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[Paducah Home Theater]

I cook quite a bit but I don't cook based on recipes, they're too easy to mess up, I just go all Iron Chef on stuff based on whatever is laying around.  My version of Jambalaya is the closest I ever get.  

 

1 cup uncooked quality rice, don't rush cooking it, let the rice soak up all the steam so it's fluffy.  traditionally it would probably be brown rice but we like using Jasmine. 

the trinity - 3 chopped celery stalks, 1 sliced vidalia onion, 1 sliced bell pepper

a pile of chopped carrots the same amount as the celery, more if you want

I usually add some beans as well, probably the equivalent of half a can of black or red beans

1 pound andouille sausage

1/2 pound or so grilled chicken thighs, diced or at least cut up the best you can

brown the sausage in a cast iron dutch oven, remove, then sautee the vegetables in the juice along with olive oil

slice the sausage and combine with the veggies and heat it back up

be cooking the rice this whole time, and combine everything in the dutch oven

season to taste with Tony Chachere's

serve with Tabasco sauce.  

 

 

It's really just a basic jambalaya recipe but as for what's different:

 

1. most people don't use carrots (the carrots are the best part, sauteed carrots seasoned with Tony's with Tabasco sauce on top is awesome)

2. I've seen more northern people forget the Tony's

3. If you wanted to be traditional or go all Emeril you could cook the rice in chicken stock or spanish saffron, but I use so much Tony's and Tabasco that it's probably counterproductive

4. The Louisiana people tend to cook the hell out of the rice and it turns into a sticky brown mush but I don't do that, I keep the rice fluffy and relatively clean

5. Most people use chicken breasts instead of chicken thighs but grilled thighs tastes better in my opinion, plus I don't use as much as some.  

6. Most recipes dice the green pepper and onion but I don't like doing that, I like long slices almost like Asian dishes.  That's really what the whole thing ends up looking like, an Asian version of Jambalaya.  

7. beans usually don't end up in jambalaya, if they're used it ends up being red beans and rice.  I just substitute it for more meat which is common elsewhere.  

[oldtimer]

38 minutes ago, MetropolisLakeOutfitters said:

beans usually don't end up in jambalaya

I have never seen beans in jambalaya.

[Paducah Home Theater]

34 minutes ago, oldtimer said:

I have never seen beans in jambalaya.

 

You've probably never seen couscous in jambalaya either.   

 

http://emerils.com/123686/couscous-jambalaya

 

 

How about some black eyed peas:

 

http://emerils.com/120627/black-eyed-pea-jambalaya

 

 

mushrooms and zucchini:

 

http://emerils.com/126212/farro-vegetarian-jambalaya

 

 

Weird stuff.  

 

[oldtimer]

You got that right.  Just the down home stuff for me, none of that fancy pants concoctions.  Down home is how it's meant to be.

LOL notice the lack of comments for the recipe,  people are dumbfounded over such a weird thing.

[Paducah Home Theater]

4 hours ago, oldtimer said:

You got that right.  Just the down home stuff for me, none of that fancy pants concoctions.  Down home is how it's meant to be.

 

Half my wife's family is from the extreme southern Louisiana, her uncle is a full blown cajun.  They all act like they can cook cajun the _right_ way, but alas, they cannot.  Last time he came up they made a shrimp boil except they put everything in at the same time.  So basically the corn tasted like shrimp and the shrimp tasted like rubber.  

 

We used to have a cajun restaurant in town but it was lame as well, you'd order the gumbo and it was chock full of half cooked okra and celery.  That's not gumbo, that's okra soup.  Just weird.  

 

I even spent a week in New Orleans trying different places every night, never did find anything impressive.  Finally found some alligator gumbo which I had high hopes for but it wasn't all that.  Had like 4 slices of alligator sausage that strangely tasted like andouille that had different spices, just not that much different.  The rest of it wasn't that much different than black bean soup.  

 

Finding the perfect example of authentic cajun cooking is really next to impossible.  Probably the most seemingly authentic I've seen is a local place, they go to pretty decent lengths to get the sauces right and whatnot:

 

https://www.zomato.com/paducah-ky/stricklands-seafood-paducah-paducah/menu

 

Muffaletta's at various places are good as well but those are kinda hard to mess up.  

[oldtimer]

There was (maybe is) a place in Ft. Worth that was an oyster house.  Their gumbo was spot on, the fried whole catfish delectable, and crawfish in season done the right way.  The gumbo was the best hangover medicine I've ever had.   I did find some good jambalaya in New Orleans, I think it was at The Court of the Two Sisters, but it was long ago and I'm not sure about that.  A good Cajun cook is a prize, no doubt.  Emeril has the right spirit, but you have to remember he is actually a Portuguese from the east coast.

[oldtimer]

BTW, I mix my own essence without the salt so I can control the salt content of whatever I cook.  It's more potent if you mix it yourself from a bulk seller like a health food store because the spices are fresher.  Maybe the recipe is on that website you posted.  The store bought pre-mix with his picture on it is not as good---it's just not fresh enough, plus it has the salt in it.  I avoid the one's like Fiesta because of the msg.  Once you stop ingesting msg you really notice it when its there and it gives an "off flavor" and after taste I don't like.

[twk123]

18 minutes ago, oldtimer said:

BTW, I mix my own essence without the salt so I can control the salt content of whatever I cook.  It's more potent if you mix it yourself from a bulk seller like a health food store because the spices are fresher.  Maybe the recipe is on that website you posted.  The store bought pre-mix with his picture on it is not as good---it's just not fresh enough, plus it has the salt in it.  I avoid the one's like Fiesta because of the msg.  Once you stop ingesting msg you really notice it when its there and it gives an "off flavor" and after taste I don't like.

There is much wisdom here. Salt and seasoning are two different things and have different methodologies. Also, salt is a key ingredient for a good sear (I like to salt the pan itself to avoid any moisture being drawn to the surface of the meat) which would burn any seasoning to a crisp. If you separate them you can pan roast something and salt at the sear stage then season it for the finishing off in the over.

 

Very true about MSG as well, I can literally smell it on food now.