cajun cooks only — i have been down loading cajun recipes and cant find much difference between jambalaya?

and gumbo. is this a ethnic thing or am i missing something. in one gumbo recipe it says to put the schrimp shells in with the chicken,schrimp andandouille sausage but never says anything about taking them out and why put them in anyway. and to make the roux would it be ok to use corn starch and water. will be waiting with my yankee bells on

the shells and everything except the kitchen sink(only because we haven’t learned how to tenderize it !!!) are boiled together to make a stock…strain…discarding everthing but the juice(stock) and meat……
corn starch is actually better to thicken a gravy……flour and oil is all it takes for a roux….take a gumbo,add uncooked rice,cook until the juices are almost completely absorbed by the rice….you will now have jambalaya…..kitchen buquet will give it color needed