Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Food, Cooking, and Game Preparation Jambalaya?

I've never eaten the dish, and I'm thinking of trying my hand at it. Any recipes you good folks like?

Never made it either Richard.

Good luck!

I cheat. Zatarains in a box. Just add andouille sausage and dinner in 20 minutes.

I think Charlie took a stab at it last year. Maybe he'll chime in.

Oops am I confusing gumbo with jambalaya ?

Looks real involved but it is easy to make and real easy to make into your own. Heres the basics: I- 15 OZ can diced tomatoes and 1-15 oz. can of chicken broth 1- 4 oz can of tomato sauce. Place in pan or slow cooker on med to heat. Add two large stalks of celery diced small and one medium onion diced and then 1 large bell pepper diced small 4 cloves of Garlic crushed and 1 teaspoon of garlic salt, 2 teaspoons of basil, and 2 teaspoons of parsley flakes(dry). Then add two teaspoons of Italian seasoning and 2 teaspoons of Cajun seasoning. (You can make it warmer with cayenne and hot sauce on your own portion). The Meat: Cut up debone and cube, one half of a frying chicken and saute on medium for about 5 minutes. Then add a 1 lb. package of thick smoked sausage slices. (I use the store's own brand of brats because they are great) Andoille is the commonly used. Suit yourself. Let this all simmer on low heat together for about 3 hours and then add the precooked shrimp about 20 minutes before service. This is nearly impossible to mess up. I like to spoon it over cooked white rice. I like to serve this without peeling the shrimp or taking the tails off. Most like to have the shrimp deveined and peeled at least. Your choice. Options can be many.

I make it from time to time. I'd have to look up the recipe . I can't remember anything.
It is wild game jambalaya .

Oh me oh my yo gonna have us lots of fun on the bayou...

I puruse a web site called Duck Hunting Chat on occasion. Fella there goes by Indaswamp, has some interesting Cajun recipes. I usually search his recipes when I’m looking for new ideas on Cajun style food.
I’ve prepared one or two and enjoyed them. His Jambalaya I have not tried, however.

Indaswamp’s Jambalaya:

6 Whole plucked teal or 4 wood ducks (must have skin on)
2 lbs. cajun smoked sausage (use what you have-but make it a good quality smoked sausage)
salt and cracked pepper to taste
granulated garlic to taste
1/2 cup bacon fat (Do not substitute here :no: )
1/4 cup real butter
4 extra large white onions chopped 1/2 " dice
1 cup celery sliced 1/8" dice
1 cup green onions tops thinly sliced (save white bottoms separate from green tops)
1/2 pod garlic minced
1/4 cup parsley chopped
1 lb. fresh button mushrooms sliced (or canned-I prefer fresh)
Hot sauce to taste
1/8 cup dark brown sugar
6 cups of long grain white rice (not minute rice!)
9 cups water

To cook:
(**pre-heat oven to 325 degrees when the ducks have about 40 minutes left to go before they are tender)
Coat outside of ducks with hot sauce, season ducks well inside and out with salt, pepper and granulated garlic then set aside.
In a large #12 dutch oven, heat bacon grease over medium-high heat. Add sausage and brown on all sides, remove to pan and keep warm. Add real butter to pot and let it melt. Add ducks to pot and brown well on all sides, add a little water every now and then to keep drippings from scorching. remove ducks to same pan sausage is in and keep warm. Lower fire to med., add onions, celery, green onion bottoms (whites portion) to the hot oil. Add 1/2 tsp. black pepper (the black pepper is important at this point for it to cook in and get a deep flavor) and cook until onions are slightly caramelized scraping the meat drippings from the bottom of the pot as it loosens-about 30 minutes. When onions are almost done, take a bottle of hot sauce and shake drops of hot sauce around the inside bottom of the pot along the sides-don't be stingy with it, this will add a nice color to the jambalaya when it browns. Add mushrooms, and stir in. Add meats and water to the pot (IMPORTANT: be sure to mark the water level on a spoon so when it comes time to add the rice you will have the correct ratio) add brown sugar and bring to a boil then reduce heat, cover and simmer until teal are tender and leg bone twists in socket...2-3 hours, however long it takes. When ducks are tender, check the seasoning (pepper should be a little strong and "drag" a little down the back of your throat. when you add the rice-it will suck up the pepper.), check the water level and add if necessary to bring back up to your mark on your spoon. Skim the grease off with a large spoon-get most of it but leave about 2 tbps. so the rice will be fluffy and not clump together. Remove whole ducks from pot to a pan and keep warm, leaving sausage in. Add parsley, green onions, IMPORTANT -3 tsps. salt and rice to pot. Fold in and cover. Oven should be hot- place pot in oven for 20 minutes, then pull out and gently fold rice and sausage in pot. Return to oven for 15 minutes. Then remove again, fold once more and return for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and the jambalaya should be perfect. squeeze one grain of rice and see if it is cooked through-if it's still hard in the center, cook another 10 minutes.

I like to leave the ducks whole and serve the whole duck with a side of the jambalaya-but you could debone the birds while the rice is cooking and add the meat on top of the rice for another 5 minutes in the oven to reheat the duck meat. This works and I have done this before...But it's easier just to serve the whole birds on the side. The key is not to put the duck in with the rice and bake it for an 45 minutes as it will dry out severely.

Personally I’d skip the shrooms in favor of green peppers and maybe some good canned tomatoes.

I've made em both but I prefer Gumbo.

Staple at hunting lodge. Cooks loved it, quick,easy, kept well. Sautee chopped yellow onion, bell pepper, celery. Then add sliced smoked sausage to brown. Add large can of Hunt's diced tomatoes with onion.garlic, oregeno. Add Cajun season to taste and simmer. Then add cooked rice. Serve with red beans and corbread. Many guests didn't know what jambalaya was prior but never had anyone not like it and can't quit eating. Perfect meal after cold day hunting. Cajuns, p!ease don't make fun of my recipe.Good cook for hunting camp are hard to find. I had to come up with good hardy meals the cook couldn't screw up,held over well when hunters came in late after making a kill. Had to keep it simple. Good Luck. Clients came from all over the country. Had to tell the YAnkees what to do with the damn corn bread. Not their fault

Have eaten it at a local restaurant that serves a lot of Cajun food. It was okay, but not a favorite of mine.

Good Jambalaya is the cat's ass.

I love eating it in winter, but have never made it ourselves.

If you're looking up recipes you'll see red Creole jambalaya and brown Cajun jambalaya. Of course there's overlap, even more so than the same division of gumbo.

Jambalaya and a crawfish pie and a file gumbo!

Did you dump file powder before, during. of after ?. Consensus varies

Thanks

I put file on my gumbo when it's in my bowl, along with Tabasco. That was dinner two nights ago, as I made about 20 quarts this past weekend. I do cheat though, and use a locally made gumbo base to start with. This batch had a whole turkey, a chicken, wild hog sausage, half a pound of seasoned Tasso pork, and a dozen or so mallard breasts. My wife calls it turduckhen gumbo, and it's one of my kid's favorites. I'd like some shrimp or crawfish in there, but one of my daughters is allergic to shellfish.

I use Okra instead of File powder.

JPro........sucks about your daughters allergy.

Well, the dish was not bad. Imgur however is not working tonight for me. Perhaps pictures later.