Zatarain's Jambalaya

[Schlenkerla]

I have made gumbo from scratch and the Zatarans Gumbo. The box gumbo is good but compared to DIY Gumbo there is no comparison. Its awesome! When I made my own gumbo I used lard and flour to make my own ruix which is a delicate task of doing without burning the flour. I'd post the recipe but I lost that book, loaned it to some SOB who never return the damned thing.

 

[SpanishCastleAle]

Yea, a brown roux isn't the easiest to make without burning...you have to go slooowww.

I use a roux for my Crawfish Etoufee but haven't used a roux for Jambalaya. I do have plenty of bacon grease on-hand...hmmmmmmmmm.:rockin:

 

[mmb]

The boxed stuff is good but I have to watch my salt intake. Lots of pressure problems in my family and also in my wifes.

Here's a base I use for Jambalya with pretty much whatever meat is in the freezer. Usually chicken wings, smoked sausage or hot sausage and frozen shrimp, peeled and de-veined.

a bunch of minced garlic (I use the pre minced stuff :shocking
4-6 chopped celery stalks
one or two medium sized chopped bell pepper (I like red and orange to get some color)
one-two medium sized chopped onion
3 little tomato paste cans
1 big can diced tomatoes
8 cups chicken stock
cayenne, black pepper, white pepper, oregano, thyme, couple bay leaves
4 cups long grain white rice


Season the chicken and brown chicken and sausage in a pan. Tear the chicken off the bone and you pre chopped your sausage into rounds, right?

Sweat the veggies in your stock pot, dump the tomato paste in and let that get a little dark.

Pour a few cups of the stock in to get everything off the bottom of the pot and mixed up well. Season the mix now and add a little salt to taste. Add shrimp and other meat along with the rest of the stock and the rice. Simmer on medium until rice is cooked, stirring frequently.

That should get you something like jamabalya and you'll stay away from a lot of the salt. The sausage has plenty as is.

 

[SpanishCastleAle]

Looks good mmb.

Add shrimp and other meat along with the rest of the stock and the rice. Simmer on medium until rice is cooked, stirring frequently.

I would add the shrimp at the very end...they only take like 4-5 minutes.

 

[mmb]

I would add the shrimp at the very end...they only take like 4-5 minutes.

I use precooked stuff from the freezer section most of the time so it's already pretty rubbery. I'll change that next time.

Never have had "real" jambalaya or gumbo... just my attempts from a mashup of different recipes.

 

[texmedic49]

Alright, as promised, here is the scratch recipe I use for Jambalaya:

4 small whole bay leaves (take them out prior to serving)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp white pepper
1 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp gumbo filé powder (it is pronounced fee-lay)
1.5 tsp ground cumin
1.5 tsp black pepper
1.5 tsp dried thyme leaves

4 tbsp margarine (I usually use real butter)
6 oz tasso (if you can find it) or diced ham, works out to about 1.5 cups
6 oz chopped/diced smoked sausage- any GOOD smoked pork or polish sausage, I have used just about everything, including venison (which tastes great)

1.5 cups chopped onions
1.5 cups chopped celery
1 cup chopped green bell peppers
1.5 tsp minced garlic
2 cups UNCOOKED rice
4 cups chicken, beef or pork stock, can be from cans or cubes, doesn't matter

Combine your seasonings in a bowl prior to starting, timing with this recipe is essential. Boil water for your stock, if you are using bouillon cubes. Melt your margarine and add the tasso (ham) and sausage, cook for about 5 minutes. Add veggies, stirring often and cook till brown. Stir in the rice and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring often, scraping the bottom of the pan. It will brown and "pop", so don't be concerned, it will be OK. Add the stock and bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer until the rice is tender but still a little crunchy. Make sure you stir, scraping the bottom of the pan, you don't want it to burn. Serve...

Goes well with sweet cornbread and COLD, sweet iced tea with lemon. SWMBO and I usually eat this by itself, but it also works well as a side for blackened redfish or blackened flounder.

For those with a "tender mouf", this ain't for you, at least at full strength. Cut your spices in half, or more. If it gets too spicy, add more butter or margarine to cut the heat. This tastes better after sitting up in the fridge overnight. I usually make 2 recipes so I'll have plenty. And use the BIGGEST frying pan that you own to make this, it makes it sooo much easier. Oh, and don't forget to take out the bay leaves before you eat it. And I cannot take credit for this recipe, it is Paul Prudhomme's from his book Louisiana Kitchen, he is the guy that owns K-Paul's...

Enjoy!

 

[SpanishCastleAle]

No shrimp or chicken texmedic? AFAIK those are both traditional jambalaya ingredients (lol, if there is such a thing!).

Most of the heat comes from the cayenne pepper so you could cut that and keep the other spices the same for full flavor but less heat.

And use the BIGGEST frying pan that you own to make this, it makes it sooo much easier.

Paella is traditionally made in such a pan and they sell them as 'Paella pans'...and you can get them about as big as you like and spend about as much as you want on them too. I've seen 60" diameter pans that sell for $2K and more (way more) and claim "serves a small village".

 

[texmedic49]

I have never tried THIS recipe with shrimp or chicken in it, never felt the need to. You are right though, those are the "traditional" meats, as are rabbit or squirrel. The other thing that differs with this recipe is the rice is not boiled until it "explodes". I had some Jambalaya over in Mississippi that was made by a guy from outside of Baton Rouge, and his had "mushy" rice in it. It was good, don't get me wrong, but I just didn't like it. YMMV

I'm not familiar with Paella...what is it?

Oh, and the white pepper sneaks up on you too!

 

[SpanishCastleAle]

Paella is the Spanish 'version' of jambalaya (or jambalaya is the cajun version of paella). Very similar...just Spanish instead of Cajun. It usually has whole shellfish and whole pieces of chicken in it. For example, it may have mussels in-the-shell tucked into the rice near the end of cooking to gently steam/cook the mussels.

I also put olives and artichoke hearts in it. It's awesome.

Re the rice: Generally speaking the longer the grain the less sticky it is. AFAIK, much of the US rice production happens in that area and much of it is long grain rice. Americans actually learned how to grow/harvest rice from the slaves that were brought over (hence the 'Uncle Ben's' brand name). That guy with the mushy rice might be using a shorter grain rice...or maybe he's just overcooking the crap out of it. I usually use Jasmine rice which is still long grain but noticably stickier (and whiter) than your typ Uncle Ben's long grain. Jasmine rice is what you find in many Thai/Asian restaurants.

 

[texmedic49]

Might have to try that...

 

[harrydrez]

I'm making some right now with crawfish and andouille sausage with some extra cyan.

 

[tuckferrorists]

I just wish that coon ass a few posts up had followed through.

WOW! Totally forgot about this thread. As some of you may not know, coonass is a term of endearment to true coonasses. I Live in Gonzales, LA which is the jambalaya capital of the world. We have the world championship of jambalaya cooking every year during the jambalaya festival. There is a recipe on the internet that has the 1978 world championship recipe you can find here

but here are some pics of a jambalaya cook off we did this weekend. It was a traditional Gonzales pork jambalaya

Evan Gautreaux's Photos | Facebook