New world champion jambalaya cook credits mentor and former champ for his win

The 2024 Gonzales Jambalaya Festival’s coveted golden paddle was awarded to local restaurant owner Tyler Billingsley and helper Mike McCloud.

Sunday’s announcement was one of the final events of this year’s festival on Irma Boulevard.

Billingsley, owner of Tee Wayne’s Cajun Cooking, credited the late Tee Wayne Abshire for his jambalaya success.

“Tee Wayne always told me, ‘Don’t change nothing and don’t miss nothing (in the recipe),’” Billingsley said. “This is some hard stuff. I’ve only been cooking since 2012.

“I’ve been up here a few times and it finally happened. I will say you can’t do it without a team.”

Billingsley said he and his helper, McCloud, attribute their jambalaya pot skills to mentor and past festival winner Kade Lenoux.

The festival was, once again, a success, said Jambalaya Festival Vice President Tammy Guillory.

“This year has gone amazingly well,” Guillory said. “We had 77 cooks. The competition was tough, especially in the semifinal round: We had six past champions in the semifinals.”

While the festival has a lot of promotion through ads and the media, Guillory said word of mouth is a big contributor to its success.

“Gonzales is the Jambalaya Capital of the World,” Guillory said. “Jambalaya is the food that brings so many people together. If there’s a wedding, there’s jambalaya. If there’s a funeral, there’s jambalaya. If there’s a graduation, there’s jambalaya.

“It’s been a staple of food for Louisiana for so many years. You can put it on a plate with vegetables and bread. The meat flavoring is the key to a good pot.”

On hand this year was the founder of the Gonzales Jambalaya Festival, Steve Juneau.

“It was my idea, but it was certainly not a one-man show,” Juneau said. “I’m 82 years old, and the festival has been around for 57 years. It is successful because jambalaya is hometown grown.”

Juneau, originally from Avoyelles Parish, said the main purpose of the festival is to promote the city of Gonzales as well as the popular south Louisiana dish.

“Where I came from gumbo and roast pig were the popular dishes,” Juneau said. “Jambalaya was a unique food.”

The first Gonzales Jambalaya Festival featured 13 cooks.

“The cooks would write everything down that was good and bad in each contest,” Juneau said.

Juneau said the key to the perfect pot of jambalaya depends on the wood giving the dish a smoky flavor.

The festival included carnival rides, more than a dozen musical acts, raffles, a one-mile and 5K race with 275 runners and 75 participants in a car show.

For more information about the Gonzales Jambalaya Festival, visit http://www.jambalayafestival.net/.