Jambalaya help

My fire is usually on the lowest setting after I stir in the rice and it's simmering.
But I am using a cast iron pot that is thick and retains heat.
Is your pot thin?

How long are you letting it roll boil??

I get my liquid up to a rolling boil, but once I add the rice and get it stirred in real good, I lower the fire to a simmer.

I also use a heat diffuser that goes between the fire and the bottom of my pot to more evenly distribute the heat and not have fire directly on the bottom of the pot. My pot has a real heavy bottom to begin with to retain heat better.

I'll give the pot a good stir about 10 minutes into the rice cooking and shut off my fire and let it finish just with residual heat in the pot.

I've never scorched the bottom of a pot of jambalaya.

It scorched so bad this time that I’ll probably have to strip and reseason my pot. Sad day

That’s probably not bad, but I don’t want a red jambalaya

I’ll do that. My family wants me to make a big batch for a birthday party, but I f’ed it up these last 2 tries so I was getting concerned. Back to the store…

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turn it down to a simmer once I drop the rice in

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Are you stirring the rice until it starts cracking and the water is boiling, or are you just dropping the rice in and waiting for it to boil?

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I don’t know how else to have the pot at a rolling boil except for having the stove on high.

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You can get to a rolling boil with a fire at just about any level. It takes patience, just like a good roux.

If you're getting actual burnt rice, you probably have the fire set too high AFTER you put the rice in and turn down to simmer. When you cover it up, your fire should be as low as you can get it, then maybe a little bump up.

How long did you simmer it with the lid on?

Serious question: Can you cook rice in a pot? Not in a rice cooker?

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but I don’t know how else to have the pot at a rolling boil except for having the stove on high.

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I run mine on de high without the rice until it come to a boil. Put rice in and reduce to low. Let it go for 7-8 minutes and stir. Go another 7-8 minutes again and stir one more time then turn off and put the lid on until Im ready to eat. I usually let it sit up for an hour or so.

25 minutes simmering, but I could smell that it was starting to burn before I even got the rice back to a boil. I can cook regular rice fine in a pot. What threw me off is the jambalaya spreadsheet says “Let the rice get noticeably bigger/expanded.. This step needs to be acheived with a HARD boil.” If it’s just like cooking plain rice from that step forward, I can do that easily.

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That’s probably not bad, but I don’t want a red jambalaya

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Use rotel in mine and it's not a red jambalaya.