In 1968, Steve Juneau and his team held the first Gonzales Jambalaya Festival. Just 13 cooks made jambalaya in cast-iron pots over a coal fire, competing for the crown of “World Jambalaya Cooking Champion.” They hoped the festival would promote the city of Gonzales.
Nearly 50 years later, the festival has done just that. This year’s event drew 99 cooks to compete over Memorial Day Weekend.
The cooking contest has strict cooking rules and a tight list of ingredients. Competitors are only allowed to cook a predetermined amount of chicken and rice with these seasonings: yellow onions, green onions, red hot sauce, celery, black pepper, garlic, red pepper, bell peppers, salt and cooking oil. Everyone is cooking essentially with the same ingredients—so a few small differences in measurements and cooking techniques can make or break your shot at the title.
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This year’s winner and Jambalaya King, Kade Lanoux and his helper Tyler Billingsly, are now part of a local dynasty of Jambalaya Cooking Champions after learning to make jambalaya from four-time champion, Tee Wayne Abshire.
We talked to several of the other competitors about the contest—and what jambalaya means to them.
On defending championship titles:
Returning two-time champion and 2017 semifinalist Hoss Reine has competed for 17 years. In 2014 and 2016, the competition was even more special because he won with his son, Brett Reine, at his side. After cooking with his father for six years, Brett decided to go out on his own and compete for “bragging rights” with helper Austin Gautreau.
“Oh, [winning] would mean a whole lot to me,” Brett said at this year’s festival. “I just need to get out from [my dad’s] shadow.”
With a simple seasoning mix of salt, black pepper, red pepper and garlic, the younger Reine succeeded in part of his mission and earned a spot in the final round of the competition.
On family traditions:
Longtime contestant and 2017 semifinalist Shelby “Doty” Gautreau has been competing for 30 years. This year, Gautreau and his son, Adam, hoped to win together so that the elder Gautreau could retire from competition and pass the tradition on to another family member.
“It’s in your blood,” Gautreau says. “The first world champion was my step-dad (“Papa” George Fairchild). That’s where we started, cooking for him. Then he passed away. [Adam] and I started cooking together, and it’s just something you’ve got to do—family tradition.”
On finding new strategies:
Returning contestant and 2017 semifinalist Koby Thacker has deep family ties to the Jambalaya Festival. Thacker’s wife Tanil Thacker’s great grandfather cooked in the first Jambalaya Festival. After seven years competing with family and friends, Koby brought Tanil on as his helper last year and made it to the final round for the first time. For the Thackers, this cooking contest is a continuous learning experience.
“We’ve definitely evolved our recipe over the years and learned something new every year,” Koby says. “We’ve got a big book of notes at home, and we come home every year from this thing saying, ‘This is what we’re going to do differently next year.'”
On the competitive mindset:
Tim “TB” Bourque says his twin sons, Taner and Tyler, have been cooking jambalaya since they were 9 or 10.
“When they were little, I would come home from work, and they’d be arguing about who was the better jambalaya cook,” Tim says. “They’d have little fires in the yard, shoot a bird out of the tree and cook a mini pot.”
Today, Taner and Tyler still practice year-round and have competed at the festival several times. Although the twins use the same family recipe, each has a different approach to the competition.
“Tyler kind of likes to experiment,” Tim says. “Taner’s artistic, so he’s more precise. Tyler’s more of an emotional guy, so … he tries something new every time we cook.”
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It seems that strategy worked out, because Taner finished the competition as a semifinalist, while Tyler and Tim went to the finals.
Rookies on hopes to impress:
For rookies like 2017 semifinalist Darren Amedee, this contest is a chance to prove themselves and support Gonzales.
“[To win] would be an opportunity,” Amedee says. “We just like to travel and cook for people and show them Louisiana tradition.”