re: Secrets to a Great Jambalaya

Well i'll give my ideas of how to make a tasty jamb. You didn't mention what size pot you were cooking so i'll assume you're cooking a 6 quart jamb. If you can find pork temple meat get some. 3 to 4 lbs for that size pot. If not buy a boston butt pork roast and cut into 1" to 1.5" cubes size pieces. Try to leave a small piece of fat on each piece of the pork butt if thats what you use. I find by doing that it gives much taste and tenderness to the pork. I brown my pork first in about half a cup of vegetable oil. Let it fry in the oil until it sticks then stir. Let it stick again and repeat over and over. Now and then cool the grease off with a splash of water or stock. Brown the meat well. I brown it until its really brown. Like milk chocolate. It may seem hard when done but trust me when it gets boiled in the broth later it tenderizes nicely. After browned remove from the pot. Brown your sausage then. As Rat mentioned in the comments and I can't stress enough is DO NOT overcook your sausage. It is very easy to completely cook the taste out of smoked sausage. There is very little fat left after smoking and you want that for taste. Just blanche the sausage and remove them. Now dump the grease out. Just pour it out but retain the gratin in the pot and certainly don't scrape the bottom clean, you need that part. A little oil will remain and thats fine. Don't wipe it out. Now add onions and a splash of stock or broth. Canned or boxed chicken broth is way better than plain water. Yes its salty but you can adjust for that. Brown the onions until clear. Some here say thats where they get their browning from but I say bullshite. The browning comes from the meat gratin in the bottom of the pot. Now as you cook the onions deglaze the bottom with spashes of broth. When the onions are clear and soft cook all the liquid out and add the meat. Now add your broth/stock or whatever you are using. Just go 2 to 1 ratio liquid to rice for this size jamb. Use Mahatma extra long grain. Best there is for jambs in my opinion. Bring to a rolling boil and taste the liquid. Now season the mixture like you want and what fits the crown eating it. Make sure its a little salty to taste because the rice will absorb that to even it out. Get your pepper like you want and splash some Louisiana hot sauce in it too for a little extra zing. A good season all type blend will work. Not sure what you can find up in MA but those folks eat good up there i'm sure there is some thing good to use. Once the liquid mixture is boiling hard add your rice. Bring back to a good boil until the rice is jumping in the boil mixture and slightly starts to thicken. Now add green onions if you like now but I usually don't. It will not add taste just some garnish in my opinion. When its get to this point cover and turn fire down to 25% and don't lift that lid for anything for 35-40 min. When that time has past by lift lid and roll the rice from bottom to top all around. Smear the mixture flat to seal in the steam and reclose the lid. Turn OFF the fire. Let it sit for 25 min. It should be ready to eat at this point. Good luck. Enjoy. Oh and yes that takes me about 6 beers to complete.

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In my experience, however, the meat gratin only accounts for about 10% of the coloration.

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Then you're not browning your pork enough to build the gratin. But you start with onions first don't you? Which is fine. That works too. But I brown the pork first like pochejp and that is 100% where the color comes from.

I used to do my jambalayas more the way Kingbob described, trying to get the color for the rice via the browning of onions. Heck, I'd even make a slight, small roux to give something to stick to my rice and give it flavor. However, doing that way was time consuming and almost tedious.

I tried Poche's way after seeing his thread a few years ago and thought to myself, "I've been complicating this shite too much."

Not that my jambalayas weren't tasty, at least according to others (the chef is always biased). But Poche's route was much more time efficient and came out every bit as tasty. The shot glass of LA Hotsauce in the stock had me concerned the first time, but none of the vinegar flavor was present, while seemingly adding to both the color and flavor of the rice.

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Stock actually dilutes the flavor

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Dilutes the flavor? I have no idea at all what you could mean by this.

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and oversalts it

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Don't add salt when you make the stock or use low salt store bought. And how about not using a seasoning mix full of salt.

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celery adds nothing but a mild bitter taste

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You really don't know much about flavors and cooking if you believe this.

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Green Bell pepper has a completely different cooking time from onions. They will be burnt long before the onions hit the perfect mark. It just adds an extra level of complexity

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Complex flavor is a very good thing. If you burn the bell pepper, you need to change your technique.

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There's a ton of garlic in the seasoning blend.

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Why are you using a seasoning blend for the backbone of flavor in your jambalaya?

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Green onions I advise leaving out for the same reasons as bell peppers, except they burn even more quickly.

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Man, you don't cook the green onions - you throw them in the last time you turn the rice. If you cook the green onions very long you might as well leave them out.

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As for parsley, it's also completely unnecessary and merely there for appearances sake.

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You don't understand aromatics at all.

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Parboiled rice cooks differently, absorbs water differently, and has a completely different texture

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Yes, but is harder to screw it up and many chefs prefer the elegant presentation it gives. I do not use it in jambalaya but many beginers do, and there's no shame in that.

I used it in a fundraiser I did for a church, 20 gallon pot and all I used was Leblancs, water, onions, rice, and meat...no salt, pepper, garlic, cayenne or anything anybody else would throw in there.

Turned out surprisingly really good, but it's not as fun...if that makes sense.

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Let's face it. The same applies for jambalaya as gumbo..... There are as many recipes as there are people who cook them for jambalaya as well as gumbo. There is no ONE way to do it. Not all are great but some may be better than you think because of be it simple or complicated differences.
Using par boiled rice is not a sin! Neither is using jarred roux vs homemade roux in gumbo. It's simply a shortcut to save time and yield consistent results.
I will say that using a pre mixed seasoning(like Tony C's for example... Simply as an example)takes away control of your salt and peppers. Using individual seasoning/spices is not that difficult and makes a huge difference to me.

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I agree with every word of this.

I wouldn't lump Leblancs in with Tony chachachachacha's

I agree with Stadium Rat on everything except the parboiled rice. As someone who grew up on a rice farm, I have never in my life used it and never will. To me it will spoil the taste and texture of the Jambalaya. I always use green onions and parsley at the end along with bay leaf and thyme added with the trinity. I can tell the difference when those are not used.

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