over rice.

[Dale in Louisiana]

Artful's recipes are more Creole than Cajun.

There's a big difference. Creoles center around New Orleans, tend to have a lot more ingredients and take more preparation. After all, the FRENCH settled New Orleans and they had servants to do the food prep.

Cajun fare is much simpler, generally of the 'do the prep up front, put in the pot, turn the fire down, let it simmer while I go do some other work' variety.

And you NEVER add file' powder to the pot. You put it on the table and let each add to his own taste.

dale in Louisiana
(LeBleu, LeDoux, Fontenot, LeBoeuf, etc., etc. Cajun from waaaay back)

[Artful]

I thought the Gumbo File was used as thickening agent in the pot?

[SciFiJim]

I thought the Gumbo File was used as thickening agent in the pot?

The way it is used at the table, it that each person gets to thicken as desired. Normally, a person turns their spoon around and uses the handle to scoop out about a quarter teaspoon worth to sprinkle onto their bowl and then stir.

[Dale in Louisiana]

I thought the Gumbo File was used as thickening agent in the pot?

If you add enough to the pot to actually thicken, it turns to soup-tasting snot.

Just a sprinkle or two on the top of your bowl, and you're good.

Cajun gumbos are typically roux-based. For four or five quarts of gumbo, start a roux with 3/4 cup of flour, 3/4 cup of oil. Traditionally the oil was lard, because we had hogs and lard is a natural result. If you use lard, you have to keep the heat low, and stirring the roux went on and on and on until the white flour toasted to a dark walnut brown.

I use corn oil or peanut oil now. I can crank the heat up and roux takes twenty minutes. If you're single-handing int eh kitchen, have your vegetables (onion, bell pepper and celery) chopped and ready to go before you start the roux, because you're going to be stirring for a while.

Make no mistake! It must be stirred continuously. Many a young Cajun got his or her first task in the kitchen stirring the roux while Mom or Grandma went about other tasks. And heaven help you if you slacked up and the roux burnt.

Making a roux is THE single scariest part of Cajun cooking. It's easily mastered, though, and with that foundation, Cajun gumbos and sauces piquant are easy steps to turning a half dozen simple ingredients into hearty and tasty meals. A Cajun with some onions and a roux and some kind of meat is a happy Cajun.

dale in Louisiana

[Gliden07]

Dale do they also use Okra to thicken Gumbos? I've seen recipes with Okra in them to thicken. Just wondering, I'm very interested in Cajun/Creole cooking (the real stuff after my 12 year ago trip to Louisiana). I've had good Gumbos since I was there but I don't know if I had a good one to start with?? Does that make any sense?? LOL!! Suggestions for sites or recipes are welcome!

If you add enough to the pot to actually thicken, it turns to soup-tasting snot.

Just a sprinkle or two on the top of your bowl, and you're good.

Cajun gumbos are typically roux-based. For four or five quarts of gumbo, start a roux with 3/4 cup of flour, 3/4 cup of oil. Traditionally the oil was lard, because we had hogs and lard is a natural result. If you use lard, you have to keep the heat low, and stirring the roux went on and on and on until the white flour toasted to a dark walnut brown.

I use corn oil or peanut oil now. I can crank the heat up and roux takes twenty minutes. If you're single-handing int eh kitchen, have your vegetables (onion, bell pepper and celery) chopped and ready to go before you start the roux, because you're going to be stirring for a while.

Make no mistake! It must be stirred continuously. Many a young Cajun got his or her first task in the kitchen stirring the roux while Mom or Grandma went about other tasks. And heaven help you if you slacked up and the roux burnt.

Making a roux is THE single scariest part of Cajun cooking. It's easily mastered, though, and with that foundation, Cajun gumbos and sauces piquant are easy steps to turning a half dozen simple ingredients into hearty and tasty meals. A Cajun with some onions and a roux and some kind of meat is a happy Cajun.

dale in Louisiana

[Dale in Louisiana]

Dale do they also use Okra to thicken Gumbos? I've seen recipes with Okra in them to thicken. Just wondering, I'm very interested in Cajun/Creole cooking (the real stuff after my 12 year ago trip to Louisiana). I've had good Gumbos since I was there but I don't know if I had a good one to start with?? Does that make any sense?? LOL!! Suggestions for sites or recipes are welcome!

Where I was raised in southwest Louisiana, there were two types of gumbos, file' and okra.

In a file' gumbo, the basis is, as I have pointed out before, a 'roux', and not that wimpy 'stir some flour into butter for a minute' French roux, but a Cajun roux, dark brown, smoky. Into that, goes at least some onion, chopped, and if you have it both regular onion and green onion, what the foodie world likes to call 'shallots', and again, if you have it, a bit of bell pepper and a bit of chopped celery. And meat. Chicken. Seafood. Turkey. Rabbit. Guinea fowl. Goose. Many Cajuns, me included, add a smoky Cajun sausage. The whole mess simmers for a couple of hours with an occasional stir and a taste for the balance of salt and pepper. At the table, for individual serving, is file', a fine powder of green dried sassafras leaves. When added to the hot bowl of gumbo, it adds an unmistakable flavor and some thickening. It was served over rice, medium grain, if you want to be picky.

Okra gumbo is thickened by the okra itself, and if you have enough okra, then the gumbo is flavored by that. When money was tight, okra gumbo had only a little meat and some smoked sausage for flavor.

If you see a gumbo recipe that calls for a laundry list of ingredients, including tomato, then it's a Creole gumbo, not Cajun, although there is a bit of smear in the two cultures over the years. My folks never put tomatoes in anything they called gumbo.

A recipe? Here's mine.

dale in Louisiana

[gwpercle]

wch,

I have my Dads Cajun Jambalaya recipe ( chicken and sausage ) and my wife's New Orleans , Creole Jambalaya recipe ( shrimp, andouille sausage , ham and tomatoe ). Which one you want?

[gwpercle]

OK wch , I will post both...Creole Jambalaya first: This is from my New Orleans born and raised wife's family. All measurements and weights are plus or minus, don't have to be exact except for rice.
8 ozs. Andouille sausage or any good smoked pork sausage. sliced into 1/4 in. thick rounds.
8 ozs. ham, cubed. can be leftover baked ham or a ham steak.
1 pound peeled shrimp tails, fresh or frozen ( I use frozen).
1-14 1/2 oz. can petite diced tomatoes or 2 cups chopped fresh tomato
2 cups chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped bell pepper
2 or 3 cloves garlic, minced fine
1 tea. dried minced onion or onion powder
1 tea. dried minced garlic or garlic powder
1 tea. cajun or creole seasoning that you like or can find.
1 tea. salt
1 1/2 tea. Accent
2 tea. Lea & perrins worcestershire sauce
2 tea. ham base, optional
2 tea. chicken base, optional
4 cups water
2 1/2 cups rice

Coat the bottom of a good heavy bottomed pan. ( mine is a Magnalite chicken fryer pan ) that has a tight fitting lid, with vegtable oil, heat on high and brown sausage rounds till they start getting color around edges.Add ham chunks and cook 10 mins. Then add onion, celery and bellpepper. cook till veggies are soft and transparent, add chopped garlic and tomatoes with juice. Stir and cook 10 mins. Except for shrimp and rice add everything else on list stir well and let come to a simmer, then add shrimp, let mixture return to a gentle boil then add thr raw rice, stir well , cover pot with lid, lower heat to LOW...too high and the bottom will stick then scorch and burn, low heat...after 25 mins. lift the lid and check, dig into bottom of the pot with a spoon, if liquid is still present , put the top back and cook 10 - 15 mins. more , if still too much liquid, remve lid and let excess moisture evaporate. Cooking rice is an art and may take a few tries to get right. The rule is 1cup rice to 2 cups liquid...the only problem is the tomatoes , onins and shrimp all throw moisture into the pot and mess up your balance. If this comes out too wet add more rice next time, if too dry add more liquid.

Gary
I will post cajun jambala recipe tomorrow....getting hungry.

[wch]

Getting hungry?
I hear that, Gary.
Thanks.

[Gliden07]

Thanks Dale!! I printed the recipe and am gonna make it!!

Where I was raised in southwest Louisiana, there were two types of gumbos, file' and okra.

In a file' gumbo, the basis is, as I have pointed out before, a 'roux', and not that wimpy 'stir some flour into butter for a minute' French roux, but a Cajun roux, dark brown, smoky. Into that, goes at least some onion, chopped, and if you have it both regular onion and green onion, what the foodie world likes to call 'shallots', and again, if you have it, a bit of bell pepper and a bit of chopped celery. And meat. Chicken. Seafood. Turkey. Rabbit. Guinea fowl. Goose. Many Cajuns, me included, add a smoky Cajun sausage. The whole mess simmers for a couple of hours with an occasional stir and a taste for the balance of salt and pepper. At the table, for individual serving, is file', a fine powder of green dried sassafras leaves. When added to the hot bowl of gumbo, it adds an unmistakable flavor and some thickening. It was served over rice, medium grain, if you want to be picky.

Okra gumbo is thickened by the okra itself, and if you have enough okra, then the gumbo is flavored by that. When money was tight, okra gumbo had only a little meat and some smoked sausage for flavor.

If you see a gumbo recipe that calls for a laundry list of ingredients, including tomato, then it's a Creole gumbo, not Cajun, although there is a bit of smear in the two cultures over the years. My folks never put tomatoes in anything they called gumbo.

A recipe? Here's mine.

dale in Louisiana

[gwpercle]

Part II - Cajun Jambalaya: chicken and sausage ( feeds 4 cajun's, if they not too hungry )

1 lb. good smoked pork sausage, sliced into 1/4" rounds.
1 whole chicken, place into a stock pot, cover with cold water and simmer untill meat is cooked . Debone, cut meat into bite sized pieces, reserve meat and broth.
Alternate short cut-3 or 4 chicken breast ( about 2 lbs meat ) poached in canned or boxed chicken broth, reserve meat and broth. You want 4 cups broth reserved.
2 or 3 cloves garlic, chopped.
2 cups chopped onion.
1 cup chopped celery.
1 cup bell pepper, chopped.
1 tea. cajun/creole seasoning ( Tony Chachere's if available)
1 tea salt
1 tea each onion and garlic powder
2 tea. Lee & Perrins Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon Kitchen Bouquet browning and seasoning sauce.
1 tea. Accent.
2 cups rice
On high heat, in a heavy bottomed pot w/ lid ( I use Magnalite chicken fryer ) brown the sausage rounds, stir often ( if no grease is produced by sausage add a tablespoon of olive oil to help with browning). When brown and the pot bottom has a good brown glaze covering it, quickly remove sausage and dump onions, celery and bellpepper into the pot. Deglaze, stir and scrape all the flavorful brown goodness from the bottom of the pot (flavor secrete). Cook veggies till totally soft, transparent and starting to brown ( we do not want crunchy celery , bell pepper or onion ). Add garlic, over cooking makes it bitter so 5 min. is fine.
add sausage, chicken, 4 cups reserved chicken broth, and everthing else on the list EXCEPT the rice. When the mixture comes back to a good boil ( still on high heat) add the rice,stir well, cover with lid, lower heat to LOW, must be low so bottom will not stick and scorch. Let simmer 25 minutes. do not lift the lid. After 25 min. lift lid and check
If rice is cooked its ready, too much moisture let cook 10 -15 min. more. Leave the lid off and moisture will evaporate faster if needed. It should be moist with rice fully cooked.

Gary

[pmeisel]

Gary, that's pretty close to the way I make it. I forget which aunt taught me now (I had lessons from several...) I love the stuff.

One tip for someone trying this, I like to put my whole chicken in one of those two part clam steamers, and steam the chicken until it is falling off the bone. I do this to get chicken meat and broth for other recipes too.

[high standard 40]

I live in Gonzales, La which is the official Jambalaya Capitol of the world. We hold a festival every spring with cooking contests. Everybody is held to the same ingredients. I have never competed but my Dad's brother won the title years ago. I cook my Jambalaya similarly to the recipe Gary listed as the Cajun recipe. I do differ on some points. My favorite is pork and sausage. I brown the sausage first to obtain some grease, then remove the sausage from the pot and I then brown the cubed pork. Once all the meat is browned, it is removed from the pot and the onions are added. The fire is lowered and the onions are cooked until wilted and browned, not burnt. Low and slow is the key. A good Jambalaya has uniformly brown colored cooked rice. This color can be obtained without any meat at all if the onions are cooked right. (A tip my uncle shared with me). The best Jambalaya gets it's flavor from the way you brown the meat and the onions. You don't need kitchen bouquet to get a good dark Jambalaya. Just be patient and cook the onions the right way. Once the onions are ready I add the garlic and the meat goes back in for a few minutes, then the water is added and seasoning adjusted to taste. The rice cooking method I use is similar to Gary's but I do take off the lid half way through cooking and gently lift the rice, DON'T STIR. This improves the even cooking of the rice. We usually use a well cured black iron pot, dedicated for this purpose. The Championship Contest pots are HUGH with round bottoms and are cooked outside on an oak wood fire which adds considerably to the flavor.
Cooking a good Jambalaya is an aquired skill and take much practice. So practice a lot.
Bon Appetit

Edited to add:
Here is a list of the required and optional ingredients in the Jambalaya Cooking contest. From only these ingredients comes some of the best Jambalaya in the world.

Cooking ingredients must include:
Preliminary round: 30 lbs chicken; 10 lbs rice
Semi-Final round: 45 lbs chicken; 15 lbs rice
Final round: 60 lbs chicken; 20 lbs rice

Other ingredients and Seasonings to be chosen from the following:
Yellow Onions
Garlic (Fresh & Granulated)
Green Onions
Red Pepper
Red Hot Sauce
Bell Peppers
Celery
Salt
Black Pepper
Cooking Oil

No Other Personal Seasoning Allowed in the Cooking Area.
Only Ingredients Provided by the JFA Will be Used.
Ingredients will be delivered to the cooking area thirty (30) minutes prior to start time of your heat.

[DLCTEX]

I ate Jambalaya at a restaurant in Florida on my last trip that was in no way related to the type I ate when I lived in south La. It was such a disappointment being overwhelmingly tomato and thin like a soup.
I prefer my Gumbo with a light roux (peanut butter color) and I don't care for the strong taste of chocolate colored roux. I add file' at the table, but am currently using Everglades Seasoning, bought in Florida, in cooking it and it has some file' in it. I have to substitute smoked sausage for andoui here.

[gwpercle]

I know Kitchen Bouquet is cheating but I tend to burn things, so I get them fairly brown and stop. I have burned more onions and roux's in my lifetime and hate to have to throw it all out and start over. So I admit it , I cheat on color.

Cajun jambalaya with andouille sausage and any meat is great, like Dale said , pork roast jambalaya is awesome! You can make it with any meat , wild or domestic. Whever we go on a vacation, out of LA. , good jambalaya is the thing I miss most. I'm addicted to it.

Gary

[gwpercle]

If anyone ever gets the opprotunity, go to the Gonzales Jambalaya Festival...it is FUN..
Whats also interesting is even though all contestants use the same basic ingredients, the cooking techniques gives each one a different flavor...and usually the winner didn't win it the year before. This is the place to learn about Jambalaya and how to make it. And you can perfect yor beer drinking technique. Cajuns know how to pass a good time.