I just watched the show. Jay boiled crawfish the way people do in their back yards. Bobby tried to make his fancy but his crawfish weren't well seasoned. https://www.wafb.com/2019/07/19/baton-rouges-jay-ducote-beats-bobby-flay-cooking-competition/
Bobby Flay use to be beat often by having to cook rice (for jambalaya), he could not keep from lifting the lid and checking it. Always good to have a local whip him.
Bobby is great at a lot of things. Grilling, Italian, Mediterranean, Asian, Mexican, Greek. His weaknesses are baking and Indian food but I have seen him put together something that may not be authentic of some dish he had never made before to impress the judges with the flavors. He lost at gumbo to a woman from New Roads. What I was afraid of was that the judges wouldn't be familiar with boiled crawfish and not recognize the fact that Jay's was better. I like what Jay did in including oranges along with the lemons. I've been doing that for years. He made his own boiling spices instead of just using Zatairans or one of the other fine Louisiana produced boiling products. That's something that never has crossed my mind that you could do that.
As most here know, I have cooked jambalaya at festivals for probably 25 years. I don't even put the lid on until almost all of the water is absorbed. I stir the rice constantly until about 90% of the water is absorbed and then put the lid on. This keeps the rice on the bottom from overheating and putting a bad flavor throughout 100# of rice. Before you ask, no it does not make it sticky. I have been doing this for thousands of pounds of rice. Never a problem. I also lift the lid about 10 minutes in and push my paddle down the sides of the pot to let the water that is sitting on top of the rice run down the sides. If it is looking a little dry to me, I may even add a little more down the sides. this also keeps the bottom rice from scorching. Keep in mind though, I am cooking 100# of rice at a time. But, I do stir even 1 cup of rice and let it absorb the water before putting the lid on. In my opinion, it is just a better way to cook rice.
Good to know. You probably never made the mistake that I saw a guy do once. The owner of a bar was going to give free jambalaya to his customers. He got a friend of his to cook it for him. About halfway through the guy decided that he didn't have enough rice so he added some more. It didn't end well. Half the rice was cooked and half wasn't and nobody could eat it.
Oh, I promise you, I have made my share of mistakes, but I have learned from them. I have also kept careful notes. I have a spreadsheet that has evolved over those years with notes and modifications and whatnots.... it is sort of my history of learning how to make jambalaya for really large crowds. Funny thing is it probably only makes sense to me. That said, these days, I rarely refer to it. If you ask me to cook jambalaya for 2,000, I do all of the calculations in my head; both at the grocery store and when I am cooking. Kinda funny to think that cooking for that many people probably is less intimidating to me than Thanksgiving dinner is to most people.
Dude, I can cook for 5,000 people without batting an eye. Before my divorce, my relatives would often come work for me.
