Justin Wilson's Chicken & Sausage Jambalaya

I bought 2 of Justin's Dvd's and decided to give it a shot....


















Cooking Video http://coastalbendsurf.com/cookinvideos/

Looks impressive. How did it taste?

surfinsapo, you have any professional kitchen experience? Seems like you might.

Cynthia wrote:Looks impressive. How did it taste?

It was very good and filling....

David Hammond wrote:surfinsapo, you have any professional kitchen experience? Seems like you might.

No Dave, Just cook as a hobby. Thanks for asking.

Just a note on Justin Wilson...

Found a book on Cajun Humor by a U of Louisiana English professor; had an entire chapter on Justin. Turns out he was cordially despised by the entire Cajun community. His reputation as a humorist was based on telling "Polish" jokes about Cajuns, i.e., how stupid they were. To make it worse, he was only half Cajun. One parent was, one wasn't.

And, finally, though fractured english and bollixed-up grammer was part of his schtick, he held graduate degrees in Industrial Engineering and worked up north as one during WW II.

Just a lovable old fraud.

Mike

I like the food he cooked mainly. Nice and spicy.....

Members of a community hating the most successful representative of their community for his success? That's never happened before.

In other news, Russian-Americans insist Yakov Smirnoff is actually part Georgian...

Hi,

I have a Jambalaya prep question: if you needed to cook your jambalaya in advance, would you:

1. Prepare until just before adding the rice, then put aside the meat, vegetables and stock. When ready to finish: warm everything up to boil, add rice and steam until finished.

OR

2. Complete it and reheat.

Thanks for any insight.

Regards,

Whenever I make Jambalaya, I always make extra and freeze. Letting it come to room temp and gently heating - it seems to be as good as the original.

Certainly the rice will have a slightly better consistency if you add it at the end, but I would not hesitate to make the whole thing and reheat.

I would cook the rice together with the stock, seasonings, and vegetables in advance, so the rice can absorb those other flavors, rather than cook the rice at the last minute. I would cook the meat (sausage, shrimp, and/or chicken) at the last minute and mix it in just before serving so it doesn't get tough from reheating. Similarly, when I make enough jambalaya to freeze, I freeze it without the meat and mix in freshly cooked meat after reheating the rice/seasoning/vegetable mix.

Just realized I have everything I need for jambalaya, so that's what I'm making tonight. Thanks for the idea!

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

I have a Jambalaya prep question: if you needed to cook your jambalaya in advance, would you:

1. Prepare until just before adding the rice, then put aside the meat, vegetables and stock. When ready to finish: warm everything up to boil, add rice and steam until finished.

OR

2. Complete it and reheat.

Thanks for any insight.

Regards,

I sometimes make jambalaya a day or two in advance, as I often do not have time to make it the same day we eat it (unless on a weekend). I go straight through to finished product and then reheat usually in an aluminum tray with some water sprinkled over it and then sealed with foil, at maybe 300 or so. Can take a little while to reheat if trying to do it gently/low temp, but other, faster methods may work as well (although I have only really had success doing it more quickly with single-serving quantities). Key from my perspective is to take it out of the cooking vessel when it's done (that is when I transfer it to the aluminum hotel pan of the type I otherwise use for smoking), so it does not continue to cook and oversteam/overcook as the temp comes down. I do not really follow a recipe for jambalaya (rather, just some rough proportions and some techniques), but have adopted a couple of useful things from the recipe found in Donald Link's cookbook.

I was not aware that there was a difference between Creole jambalaya and Cajun jambalaya. Clearly the recipes I've been following pertain to the Creole version (with tomatoes and shrimp). Thanks for the info and insight, Matt.