Perhaps it is because we both grew up in the Pacific Northwest, but I tend to agree with James Beard when it comes to gumbos. In his book “American Cookery” he wrote “ ..They are not the culinary achievement they have been made out to be. Some of the modern adaptations seem to be better, but are still not really great dishes. They are typical of Creole cuisine and became fashionable, I wager, because this is what the cooks of the day, who at times were pretty dictatorial, chose to serve up.”
My dislike of gumbo is simple. It tends to feature The Dreaded Three - undercooked chunks of onion, the overwhelming taste of green bell peppers and blobs of canned tomato. For me, this is the devil's trinity- the evil ingredients that all too often seasoned the weeknight dinners of my childhood. Add slippery, snot laden okra, some overcooked shrimp and threads of file powder to all this and voila, you have a crappy gumbo! No thank you!
Given this bias, I can’t quite explain why I have recently felt compelled to make a proper gumbo. I’ve had only one good restaurant gumbo in my life. It was in New Orleans and the predominant flavor was not the seafood, meat or vegetables, but the dark and toasty roux it was built on. While all good gumbo cooks tout the importance of the roux, this was the only soup that really served up the goods. The place was packed and noisy. My soup was brown, not red like I expected. It was boldly spiced, complicated and rooted in rustic traditions, but silky and refined. It was everything gumbo was supposed to be. I have yet to find another bowl that comes even close.
Granted, I haven’t been back to New Orleans recently. And Seattle isn’t exactly a hotbed for authentic Cajun food. But, like a mountain climber, I tend to get obsessed with culinary challenges, and “real gumbo” like “real barbecue” is a dish that America takes very seriously. I had to try it. (Incidentally, today is Mardi Gras! I made my gumbo in support of the New Orleans Saints at the Superbowl. And hey, it worked! )
I made a very simple shrimp and sausage version adapted from probably a dozen different recipes and tweaked to my taste. I omitted the tomato because, like that perfect bowl in New Orleans, I wanted my soup to be toasty rather than acidic. I hunted down fresh okra at a Chinese market. My local supermarkets don’t stock fresh okra in February. I pondered the need for file powder, or ground sassafras. Some people swear that file IS gumbo. But from what I understand, it is a thickening agent, and I already was using plenty of roux and the addition of okra. It can be tricky to master, so I went without.
I started by making a pot of shrimp stock, with half a pound of head-on shrimp, some extra shrimp shells and all the other usual suspects. Then I started the roux. It was actually exciting! I knew that to make it right, flour and oil had to cook slowly until it was as brown and smooth as it could possibly be, just on the cusp of being burnt. I let it bubble and brown and then chickened out, pulling it off the burner to see if the residual heat of the heavy iron pan cooked it much. Then I put it back and cooked it some more. It went from golden to reddish to a good chocolate brown. Finally I panicked and dumped in a diced onion, celery and pepper. Next time, I’ll try and push it even farther.
I cooked the vegetables properly right off the bat so there wouldn’t be any sliminess in the finished soup. Then I poured on about eight cups of my homemade shrimp stock and gave it all a good stir. It looked and tasted pretty pathetic at this point. I didn’t want the shrimp and sausage to be overcooked, so I left them out. And I didn’t want all the spices to mellow out, so I didn’t add my homemade Cajun spice mix until later. So at first my gumbo was really lame. I was tempted to add some tomatoes, just to brighten the whole thing up, but I resisted. I cooked the soup for about 45 minutes. It was still pretty bland. I think my shrimp stock was too mild, so I crumbled in a Mexican shrimp bouillon cube. Then I added the sausage, plenty of salt and pepper and three or four tablespoons of my spice mix and it perked right up! I sliced and browned about half a pound of okra in a hot pan. I didn’t stir them, just shook the pan so they would stay crisp. I added the okra and then tweaked the seasoning a little. I splashed in a ton of Tabasco and a little vinegar to brighten it. It thickened to a nice velvety consistency and got really intriguing. Finally, I dusted a pound of peeled giant shrimp with more Cajun spice mix and schlepped everything over to Scott W and Susan G’s house to watch the Superbowl. At halftime, Scott made rice and I seared the shrimp with a few more slices of andouille sausage and served it up.
I think it will take a few more practice runs before I get it right, but I was basically happy with the results. If anything, it was too rich. I tried so hard to play down the vegetables that I may have overemphasized the roux and the shrimp. Next time, I will add a little tomato.
Or maybe I’ll just leave gumbo to the experts and plan another, much overdo, trip to Louisiana.
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