We live two hours north of New Orleans, so a lot of our food and traditions are creole based because of the close proximity. While our dishes were pretty fantastic, it wasn't until we laid our hands upon the big black book that our dishes went from really great and pretty authentic to out of this freaking world! The book is tall and has a black fabric cover (sometimes we're not very ingenious with names) and it is a recipe book from the Junior League of New Orleans published in 1972.
Gumbo. Everyone's heard of gumbo (gum-boh). Everyone generally loves gumbo. But not everyone understands what gumbo really is. Gubma (goom-bah) is the African word for okra, which is where the word Gumbo comes from. If you're gumbo doesn't have okra, then it's really only soup. Sure gumbo is soup, but that would be like making chicken and dumplins, but calling it beef stew. Just as chicken or beef is the main ingredient for those recipes, okra is the main ingredient for Gumbo, without it, it's just not gumbo.
Unless you are a gumbo afficionado, you'll only be making seafood or chicken and sausage. Only certain types of gumbo will omit okra and it's neither of these. IF, okra is out of season (but really most people keep it on hand in the freezer for just such an occasion), it is permissable to use a filé (fee-yae), labeled gumbo filé in the spice isle, which is a spice made from the leaves of the sassafras tree that helps thicken the gumbo when okra or a roux (roo) is not used. We do not make filé based gumbo, and you probably will not either.
Gumbo (or I suppose I should say the main gumbo's that everyone knows about and that you will be making) also needs a roux base to be considered Gumbo. Another thing it needs is time. And the final important part is that it should never cost you an arm and a leg. These are the mistakes people make.
This is a dish you put together in parts and let it simmer for a very long time. It also a dish meant to feed an entire house hold (or four people with three leftovers each... it does freeze well, so don't worry about having too much). If you buy a ton of seafood, spending an exhuberant amount of money to only serve four people, you've missed the point about making poor people food. If you spend a moderate amount on seafood and it feeds a lot of people, you have stretched your dollar wisely, thus mastering poor people food and understanding the art that is Gumbo.
The traditional Gumbo is seafood. It's got the okra and roux, shrimp and crab, and always whole crab claws. If you have Gumbo in New Orleans at a traditional restaurant this is what you will eat. But any seafood works. You can add crawfish, shrimp, catfish, other fish (though a fatty fish is better tasting), crab, scallops, oysters, etc. But generally you add what you like, or what you have on hand, or what can be gotten at a good price from fish markets, or off the boats if you live near the coast. We drive to the coast in the summer months, buy shrimp off the boats, come home and do a lot of work (but it's so worth it) to prepare the shrimp, bagging it and freezing it. Dad will buy a big box of catfish when it's a good price or he can ad match it. If crabs were a good price, we'll have those in the freezer as well.
You can also do non seafood gumbo; Duck gumbo or chicken and sausage gumbo. Also I'm sure since I've used the word roux a million times you might be wanting to know what that means. It's just a starter. You melt butter in a skillet and add flour to it. If you've made gravy from scratch or fettuccini alfredo, it's the same principle. You'll whisk it so there are no lumps and you'll let it brown to the colour desired in the recipe; dark brown, light caramel, etc.
Seafood Gumbo
This is the typical dish, with shrimp, crab, and whole crab claws. This is my sisters favourite creole dish. This freezes very well.
Stock:
5 Quarts water
2 dozen boiled crabs*
3 lbs raw shrimp (heads and shells on)
1 carrot
1 onion, quartered
1/2 C celery, coursely chopped
Fill a 6-quart stock pot with the water. Pull off back shells of crabs, adding shells to stock pot. Discard inedible spongy fingers, break crabs in half, set aside. Peel shrimp, adding heads and shells to pot. Set shrimp aside. To stock pot, add carrot, onion, celery, and cover, simmering for two hours. Strain stock and return to pot.
*Small Blue Crabs that have been cleaned are what is used in gumbo. You can also use fresh or pasteurized lump crabmeat. Do not use shredded or imitation crabmeat.
Gumbo:
3 C onions, finely chopped
1 1/2 C celery, finely chopped
1 C green peppers, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 lbs okra, cut into 1/4" pieces
Butter
Vegetable oil
2 Tbs flour
1 16 oz can diced tomotoes, drained
1 C sausage, diced
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp basil
3 bay leaves
1/4 C parsley, chopped
Salt
Pepper
Tabasco
Worcestershire sauce
2 C cooked rice
01. Saute onions, celery, green pepper, and garlic in butter until soft.
02. Fry okra seperately in oil over medium - high heat, about 3 - 5 mintues per batch. Let browning appear (1 - 2 mintues) before stirring once or twice. Drain each batch on paper towels.
03. In separate frying pan, make a dark brown roux with 1 Tbs butter and 2 Tbs flour. (just cook until desired colour).
04. Cook sausage in separate frying pan.
05. Put roux, sauteed vegetables, stock, to cooking pot. Add bay leaves, tomatoes, thyme, basil, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low or low and simmer unconvered, stirring occasionally, at least one and a half hours.
06. Boil your rice.
07. Five minutes before gumbo is finished, add in the seafood.
08. Serve in bowls over rice. Top with a bit of fresh parsley. Season with tabasco, worcestershire sauce to taste.
Chicken and Sausage Gumbo
This is one we make a lot and we cobbled it together from the seafood and duck gumbo recipes in this book. This is my second favourite creole dish. I'm sure this freezes well, but there are never any leftovers beyond when you are sick of leftovers!
Stock:
Whole Chicken*
2 Quarts water
1 onion, quartered
2 ribs celery
2 carrots
2 bay leaves
3 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
01. Add chicken in water with onion, celery, carrots, bay leaves, salt and pepper to pot.
02. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 45 minutes.
03. Remove chicken, strain broth. De bone chicken.
*If you have leftover chicken, just chop or shred it adding it in at the end. Or if you have just pieces of chicken, cook them and for either just use canned chicken stock or make stock with bouillon cubes.
Gumbo:
3/4 C flour
3/4 C + 2 Tbs bacon grease
2 C onions, finely chopped
1 C green peppers, finely chopped
1/2 C celery, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced or finely chopped
2 lb okra, cur into 1/4" pieces
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp basil
2 bay leaves
2 C sausage, diced
3 C chicken meat, chopped or shredded
1 pint chicken stock
1/4 C parsley, chopped
2 C cooked rice
In a skillet make a dark brown roux using the flour and 3/4 C bacon grease. Add garlic onions, celery, and green peppers; saute uncovered on medium heat about 1/2 hour until onions are transparent.
02. In separate skillet, saute okra in the 2 Tbs bacon grease until all ropiness is gone, about 20 minutes. Drain.
03. In a pot, warm the chicken stock and slowly stir in the vegetables and roux. Add okra. Add thyme, basil, and bay leaves. Simmer uncovered 1 1/2 hours.
04. Cook rice.
05. In skillet cook sausage.
06. Five mintues before gumbo is finished add chicken and sausage.
07. Serve in bowls over rice. Top with fresh parsley, if preferred.
Red Beans and Rice
Traditionally this is laundry day food. Made on a Monday so it can cook all day while women are outside doing the clothes washing, also using leftovers from Sundays meal of baked ham. This is also one of my dad's all time favourite recipes to make, as well as my mom's favourite to eat. He's been making it since before I was born. This one freezes well, and also cans exceptionally well.
1 ham bone
11 1/2 C of water
2 tsp garlic salt
1/4 tsp Tabasco sauce
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 lb red beans, washed
1 C celery, chopped
1 C onions, chopped
1 1/2 cloves garlic, minced
3 Tbs bacon grease
1/2 lb ham cubed
1/2 lb sausage, sliced
2 bay leaves
salt to taste
pepper to taste, course ground
1/4 C parsley, chopped
2 C cooked rice.
01. In a large pot, place ham bone, water, garlic salt, tabasco, worcestershire, and beans. Cook, uncovered, over low flame.
02. Saute celery, onions and garlic in bacon grease until transparent.
03. In another pan saute ham and sausage. Add cooked meats and seasonings to beans.
04. Add bay leaves, salt, and pepper and continue to cook over low flame until beans are soft and creamy, about 2 1/2 hours.
05. Cook rice.
06. Remove bay leaves. For additional thickness cook longer.
07. Serve in bowls over rice and top with fresh parsley.
Étouffée
Crawfish is typically the way to go, but chicken is also a choice. I'm not big on crawfish, so I get my sister to make the chicken version for me. It's like creamy buttery heaven. A true party in your mouth and my all time favourite creole dish. I'll supply the exact crawish recipe; the variation for chicken is to follow the recipe selecting what's highlighted in green and omitting anything crawfish or sea related, as well as the tomato sauce. Also, we don't know if this one freezes well, because there are never any leftovers past the point where we are sick of leftovers.
2 sticks butter or 1 1/2 sticks butter and 1/2 C crawfish fat (use just butter for chicken)
1/4 C flour
1 C green onions, chopped
1 C yellow onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 C green pepper, chopped
1/2 C celery, chopped
1 bay leaf
1/4 tsp thyme
1/2 - 1 tsp basil (optional)
8 oz tomato sauce (omit for chicken)
1/2 tsp white pepper
2 tsp salt
1 Tbs Worcestershire
Tabasco to taste (omit for chicken)
2 C liquid (either 1 C dry white wine + 1/2 C clam juice and 1/2 C water, OR 1 C clam juice + 1 C water, OR 2 C Water)
2 lb cooked crawfish tails (2 lb white chicken meat)
1 Tbs lemon juice
1/4 C parsely, minced
2 Tbs Cognac (optional)
1/2 C green onion tops, chopped (optional)
2 C cooked rice
01. Make a walnut coloured roux with 1 stick of butter and flour. Add green onions, yellow onions, garlic, green peppers, celery, bay leaf, thyme, basil, and the remaining butter/crawfish fat. Saute, uncovered, over medium flame for 30 minutes.
02. Add tomato sauce, white pepper, salt, worcestershire, tabasco, and liquid. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer slowly, uncovered, for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
03. Turn off fire. Add crawfish tails (if frozen, do not thaw), lemon juice, lemon rind, parsley and cognac if desired.
04. Cover and refrigerate*. Remove 1 hour before serving. Heat quickly, without boiling, and serve immediately over hot fluffy rice. If desired, garnish with green onion tops.
*This is better made the day before or early in the morning.
*If using white wine or cognac, omit the raw green onion tops.
*Sometimes we refrigerate, sometimes we just cook it and then eat it and then have leftovers the next day, with of course the leftovers tasting better, but eating immediately tastes wonderful too.
 |
| Just look at that GORGEOUS okra! We were preparing... Gumbo! |
Unless you are a gumbo afficionado, you'll only be making seafood or chicken and sausage. Only certain types of gumbo will omit okra and it's neither of these. IF, okra is out of season (but really most people keep it on hand in the freezer for just such an occasion), it is permissable to use a filé (fee-yae), labeled gumbo filé in the spice isle, which is a spice made from the leaves of the sassafras tree that helps thicken the gumbo when okra or a roux (roo) is not used. We do not make filé based gumbo, and you probably will not either.
Gumbo (or I suppose I should say the main gumbo's that everyone knows about and that you will be making) also needs a roux base to be considered Gumbo. Another thing it needs is time. And the final important part is that it should never cost you an arm and a leg. These are the mistakes people make.
- no okra
- instead of a roux, they use tomato paste, sauce, stewed and chopped tomatoes
- they cook it in 30 mintues or less
- they spend $30 or more dollars on seafood ingredients
- the batch is too small, only comfortably feeding four people
This is a dish you put together in parts and let it simmer for a very long time. It also a dish meant to feed an entire house hold (or four people with three leftovers each... it does freeze well, so don't worry about having too much). If you buy a ton of seafood, spending an exhuberant amount of money to only serve four people, you've missed the point about making poor people food. If you spend a moderate amount on seafood and it feeds a lot of people, you have stretched your dollar wisely, thus mastering poor people food and understanding the art that is Gumbo.
The traditional Gumbo is seafood. It's got the okra and roux, shrimp and crab, and always whole crab claws. If you have Gumbo in New Orleans at a traditional restaurant this is what you will eat. But any seafood works. You can add crawfish, shrimp, catfish, other fish (though a fatty fish is better tasting), crab, scallops, oysters, etc. But generally you add what you like, or what you have on hand, or what can be gotten at a good price from fish markets, or off the boats if you live near the coast. We drive to the coast in the summer months, buy shrimp off the boats, come home and do a lot of work (but it's so worth it) to prepare the shrimp, bagging it and freezing it. Dad will buy a big box of catfish when it's a good price or he can ad match it. If crabs were a good price, we'll have those in the freezer as well.
You can also do non seafood gumbo; Duck gumbo or chicken and sausage gumbo. Also I'm sure since I've used the word roux a million times you might be wanting to know what that means. It's just a starter. You melt butter in a skillet and add flour to it. If you've made gravy from scratch or fettuccini alfredo, it's the same principle. You'll whisk it so there are no lumps and you'll let it brown to the colour desired in the recipe; dark brown, light caramel, etc.
Seafood Gumbo
This is the typical dish, with shrimp, crab, and whole crab claws. This is my sisters favourite creole dish. This freezes very well.
Stock:
5 Quarts water
2 dozen boiled crabs*
3 lbs raw shrimp (heads and shells on)
1 carrot
1 onion, quartered
1/2 C celery, coursely chopped
Fill a 6-quart stock pot with the water. Pull off back shells of crabs, adding shells to stock pot. Discard inedible spongy fingers, break crabs in half, set aside. Peel shrimp, adding heads and shells to pot. Set shrimp aside. To stock pot, add carrot, onion, celery, and cover, simmering for two hours. Strain stock and return to pot.
*Small Blue Crabs that have been cleaned are what is used in gumbo. You can also use fresh or pasteurized lump crabmeat. Do not use shredded or imitation crabmeat.
Gumbo:
3 C onions, finely chopped
1 1/2 C celery, finely chopped
1 C green peppers, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 lbs okra, cut into 1/4" pieces
Butter
Vegetable oil
2 Tbs flour
1 16 oz can diced tomotoes, drained
1 C sausage, diced
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp basil
3 bay leaves
1/4 C parsley, chopped
Salt
Pepper
Tabasco
Worcestershire sauce
2 C cooked rice
01. Saute onions, celery, green pepper, and garlic in butter until soft.
02. Fry okra seperately in oil over medium - high heat, about 3 - 5 mintues per batch. Let browning appear (1 - 2 mintues) before stirring once or twice. Drain each batch on paper towels.
03. In separate frying pan, make a dark brown roux with 1 Tbs butter and 2 Tbs flour. (just cook until desired colour).
04. Cook sausage in separate frying pan.
05. Put roux, sauteed vegetables, stock, to cooking pot. Add bay leaves, tomatoes, thyme, basil, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low or low and simmer unconvered, stirring occasionally, at least one and a half hours.
06. Boil your rice.
07. Five minutes before gumbo is finished, add in the seafood.
08. Serve in bowls over rice. Top with a bit of fresh parsley. Season with tabasco, worcestershire sauce to taste.
Chicken and Sausage Gumbo
This is one we make a lot and we cobbled it together from the seafood and duck gumbo recipes in this book. This is my second favourite creole dish. I'm sure this freezes well, but there are never any leftovers beyond when you are sick of leftovers!
Stock:
Whole Chicken*
2 Quarts water
1 onion, quartered
2 ribs celery
2 carrots
2 bay leaves
3 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
01. Add chicken in water with onion, celery, carrots, bay leaves, salt and pepper to pot.
02. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 45 minutes.
03. Remove chicken, strain broth. De bone chicken.
*If you have leftover chicken, just chop or shred it adding it in at the end. Or if you have just pieces of chicken, cook them and for either just use canned chicken stock or make stock with bouillon cubes.
Gumbo:
3/4 C flour
3/4 C + 2 Tbs bacon grease
2 C onions, finely chopped
1 C green peppers, finely chopped
1/2 C celery, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced or finely chopped
2 lb okra, cur into 1/4" pieces
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp basil
2 bay leaves
2 C sausage, diced
3 C chicken meat, chopped or shredded
1 pint chicken stock
1/4 C parsley, chopped
2 C cooked rice
In a skillet make a dark brown roux using the flour and 3/4 C bacon grease. Add garlic onions, celery, and green peppers; saute uncovered on medium heat about 1/2 hour until onions are transparent.
02. In separate skillet, saute okra in the 2 Tbs bacon grease until all ropiness is gone, about 20 minutes. Drain.
03. In a pot, warm the chicken stock and slowly stir in the vegetables and roux. Add okra. Add thyme, basil, and bay leaves. Simmer uncovered 1 1/2 hours.
04. Cook rice.
05. In skillet cook sausage.
06. Five mintues before gumbo is finished add chicken and sausage.
07. Serve in bowls over rice. Top with fresh parsley, if preferred.
Red Beans and Rice
Traditionally this is laundry day food. Made on a Monday so it can cook all day while women are outside doing the clothes washing, also using leftovers from Sundays meal of baked ham. This is also one of my dad's all time favourite recipes to make, as well as my mom's favourite to eat. He's been making it since before I was born. This one freezes well, and also cans exceptionally well.
1 ham bone
11 1/2 C of water
2 tsp garlic salt
1/4 tsp Tabasco sauce
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 lb red beans, washed
1 C celery, chopped
1 C onions, chopped
1 1/2 cloves garlic, minced
3 Tbs bacon grease
1/2 lb ham cubed
1/2 lb sausage, sliced
2 bay leaves
salt to taste
pepper to taste, course ground
1/4 C parsley, chopped
2 C cooked rice.
01. In a large pot, place ham bone, water, garlic salt, tabasco, worcestershire, and beans. Cook, uncovered, over low flame.
02. Saute celery, onions and garlic in bacon grease until transparent.
03. In another pan saute ham and sausage. Add cooked meats and seasonings to beans.
04. Add bay leaves, salt, and pepper and continue to cook over low flame until beans are soft and creamy, about 2 1/2 hours.
05. Cook rice.
06. Remove bay leaves. For additional thickness cook longer.
07. Serve in bowls over rice and top with fresh parsley.
Étouffée
Crawfish is typically the way to go, but chicken is also a choice. I'm not big on crawfish, so I get my sister to make the chicken version for me. It's like creamy buttery heaven. A true party in your mouth and my all time favourite creole dish. I'll supply the exact crawish recipe; the variation for chicken is to follow the recipe selecting what's highlighted in green and omitting anything crawfish or sea related, as well as the tomato sauce. Also, we don't know if this one freezes well, because there are never any leftovers past the point where we are sick of leftovers.
2 sticks butter or 1 1/2 sticks butter and 1/2 C crawfish fat (use just butter for chicken)
1/4 C flour
1 C green onions, chopped
1 C yellow onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 C green pepper, chopped
1/2 C celery, chopped
1 bay leaf
1/4 tsp thyme
1/2 - 1 tsp basil (optional)
8 oz tomato sauce (omit for chicken)
1/2 tsp white pepper
2 tsp salt
1 Tbs Worcestershire
Tabasco to taste (omit for chicken)
2 C liquid (either 1 C dry white wine + 1/2 C clam juice and 1/2 C water, OR 1 C clam juice + 1 C water, OR 2 C Water)
2 lb cooked crawfish tails (2 lb white chicken meat)
1 Tbs lemon juice
1/4 C parsely, minced
2 Tbs Cognac (optional)
1/2 C green onion tops, chopped (optional)
2 C cooked rice
01. Make a walnut coloured roux with 1 stick of butter and flour. Add green onions, yellow onions, garlic, green peppers, celery, bay leaf, thyme, basil, and the remaining butter/crawfish fat. Saute, uncovered, over medium flame for 30 minutes.
02. Add tomato sauce, white pepper, salt, worcestershire, tabasco, and liquid. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer slowly, uncovered, for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
03. Turn off fire. Add crawfish tails (if frozen, do not thaw), lemon juice, lemon rind, parsley and cognac if desired.
04. Cover and refrigerate*. Remove 1 hour before serving. Heat quickly, without boiling, and serve immediately over hot fluffy rice. If desired, garnish with green onion tops.
*This is better made the day before or early in the morning.
*If using white wine or cognac, omit the raw green onion tops.
*Sometimes we refrigerate, sometimes we just cook it and then eat it and then have leftovers the next day, with of course the leftovers tasting better, but eating immediately tastes wonderful too.
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