Wild Game Meat Jambalaya
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Recipe Contributed by Marketing Coordinator S. Buoy
Cooking is one of those things that I’m sure I would have gotten interested in eventually, one way or another. It is just too important of a thing in our family for it to have not happened. However, all those nights in college watching Emeril Live on Food Network are what I blame for the initial “fire”. That also had a big effect on why I was always trying to make Cajun food, or at least my version of it. Until I get a chance to visit Louisiana it’s going to be hard to compare. Always being game to try new things, and be inventive with wild game I’ve harvested I decided it was time to go back to the roots of my cooking experience and make a five meat jambalaya.
I went from all ends of the spectrum, the sausage from the black bear I harvested in Montana to the paddlefish I caught just this past fall in Nebraska. And to top it off I added the mule deer doe I got with my bow this fall and the whitetail from late rifle season. The only meat I didn’t harvest myself was the elk sausage gifted from my cousin, as I haven’t had the chance to hunt elk myself yet. I’ve made Jambalaya before many times. In my kitchen or over a campfire in my Dutch oven but always with the same ingredients. The nice thing about jambalaya though is there are so many combinations you can use, as long as you follow the same basics. So this was more of an experiment than anything, but it worked well enough I had to share. I hope you enjoy, I sure did.
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Ingredients:
6 oz paddle fish filet cubed in ½†pieces
6 oz whitetail cubed in ½†pieces.
6 oz mule deer cubed in ½†pieces.
8 oz sliced bear sausage
8 oz sliced elk sausage
1 large white onion- roughly 1 ½ cups
1 large green bell pepper- roughly 1 cup
5 stalks of celery- roughly 1 cup
1 1/2 Large Tomatoes – about 1 ½ cups (I’ve also used 28 ounce cans of diced tomatoes when I cannot find good fresh ones)
3 cloves of garlic chopped
Salt
Pepper
Cayenne pepper (Optional)
3 cups uncooked rice
32 oz Broth of your choice I didn’t have any made so I bought premade chicken stock.
3 bay leaves
Green onion
Preparation:
- Heat up Dutch oven on medium high heat. I used an enamel coated cast-iron Dutch oven but I Â have used a large nonstick skillet in the past. Just make sure it has a good sealing lid.
- Coat with olive oil and add the chopped onion, bell pepper, and celery, with a pinch of salt and pepper.
- Cook for 3 minutes or until onions become translucent.
- Add garlic for one minute.
- Push veggies to the side and brown the sausages and venison. (you could also do this in another skillet and put in when ready, but one pot means less dishes)
- Season the venison as if you were cooking it to eat on its own.
- Once meat is done add tomatoes and cook for 3 minutes.
- Add the broth and bay leaves and bring to a boil.
- Once the water is boiling, season to your liking. This is when I would add the cayenne pepper if using it. Sometimes I do sometimes I don’t it depends on who I am cooking for.
- Once it is seasoned to your preferred taste add the paddlefish for one minute.
- Add the rice, cover and remove from heat, follow the instructions on your package of rice to know how long to wait.
- Once done garnish with green onion and serve with hot sauce of your choice.
