New guy in training is from Massachusetts cap cod area cool dude coming over from the blue water side , has to do a few hitches under me before going to the wheelhouse to train. Anyhow pretty fun when it comes food . Hasn't had a good 60% of what we cook . Smoked meat, gumbo , dirty rice, jambalaya, barbacoa , ect. Been loving all of it and stays watching me like a hawk in the kitchen letting him help me make a lil gumbo tonight said he can't wait to get home and try cookin some . Mans putting Tony's on everything now too good times

I would probably come work down there for six months just for the food - I love that stuff. Hard to make it the right way way up here.

I suppose I should add - my idea of "the right way" probably isn't even close to the right way.

good stuff

not hard to get people to like cajun cooking

Wish I could get tasso and boudin up here, I do have a good Andouille sausage though mmm good

Finding any Andouille here is next to impossible, it's a bummer. I chow that stuff when I can find it.

Donovan, I learned of Tony Chachere’s from you and I am grateful to you for writing about it. We use it frequently.

Keith

if you make it down to Green Bay , I know a lot of Yoopers on the west side of the state do a couple times a year , Woodman's in GB had 10 Andouille options.

Interesting, I'll keep that in mind if I'm ever over that way. I'm on the other end, if you brought a verizon phone to my house the screen would say "welcome to Canada".

Does he talk funny ....?

We don't talk funny, everyone else does.

The food is what I miss the most when I worked/lived in Louisiana.

you mean he's not making New England style clam chowder for you guys.

Or Fried clams?,

Looking for a good jambalaya recipe ?

You want quick or an all day prep? Creole or cajun aka red or brown? There is no one jambalaya recipe.

The basic jambalaya formulation is a prepped meat base with trinity and seasonings to which is added tomatoes, creole, or not, cajun, then uncooked rice and stock, usually made from your base meats, to finish the rice in the dish.

Jambalaya is similar to a Spanish paella and reflects the Spanish influence in Louisiana. It differs from most creole/cajun cuisine in having the rice cooked into the dish rather than served over rice that is cooked separately.

I prefer a creole jambalaya as I love tomatoes but the missus prefers a brown jambalaya.

I'll dig up my recipes and post them.

Here's the all day one, lol. Making the stock while cooking the ham hocks, swap in tasso if you got it, and chicken takes the longest and I usually do it the day before. Once the meats and stock are prepped the rest comes together fairly quickly. The link is the original and I've made a few changes over the years and included them in the recipe.

https://recipegoldmine.com/reglouis/jambalaya.html

2-3 big meaty ham hocks or equivalent tasso
4 carrots, chopped
1 large yellow onion, quartered
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 (3 pound) chicken, cleaned
2- 6 bay leaves
2 tablespoons oil, I prefer olive
1 cup medium dice yellow onion
1 green bell pepper, medium dice
1 cup celery, medium dice
5 green onions, diced
1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes (reserve liquid)
4 tablespoons tomato paste
1/4 cup chopped parsley
3-8 depending on size/taste cloves garlic, crushed and minced
1 teaspoon whole thyme, fresh is best
1 teaspoon basil
Salt and pepper, to taste
1/8 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 pound hot smoked link sausage, I use conecuh hickory smoked
2 cups parboiled rice

Optional, tabasco 2-4 dashes added with the Worcestershire.

Chopped green onion for garnish.

Place the ham, carrots, the 1 yellow onion, and celery in a pot, and cover with water. Cook for 2 hours, and then add the chicken and 1-3 bay leaf. Cover, and simmer for about 1 hour, or until the chicken is tender. Allow the pot to cool a bit. Bone the chicken, and chop the meat. Bone the ham hocks, remove the skin, chop the meat. Strain and reserve the stock (need 3 cups, save any extra for other use), and the two meats.

This is a good stopping point if you want to finish it the next day.

In a Dutch oven heat the oil. Add the cup diced yellow onion and pepper, and sauté until tender. Add the celery, green onions, and tomatoes, and cook until soft. Add the ham hock pieces and tomato paste, and sauté the mixture until it begins to brown. Add the parsley, garlic, 1-3 bay leaf, basil, thyme, salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, the reserved tomato liquid and 2 cups reserved stock. Cook this gravy for 1 hour. Cut the sausages into bite-size pieces, and brown them in another pan; discard any grease, and place the sausage slices in the gravy. Deglaze the frying pan with 1 cup reserved stock, and pour into the gravy. Place the rice in the gravy, along with the boned chicken, and cover. Bring to a boil; then reduce heat, and cook for about 25 minutes, or until the rice is tender. Keep careful check so that the pot does not dry out; you may have to add a little stock to finish cooking the rice.

Only one accent that is annoying and hate to say it, but Nessy has it.

Like fingernails on a chalkboard !

Shrimp Jambalaya, this one requires a delicate touch to not overcook the shrimp. And you want shell on raw shrimp heads still on if you can get it. Original and recipe with changes.

https://www.africanbites.com/shrimp-jambalaya/

1 pound (500g) raw shrimp, tails on or off (peeled and shells reserved) whole heads and shell on preferred. Small to medium so there's plenty of shrimp to go around.
Salt and pepper to taste
1-2 teaspoons Creole seasoning, Tony Cacheres preferred

¼ cup olive oil or butter
1lb Andouille sausage, sliced into thin rounds, I use conecuh
1 medium onion, diced save skins and trimmings
1 large green bell pepper, seeded and diced save seeds and trimmings
2 stalks celery, diced save trimmings
4-5 cloves garlic, minced (about 1½ tablespoons garlic) plus some extra for the stock
2 teaspoons thyme, minced from a bundle of fresh save the extra
2-3 bay leaves
1½ cups uncooked white rice (short or long grain) I use parboiled
1 14-ounce can (400g) crushed tomatoes
1-2 teaspoons hot pepper sauce (adjust to tastes)
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
3 cups shrimp stock (or chicken broth) you want to make the shrimp stock
Sliced green onions and chopped parsley, to garnish
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Shrimp Stock

Add 1-2 teaspoons of butter or oil, you want to use butter, to a saucepan or skillet. Then throw in the shrimp shells, and heads if you got them, the remaining scraps of onion, garlic, celery, and aromatics like bay leaf and thyme.

Sauté for about 5-7 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent burning.

When the seasonings soften, add 4-5 cups of water to the pan.

Bring everything to a boil, lower the heat, and let it simmer for 10- 20 minutes.

Strain and reserve the stock.

Jambalaya

Place the peeled shrimp in a plate or bowl. Season with salt, pepper, and Creole seasoning. Toss to coat evenly and set aside. Do this well ahead to give time for the seasoning to soak in.

Heat a heavy pot (skillet, Dutch oven, or another oven-safe pot) over medium heat. Add about 2 tablespoons of oil to the skillet.

Add the sausage and brown for a few minutes when the oil is hot. I like the sausage just starting to crisp up. Then remove the sausage and set it on a plate.

Add the shrimp to the same pan and brown for 2-3 minutes. Then remove them and place them on the plate with the sausage. Careful here and only partially cook the shrimp, you just want the sear. The shrimp will finish at the last step.

Add more oil to the pan, then add the onions, celery, and bell pepper. Sauté for about 2-3 minutes, and then add garlic, thyme, and bay leaf. Continue cooking for 4-5 minutes.

Next, stir in the rice, crushed tomatoes, hot pepper sauce, and Worcestershire, followed by shrimp stock. Add Creole seasoning, salt, and pepper to taste. I like to add a bit of the stock first and deglaze the pan scraping up the fond before adding the rest.

Return the sausage to the pot. Bring it all to a boil before reducing the heat to barely a simmer. Cover and cook for about 15 minutes.

Next, add the shrimp on top of the jambalaya and gently stir it in.

Cover the jambalaya with a lid and continue cooking while occasionally stirring until the shrimp is pink and cooked through. It will take 4-5 minutes, depending on the size and thickness of the shrimp you use.

Finally, remove the dish from the heat, sprinkle it with green onions and parsley, and serve warm.

This is the brown or cajun recipe I've used. The wife likes it, I'm still on the fence and haven't played around with it so I'll just post the link. It's good but maybe I'm not browning the meat right or I miss the tomatoes.

https://www.sweetdaddy-d.com/cajun-jambalaya/#

Spent some time on Marsh Island in LA the caretakers were Cajuns they knew how to cook food they made some great stuff.