Quarter chicken and boil with skin on in about 10 cups water.

Add bouillon to chicken boil water.

Boil chicken until it can be easily deboned, but not too over cooked since it will get a final cooking later. If chicken is over boiled it will become mushy after final cooking.

Remove chicken from boil water to cool and save the stock for later use.

Pour stock into a container and put in refrigerator to cool. You want the fat to separate so it can be easily spooned off.

Use cooling time to prep vegetables.

Cut up the bacon into one inch chunks.

Slice the pork sausage into ¼ inch slices.

Using the same pot that was used to boil the chicken, cook the bacon down until crispy.

NOTE: Do not burn the bacon fat during this process since it will be used throughout the remaining steps.

Remove bacon to drain.

Cook the pork sausage in the bacon fat until most of the fat is rendered out of the pork sausage. Again do not allow the meat fat to burn.

Remove the pork sausage to drain separate from the bacon.

If the meat has been cooked without burning the meat fat there will be a brown residue of meat juices on the bottom of your pot. Without removing the residue, remove all but about 2-3 tablespoons of the meat fat from the pot. This can easily be done using a couple of paper towels and a pair of tongs. Be careful the meat fat is hot!

Add the chopped vegetables to the meat fat and cook until al-dente. Stir the vegetables constantly using the moisture from the vegetables to remove the brown residue. If there isn’t enough moisture, add a small amount of water.

Just a couple of minutes before the vegetables are cooked al-dente, add the minced garlic. Adding the garlic too soon may cause it to become bitter.

When the meat fat has been rendered properly the brown residue will have coated the vegetables.

Remove pot from heat.

Remove and discard the chicken skin.

Debone the chicken and pull meat into bite size chunks. Don’t make the chunks too small or they will fall apart in the final cooking.

Separate the fat from the chicken stock. Get as much as possible to avoid a greasy final product.

Heat the pot back to medium and add the chicken stirring it in with the vegetables.

Add the spices and continue stirring until the spices are mixed.

Add the pork sausage and stir until everything is mixed well.

Stir in 8 cups of the chicken stock.

Increase heat and bring to a boil.

When pot is at full boil, stir in the 4 cups of rice and the cooked bacon.

Bring back to a boil and then reduce heat to low and add pot cover.

Cook on low for 10 minutes then turn off the burner. Do not lift lid.

Check rice for doneness at the 20 minute mark. It should be done. If not put lid back on and give it a few more minutes.

When done be sure to use a large spoon and carefully turn the Jambalaya from bottom of pot to top to end the cooking process. You can also transfer the Jambalaya to another container. If you do not do this step the bottom will continue to cook and will cause the rice to become mushy.