John Sp
TVWBB All-Star
Hello All,
This weekend we are celebrating #3's birthday. He asked me to make gumbo for his birthday dinner so of course I did. This is not a grilling post so please forgive my presumption. In southeast Louisiana we have two competing styles of gumbo (and quite a bit of dissension about the proper way to make and even the origins of gumbo (if you Google it you can spend hours of time reading about it). We have two camps - the Creole Camp - which is generally centered around New Orleans and the Cajun Camp which is generally centered in the Acadian Parishes to the south and west of New Orleans. Simplified to a ridiculous level Creole is 'City Food' and Cajun is 'Country Food'. Creole gumbo almost always uses tomato and a lighter roux. Cajun gumbo (and most Cajun food in general) never uses tomato, has a much darker roux, and is almost always much spicier. Both camps use either okra or file (pronounced feel-ay - powdered sassafras leaves), but never both, as the thickening agent. Don't even get me started on the subject of trinity. Not being born and raised here, I have adopted my own camp which I call the 'Its All Good Camp'. Today I am making a Cajun inspired Chicken and Sausage Okra Gumbo. Here are a few pics:
My Preferred Sausages
Chicken Thighs, Smoked Sausage, and Andoulle Sausage Rough Chopped
Trinity, Garlic, Okra and Spices Staged for Use
Browning the Meat to Render Fat for the Roux in My 14" Cast Iron Dutch Oven
Fat Supplemented with Vegetable Oil to One Cup and One Cup of AP Flour - Beginning the Roux
Just Past Peanut Butter Heading for Chocolate - About 15 Minutes In on Medium High Flame
Once at the Chocolate Stage - Added the Trinity and Garlic
Everyone (Except the Okra) into the Pool and Added Bay Leaf, KS, SYM, and About 1.5 Quarts of Homemade Chicken Stock
Now for the hard part - waiting for it to simmer for about 2.5 hours. I will post plated pics after it cooks. Thanks for indulging my non-grilling post...
This weekend we are celebrating #3's birthday. He asked me to make gumbo for his birthday dinner so of course I did. This is not a grilling post so please forgive my presumption. In southeast Louisiana we have two competing styles of gumbo (and quite a bit of dissension about the proper way to make and even the origins of gumbo (if you Google it you can spend hours of time reading about it). We have two camps - the Creole Camp - which is generally centered around New Orleans and the Cajun Camp which is generally centered in the Acadian Parishes to the south and west of New Orleans. Simplified to a ridiculous level Creole is 'City Food' and Cajun is 'Country Food'. Creole gumbo almost always uses tomato and a lighter roux. Cajun gumbo (and most Cajun food in general) never uses tomato, has a much darker roux, and is almost always much spicier. Both camps use either okra or file (pronounced feel-ay - powdered sassafras leaves), but never both, as the thickening agent. Don't even get me started on the subject of trinity. Not being born and raised here, I have adopted my own camp which I call the 'Its All Good Camp'. Today I am making a Cajun inspired Chicken and Sausage Okra Gumbo. Here are a few pics:
My Preferred Sausages
Chicken Thighs, Smoked Sausage, and Andoulle Sausage Rough Chopped
Trinity, Garlic, Okra and Spices Staged for Use
Browning the Meat to Render Fat for the Roux in My 14" Cast Iron Dutch Oven
Fat Supplemented with Vegetable Oil to One Cup and One Cup of AP Flour - Beginning the Roux
Just Past Peanut Butter Heading for Chocolate - About 15 Minutes In on Medium High Flame
Once at the Chocolate Stage - Added the Trinity and Garlic
Everyone (Except the Okra) into the Pool and Added Bay Leaf, KS, SYM, and About 1.5 Quarts of Homemade Chicken Stock
Now for the hard part - waiting for it to simmer for about 2.5 hours. I will post plated pics after it cooks. Thanks for indulging my non-grilling post...
