US – Louisiana

Andouille sausage, shrimp, onion, celery, bell peppers, rice. Served with salad on the side.

In New Orleans and the surrounding regions, Creole cooks make a “red” jambalaya because of the heavy use of tomatoes, considered one of the hallmarks of Creole cuisine. In the Louisiana bayous, where tomatoes were likely once very hard to come by, jambalaya is brown because the rice in the dish absorbs the sauce in which it is cooked. It’s traditionally cooked in cast-iron pots because they can be used at very high cooking temperatures, resulting in more complete caramelization of natural sugars in meats and vegetables. The resulting brown coloring is absorbed by the rice.