Lost Dishes: Gordon C. Greene

Gordon C. Greene: Jambalaya

Jambalaya was a breakfast favorite on the Gordon C. Greene, a passenger sternwheeler which steamed up and down the Mississippi River. The dish was prepared according to a recipe originated by the boat's chef, Ollie Griffin.

The Greene was also a movie star, appearing in Steamboat Round the Bend, with Will Rogers, and Gone with the Wind, with Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh. By 1964, the riverboat was moored in St. Louis as a floating restaurant – renamed the River Queen.


Sauté ingredients in butter	Gordon C. Greene Dining Salon, 1937

Jambalaya

Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 1, 1948

Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients

2 to 3 cups boiled rice
1/2 green pepper
1 large rib celery
1 medium onion
2 pimientos
2 slices cooked ham (1 cup)
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
dash of cayenne pepper
1 or 2 egg yolks

Preparation

Chop celery, green pepper and pimiento. Mince onion. Dice boiled or baked ham. Sauté these ingredients lightly in butter over moderate heat. Vegetables should retain their crispness. Remove pan from the fire.

Stir in egg yolk, cooked rice (freshly steamed) and seasonings. If pan is too hot, egg yolk will fry.

Returned pan to fire. Stir well to mix in yolk and until rice is hot. No other liquid is added.