Tag: New Orleans

Jambalaya cooking secrets

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Creole-Cajun style Jambalaya cuisine is a highly versatile style of cooking that has become very popular; it is a one-pot dish cooked in cast iron Jambalaya pots.

Cooking Jambalaya is more of an art than a science these days as it has become firmly entrenched as part of our American heritage. But there is one important thing to appreciate; it just isnt Jambalaya if it isnt cooked within a traditional cast iron Jambalaya pot.

Jambalaya is a southern dish arising out of Louisianas rice production and all its traditions. Rice is a fundamental part of all Jambalaya dishes; it absorbs all the flavors of all the other ingredients giving us all those beautiful and distinctive tastes we have come to love.

Now to an important rule. After the rice has been added, the jambalaya should be turned but never stirred. This is to prevent the grains of rice from breaking up. Usually a jambalaya dish is turned just three times after the rice is added with the cook scooping from the bottom of the pot to mix the rice evenly with all the other ingredients. In larger pots shovels are used to turn the Jambalaya!

Jambalaya recipes can be made up from beef, fresh pork, chicken, duck, shrimp, oysters, crayfish or sausage, combined typically with onions, garlic, tomatoes,cayenne pepper, green peppers, celery and other seasoning; and of course, the all important long grained white rice. The typical preparation of Jambalaya involves creating a rich stock from vegetables, meat, and seafood whereupon white-grained long rice is added and the flavors absorbed as the rice cooks.

At its heart Jambalaya is a highly seasoned rice dish that is strongly flavored with mixes of meat and seafood

The most common jambalaya dish is Creole jambalaya or red jambalaya. This dish originates from the French Quarter of New Orleans. Here typically chicken and sausage are browned, then vegetables and tomatoes are added and cooked. This is then followed by the addition of mixed seafood and then at the end rice and stock are added. The mixture is then left to simmer for 20 to 60 minutes.

The story goes that Creole-Jambalaya was a best stab, by the Spanish at making the traditional Spanish paella at a time when saffron was too costly due to import costs. As a result tomatoes were substitute for saffron. As time passed Caribbean spices were added and altogether this turned a best attempt at making a paella into a new dish called Jambalaya.

A second Jambalaya dish, popular in southwest and south-central Louisiana, is Cajun jambalaya; a dish that contains no tomatoes. The meat is browned in a cast-iron pot and removed then onions, celery, and green peppers are added and cooked until soft. Stock and seasonings are added and the meats returned to the pot. The mixture is then left to simmer for one hour and then finally rice is added to the pot. The Jambalaya is then covered and left to simmer over a low heat for half an hour without stirring.

The Basics of BBQ Food Smoking

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One of the most celebrated American foods is barbecue, but what is it exactly? Well this answer to this question is not necessarily a simple one. To different people in different regions BBQ is different, whether it is the cut of the meat or the presence of sauce or not, people around the country look at this great American masterpiece from many different perspectives.

There is one thing that BBQ enthusiasts around the United States seem to agree and that is that the food you are cooking is not BBQ unless it is smoked. Yes, smoke means burning wood to flavor the meat. Methods and types of wood use, however, do vary greatly from person to person and region to region. Texas barbecue is known for being cooked with mesquite wood whereas many North Carolina BBQ chefs do not have as strong of a preference. Most agree, however, that simply cooking food over a grill without wood smoke is -grilling,- and not the same as barbecue. While it may be interpreted as opinion, it is true that smoked food has a distinct taste that cannot be derived simply from the char applied to meat by grilling.

While there are many different types of wood that can be used for smoking, there are a few guidelines to go by. Wood containing sap can be poisonous when burned. The easiest rule of thumb to use when selecting a wood is to make sure it comes from a tree that produces edible food like fruits or nuts. Examples of tasty and acceptable types of wood include: oak, hickory, pecan, apple, cherry and maple. One of the best ways to BBQ is by using what is around you. Many people cut down trees and place them in their front yard. Besides using this excess wood to build fires in your house, you can use it to BBQ. One could also try local online message boards in the -Free- section. Not only is this source of wood free but it is the environmentally friendly choice since the wood you are using had been cut down anyway.

The way you light and smoke your wood matters too. A very popular method is to use wood chips. After lighting a charcoal fire, place wood chips that have been soaking for at least 30 minutes on the top. This will instantly turn into a plethora of smoke.

Another way to smoke is by starting a fire from wood. Whether you bought them or cut them on your own, start a fire from scratch using wood chunks. Once the fire is low, cut the oxygen supply enough so that the fire retains heat but the flame die down: this produces the maximum smoke.

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