Jambalaya, round 2
Many years ago, I came up with a jambalaya recipe I was pretty happy with, after scouring the internet. Truth be told, I know very little about jambalaya. Nowhere I've ever lived is within 2 states of New Orleans, so proper cajun food isn't something I'd been exposed to. That particular recipe was pretty good, and there's nothing at all wrong with it.
But the jambalaya I made to tonight? A thousand times better.
It uses fewer ingredients. Also, what I made wasn't quite traditional -- because nobody in the house particularly likes bell pepper. And esmerel can't do spicy. And one of the ingredients I don't normally keep around the house. But none of that matters, because what's important is the technique.
We picked up a copy of The Gumbo Shop's cookbook. The Gumbo Shop is a New Orleans staple, and we were told over and over again while there that they were the place to go. And it was pretty darn good.
I honestly wasn't expecting much of the recipe book. But it has a couple of tidbits that are important. While I won't copy the recipe verbatim, I will share the information that was the most important:
1) Since chicken is an important ingredient of the dish, boil the chicken, with bones, for 45 minutes. Remove the chicken from the bones and use that. The stock you made will be the stock you use for the rice.
2) Cajun food has a method called "stick and scrape" where you cook the vegetables -- onions and tomatoes especially -- very hot in cast iron and let it stick to the pan until it's almost but not quite burnt, then scrape it off. This caramelizes the vegetables and adds layers of flavor that you can't get any other way. I'm convinced this was the secret to the flavor of tonight's dish. Doing this in the same oil used to cook the sausage, of course, imparts a bunch of the sausage flavors into the vegetable melange.
I'm also convinced that using squash as a replacement for bell pepper in almost any dish is pretty much acceptable. Not authentic, but I don't go for authentic. I go for food my family enjoys.
For what it's worth, the complete ingredients list I used goes like this: Chicken pieces, smoked sausage, shrimp, tomatoes, onion, squash, long grain rice, chile powder (california chili powder specifically; very mild), black pepper, salt, canola oil.
Will make again.
But the jambalaya I made to tonight? A thousand times better.
It uses fewer ingredients. Also, what I made wasn't quite traditional -- because nobody in the house particularly likes bell pepper. And esmerel can't do spicy. And one of the ingredients I don't normally keep around the house. But none of that matters, because what's important is the technique.
We picked up a copy of The Gumbo Shop's cookbook. The Gumbo Shop is a New Orleans staple, and we were told over and over again while there that they were the place to go. And it was pretty darn good.
I honestly wasn't expecting much of the recipe book. But it has a couple of tidbits that are important. While I won't copy the recipe verbatim, I will share the information that was the most important:
1) Since chicken is an important ingredient of the dish, boil the chicken, with bones, for 45 minutes. Remove the chicken from the bones and use that. The stock you made will be the stock you use for the rice.
2) Cajun food has a method called "stick and scrape" where you cook the vegetables -- onions and tomatoes especially -- very hot in cast iron and let it stick to the pan until it's almost but not quite burnt, then scrape it off. This caramelizes the vegetables and adds layers of flavor that you can't get any other way. I'm convinced this was the secret to the flavor of tonight's dish. Doing this in the same oil used to cook the sausage, of course, imparts a bunch of the sausage flavors into the vegetable melange.
I'm also convinced that using squash as a replacement for bell pepper in almost any dish is pretty much acceptable. Not authentic, but I don't go for authentic. I go for food my family enjoys.
For what it's worth, the complete ingredients list I used goes like this: Chicken pieces, smoked sausage, shrimp, tomatoes, onion, squash, long grain rice, chile powder (california chili powder specifically; very mild), black pepper, salt, canola oil.
Will make again.