Fried bacon in gumbo and jambalaya

Start with bacon. Don't sprinkle in later.

Literally everyone I know does this with jambalaya. Not sure about gumbo though. Report back.

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That's what I meant. Just need to fry it crispy first before putting it in.

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No, fry it in the pot, remove the bacon leaving the grease, fry the onions in the bacon grease, then add the bacon back to the pot. And dont make it "crispy." You dont want hard pieces of crunchy in your jambalaya or gumbo. Just fry it enough to render the fat

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You dont want hard pieces of crunchy in your jambalaya or gumbo. Just fry it enough to render the fat

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Duh...

I'm not saying put rock hard pebbles of bacon in there. The point is that you render most of the fat off so gummy pieces of fat aren't slithering down your throat.

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How many baws am I going to see buying bacon in the store today??

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About the same as yesterday. This is hardly a new thing and you did not invent it.

When I make shrimp creole jambalaya I start with a pack of bacon chopped fry it down bout half way tehn add the onions and tomatoes and let em cook down to frying then add the other seasoning greens and such and bu9ild the gravy with water by the time it all cooks down the bacon bits are kinda gone into the gravy add the rice and man das good. Since the shrimp aint got no fat and ya add them later the bacon is the browning agent.

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fried the cooked jambalaya

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???

Just go away please

A straight bacon grease roux can be overpowering, but a little bacon fat in your roux is a beautiful thing. Bacon is no different than any other smoked or pickled pork used as the base of a dish; andouille, tasso, bacon, smoked sausage, ham hocks, etc. Most intuitive southern and cajun cooks use them interchangeably, or have personal preferences for pairing one particular pork product depending on the dish or main ingredient. Or they use whatever is closest to hand.

Re: retried jambalaya, not ever damn thing has to be crispy. Soft, succulent, steamed are great textures....think of steamed dumplings, rice paper spring rolls, noodles of all stripes, and so on. Crispy is not automatically better. It’s just different.