Teach a newbie how to cook jambalaya

Where do I find the jambalaya calculator?

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Where do I find the jambalaya calculator?

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google

Not that hard to do. Get 4 gal cast iron pot. Nice size to make family jambs or somewhat larger crowd for small tailgates. Just brown seasoned meats (use Cajun seasoning) real well to let “gratin” develop on the bottom. Add trinity and sweat them down till tender and clear. Add stock and seasonings (additional salt, garlic powder, white pepper, cayenne) and bring to a boil. Readjust seasonings to make it a little too salty, almost. Add the rice (long grain) and bring to a boil for about 5 min or so. Cut fire down to absolute lowest setting or flame. Cover pot and don’t lift lid for 25 min. After raise lid and stir from the sides. Then recover with flame off and let sit for about another 25 min or so. Follow proportions on the jamb calculator on here.

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And do I need a cast iron pot?

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preferred, but not necessary

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Don’t have one; have magnalite.

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sufficient for cooking on a stove indoors, but not ideal for cooking over an open fire

Use the Jambalaya calculator for your ratios. I'll give you the steps:

1. heat your oil in the pot. It doesn't need to enough to cover the bottom, You'll know it's hot enough when a drop of water causes it to pop and crackle.

2. Brown your pork. You don't need to cook it all the way through (in fact, absolutely do NOT cook it all the way through). Just brown the outside of it and then remove it. Do the same with your sausage. It is possible to brown your pork and sausage at the same time, but just keep in mind that the sausage takes far less time to brown and can end up burnt as a result.

3. Add your onions. This is BY FAR the most important step. You have to keep browning those onions until they caramelize and become transparent all while stirring constantly to keep them from burning. If they burn, your jambalaya will ALL taste burnt. If you don't brown them enough, your jambalaya will taste bland and be very light in color.

4. Once onions are perfect, add meat back into the pot and slowly stir in your water so as to deglaze the pot without splashing or spilling.

5. Season your water to taste as you bring it to a boil. The key here is to get the water to taste slightly saltier than you want your end product to taste like since the rice tends to absorb a fair amount of the saltiness.

6. Once water is at a full rolling boil, add your rice and continue cooking and boiling uncovered until enough water boils out that the rice is clearly visible poking above the surface.

7. Once rice is plainly visible, cover, then reduce heat to a simmer (if cooking outside, pull away the majority of the coals and just keep some). Let simmer for 22 minutes. DO NOT open the lid or stir!

8. After the 22 minutes is up, open the lid and "flip" the rice by stirring to make sure whatever was on the bottom now is on top. Check and see if the rice has "popped", taste to make sure the rice is not too crunchy or wet. If too wet or crunchy, cover and simmer for 5 minutes and repeat until it reaches desired done-ness.

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I have never used a calculator, and mine are always great.

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I have often used a calculator and mine are poor about half the time. Burnt on bottom often. Undercooked sometimes.

It's not as easy as people say.

I want to learn the oven method. Surely I can do that.

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First you get a couple fresh tomatoes and some premium tomato sauce.

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How dare you

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Burnt on bottom often.

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If you are using cast iron on an electric top, you really have to remove it from the heat for a bit. I learned that the hard way on round one. Those tops just stay too damn hot for too long.

I really miss gas.

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We looked at the gas cooktop, electric oven combo

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Had that in my last house. Will have again some day.