The Last Gumbo

No, not the last gumbo I'll ever make.  Simply the last one for this project.  And what a gumbo it was.  Deep rich flavor, great combination of meats.  This post will outline in pictures the steps.   This recipe had as its basis, a recipe from Epicurious.com.  I deviated from the recipe based on things I learned from my other attempts.

At the heart of it is Andouille sausage, a spicy southern sausage.  This brings a lot of flavor to the whole thing.

It is fried in some oil briefly to brown.  It is already cooked when you buy it so this is just a way to up the flavor.

The next step is to make a roux, an essential component of a southern US gumbo.  All roux is is flour that is cooked in oil until it browns.  I let my roux brown quite a bit in this batch, about 7 minutes all together.  You have to stir the whole time basically so that it doesn't burn.

You can see in these three pictures that the roux is growing increasingly dark.  In the picture just above onions are added.  Followed by green bell pepper (another ingredient which seems common to all gumbos), celery and garlic.

These ingredients are cooked over a medium-low heat for about 10 minutes until they soften.

I put in about 1 and a half of these cartons of chicken stock.

This is where I deviate from the recipe.  I just really like tomatoes with these flavors so I added them even though the recipe didn't call for them.   I then let all of this simmer for about 45 minutes.

 Of course, OKRA.  You have to use okra.  This is frozen, cut okra so it's super easy to add.  I use about three-quarters of a package and let it simmer for about a half hour.  I don't like it to get super mushy.

Even though this looks a bit mysterious it's really just frozen scallops.  I put these in to thaw and begin to cook for about 5 minutes before I added...

...shrimp.  Note that the original recipe was for chicken and sausage.  I've made that one as well and really liked but both my wife and I seem to favor seafood a little more.  I've made some all seafood gumbos that were great.  However, the andouille sausage really makes it.   The shrimp cooks through in about 4 minutes and you're ready to go.

On the table I add hot sauce and something called Gumbo Filé.  It's a powdered sassafras root that adds a nice quality.   Eat this with some red wine on a cold day and you will certainly be warmed. 

Ultimately I've found that this is one of those great formulas that can go in all kinds of directions.  Try it some time if this is the kind of thing you like.

Gumbo Roots

I've made two other gumbos since the last post.  One was an all-seafood gumbo which came out well.  The second was a chicken and sausage.  One thing I learned from the seafood gumbo recipe was that if it doesn't have okra that it's not gumbo.  That is because okra in Senegalese is ngumbo, and so okra is a requirement.  I'm OK with that.  I've grown to like it. 

My daughter found this recipe  (http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/senegalese-style-seafood-gumbo) in which the author found the roots of gumbo.  No roux in this one.  This uses something called palm oil, which is a brilliant red color.  It's also all seafood.  I liked it a lot although my taster was less enthusiastic.  It didn't stop here from eating her fill however.

The prep and the meal.

Here are the ingredients assembled.  The one big substitution I made in the original recipe was that I didn't pour the gumbo over rice.  I used quinoa (a kind of grain/seed) instead.  This is because I am a Type I diabetic and rice is not great for blood sugar. 

Preparation was straightforward.  You start by making a roux, which is essentially browning some flour in oil.  This is the basis of a lot of creole/cajun cooking.  You cook the vegetables and spices for awhile, add the tomatoes, clam juice and sausage and let that cook for 15 minutes at a low boil.  This allows a lot of flavor to leach out of the sausages into the broth.  A lot of the flavor of this dish comes from these sausages, which are spicy and garlicky.  I bought frozen okra and added that for another 15 minutes.  Meanwhile I peeled and deveined the shrimp.  Finally I threw in the raw shrimp.  They cook quickly, just three minutes.  And that was that.  As I mentioned I served it over cooked quinoa.

You can see a picture of a bowl of the finished product below.  In the original Splendid Table podcast the old New Orleans chef said that gumbo was always consumed with red wine so I obliged.   It was fiery but not quite enough for my tastes so I added some Frank's Hot Sauce.  Betsy raved about it.  It was on the border of being too hot for her but in all she thought it was great.   There is enough for dinner again tomorrow!

 Big surprise here is that the okra was just great in this dish.  I've had it once or twice when it's been a big slimy but here it tasted great.   This attempt was a great success but I'd like to try a slightly milder, more fish-based gumbo.  That's next.

The search for Gumbo

As I mentioned in the previous post, I had been listening to the Splendid Table podcast (this one, in particular: http://www.splendidtable.org/episode/517) and it was all about New Orleans cooking.  Gumbo was mentioned several times and I realized that I'd never made it, even though I know I like it. The Splendid Table website has a nice collection of recipes from the show, including a Gumbo recipe from this show (http://www.splendidtable.org/recipes/okra-gumbo-with-blue-crabs-and-shrimp).  A quick look at the ingredients and I realize this isn't a good one to start with.  Not sure I can find blue crabs and I'm not wild about okra though maybe I'll develop a taste at some point.  The other ingredients are all quite straightforward though and it will be interesting to see what other recipes have in common with this.

Next stop is Epicurious.com.  A search brings up 25 hits.  There is a lot of variation.  There are some seafood gumbos, some sausage and chicken gumbos, some with duck and then combinations of all of these.  The constants seem to be the seasonings (with that I include the onion, garlic, carrot plus spices) and OKRA.  So, okra it is.

I think I'll start with a shrimp and Andouille sausage gumbo (http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Shrimp-and-Andouille-Sausage-Gumbo-2662)  It's just for my wife and myself so I'll halve the recipe.  Now it's a shopping list and off to the store.

Getting Started

I was listening to The Splendid Table, a podcast about cooking and food.  It was a special show about New Orleans.  The whole show was interesting but gumbo was mentioned a number of times and I realized that I had never tried making it.  It's one of the classic dishes, with spice and seafood, and one that lends itself to infinite interpretation.  Time to start searching.