Been experimenting with making gumbo. I've gotten pretty good at making roux over the years, so I figured it was time to use that expertise in making gumbo.
As far inland as I am (in SW MO), chicken and sausage gumbo is about as authentic as I can get. I can't afford the flown-in shrimp at the fresh seafood shops in Springfield and I've hesitated to try raw frozen shrimp. Maybe someday I'll take the plunge and try it with frozen (a little seafood humor, very little).
Anyway, another problem is this nasty sausage they sell up here. Very hard to find good southern style sausage, much less, authentic Andouille. I hate to use too many substitutes. Then, its just a glorified chicken soup. Too thin and too pale. Finally, my local supermarket started selling sausage made in Texas. Really good sausage. Not as good as the Richard's (pr. ree-chards) Crazy Cajun sausage we could get in every grocery store in Central LA, but it is good.
Traditional gumbo, which has just as many African roots as it does French roots, is either an okra-based soup (yes, it is technically a soup; a thick, "stoupy" - to borrow from Rachael Ray - soup, but still a soup) or file-based. File (pr. fee-lay) powder is sassafras root, ground and powdered. Okra-based is by far the best. I only use a tbsp. of file, if any, in a pinch for a little flavor boost (very little).
Well, my first time to try gumbo, I was in a pinch. Traditional gumbo, as well as most Cajun and Creole dishes, usually include green onions (I like to use most of the green chivy tops, as well) and and fresh parsley. I didn't have either of these ingredients. Like I said, I was in a pinch. I did, however, have some leek tops that I had kept around for just such an occasion. I used them, in place of the green onions. I still missed the pungency of the scallions, but it wasn't bad. Without parsley, however, I was about to give up. Until I decided to use the celery leaves in place of the missing parsley. I also added a tbsp. of some very old file that I found in the cabinet (pretty scary that I didn't know it was in there until that week). It worked. The gumbo was pretty good. But the file, as I expected, failed to enchant.
I've got plenty of southern and Louisiana cookbooks with gumbo recipes, but I wanted comparison recipes from live people. So, Tina Ireland, a friend of mine from Kentucky, who grew up in Southeast Louisiana, sent me her mom's recipe. She apologized for the lack of measurements, but I think that just displays authenticity. The best cooks in this world, in my opinion, are the moms and dads, aunts, and grandmas who feed us day-in and day-out with ingenuious, inventive recipes that simply use whatever happens to be available at the moment. Here is her e-mail.:
Mom's Gumbo
Here's what my mom emailed me when I asked for her gumbo recipe. I suppose it's a figure-the-rest-out- yourself kind of recipe, which should be no problem for those who are talented in the kitchen. It's basically, throw everything in the pot after you're done and cook it till it's done. It should be no problem for some to find all of the ingredients, but for those of us who live up north it can be a real challenge... I hate the rubber they sell at the store that they try to pass off as shrimp! Grrr...
1 lb peeled shrimp (small). 1 lb okra (fried down or baked at 350 degrees in the oven 1 hr. – less calories). 3 crabs or some crab meat depending on if you like it or not. Seasonings sauté: onion, garlic, celery, green pepper, green onions. Roux. Add small can of tomato sauce for the red-brown sauce or some ketchup. Tony Chachere's seasoning. Salt & pepper.
You can see the basics here of a traditional LA gumbo: roux; a base of onions, garlic, celery, green pepper, and green onions; fresh shrimp, crab, etc.; and, of course, of course, of course, Tony Chachere's seasoning.
Tony's is a brand of Cajun seasoning. Cajun seasoning is one of those elite few spice mixtures that deserves its place in the world's short list of historic spice mixtures. Up there with garam masala, five-spice powder, herbes de provence, italian seasoning, and ras el hanout.
You can make a Cajun seasoning on your own, if you like. It is a type of seasoned salt. I like to mix garlic powder, salt, cracked bl. pepper, paprika, cayenne pepper, onion powder, crushed celery seed, and crushed cumin seed. The heat of the spice is determined by the amount of cayenne. Creole and Cajun cooks each have their own spice mixtures. Paul Prudhomme uses a different type of Creole spice mixture for almost every dish.
Here's my gumbo:
Chicken and Sausage Gumbo
Warm two quarts of chicken or turkey stock (see my article on broth/stock making) over med. heat. You can use broth if you want or for deeper flavor make a stock: bring 2.5 quarts broth to a boil with one chopped onion, some leftover chicken bones, some garlic, 2 chopped stalks celery, and 2 chopped carrots; reduce heat and simmer for about an hour, strain for a clear stock.
Brown 1# sliced southern style smoked sausage in a skillet. Shred 1# leftover chicken or turkey meat. Set aside.
Saute 1 diced yellow onion, 2 chopped stalks celery w/leaves, 5 diced green onions (w/tops) and 3 pressed and minced cloves of garlic in 2 tbsp. butter. Salt to taste. Add cracked bl. pepper, 1/4 tsp. coriander, 1/2 tsp. mustard, 1/4 tsp. cayenne, 1/2 tsp. sage, 1 tsp. paprika, 1/4 tsp. fennel, 1/2 tsp. celery seed. Remove from pot, set aside.
In the same pot, make a roux. A roux is a character-lending sauce used as the basis for many French, Cajun, and Creole dishes. The proportion of fat to flour is 50/50. Melt 1/2 c. (1 stick) butter in a cast iron skillet over med. heat. When the butter is smoking and with whisk in hand and wooden spoon nearby, add 1/2 c. flour. Whisk vigourously until flour is mixed well with the butter. Add salt at this point to taste. Then cook the roux over med. until it begins to darken noticeably. When you first start, just go with med. brown. The more experience you acquire in roux making, you'll want to let the roux darken to almost black for an authentic Cajun flavor.
When the roux is bubbling add the 2 qts. of stock and stir to blend. Bring to a boil. Add sauteed onion/veg. mix. and 1# okra, preferably fresh. Add 1 c. minced fresh parsley, Italian or curly. Add the shredded chicken and sausage. Add a few shakes Tony Chachere's, if desired.
Bring soup to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer with lid cocked to allow some steam to escape. Simmer for at least 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Serve over rice.
