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Rice Jambalaya

A jambalaya made with rice, pork, sausage, ham, vegetables, and seasonings simmered in broth.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By New Orleans Federation of Clubs · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,108 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Rice Jambalaya

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut pork and ham into very small pieces; cut sausage into rather large slices.

  2. Mince all of the other ingredients.

Brown and simmer

  1. Combine the rice, pork, sausage, ham, seeded red pepper, tomato, sweet pepper, onion, garlic, parsley, thyme, cloves, bay leaf, and butter.

  2. Carefully brown the onion and the pork in butter.

  3. When lightly browned, add the ham and the other seasoning and brown together for five minutes.

  4. Then add the sausage and cook five minutes longer, stirring constantly.

  5. Add three quarts of hot water or clear soup stock.

  6. Boil ten minutes, then add the washed rice, and boil half an hour or until firm.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

646Calories
34 gProtein
27 gFat
66 gCarbs

Counts 11 of 12 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 11 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Pork100g cooked242
Rice1 cup cooked (158g) white206
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Cloves1 tsp ground (2g)7
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Thyme1 tsp dried (1.4g)4
Bay Leaf1 leaf (0.6g)2
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By New Orleans Federation of Clubs. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Clove + thymetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,108 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Garlic + tomatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,076 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Garlic + thymetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,608 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Thyme + tomatotop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,370 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  5. Rice + tomatotop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,065 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Rice
Absorbs the cooking liquid and softens to give the jambalaya its body.
Pork
Browns in butter to build savory flavor and contributes rich, tender meat.
Sausage
Releases seasoned fat as it cooks, adding smoky, savory depth to the pot.
Onion
Browns in butter to add sweetness and aromatic base flavor.
Tomato
Adds acidity and moisture that brighten and color the dish.

The step that matters

Browning the onion and pork in butter. Browning, or the Maillard reaction, creates deep savory flavor. Cooking carefully avoids scorching, which would leave bitter notes in the whole pot.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, pork, ham, garlic, thyme, butter, tomato):

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Oreganofits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, pork, ham, garlic, thyme, butter, tomato. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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