Makes 10 servings (serving a crowd?)
- ¼ lb JF Martin turkey bacon, cut into ½ inch strips
- 10 oz Bell and Evans Chorizo chicken sausage, cut into ½ inch slices (see notes)
- 6 oz Esh's dark smoked turkey sausage, cut into ¼ inch slices
- approximately ¼ cup corn oil
- 2 lb chicken thighs, skinned, boned, defatted, and cut into 1 inch chunks (about 20oz if pretrimmed)
- 12 oz onions, chopped
- 1 large (12 oz) bell pepper, chopped
- 1 lb celery, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 2 Tablespoons Cajun spice (see notes)
- 2 Tablespoons smoked paprika
- 2 red pepper flakes
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- 4 cups parboiled rice
- 9 cups low sodium chicken broth
- 2 lb tomatoes, chopped (canned ok)
- 1 lb medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
Special equipment
- a very large (10 quart) dutch oven
Method
- This dish is assembled quickly, so it’s important to have your ingredients prepared. Makes sure all your meats and vegetables are properly chopped and ready to go. The onions, bell pepper, celery, and garlic can be kept in the same bowl, and the dry spices can be reserved in another.
Over medium high heat, brown the bacon in 2 Tablespoons of the corn oil for about 5 minutes, stirring often to prevent burning. Then add the sausage pieces, still stirring, and when they’ve lightly browned, add in the poultry bits and stir.
When the poultry has begun to brown, add onions, celery, bell pepper, garlic, spices and Worcestershire. Keep stirring until the onions have begun to sweat. Because the sausages are lean, do add another two Tablespoons of corn oil.
Add the rice and toss to coat each grain with some grease. This will help prevent the grains from sticking together. Add broth, tomatoes and shrimp, and bring to a boil. If you cover the pot, it will quicken the process, but you’ll want to open it up, check on it, and stir occasionally. Once it has come to a boil, reduce the heat to the minimum to keep it simmering, then cook for 15 minutes. Pull it off the heat, and let the residual heat keep steaming the rice for 5-8 minutes.
Stir and test the rice. If it needs a few more minutes, let it sit; else serve immediately.
Notes
- Like our other Jambalayas, this recipe was engineered for a cauldron-sized recipe. Though not documented in this revision, because you have more control of the heat on a stovetop than atop a wood fire, you could pace out the assembly of your ingredients.
We tested a lot of turkey sausages trying to match our favorite pork Andouille. While we found a variety of turkey Andouilles, both fresh and smoked, none were acceptable: they were either too gristly, too dull, or the casing tough as rubber bands. The best spicy poultry sausage we found was Bell and Evans fresh Chorizo. It is not smoked, so we needed to kick up the smokiness of other ingredients, and it’s not nearly as caliente as our beloved Andouille. Therefore, we tried adding 2 teaspoons cayenne. Too much sting and not enough flavor. Use 2 teaspoons of red pepper flakes instead. Also, the casing on this sausage is very fragile. If you slice it too thin, it will disintegrate, and you’ll no longer have distinguishable Chorizo slices when you serve. Slice it thick.↩
Suggestions
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