The Trinity = Onions, Celery and Bell Pepper, The Trinity as they are
known, are the beginning of many a fine dish here in South Louisiana. In
my 30+ years of cooking I've almost always cooked these vegetables down
until they were almost mush. Why, because that's the way I learned to do
it from the old folks. This holds true especially for pot roasts, gumbo,
jambalaya, sauce piqaunts, etc.
I see so many of these recipes that instruct to sauté the vegetables
until they are wilted or translucent (clear). That's fine for many
dishes but when it come to the old Cajun/Creole dishes going the extra
mile makes the dish even better. Translucence is achieved quickly and
can leave the vegetables somewhat al dente. Even my recipes indicate
cooking the veggies in 30 minutes or so. In actuality (depending upon
the amount) this process can take up to an hour and that sometimes is
dependent upon the amount of vegetables and heat.
My point is that you can take this additional step to make your dish
even better. I'm sure you've heard or read stories about all day
cookouts us Cajuns do. I'll tell you this... it's not surprising for a
big pot of jambalaya to be started at 6:00 in the morning to be eaten
for lunch. A lot of the time is taken up cooking the vegetables!
It's as simple as this:
Equal amounts of onions and celery, 1/2 the amount of bell pepper... all
chopped.
For instance; 2 cups onion, 2 cups celery, 1 cup bell pepper.
Some people say 1/2 the amount of celery and bell pepper to onions. I
personally use more celery.
In a little oil on a medium-low fire begin sautéing the onions. Stir
every few minutes. Now if you want a little browning don't stir so
often, but watch them closely so they don't burn. Continue this for
about 10 minutes then throw in the remaining vegetables. Again stir
every 5 minutes and cook for about 20 minutes. Add a few tablespoons of
water and continue to cook. You'll see that the vegetables have reduced
in size and they all start to look the same.
In a 1 gallon gumbo use 3 cups onions & celery and 1-1/2 cups bell
pepper.
One more thing... garlic... If you're browning onions, or even the
trinity, don't put the garlic in until the other veggies are almost
done. If you burn garlic you've ruined it. Garlic is best very lightly
browned.
Click here to learn how to cook the trinity down Cajun style.
TRINITY
COOKED DOWN LINK
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