Gumbo for a Crowd

[WRideout]

Here is my invented recipe I created when I brought lunch in for everybody in the office. I couldn't find a recipe that had everything I wanted, so I made up my own. Hope you like it.

Rideout’s Gumbo for a Crowd

1 whole chicken, cooked boned and diced
2 lbs. Polska kielbasa sliced
2 large bell peppers, seeded and diced
1 Large white onion, diced
5 stalks celery sliced
2 boxes Frozen okra, sliced (let it thaw out ahead, or defrost under running water and drain)
1 cup + 1 tbsp Cooking oil
1 cup flour
6 cups Chicken broth
1/ 2 tsp Garlic powder
2 tsp dry thyme
1 tbsp Ground cayenne pepper
2 tsp Black Pepper
1 Tbsp Salt
5 Bay leaves
3 Large cans diced tomatoes, not drained

Make roux in a medium saucepan by stirring together over medium high heat the flour and 1 cup oil. Cook and stir until light brown in color. Scrape up bits that stick to the bottom.

Put the tablespoon of oil in a large stock pot with the peppers, celery and onions. Sauté until onions are translucent. Add kielbasa and cook another 2-3 minutes. Add remaining ingredients, cook and stir until bubbling. Add roux. Turn heat to medium and cook and stir another 15 – 20 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings as desired. Serve over cooked rice

[gbrown]

Sounds good to me. Color of roux is one's choice. I like a dark roux. Just a matter of opinion. I would not use as many bay leaves, but again, one's choice or taste. Basically, recipe looks sound. Only thing I would have an issue with is the amount of garlic powder. A bunch more for me, like a tablespoon. Again, one's choice or taste.

[mactool]

What is roux??

[0verkill]

Some of these fellers may be able to explain the finer differences, but the basic English translation is stock or base.

[WRideout]

What is roux??

Roux is the stuff that results when you stir together over medium heat, flour and some kind of fat, usually vegetable oil. It becomes the thickener used in almost all sauces in Cajun food. It can be cooked to different degrees of brownness, depending on what the recipe calls for.

Wayne

[WRideout]

Sounds good to me. Color of roux is one's choice. I like a dark roux. Just a matter of opinion. I would not use as many bay leaves, but again, one's choice or taste. Basically, recipe looks sound. Only thing I would have an issue with is the amount of garlic powder. A bunch more for me, like a tablespoon. Again, one's choice or taste.

I like a lot of garlic too. It's worth an experiment.

Wayne

[DLCTEX]

It isn't Cajun without file'. It is difficult to find around here and if you do it is so old it doesn't retain much flavor. I have friends send it to me from Louisiana and it is usually fresher. Personally I like the lighter roux, a peanut butter color.

[SciFiJim]

What is roux??


Think CAJUN NAPALM. As you heat and stir the oil and flour, the flour will start to brown. The amount of browning determines the thickening qualities. The darker the roux, the less it will thicken. The napalm part is if you splash some on yourself. It sticks well and is very painful. Hard to call it cajun without it though and it is well worth the effort to make your own.

To make the roux, stir the flour and oil over MEDIUM heat continuously until desired brownness. I like mine just a little lighter than a Hershey bar.

[gwpercle]

The lighter color a roux is , the more thickening power it has, a light or nearly white roux thickens the most while the darker, the color of chocolate, has the least thickening power .

But the flavor is greatest in the darker roux. I Like a dark roux and use okra and file' to help the thickening A dark roux can be tricky for the new cook , it goes from chocolate color to burned really fast. I usually go for peanut butter or old copper penny colored for mine because I tend to push the envelope and burn it, then you got to throw it out, clean the pan and start allover.

gary

[Dale in Louisiana]

Hmmm... gumbo...

Here's MY recipe. Dale's Gumbo Recipe (http://mostlycajun.com/wordpress/?p=4)

Gumbos vary greatly by geographic origin, even in the two-hundred-odd miles that encompasses South Louisiana. The recipe that Rideout gives is more of a 'Creole' gumbo, such as one might find in the New Orleans area.

Mine is more typical of the Cajun gumbo. The difference? Creole cooking is more based on classic French cuisine, i.e., lots of different ingredients. Cajun fare, on the other hand, is more like the food served up in rural areas the world around, i.e., a few simple ingredients, well prepared.

From the kitchen of my great-grandmother, handed down, is MY recipe, from a day when there was no refrigeration, spices were something that you bought, along with non-perishable staples like flour and rice, on the once a month, takes all day, trip to town, and the rest came right out of the garden.

Modern day versions are quicker an easier. When Grandma made a roux, she used lard, because you got lard when you butchered your hogs, the same place the sausage came from. The chicken was likely either a spare rooster or an old hen that wasn't laying very well any more.

Making a roux (start with equal parts flour and grease) with lard was a long, drawn-out affair because lard smokes and burns at low temperature. You could spend an hour stirring lard and flour over medium-low heat. If you tried hurrying with lard, it'd burn, and you got to toss the whole batch out and start over.

With vegetable oils, you can jack the heat up and a batch of roux goes from start to deep chocolate brown in less than half an hour, but during that half hour, roux is the center of your life. And you should have your onions, celery and bell pepper already diced up, because when the roux is the right color you dump the veggies into the roux while it's still near the temperature of the sun's surface. The smell you get when those onions hit that searing hot roux is enough to stop traffic on nearby thoroughfares.

A Cajun with a roux is a happy person. That same roux that makes a rich, tasty gumbo for a crowd will, with the addition of a couple of cans of Ro-Tel tomatoes (http://www.ro-tel.com/Diced-Tomatoes-Products/Original-Canned-Diced-Tomatoes-and-Chilies) and ANY meat, turn into a sauce piquant, the quintessential camp food.

Or cube up some potatoes and meat and make a stew.

dale in Louisiana

[gbrown]

Hmmm... gumbo...

Here's MY recipe. Dale's Gumbo Recipe (http://mostlycajun.com/wordpress/?p=4)

Gumbos vary greatly by geographic origin, even in the two-hundred-odd miles that encompasses South Louisiana. The recipe that Rideout gives is more of a 'Creole' gumbo, such as one might find in the New Orleans area.

dale in Louisiana

+1 on your recipe, Dale in Louisiana. I have a question for you if you are following.

I have read and was told by some old Cajuns, (40+ years ago)transplanted to Texas from Ville Platte, La that Creole gumbo was more or less a vegetable stew from Africa based largely on okra. I use no okra and have been called "out"? or "down"? for it. My taste.

[gwpercle]

I started reading these posts yesterday afternoon , all this gumbo talk flung a craving on me so bad that last nightI made a pot of chicken and sausage gumbo , got a big bowl , stirred in a spoonful of file' and enjoyed myself. It was soooo good.

The best part is gumbo is allways better the next day and I'm really looking forward to supper tonight...uuummmm. get to do it again .

gary

[Dale in Louisiana]

+1 on your recipe, Dale in Louisiana. I have a question for you if you are following.

I have read and was told by some old Cajuns, (40+ years ago)transplanted to Texas from Ville Platte, La that Creole gumbo was more or less a vegetable stew from Africa based largely on okra. I use no okra and have been called "out"? or "down"? for it. My taste.

That's MY understanding, too, but you can get into some real bad food arguments over who does gumbo right. That's why I differentiate between Creole gumbo, which **I** don't consider gumbo, but, as you said, a vegetable soup, and Cajun gumbo, which is a lot simpler, and roux-based.

I was raised in households that NEVER put okra in a gumbo unless they were making (gasp!) OKRA gumbo. And Okra gumbo didn't need a roux because the okra provided the thickening agent.

However, gumbo reciped vary widely, and I'm not going to stand forth and say that a given recipe isn't authentic, just that it isn't the gumbo **I** was raised with.

dale in Louisiana
(Pedigree includes LeBleu, LeDoux, Fontenot, Patin, etc.)

[gwpercle]

Are DLCTEX and myself the only ones who like file' in thier gumbo ? Does anybody even know what file' is ?

gary

[gbrown]

Are DLCTEX and myself the only ones who like file' in thier gumbo ? Does anybody even know what file' is ?

gary

IMHO, it ain't GOOD gumbo unless it has file in it. File is pronounced the same as filet. FEELAY I think someone else covered it, but it is finely ground sassafrass leaves. Has a distinct flavor when added. As Dale in Louisiana noted, in many posts, Cajuns are very proud of their heritage, and rightly so, if you know the history of the people. An abbreviated history--driven from their homes at gunpoint, shunned by various nations, living hand to mouth, moving from port to port, and finally being allowed to settle in an inhospitable region of Louisiana and wrestling an existence from it. And, looked down on as inferior by people who didn't have a clue. They did not inherit anything, they made it. One thing that is interesting to me is that the Cajuns put their food in their songs.

[gwpercle]

Gbrown , you nailed it...even the pronunciation . Ground sassafrass leaves.
The Choctaw Indians were using it before the white man got here. They clued us in on it.

I'm a half-assed cajun. momma is from South East Texas, Beaumont area,
and daddy is all cajun , from White Castle. His momma was a Broussard. It's been said there are 3 ways to become a cajun. By birth, by marriage and by the back door.

Believe it or not there is still one person around here that gathers, cures and pounds the file' in a large cypress mortar and pedestle , makes it just like the choctaw indians did, it's the best if you like file'.

gary

[Dale in Louisiana]

Are DLCTEX and myself the only ones who like file' in thier gumbo ? Does anybody even know what file' is ?

gary

File' is essential to CAJUN gumbo. It and the roux base are thickening agents.

If you have a sassafras tree around, you're well on your way to making your own file'. grab a bunch of fresh green sassafras leaves, spread them in a shady area to dry until they're brittle, then crumble them by hand, picking out the thick spines. Take the flakes and further crumble them. A food processor makes this easy business. Put the fresh file' in a clean jar (or two) and store in a cool, dry place like any other spice.

To use, sprinkle on your bowl of hot gumbo. WARNING: Adding a bunch of file' to a pot of gumbo will likely get you something that looks like brown snot. It'll taste okay, but it does not look appetizing.

Other completely Cajun gumbo moves:

Eggs. Two schools of thought here. One just takes whole shelled, boiled eggs and drops them into the simmering pot and lets the egg soak up the flavor. When you dip your ladle of gumbo, bring up an egg for your bowl.

The other school of thought takes raw eggs and breaks them one at a time into the gently (very gently - if it's boiling too actively, you get a Cajun version of egg-drop soup. Still tastes good, but looks strange) boiling gumbo, where they sink to the bottom and poach in the savory gumbo.

Another move common in Southwest Louisiana is to take the side dish, potato salad, and drop a scoop of it in the middle of the bowl of gumbo. This is in keeping with the idea that gumbo is a very informal social dish. There you are with a bowl of gumbo in one hand, a beverage in the other, and you don't have a third hand to carry a plate with the potato salad. And no, you DON'T stir the potato salad into the gumbo. It just sits there while you eat it and the gumbo around it.

dale in Louisiana

[gwpercle]

I like to sift my dried powdered sassafrass leaves thru a piece of wire window sceen to get a really fine powder. But it's not absolutely essential to good eating.

Back in the day with the lack of refrigeration dried shrimp were generally availible in areas not near the coast. Here a dried shrimp and egg gumbo was popular, most everyone had chickens and eggs were plentful. The dried shrimp have a very intense flavor, different from fresh shrimp....... now I got another craving flung on me... where to get some dried shrimp, I got the eggs.

I also enjoy potato salad in gumbo, it may sound strange but is actually quite good. And to me gumbo ain't right without file' in it.

gary

[Dale in Louisiana]

Gary-

You're right about the dried shrimp and egg gumbo.

You might check the nearest Oriental food store. They're a common item there. Or through the power of the Internet: Grand Isle Dried Shrimp (http://shop.grandisledriedshrimp.com/)

When money was tight and fish weren't biting, Mom made gumbo with canned pilchards. We called it 'pogey gumbo', pogey being the little anchovy-like fish converted into fish meal at a smelly plant in Cameron, Louisiana. Most people know of pogey as 'menhaden'.

dale in Louisiana

[gwpercle]

Saying that the pogey plant in Cameron is " Smelly " is being much too kind. During the summer that place absolutely reeks of the foulest order I have ever smelled. When going to buy shrimp near there my little girl covered her nose and mouth and exclaimed " it smells like dead things here ! " so ever scince we refer to it as the dead thing plant.

I never knew that they were canned for human consumption , how do they taste and did you like the gumbo ? Would you eat them again ? Thats the beauty of gumbo...you can make it with just about whatever ingredients you have available.

Guess where I found dried shrimp...Wally Mart. They got dried whole shrimp and dried shrimp powder...just never know what you will find there,

gary

[WRideout]

I like to sift my dried powdered sassafrass leaves thru a piece of wire window sceen to get a really fine powder. But it's not absolutely essential to good eating.

Back in the day with the lack of refrigeration dried shrimp were generally availible in areas not near the coast. Here a dried shrimp and egg gumbo was popular, most everyone had chickens and eggs were plentful. The dried shrimp have a very intense flavor, different from fresh shrimp....... now I got another craving flung on me... where to get some dried shrimp, I got the eggs.

I also enjoy potato salad in gumbo, it may sound strange but is actually quite good. And to me gumbo ain't right without file' in it.

gary

Back when I was living on the Left Coast, I used to see dried shrimp in cellphane packages sold with the Mexican spices and ingredients in the grocery store. There was always one area that had the little bags of dried salted plums, chiles, etc. Nowadays, I can find Mexican ingredients almost everywhere; they even have a section of it in the WalMart in Butler, PA. Just seems normal to me.

Wayne

[WRideout]

Thanks for all the information about gumbo and Cajun food. I love the regional color you Louisiana residents add. Especially interesting about the use of file powder. As a Californian who came to PA via TN, I have learned to appreciate local cooking.

Wayne

[digger44]

It isn't Cajun without file'. It is difficult to find around here and if you do it is so old it doesn't retain much flavor. I have friends send it to me from Louisiana and it is usually fresher. Personally I like the lighter roux, a peanut butter color.

correction .. it isnt CREOLE without file..

Cajun gumbo has OKRA

[Dale in Louisiana]

correction .. it isnt CREOLE without file..

Cajun gumbo has OKRA


digger-

You're backwards, man! Creole gumbo is what Cajuns generally consider to be some sort of vegetable soup, using okra as a thickener. Cajun gumbo uses more and darker roux, and file' is the the thickener.

I stake my Southwest Louisiana cred on this.

dale in Louisiana

[WilliamDahl]

I don't like okra, so I only fix filé gumbo.

Also, the sausage should be andouille. Tasso (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tasso_ham) is also a good addition to a gumbo.

I make my chicken broth by pressure cooking a whole chicken. I de-bone the chicken and give the chicken skin to my dogs. I don't like to put anything in the gumbo that you cannot eat (e.g. bones, shells, etc).

1 chicken
1 lb of andouille
1 lb of tasso
1 lb of shrimp
3 bell peppers
3 yellow onions
1 celery "bunch" / "head"

And the most important part is:

Plenty of beer for the cook.

You can made a less oily roux by just browning the flour in a pan while constantly stiring with a whisk.

As a side note, depending upon who you are talking to, a "stalk" of celery is either the whole plant or just a single rib.

[DLCTEX]

+1 on that pogie plant in Cameron. I would have to think twice about eating anything made with pogie , having had a few snootfuls of that smell. That's BAD! Ranks right up there with a confined hog feeding operation.

[gbrown]

Dale in Louisiana

digger-

You're backwards, man! Creole gumbo is what Cajuns generally consider to be some sort of vegetable soup, using okra as a thickener. Cajun gumbo uses more and darker roux, and file' is the the thickener.

DLCTEX

+1 on that pogie plant in Cameron. I would have to think twice about eating anything made with pogie , having had a few snootfuls of that smell. That's BAD! Ranks right up there with a confined hog feeding operation

1. digger--Okra comes originally from Africa or S.E. Asia--some controversy there. Creoles are a mixed blood person, usually from around the New Orleans area, not Cajun. Although I'm not Cajun, merely Swamp Irish, I've been told by too many Cajuns the difference between Creole and Cajun cooking.
2. DLCTEX--in Sabine Pass, they used to have a menhadden fleet and processing plant. Been down there as a kid, fishing and crabbing. It'd make you nauseous, you would be gagging with the smell. I'd liken it to being downwind of a rendering plant.

[gwpercle]

Gary-

You're right about the dried shrimp and egg gumbo.

You might check the nearest Oriental food store. They're a common item there. Or through the power of the Internet: Grand Isle Dried Shrimp (http://shop.grandisledriedshrimp.com/)

When money was tight and fish weren't biting, Mom made gumbo with canned pilchards. We called it 'pogey gumbo', pogey being the little anchovy-like fish converted into fish meal at a smelly plant in Cameron, Louisiana. Most people know of pogey as 'menhaden'.

dale in Louisiana

Dale you just got to tell us more abou this gumbo and canned pilchards. Was it good ? What happened to the canned pilchard industry ? I like trying different stuff but it's hard to imagine what anchovey- like fish gumbo would taste like. Just goes to show you can make gumbo with whatever ingredents you have available to you. Feed a family cheap during hard times.

gary

[wch]

My Mother's family is from Gray, LA; we have relatives from the Sabine to the Pearl River, and every one of those families has a different idea of just what gumbo should be.
Gumbo exists as a gleam in the mind and the belly of the eater, a truly adaptable soup. (Or is it a stew?. I"ll let you decide.)

[WilliamDahl]

My Mother's family is from Gray, LA; we have relatives from the Sabine to the Pearl River, and every one of those families has a different idea of just what gumbo should be.
Gumbo exists as a gleam in the mind and the belly of the eater, a truly adaptable soup. (Or is it a stew?. I"ll let you decide.)

I suspect that due to the thickness and the fact that you traditionally let it cook for a long time over a low fire, it is more of a stew than a soup...

All this talk about it has got me hungry for some... I was up at HEB (local grocery store) the other night and thought about getting the ingredients to make a put of gumbo, but I could not find any tasso...

[Moonie]

I suspect that due to the thickness and the fact that you traditionally let it cook for a long time over a low fire, it is more of a stew than a soup...

All this talk about it has got me hungry for some... I was up at HEB (local grocery store) the other night and thought about getting the ingredients to make a put of gumbo, but I could not find any tasso...

http://lpoli.50webs.com/index_files/Tasso.pdf

Problem solved

[WilliamDahl]

http://lpoli.50webs.com/index_files/Tasso.pdf

Problem solved

I've seen the recipes for it before, but I prefer the one that says, "Drive to grocery store, buy 1 lb package of tasso"... :)

[GSaltzman]

Gumbo is one of those things that varies from person to person. Everybody has there own way's of what makes a good gumbo. I don't use file myself but my grandmother on my dad's side did. I like a dark roux myself but do not like a thick gumbo. Chicken and sausage go together like a hand in a glove. Always add tasso to mine. Too me seafood is reserved for seafood gumbo only. That is no shrimp with chicken or sausage. Don't forget the holy trinity of onions garlic and bell pepper. I just ate some seafood gumbo myself at work. Now I need a place to sleep!

[WilliamDahl]

Gumbo is one of those things that varies from person to person. Everybody has there own way's of what makes a good gumbo. I don't use file myself but my grandmother on my dad's side did. I like a dark roux myself but do not like a thick gumbo. Chicken and sausage go together like a hand in a glove. Always add tasso to mine. Too me seafood is reserved for seafood gumbo only. That is no shrimp with chicken or sausage. Don't forget the holy trinity of onions garlic and bell pepper. I just ate some seafood gumbo myself at work. Now I need a place to sleep!

The "Holy Trinity" is onions, celery, and bell peppers. I think it is supposed to be equal amounts of all, but I usually just go with one bunch of celery, 3 onions, and 3 bell peppers... I also like to add some jalapenos minced up with the onions, celery, and bell peppers to give it that little bit of extra zing... You need garlic, but it's not part of the "Holy Trinity". I don't think you would want to put an equal share of garlic in it -- that might be a bit overpowering...

[flounderman]

Dale, whats a pilchard. I know what a menhaden is, or fat back as their called here. we use them for crab pot bait, and a pogey is a menhaden, but a pilchard is not a name I am familiar with.

[WilliamDahl]

Dale, whats a pilchard. I know what a menhaden is, or fat back as their called here. we use them for crab pot bait, and a pogey is a menhaden, but a pilchard is not a name I am familiar with.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sardine

[Dale in Louisiana]

Dale, whats a pilchard. I know what a menhaden is, or fat back as their called here. we use them for crab pot bait, and a pogey is a menhaden, but a pilchard is not a name I am familiar with.

Unlike sardines, which come in flat cans, pilchards come in standard round cans, several to a can, and pilchards were always quite a bit bigger than sardines. We can buy them at most large groceries around here in the same area as the tuna.

dale in Louisiana

[WilliamDahl]

Unlike sardines, which come in flat cans, pilchards come in standard round cans, several to a can, and pilchards were always quite a bit bigger than sardines. We can buy them at most large groceries around here in the same area as the tuna.


According to the link I quoted, below a certain size they are called "sardines" and above a certain size, they are called "pilchards". Plus, there's a couple of different species of fish that classify. And here I thought that sardines were a single species of fish. Oh well...

[toddrod]

For me, the only thing better than a good chicken /turkey neck and sausage gumbo (no tomato) is a shrimp, crabmeat and okra gumbo or a good smoked coon gumbo.

[gwpercle]

I still want to know what a pilchard gumbo tastes like , is it good ? Do you still cook a pilchard gumbo when other ingredients are available ?

I have never had a gumbo that I didn't like but I tend to enjoy eating just about anything. I even enjoy a Spam sandwhich on white bread , vieanna sausages and potted meat on crackers. But I have never tried pilchard gumbo . I once made a sardine topped pizza and that was not good.... that dish just wasn't right . So before I go on a pilchard quest for gumbo I want to hear from sombody thats had it.

gary

[Dale in Louisiana]

Saying that the pogey plant in Cameron is " Smelly " is being much too kind. During the summer that place absolutely reeks of the foulest order I have ever smelled. When going to buy shrimp near there my little girl covered her nose and mouth and exclaimed " it smells like dead things here ! " so ever scince we refer to it as the dead thing plant.

I never knew that they were canned for human consumption , how do they taste and did you like the gumbo ? Would you eat them again ? Thats the beauty of gumbo...you can make it with just about whatever ingredients you have available.

Guess where I found dried shrimp...Wally Mart. They got dried whole shrimp and dried shrimp powder...just never know what you will find there,

gary

I agree with the assessment of the odor from that plant. It'll knock a buzzard off a gutwagon.

The canned (for human consumption) pilchards make a good gumbo. It's worth keeping a few cans around. After TSHTF, I don't plan on eating JUST beans and rice. A few cans of pilchards insure that somewhere down the line, there's a gumbo. It's been a while since I made on, but I'm going to again, soon, and add a little smoked sausage, just because.

Dried shrimp are easily available now. If Wal-Mart doesn't have them, try an oriental grocer. The whole dried shrimp let you know you're eating a shrimp gumbo. A bit of the powdered dried shrimp adds depth of flavor.

I do find that the locally produced dried shrimp are much fresher and have better flavor, but I can definitely make do with the imports.

dale in Louisiana

[gwpercle]

Dale ,
The dried shrimp and shrimp powder I found at wally mart comes from, of all places , Grande Isle, Louisiana...NOT China, thats a change. You make that pilchard gumbo, post the recipe and let me know what store carries them and I'm gonna give it a try. Might have to stock up on a few cans to go along with the Spam and other canned meats we stock every year for hurricane season...seems like they hit quite often lately. Kinda getting tired of eating spam in the dark ...them pilchards might be a good change......

gary
in Louisiana also

[Dale in Louisiana]

Dale ,
The dried shrimp and shrimp powder I found at wally mart comes from, of all places , Grande Isle, Louisiana...NOT China, thats a change. You make that pilchard gumbo, post the recipe and let me know what store carries them and I'm gonna give it a try. Might have to stock up on a few cans to go along with the Spam and other canned meats we stock every year for hurricane season...seems like they hit quite often lately. Kinda getting tired of eating spam in the dark ...them pilchards might be a good change......

gary
in Louisiana also
Gary-

In Cajun cooking shorthand, make a roux using a half-cup of flour and the appropriate amount of oil. "Break" the roux with the trinity, i.e., onions, bell pepper, celery. Add water to make four quarts, bring to a boil, dump one can of pilchards in, then simmer for a half hour to get the roux good and dissolved. Your pilchards will disintegrate. That's for flavor. Right before serving, add the second can of pilchards. These are so people won't think you're scamming them about pilchard gumbo. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve with gumbo file' on the side, along with steaming pile of medium-grain rice. And hot sauce(s).

Note to the non-Cajuns: Where you see "pilchards" in the above recipe, you can substitute appropriate sized chunks of just about any other living creature.

As the old joke goes, Boudreaux and Thibodeaux were out headlighting rabbits one night when a flying saucer landed in front of them. The occupant, a grean humanoid, got out.

"Mais, What you t'ink dat is, Boudreaux?" Thibodeaux asked.

Thibodeaux answered, "Me, I don't know, but if you go start a roux, I can have 'im ready for the pot by de time you finish!"

Dale in Louisiana

[WilliamDahl]

Another way of making the equivalent of roux if you want to reduce the oil in your recipe is to basically toast the flour in the bottom of the pot. You just keep stirring it until it turns a mocha shade of brown and then remove the heat. Just like with oil, you have to be constantly stirring it. There's enough fat from the drippings of the sausage and chicken that you really don't need the extra fat from the oil for flavor.

I sent an email to the HEB headquarters about a week ago and asked why they don't have tasso in any of the local stores. I received a voice mail message the next day from one of the Meat Managers at my local store saying that he had special ordered a case of tasso and it should be in within 2 days. I didn't want to special order any, I just was curious why they no longer handled it. I went up there after a few days and picked up 3 packages of tasso (1 for now and 2 for future batches) and have been eating gumbo for the last few days. Some of it a freeze in 1 qt containers for consumption later in the year. Ended up with about 12 qts or so...

[gwpercle]

Thanks Dale ,
Going on a quest for pilchards and going to try the gumbo as per your recipe. Being from Louisiana one of the first jobs I had in mamma's kitchen was stirring the roux , so I got roux making down.
I wonder if some dried shrimp would go good with them pilchards ?

gary

[Dale in Louisiana]

Thanks Dale ,
Going on a quest for pilchards and going to try the gumbo as per your recipe. Being from Louisiana one of the first jobs I had in mamma's kitchen was stirring the roux , so I got roux making down.
I wonder if some dried shrimp would go good with them pilchards ?

gary

You could go full-blown off the shelf seafood: Pilchards, dried shrimp, and tight before serving, dump in a can or two of smoked oysters.


dale in Louisiana

[HiVelocity]

C'Mon guys, you have to stop this................ I'm slobbering all over my shoes reading these posts.

WRideout- Can we trade bullets or something for some of your gumbo? Sounds great!

HV

[WilliamDahl]

C'Mon guys, you have to stop this................ I'm slobbering all over my shoes reading these posts.


Well, that's easy enough to fix... Break out a large pot and start making some gumbo!

[gwpercle]

Oh Man what luck, I picked up two cans of smoked oysters at the store Saturday. And I got some boiled eggs in the refrigerator too..... I am set except I didn't find no canned pilchards.

Dale in louisiana... what stores might carry them...wally mart I went to didn't have none. But that was the only place I really looked.

gary

[Dale in Louisiana]

Oh Man what luck, I picked up two cans of smoked oysters at the store Saturday. And I got some boiled eggs in the refrigerator too..... I am set except I didn't find no canned pilchards.

Dale in louisiana... what stores might carry them...wally mart I went to didn't have none. But that was the only place I really looked.

gary

I din't check today, but last time I bought them at Kroger. Most chains sell them. Look next tot eh canned fish first, and if that fails, check out the ethnic sections.

dale in Louisiana