Ingredients:

• Trinity (½ Onion, ¼ bell pepper, ¼ Celery)
  • Red, yellow or orange bell pepper
  • Sweet/Vidalia Onion
  • Celery
• Garlic (4-15 toes, depends greatly on the size of the pot, about ¼ to ½ of your celery quantity)
• Bay leaf
• Avec Tous Spice (you’ll need ½ a bottle or more, don’t be shy)
• Optional:
  • Mushrooms (about equal to your celery quantity)
  • Bacon (⅛ of your sausage quantity)
  • Tasso (⅛ of your sausage quantity)

• Meats:
  • • Pork Shoulder (smoked is best)
    • Chicken Thighs (smoked is best)
    • Smoked Cajun Sausage or Andouille
    • Jasmine Rice
    • Grassfed butter (regular butter will do, but grassfed definitely has a richer flavor)

WATCH THIS SHORT VIDEO TO GET A FEEL FOR YOUR INGREDIENTS!

Garnish / Accessories:
(we will use these when we plate our Jambalaya, these are optional, kind of)

• Crystal hot sauce
• Avec Tous Spice, The Spicy Blend
• Fresh chopped flat leaf parsley
• Finely sliced green onions.

HOW MUCH TRINITY DO I NEED?

When estimating the quantity of aromatics and veggies. I want you to visualize your finished level of jambalaya desired. Your starting quantity of aromatics should be ¾ of that. Remember, it will reduce in volume and concentrate in flavor.

HOW MUCH MEAT DO I NEED?

Just like we did with the trinity and other veg. I want you to visualize your finished level of jambalaya in your pot. Your starting total quantity of meat should be about ½ to ¾ of that level. It will reduce in volume and concentrate in flavor. I’ll let you decide how to split the sausage to other meat ratios. I like slightly more meat than sausage.

HOW MUCH RICE AND STOCK DO I NEED FOR MY POT?

My favorite way to calculate my quantity for a home jambalaya is by sight and feel.

When pouring your stock into the pot, bring the stock level in the pot just below where you want your finished jambalaya quantity to land in the pot. As you add stock, just keep a count of how many cups you’ve added. You’ll then divide that count of cups of stock by 1.5 for your rice quantity.

It starts with the sauté!!

MEATS FIRST

• Pot on high, add some avocado or light olive oil
• Throw in a nice big chunk of butter
• Start with bacon and or Tasso, sauté until nice and brown and crispy then remove and add to a bowl that will house all of the sautéed meats as they come out of the pot.
• Add in the sausage, sauté until nice and evenly, deeply browned (not just a little brown around the edges)

BE SURE YOU ARE RESERVING ALL THAT GOOD FAT IN THE POT AS YOU FINISH AND REMOVE YOUR MEATS (use a slotted spoon to remove your meats)

• add in the pork and or chicken, these are smoked and seasoned or they are raw and seasoned, either way, the end goal is: sauté until evenly, deeply browned then remove and retire to the finished meat bowl (be sure to steal a taste of both, you’ve earned it)

NOW FOR THE TRINITY AND COMPANY

• By this point you should have quite a bit of fond built up…
• Dump in all of your diced trinity, garlic & mushies
• Season all the veg thoroughly as soon as it goes in the pot
• Sauté until evenly and deeply browned.
• As the veg sticks, scrap the bottom of the pot (if you need to get some serious fond off the pot as you go, add a dash of stock, beer or wine. Don’t worry, you can let it reduce out and keep browning)
• The aromatics will reduce in quantity by more than half in some cases.
• The caramelizing combined with the concentration of flavors is magic

NOW, WE HAVE THE AROMATIC VEGGIES AND ALL OF THE MEATS BROWNED AND LOOKING AMAZING, GET READY, HERE COMES THE FUN PART

• Add everything back into the pot, now its time to get the stock seasoned and simmered to perfection.
• Once we have everything back in the pot, add your bay leaves. 2-3 should do it, unless you are cooking in a pot that is larger than 3-4 gallons or so. In that case double it.
• At this point, you should have quite a bit of Avec Tous in the pot, from the aromatics and from the meats, but we need to add more.
• When seasoning the stock or broth that you will cook your rice in, you need everything to be dialed up to 11. Remember, we are going to be adding quite a bit of rice and you can’t add any salt or spice once the rice is in the mix.
• Add another healthy amount of spice and a few pinches of salt. Taste, taste, taste. I can’t say this enough, you can’t taste it enough.
• We are looking for a level of saltiness in the stock, that is a bit saltier than sea water. It will taste too salty at this stage. That’s good.
• When using Avec Tous OG Blend, you will get a very well rounded heat from the cayenne and black pepper that is included in the blend. Some of you will want to finish the salting with just Avec Tous, resulting in a spicier, warmer jambalaya. Others will opt to add some Avec Tous but finish the salting with sea salt. I opt for some sea salt at the end, once I’m happy with the spice level.