Gumbo and jambalaya rank among Louisiana's most loved dishes. Both contain the Holy Trinity of Cajun cooking, which consists of bell peppers, celery, and onion. Both traditionally contain some combination of meat and seafood, though you can also find vegetarian versions like gumbo z'herbes. Both contain rice. Similar, right? Well, a few notable differences set these dishes apart. Here's an overview of gumbo vs. jambalaya.
What Is Gumbo?
Depending on the recipe, gumbo resembles a soup or stew in consistency. Roux, a mixture of equal parts fat and flour, thickens gumbo. When cooked until brown or dark brown, roux gives gumbo a rich, roast-y base. Many thicken gumbo with filé, a powder of ground sassafras that adds an earthy, herby flavor to the pot. Okra also thickens gumbo.
We don't know how exactly gumbo came together. Like Creole food itself, gumbo has its roots in African, French, Spanish, and Native American cooking. The word gumbo likely came from a West African word for okra or a Choctaw word for filé. Both roux and the Holy Trinity of vegetables came from French cooking.
Okra, filé, and tomatoes reflect a Creole influence. Living in rural areas, Cajuns didn't have access to these ingredients, but they did catch on to recipes like gumbo that originated in New Orleans.
A one-pot dish, jambalaya resembles Spanish paella with its combination of rice, meat or seafood, and vegetables. It's also similar to West African jollof, a one-pot rice dish flavored with tomatoes, onions, and spices. Spanish colonists and West African slaves both shaped jambalaya as we know it. Slaves, in fact, introduced rice irrigation methods to North America.
The name jambalaya likely comes from the Provençal word jambalaia, which means mishmash. Also evidence of Louisiana's French influence, the trinity of celery, bell pepper, and onion made its way into the dish at some point. Unlike gumbo, some jambalayas contain diced ham, another French contribution. Traditional Cajun recipes often call for well-seasoned, smoked tasso ham.
And just like gumbo, red, tomatoey versions of jambalaya belong to Creole cuisine. Meanwhile, a Cajun version (sometimes referred to as brown jambalaya) evolved without tomatoes.
Gumbo vs. Jambalaya
So, gumbo and jambalaya share cultural influences as well as ingredients. But you want to note a couple of major differences.
As you know, gumbo uses roux. Jambalaya does not. Most jambalaya recipes don't call for thickeners like roux or okra, though some people use cornstarch as a thickener if the dish needs it.
Most of all, the role of rice distinguishes gumbo and jambalaya. You serve rice in gumbo, but the rice cooks in a separate pot. You want to serve gumbo with more liquid than rice; in other words, not as gravy.
Jambalaya, on the other hand, is a rice dish. Your average recipe contains about double the amount of liquid to rice, but the liquid cooks down. Jambalaya shouldn't turn out watery or mushy. Recipes with tomato sauce will turn out a little wetter, however, almost as wet as risotto, and that's totally normal.
All in all, precision and correctness are not the goal of Creole and Cajun cooking. You want to cook these dishes properly for best results, but that's not to discourage experimenting with ingredients and even consistency. After all, gumbo and jambalaya wouldn't exist today without the cooks who adapted old, familiar dishes to their new environment.
Gumbo is really a soup or stew that's often served over a little rice, while jambalaya is made with the rice cooked into the dish, making the grain an integral part of it. In gumbo, there should be more liquid than rice, while jambalaya should not be liquid-y or mushy.
Both dishes boast multicultural Creole and Cajun roots, so they are similar all the way up to the point they're quite different. The main difference between the two is the role of the rice, which is integral to both. Gumbo is served with rice that is cooked separately, but rice goes into the jambalaya pot.
1> Ingredients: While both dishes share some common ingredients like rice and meat, they also have unique components. Jambalaya typically includes rice, sausage, chicken, and sometimes seafood, while Gumbo often contains a variety of meats or seafood, along with vegetables like okra, and is served with rice.
Gumbo is a roux-based, brothy stew served over rice, and jambalaya is a non-liquid, one-pot rice dish loaded with vegetables, meat, and spices. Chefs cook rice on the side and add it to each bowl before ladling in their gumbo, and they cook the rice with the other ingredients when making jambalaya.
Gumbo consists primarily of a strongly flavored stock, meat or shellfish (or sometimes both), a thickener, and the Creole "holy trinity" – celery, bell peppers, and onions. Gumbo is often categorized by the type of thickener used, whether okra or filé powder (dried and ground sassafras leaves).
Creole cooks in Louisiana usually prepare some variation of three basic recipes: a ''Creole gumbo'' that includes sausages, beef, veal, ham, chicken, whole crabs or shrimp and is thickened with roux and file powder; a simpler ''okra gumbo'' thickened with okra and including a variety of shellfish; and a ''gumbo aux ...
Turns out, your preference for tomatoes in gumbo comes down to whether you learned your skills from a Cajun cook or a Creole cook. (Learn about the difference here.) Cajun gumbo does not include tomatoes in the base, but Creole gumbo (typically shellfish or seafood gumbo) does call for tomatoes.
There are two types of jambalaya: Cajun and Creole. Cajun jambalaya originates from the bayous of Louisiana, featuring andouille sausage and various veggies. Creole jambalaya incorporates tomatoes and shrimp, using influences from Spain, France, and African locals.
Great gumbo starts with roux, a flavorful thickening agent made from equal parts fat and flour. Once the roux is a deep golden color, add diced veggies and sausage to the mix. Then, incorporate beef bouillon, hot sauce, tomatoes, and seasonings to intensify the flavor.
Gumbo is almost always served with rice, but it was at the winery that I learned that some Cajuns serve potato salad with it. Some even put the potato salad in the bowl WITH the gumbo.
Above all else, never add carrots (any recipe that tells you to do so is not an authentic New Orleans gumbo, even if it's delicious). Most of Louisiana was a French territory at one point, and at the heart of French cooking is the “mirepoix”: onion, carrot and celery.
Add both chicken and sausage to gumbo and simmer on low for 20 minutes. Add uncooked rice, stir well, and simmer on low for another 15 minutes. If rice needs additional cooking, turn heat off, leave pot covered, and let stand until rice is ready.
Okra is an ingredient commonly used in gumbo as a thickener due to it's mucilaginous quality, or "sliminess". This thick mucilage spreads out into the gumbo, which thickens it without imparting any sort of slimy quality.
Two main categories of jambalaya exist: Creole (or red) jambalaya, which is associated with the city of New Orleans and contains tomato, and Cajun (or brown) jambalaya, which contains no tomato and is more common in other parts of Louisiana.
Gumbo is perhaps the signature dish of both cuisines. Creole gumbo has a tomato base and is more of a soup, while Cajun gumbo has a roux base and is more of a stew.
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