Jambalaya

[Gen. Applewhite 227]

I like a cajun brown jambalaya, as opposed to creole style with tomatoes. Unfortunately I did not get a pic of everything before starting, but the first step is to make a really flavorful stock.

This is the carcass of a roasted chicken, the shells from a pound of shrimp, and trimmings from the onion, celery and green onions. After a couple hours of simmering I had 8 cups of stock, and after straining I put it back on the stove to reduce that down to 4:

Once your stock is ready, brown up some andouille in a heavy bottomed pot:

:

Remove the sausage, then sauté the trinity and a jalapeño in the rendered fat:

I cook the hell out of my vegetables, probably 30 minutes on medium heat, then stir in a tablespoon of cajun seasoning and some minced garlic for a couple more minutes:

Add the stock, sausage, picked chicken, green onions, and a few bay leaves. Bring it all to a rolling boil and add 2 cups of rice:

Simmer uncovered for 15 minutes, turn it over (but don't stir), then cover with a lid and simmer for 15 more minutes. It should look like the pic below, after which I tossed in the shrimp, turned it over again, put the cover back on, turned off the heat, and let it steam for 15 minutes while the shrimp cook:

Once the shrimp are pink it's ready to go. Serve with more green onions and hot sauce:

 

 

 

 

[mycox 582]

Well shit. I don't bother with the stock for jambalaya. You just took this to 11.

[Pescado_Rojo 19453]

well done...I've got some Andoulle from Billy's in Lafayette and I've been thinking about Jambalaya. Today might be the day. 

[billfromlaketravis 11601]

I like Creole style better, but that looks great OP.

[Redneck Mutha 8050]

Nice.  I'd eat the shit out of that.

The one we've been doing recently is a modified version of John Besh's creole seafood jambalaya recipe.  We double the andouille (Best Stop) and half the regular pork sausage it calls for, then change up a few of the spices.  And yes, my post is worthless without pics.

[PRONG HORN 3164]

 

8 hours ago, Redneck Mutha said:

Nice.  I'd eat the shit out of that

 

 

 

[Gen. Applewhite 227]

17 hours ago, mycox said:

Well shit. I don't bother with the stock for jambalaya. You just took this to 11.

Well, I was picking a chicken and peeling shrimp, so a stock was getting made no matter what. Probably should have thrown a smoked hock in there as well, but you gotta leave room for improvement I guess.

[drt 640]

You've got upper management written all over you, don't ya? 

[HouTex 1901]

Cajun brown fan here.

[Etexhorn13 3054]

Making for the first time in a long time and I’ve lost the recipe I used to use. I know that I’m using tomato, as I grew up with creole jambalaya and I think it has a better presentation anyway. Anyone have some tips? I have my baseline recipe (basically John Besh’s but I’m open to any and all suggestions/tweaks/recipes that work well. 

[WhatTheBuck 28825]

Use more garlic and cayenne than whatever your recipe calls for. 

[Jim Thompson 22]

11 hours ago, Etexhorn13 said:

Making for the first time in a long time and I’ve lost the recipe I used to use. I know that I’m using tomato, as I grew up with creole jambalaya and I think it has a better presentation anyway. Anyone have some tips? I have my baseline recipe (basically John Besh’s but I’m open to any and all suggestions/tweaks/recipes that work well. 

The single most important step is the handmade stock. Chicken or pork. If you have a pressure cooker it's a snap.  Make sure you use bones that have a lot of collagen; turkey necks, pig's feet, chicken backs etc. Also, good medium grain rice from Crowley or Rayne will up your game considerably. Douse a little Cajun Power worcestershire in the stock while it's on it's initial boil. Good luck, please report back.

[DalTxHornFan 3122]

57 minutes ago, Jim Thompson said:

The single most important step is the handmade stock. Chicken or pork. If you have a pressure cooker it's a snap.  

Agreed.  I use chicken feet (get 'em from an Asian market) along with whatever bones and scraps that I've accumulated and kept in the freezer.  Add some onions, garlic and bay leaves into the pressure cooker along with some water and you're good to go.  Pro tip:  Don't add any salt when you are making stock.  Depending upon how much it gets reduced -- you could end up with something inedible.

[CooterBrown 18089]

I used smoked chicken thighs. It adds something.

[Kyrie Eleison 9312]

the most important thing with jambalaya is getting the exact ratio of ingredients...most especially rice to stock...to get the rice to pop.

the food/drink board at tigerdroppings has a jambalaya calculator in the recipe section stickied at the very top of the board that’s in excel and will download to Dropbox with tabs across the top for ingredients and ratios. it’s excellent and worth the time to digest, if you’ll pardon the pun.

[Dangit 23]

I use what is basically Donald Link’s recipe from his book Real Cajun. The trick I picked up from him was in cooking down the onions. In his recipe you sauté them in butter and oil until dry and then add a bit of stock and cook until dry, and repeat a couple more times, scraping up the brown bits from the bottom of the Dutch oven each time. Adds a lot of depth to the finished product. 

[TornACL 7766]

Anyone cook their jambalaya outdoors on a King Kooker. I am picking one up next weekend and I can't wait to try it out.