2 lb Pork Butt, cubed
3 lb Sausage, sliced
1 cn Franco-American Brown Gravy
2 Onions diced
1 Bunch Shallots diced
5 c Rice
Water —–SEASONINGS—– Salt Cayenne pepper Tiger sauce Hot sauce Tony’s Chachere’s Seasoning Kitchen Bouquet
Contributed to the echo by: Stephen Brown This recipe for Jambalaya comes from my father-in-law, who won the Oak Alley Jambalaya cooking contest with it twice. Even this transplanted Yankee has had good luck with it. Sausage & Pork Jambalaya Brown the pork in a large pot with a small amount of water on the bottom to prevent sticking. Cover, stir occasionally. Add Onions, and continue to saute. When onions are transparent, add sausage, and continue to saute. When the meats are cooked, add the brown gravy and cook a few more minutes. Add the water — You need to add an *equal* amount of water as you are using rice. 5 Cups, in this case. (Usually the rice is measured by the pound, in which case you would pour into a bowl and add that amount of water). Allow the water to heat, then turn off the heat and cover. Allow the grease to rise to the top. Skim off the grease with a large spoon. Conserve the grease. After skimming the grease, add an amount of water equal to the amount of grease to replace the liquid lost. Bring to almost boiling, and add your seasonings. You can use whatever seasonings you want, but the key is that it should be saltier and hotter now than you want the finished product. Heat the spices a few minutes, and taste. Add more spices until you are happy with the outcome. At this point you can add the shallots. (We save the greens until now, since they float, and they would be in the way of tasting the spices). One optional step is to add a small amount of Kitchen Bouquet to give the Jambalaya a rich brown color. Bring to a rolling boil. Add the rice all at once and stir. Continue with high heat and stirring often until the mixture becomes milky with the rice. Reduce the heat slightly, and cover. Now you only want to open and stir the rice occasionally, as the rice is steaming. When removing the cover, do not allow the water to drip back into the pot. Wipe the lid before returning the lid to the pot. Stir quickly, but be sure to scrape the bottom to prevent sticking. This is really the tricky part… As the liquid drys up, you need to reduce the heat even further and allow the rice to finish steaming. Stir every few minutes, scraping bottom. The Jambalaya is finished when the rice is tender and “done.” This recipe can be increased or reduced proportionally. The first time I made it I used 2 pounds of rice. The second time used 35 pounds!