Gumbo!

Never having lived in or near Louisiana, I can’t claim a heritage with, or even long familiarity with the defining Cajun dish, to wit: gumbo. Like most denizens of the Southern East Coast, my early experience with anything called gumbo came from a commercial soup can, and while it could be considered marginally edible, it was nowhere near the top of my list of favorite foods.

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On the other hand, I greatly enjoyed watching Justin Wilson's Louisiana Cookin', and often wondered whether I could duplicate his results. I clearly remember seeing him pull together all of the constituents of a gumbo, even if I can’t remember the details of his recipe. I decided to try my hand at it, and like I always do, I did a bit of on-line research.

There have to be fifty gazillion gumbo recipes on the internet, and while the great majority of them have some ingredients in common, it seems that everyone puts their own spin on what makes a real gumbo. I had to do the same.

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Suggested Equipment:

• Saucepan or stock pot, about 5 quarts capacity
  
• Kitchen scale
  
• Cooking timer
  
• Mise bowls
  
• Knives
  
• Cutting boards
  
• Common kitchen tools and measures
  

Ingredients:

1. These, along with (sometimes) crawfish, are considered pretty traditional. I like to use a mix of meats consisting of about 1 lb shrimp, ½ lb smoked pork sausage, and ½ lb chicken. I often substitute a couple of ounces of andouille for an equal amount of the sausage. I suppose you could even use crabs, clams, oysters, or scallops!
   
2. If you elect to use crawfish, be aware that they must be cooked at a rolling boil for at least 10 minutes, to insure destruction of some parasites they harbor.
   
3. These items make up the Cajun "Holy Trinity". Some folks split the Bell peppers between green and red varieties, I suppose in an effort to add a little color to the dish. My experience, though, is that the brown sauce part of the gumbo renders that effort moot.
   
4. Adds character to, and thickens the gumbo. Some folks don't like okra, and leave it out of the recipé altogether. Others use filé (dried, powdered, sassafras leaves), instead of okra. That seems strange to me because, to the people who brought the dish to this country, the word gumbo actually meant okra!
   
5. Foodies will tell you that you just have to use fresh garlic. I ignore their posturing.
   
6. I use this recipé from GRIT: https://www.grit.com/departments/creole-seasonings-zmrz13mazgou
   
7. Most foodies demand that you to make the broth fresh, or use the commercial stuff. When I don't have time for shopping, or cooking from scratch, I use bullion cubes. They work fine.
   
8. I use EVOO , but if you want real authenticity, you should probably use bacon drippings.
   
9. Optional. You can substitute parsley for the cilantro, or even leave it out altogether if you prefer.
   

Item		Amount
Meat	Bonelses, chicken, sausage, or shrimp1,2	1	lb
Onion3	Fresh, diced	1½	CUP
Bell pepper3	Fresh, diced	1	cup
Celery3	Fresh, diced	½	cup
Okra4	Fresh or frozen, sliced	2	cup
Garlic5	Granulated	2	tsp
Creole seasoning mix	Commercial or home-made6	1	tsp
Broth7	Chicken, pork, or shrimp	4	cup
Flour	All-purpose	½	cup
Oil	Vegetable8	½	cup
Cilantro9	Dry, flakes	1	tsp

Directions:

Most Cajun recipes start out with the statement “first, you have to make a roux...” - indeed, to make any Cajun dish it seems - one needs to make a roux; but that isn’t right. The first thing you need to do is assemble and prepare your ingredients! I recommend that you start with the meat or meats.

1. If you are using chicken or sausage (or both), you should chop the meat up into bite-size pieces – shrimp, of course, are already bite-sized. Do this first so you can put the ready-to-cook meat morsels in the refrigerator. Some folks, in fact, like to lightly brown the meat before adding it to the mix. I use a stainless steel 2 quart mixing bowl to contain the chopped meat

2. Chop and dice the onion, Bell pepper, and celery (your Cajun Holy Trinity), and place the results in another bowl.

3. Combine the garlic, okra, salt and spices in yet another bowl.

4. Pre-measure your oil, flour and broth. If need be, make up the broth from bullion cubes.

5. Now you are ready to make a roux - which is a kind of dark gravy made of flour cooked in hot oil. Put the oil in the pan over medium heat, and drizzle the flour into the hot oil. Use a wire whisk to stir continuously. Keep cooking the flour until it turns brown – some folks say, almost black.

6. When your roux has achieved the target color, add in the Holy Trinity vegetables, and cook them until the onions go transparent; then add the okra, garlic, and seasonings. Cook until all of the vegetables are tender, then let simmer for 10 – 20 minutes. If your pan seems to be running dry, you can add a little broth, or even a little wine, to help the veggies cook. That's a little... You don't want to turn it into soup!

7. When the vegetables are tender, add the meat, and all remaining broth, and turn up the heat enough to bring your gumbo to a low boil. Keep the boil going for 10 minutes or so, then reduce heat and simmer for another 10 - 20 minutes.

At this point, your gumbo should be done. It won’t hurt to let it simmer a little longer, as long as you replace water lost to steam. In fact, many Cajuns will tell you that gumbo is much better on the second or third day after it is prepared. Keeping it covered will help reduce those losses.

I have to acknowledge that there is as much argument among gumbo "experts" over the proper kind and amount of ingredients, as you will find among other foodies about any dish. I’m not a foodie, and I don’t cook to impress other people; I cook so that I can eat things that I like, and I publish what I cook because I enjoy sharing things I like with like-minded folks.

The traditional way to use gumbo is as a topping for rice, but there’s no good reason you couldn’t use it on mashed potatoes, or pasta, or like I do, over mashed turnips! This recipe may not approach the level of cooking art that Justin exhibited, but I sure enjoyed eating it, Ahh Gaaaaronteee!