Jambalaya

Jambalaya is rice simmered in a single pot with sausage, chicken and shrimp, along with the Cajun "holy trinity" of onion, celery and bell pepper, until every grain of rice takes on the colour and flavour of everything cooked with it. It's Louisiana's own dish, grown out of the state's mix of French, Spanish and West African cooking traditions into something that belongs to Louisiana alone rather than any single one of them.

What it really is

Sausage — usually andouille — browns first in the pot, rendering fat that the chicken then browns in too. Onion, celery and bell pepper, the "holy trinity" that underlies most Cajun and Creole cooking, soften into that fat next, and tomato and stock go in once the vegetables have taken on colour. Raw rice stirs into the liquid and simmers, covered, until it's absorbed nearly everything and turned a deep reddish-brown from the tomato and rendered fat; shrimp go in only at the very end, just long enough to cook through without turning rubbery.

The dish splits into two real styles, not one. Cajun jambalaya, from the countryside, browns everything hard and skips the tomato for a deeper, browner colour; Creole jambalaya, from New Orleans, keeps the tomato and reads redder. Neither is more authentic than the other — they're genuinely different regional versions of the same base dish.

How it's served

• Hot, straight from the pot, in a bowl or on a plate.
• With hot sauce on the table for guests who want more heat.
• As a full main course on its own, not usually paired with bread or a side.

How to write it on the menu

• Say Cajun or Creole style, since the tomato makes a real difference in colour and flavour.
• Flag the crustaceans if shrimp is included; a version without seafood is easy to make and naturally suits guests who avoid it.
• Note the sausage, since andouille carries real smoke and spice that a milder sausage wouldn't.