Father's Day Jambalaya
Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2011 3:03 pm
Happy Father's Day to all you fathers... 
i lost mine in january so i mean that sincerely 
...anyway i had the usual pleasure of cooking again this year and since i'm not shootin' or reloadin' right now in the 100 degF temps and 96% humidity, i figured i'd be the food editor until it cools off a bit. 
here's the ingredients for sausage/chicken/tasso jammie. 
5lbs long grain rice
5qts chicken stock (or beef)
5lbs smoked deer sausage; cubed
5lbs chicken thigh meat; cubed and marinated overnite in hot sauce & soy sauce.
1lb tasso; diced
2lbs onions
1lg bellpepper
4 stalks celery
1 garlic
worchester,zatarain's,soy sauce,hot sauce. all these to taste; everybody's different
in a 4gal pot, "brown" the smoked deer sausage in oil; if it's not stickin', your not brownin'. this is where your color & flavor is gonna come from. then brown the marinated chicken thighs in the oil & sausage fat. anything still stuck to the btm of the pot will be removed during this step.
place meat to side
add onions,bellpepper,celery,garlic to the oil & fat and saute until clear. this will also remove whats stuck to the btm. then add tasso & bring back to simmer. tasso is highly seasoned, heavily smoked pork ham pieces used for seasoning.
add chicken stock,worchester,zatarain's to taste and return to boil. then add meat back to pot and return to boil.
your broth should be very well seasoned... the rice will cut the flavors almost in half. so don't be scared to season it. in the pic's, note the change in broth color once the meats are returned to the pot.
add rice, return to boil; stir well once! then return lid to pot and reduce heat to minimum to simmer for 35-45 minutes.
don't lift lid for 35-45 minutes! cut heat and fluff rice. replace lid let sit until ready to serve. if your cookin' in a familiar pot...use the same cook time as it takes to cook plain rice in that pot. no matter how much meat or rice is in the pot... the time will be the same and the rice/broth ratio will be 1lb rice / 1qt broth.
this is an "authentic" jambalaya contrary to anything you might see or hear on tv food channels. it can have anything in it... but the rice is "always" cooked in the broth with the meats,seafood and/or veggies. the color comes from the browning of the red meats. chicken & seafood don't contribute to the color. seafood jammies are usually redish yellow in color from the tomatos,paprika and saffron. the techniques are the same; except for the browning.
