Jumballaya in 1904

JUMBALLAYA

From Cooking In Old Créole Days. La Cuisine Créole À L’Usage Des Petits Ménages. By Célestine Eustis. Published 1904.

  1. Take a good sized chicken. Cut it as for fried chicken, season it with salt and pepper, and fry in a spoonful of lard.
  2. Cut up half a pound of ham in pieces an inch long, and fry in the same pan.
  3. When that is fried, take out and in the same lard fry a spoonful of onions cut very fine.
  4. Slice up three large tomatoes, or two spoonfuls of canned tomatoes, and fry them in the same pan.
  5. Cut up a little parsley and add when everything is fried. Put back your ham and chicken and add two and a half cupfuls of water. Let it come to a boil, and then add a cupful of well washed rice. Put it again on a quick fire.
  6. When the rice is cooked, and the steam begins to rise, put it on a slow fire and add a teaspoonful of butter. If you fear it may burn at the bottom of the pot, use a fork, not a spoon, as the latter makes the rice soggy. Let it soak or dry thoroughly. If it does not dry fast enough, put for a moment in the oven.  LYDIA EUSTIS.

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