PrintReal jambalaya??
Real Jambalaya?? I was told today at my office by an accountant from Baton Rouge today that jambalaya is not authentic 1) when you use andouille and not chorizo; and 2) when you use chicken, ham AND shrimp. You can have two meats but not three.....I laughed him off, but is he right? I always thought that is how you made it - it's how I make mine.
Add a comment:
Previewing your comment:
HTML Hints
Some HTML is OK: <a href="URL">link</a>, <strong>strong</strong>, <em>em</em>
Comment Guidelines
Post whatever you want, just keep it seriously about eats, seriously. We reserve the right to delete off-topic or inflammatory comments. Learn more at our Comment Policy page.
If you see something not so nice, please, report an inappropriate comment.
Start Talking!
Need a question answered? Have advice to share? Start a Talk topic now!
Sign up to get your questions answered and share advice.
18 Comments:
I work with people from Lousiana who also say 1. Real Jambalaya does not have tomatoes in it; 2. You would never mix pork and seafood. It's either pork or seafood. Apparently, chicken and pork are OK; and 3. Okra is optional depending on the part of the state you're from.
Louisana people are almost as bad about jambalaya as Texans are about chili. Persnickity...yeah, that's a good word for it.
GingerCM at 8:32PM on 04/09/08
gingercm, real jambalaya does have tomatoes in it and pork and seafood go together well. i make mine with tasso, andouille, chicken, bacon and shrimp.
olddad at 8:50PM on 04/09/08
[i]gingercm, real jambalaya does have tomatoes in it and pork and seafood go together well. i make mine with tasso, andouille, chicken, bacon and shrimp.[/i]
I love using bacon as a base for the "trinity" in jambalaya; the fat from the bacon brings out the flavors.
BITTER at 9:39PM on 04/09/08
People who say stuff like "Real Jambalaya does not have x, y, or z" are just silly. Who is to say what's real and not real?
Anyway who would be anti- putting together more and more delicious meats?!?! :)
karenita at 9:58PM on 04/09/08
Someone in another post a few weeks ago said something pretty profound. "The best pizza is the one you grew up with," was the quote, and I think that about sums it up. It's "real" if that's the way your granny made it.
But I must admit I found the idea of chorizo in jambalaya a new one.
lemons at 11:44PM on 04/09/08
I think that with the exception of recipes that were invented recently and documented as the original, or were invented by restaurants that upheld the tradtional, it's impossible to say what's "real." I've heard it about so many dishes and so many cuisines: "There are as many recipes for (A) in (B) culture as there are households/mothers/grandmothers/cooks. When it's a recipe that comes from the people of the culture, everyone is going to make it the way they like it with the ingredients they have available.
dbcurrie at 12:12AM on 04/10/08
@BITTER - I also use the bacon as you do. And ham, chicken, shrimp, andouille and tomatoes. I actually think my favorite recipe may have come from a magazine in a Hunt's ad like 20 years ago. I've tried other ones, but we like that one the best. I think it's like paella or any other traditional dish. You have the classic version and then many renditions of it.
I'm having a difficult time imagining chorizo in it though. It just doesn't seem like the flavor profile would work as well as andouille or hot links. But what do I know?...
frederika at 2:04AM on 04/10/08
In my experience, jambalaya is subject to regional variations, and is also one of those very personal dishes that varies from family to family. There is really no "right" way to make it, much like minestrone, chicken soup, and so many other poor "garbage" dishes that are largely reliant on whatever is on hand.
LoCo at 2:27AM on 04/10/08
@frederika....I've made it w/chorizo from a recipe I got off the net. I love chorizo in Mexican/Latin food, but it's too smoky, gamy and too intense for my palate to go into jambalaya....
BITTER at 2:43AM on 04/10/08
Hm. I use tomatoes in jambalaya even though it makes me feel guilty. I never combine shrimp with chicken and ham. I might do ham and chicken or bacon and shrimp. But then, what do I know? I'm a Yankee!
Library Lady at 8:53AM on 04/10/08
Oh, I use tomatoes in jambalaya, both in the mix I give as Christmas presents, and in the mixture I put on the table. For every food, there is a purist (or two or a hundred) out there.
GingerCM at 8:58AM on 04/10/08
It took me forever to find a jambalaya recipe without tomatoes that I liked... finally found one that I do enjoy very much. I use shrimp, chicken, smoked sausage, tasso, and andouille. ohhh, man, so good... Ended up making this at work once, and they've begged me to make it again ever since.
NinjaFluff at 10:23AM on 04/10/08
@BITTER - Um, well chorizo certainly isn't authentic in jambalaya. That said, you can still use any meat you have around. I just would not call it "authentic". As for what your co-worker said, it's bunk. There is no set number of meats in jambalaya. That is the most preposterous thing I have ever heard.
Tasso, andouille, smoked sausage, chicken, shrimp, game are what is considered "traditional" in South Louisiana. But the recipes really do vary in different communities. And, more often than not seafood and meats are mixed together. An seafood-only jambalaya is quite rare, whereas a meat-only jambalaya is common.
Also, there are two kinds of jambalaya: red (with tomato) and brown. Where I come from (South Louisiana), we mostly eat brown.
http://gumbeauxkitchen.blogspot.com/search?q=jambalaya
@GingerCM - never heard of okra in jambalaya. Did you mean gumbo instead? Where in Louisiana are your friends from?
GumbeauxGal at 12:40PM on 04/10/08
My family is from the cajun heartland and we never put tomtoes in and never mix seafood an meat. Our family jambalaya is pork, chicken and smoked sausage. Very easy to make, very simple dish. The secret to great jambayala in that area is a can of cream of mushroom soup.
Of course, here in New Orleans, where I live now. Tomatoes go into everything to give it more of a creole effect as well as seafood and meats being mixed. I personally perfer my gumbo and jambayala the cajun way.
malenky at 2:16PM on 04/10/08
@malenky, our red jambalaya has tomato paste, but no actual tomatoes. Like, I said, though. People don't cook the red version as often as brown.
I haven't heard of cream of mushroom in jambalaya, though. What town are you from?
I am from Vacherie, which is more of an amalgamation of French and German folk, not Cajuns.
GumbeauxGal at 2:35PM on 04/10/08
@GumbeauxGal my family is from Crowley. I've always thought that the cream of mushroom soup was a family thing, but then I saw it is quite a few local cookbooks from the high schools, so apparently quite a few people also use it. It just gives it a smoother consistency and sort of rounds out the flavors.
I always find it very interesting the differences between the cooking of the bayou cajuns and the prairie cajuns.
malenky at 6:24PM on 04/10/08
@malenky - I've been through Crowley a few times. Lots of good food out that way! Mmmm. Boudin!
I, too, find the culinary differences interesting. Sometimes, you can go as little as 10 miles away to the next little town and you'll find a completely different way of doing a dish! :)
GumbeauxGal at 8:40PM on 04/10/08
Went out with a cute guy from Crowley once!
I'm from Central Louisiana; we never put tomatoes in our jambalaya. That would make it a creole, not a jambalaya!
It's not a matter of "that's not the right way to do it." It's just that we would call it something different. Like the difference between a hamburger and a grilled ham sandwich. Different ingredients, different name!
I never, ever heard of limiting the number of meats, though. And I never heard of chorizo until I moved out of LA. But ... viva la difference!
Editmom at 1:27AM on 04/17/08