Cajun cooks only --- i have been down loading cajun recipes and cant find much difference between jambalaya?

Question

and gumbo. is this a ethnic thing or am i missing something. in one gumbo recipe it says to put the schrimp shells in with the chicken,schrimp andandouille sausage but never says anything about taking them out and why put them in anyway. and to make the roux would it be ok to use corn starch and water. will be waiting with my yankee bells on

Answer 1

I am not a Cajun cook but I have cooked many different things. I believe gumbo is more like a soup, whereas jambalaya is served on a plate. Jambalaya will stay piled up on the plate (not liquidy like a soup).

Answer 2

Gumbo is a roux-based soup usually with okra, tasso (a ham like meat) or andouille sausage, chicken and/or crawfish/shrimp, with a little rice thrown in too.

Jambalaya is a rice dish with similar ingredients, but is thicker.

Answer 3

Are you kidding me?

Jambalaya is a rice dish, w/ meat in it.  You saute veggies and brown meat, add rice and stock, then cover w/ lid until rice is cooked and absorbs all liquid.  Eat w/ a fork.

Gumbo is a thick soup, that is ladled over white rice in a bowl.  It's usually got chicken, sausage and/or some kind of seafood (crab, shrimp, oysters) in it.  You eat it w/ a spoon.

The thing about boiling shrimp shells is to make seafood stock.  You would then use this stock as the liquid in either jambalaya (if you are making a shrimp jamb) or as the liquid in gumbo, if ou are making a shrimp/seafood gumbo.  The shrimp stock just adds extra flavor.  But I would simmer them separately, before I ever made the first roux. (and you can use cornstarch, but no water.  if you want a lower fat version, you can bake the flour ona baking sheet to brown it.... 350ºF for about 15-20 minutes, shake now and again during baking.)

I used canned chicken stock or make my own for chicken & sausage jambalaya or chicken gumbo.  Boullion cubes + water works, too.

Answer 4

well i dont know where your downlaoding these from but you are way off base...no cajun i ever met put shrimp shells in their gumbo...you can cook them in another pot...but not in your gumbo pot..it's simply for the stock purposes....but gumbo is an African word for okra(actually Kigombo) and it's a thick delicious soup made with foods that were indigenous to this area...you have chicken sausage gumbo....you have seafood gumbo...you have duck gumbo..and you have gumbo ya ya..which has everything in it.......Jambalaya on the other hand is a rice dish made with the same things....but is based on the rice and it has a red and brown version...the red version is more creole and has tomatoes(yuck)..and the brown version is based on the stock!! for authentic cajun recipes that are authentic and delicious...try....www.gumbopages.com...... will help you alot!!and as a cajun i beg of you to NEVER...i mean NEVER use cornstarch in you roux...Please!!!!!!!

Answer 5

the shells and everything except the kitchen sink(only because we haven't learned how to tenderize it !!!) are boiled together to make a stock...strain...discarding everthing but the juice(stock) and meat......

corn starch is actually better to thicken a gravy......flour and oil is all it takes for a roux....take a gumbo,add uncooked rice,cook until the juices are almost completely absorbed by the rice....you will now have jambalaya.....kitchen buquet will give it color needed