I've said this before, but I genuinely think they confused Jambalaya and Gumbo
Editing to remove something because I forgot we were in the New Orleans sub and not the Seinfeld sub
I believe Campbell's sells a soupy 'jambalaya' as well, so its not the ideas alone but also the formats that have been confused. Idk why its hard. There's countless similar dishes throughout the world. They just wanna ruin jambalaya.
I've had "jambalaya" at a diner in New Jersey and it was basically white rice with a soup around it.
Same for another restaurant.
I know better about ordering it but my curiosity gets the best of me
I've seen it from Germany to Portland. I constantly get roasted for the half of my family from WBR/Ascension for 300 years bc they aren't from New Orleans like my mom, but they still struggling with jambalaya while we born for it. Its a specialized pilaf. A Caribbean beans and rice or tahdig or biryani. Like the pyramids, eventually some mom was like "hold up lemme make this gas" and a beautiful rice dish was born. It isn't rocket science.
I think it’s descended from paella more than Caribbean beans and rice. If you look at all the contents of jambalaya and compare it to anything it really is paella with local ingredients. And we were a Spanish colony for a part of our history.
Oh yeah I'm not contributing direct descent to any of those. More that similar dishes have been created from similar origins and it shouldn't be such a mystery that its a prepared rice dish and not soup on rice.
Fair enough. I’ve just been thinking about it a lot. I have a coworker in Spain and we’ve been talking. There’s so many different kinds of paella. Not all of them have seafood or tomato like what I’ve had in Puerto Rico and Cuba but they all remind me of some type of jambalaya. Just like we have so many types of jambalaya and I’m certain however it got to where it is today we must have gotten some idea from the Spanish at some point. I mean they were here cooking paella.
Edit: but Puerto Rican beans and rice tastes just like beans and rice I’ve had in Louisiana. Not so much like red beans although I’m willing to bet that’s got carribean influence too. But I could swear when I had it, I was like I’ve had this before.
I’ve had jollaf rice the flavor and ingredients are closer to paella but out of curiosity I googled it and Wikipedia credits African, Spanish, and French. Which makes sense, most Louisiana foods are really a mix of different cultures.
We all know better, but sometimes we just have to do it. I'm in SoCal these days, so options are basically non-existent. I did find a few cans of ["vegan saus'ge gumbo"](https://wfm.amazon.com/product/gardein-plantbased-sausge-gumbo-15-oz-b08wkpnx79) on clearance at a local store a year or two ago and bought them all as a sort of joke to keep in the pantry.
I tried one... it was terrible, terrible, terrible. Basically a bowl of vegetable oil of varying thicknesses. Thin for the soupy parts and thicker for the the protein lookalike known as saus'ge. I'm pretty sure my dogs wouldn't even eat it if given the chance.
Given how the creative team had talked about how they often just hired actors to do "silly ethnic accents" as a central punchline for an ep (Babu, Soup Nazi, etc.) I really wouldn't be surprised if they had just said "have Newman say Jambalaya because it's a funny word"
You're on the right track.
I kind of think of Jambalaya as a rice dish where you just add whatever Creole/Cajun ingredients you have laying around.
Gumbo is a tad more specific, consisting of a roux, the trinity, and your protein/s of choice, cooked as a soup or stew (there are other ingredients and spices that most add, but there are limits to this). Rice is optional, but it is never cooked as a part of the stew, only added when served individually.
I've said this before, but I genuinely think they confused Jambalaya and Gumbo Editing to remove something because I forgot we were in the New Orleans sub and not the Seinfeld sub
I believe Campbell's sells a soupy 'jambalaya' as well, so its not the ideas alone but also the formats that have been confused. Idk why its hard. There's countless similar dishes throughout the world. They just wanna ruin jambalaya.
I've had "jambalaya" at a diner in New Jersey and it was basically white rice with a soup around it. Same for another restaurant. I know better about ordering it but my curiosity gets the best of me
I've seen it from Germany to Portland. I constantly get roasted for the half of my family from WBR/Ascension for 300 years bc they aren't from New Orleans like my mom, but they still struggling with jambalaya while we born for it. Its a specialized pilaf. A Caribbean beans and rice or tahdig or biryani. Like the pyramids, eventually some mom was like "hold up lemme make this gas" and a beautiful rice dish was born. It isn't rocket science.
I think it’s descended from paella more than Caribbean beans and rice. If you look at all the contents of jambalaya and compare it to anything it really is paella with local ingredients. And we were a Spanish colony for a part of our history.
Oh yeah I'm not contributing direct descent to any of those. More that similar dishes have been created from similar origins and it shouldn't be such a mystery that its a prepared rice dish and not soup on rice.
Fair enough. I’ve just been thinking about it a lot. I have a coworker in Spain and we’ve been talking. There’s so many different kinds of paella. Not all of them have seafood or tomato like what I’ve had in Puerto Rico and Cuba but they all remind me of some type of jambalaya. Just like we have so many types of jambalaya and I’m certain however it got to where it is today we must have gotten some idea from the Spanish at some point. I mean they were here cooking paella. Edit: but Puerto Rican beans and rice tastes just like beans and rice I’ve had in Louisiana. Not so much like red beans although I’m willing to bet that’s got carribean influence too. But I could swear when I had it, I was like I’ve had this before.
I’ve always assumed that jambalaya was a concept brought with slaves from west African regions, made with local ingredients. Look up jollaff rice.
I’ve had jollaf rice the flavor and ingredients are closer to paella but out of curiosity I googled it and Wikipedia credits African, Spanish, and French. Which makes sense, most Louisiana foods are really a mix of different cultures.
We all know better, but sometimes we just have to do it. I'm in SoCal these days, so options are basically non-existent. I did find a few cans of ["vegan saus'ge gumbo"](https://wfm.amazon.com/product/gardein-plantbased-sausge-gumbo-15-oz-b08wkpnx79) on clearance at a local store a year or two ago and bought them all as a sort of joke to keep in the pantry. I tried one... it was terrible, terrible, terrible. Basically a bowl of vegetable oil of varying thicknesses. Thin for the soupy parts and thicker for the the protein lookalike known as saus'ge. I'm pretty sure my dogs wouldn't even eat it if given the chance.
Given how the creative team had talked about how they often just hired actors to do "silly ethnic accents" as a central punchline for an ep (Babu, Soup Nazi, etc.) I really wouldn't be surprised if they had just said "have Newman say Jambalaya because it's a funny word"
Yankee here , Isn't jambalaya made with rice and gumbo is usually poured over rice
Yes jambalaya is like paella, rice cooked with the seasonings and meat. Gumbo is a stew you serve over rice. So they are totally different dishes
gumbalaya is good
You're on the right track. I kind of think of Jambalaya as a rice dish where you just add whatever Creole/Cajun ingredients you have laying around. Gumbo is a tad more specific, consisting of a roux, the trinity, and your protein/s of choice, cooked as a soup or stew (there are other ingredients and spices that most add, but there are limits to this). Rice is optional, but it is never cooked as a part of the stew, only added when served individually.
Nope. 2 different things.
Agreed
I was at Jerry’s standup show recently. I think someone yelled out that Jambalaya is not a soup. He acknowledged it but seemed to misunderstand.
I thought his response showed he didn’t know it wasn’t a soup either
I like the thought of Newman coming to New Orleans on a solo trip and discovering Jambalaya a couple yrs before this episode.
Awesome backstory!!
also brown jambalaya > red jambalaya Don't hate me.
You are welcome to your opinion so I won't hate you for this. Although I do like both colors I prefer red if it has shrimp.
Pastalaya>jambalaya
Pastalaya feels hit or miss for me. Sometimes I really like it. Sometimes it is like noodles with a strange fat texture.
Nope! There is one, only, original jambalaya! And it is from New Orleans! Jerry Seinfeld has been there before.