Little Gale Gumbo by Erika Marks sees Camille and her two teenage daughters move from New Orleans to a wind-swept New England island where they open a Gumbo cafe. Throughout the book there are drops of recipes for various Louisiana Comfort foods.
I read this back in February of last year. Over a year ago! I had to get the book out of the library again to remind myself of why it inspired me! I had intended to make a Gumbo from the book, but the price of shrimp and crabmeat in Chicago put me off. I found a non-seafood recipe here. Thank you Jessica Gavin. I cannot vouch for the correctness of the Gumbo here. That it meets all the “rules” – made up or otherwise. It sounded good and got great reviews.
Quote:
There was never anything magical in the gumbo. At least, nothing you could see. From the peanut butter-brown roux to the slender rounds of her sliced okra, Camille Bergeron made her gumbo the very same way her Creole mother had made it in her own kitchen for nearly forty years.
Preparation:
I had intended to follow the recipe as is. I almost always do that when I prepare a dish for the first time. Two reasons – I can critique it fairly and I know if it’s worthwhile trying my own take on it. So I had some smoked sausage in the freezer that I wanted to use up. Sorry andouille. Maybe next time. Otherwise I kept things as they were. It’s a labor-intensive dish the first time you make it and there is a lot of simmer/cook/fry for 10 minutes which all add up.
My take:
This gumbo was pretty darn good. It tasted exactly what I would expect Gumbo to taste like. I think I won’t bother trying with Andouille sausages or adding seafood.
This recipe had chicken which involved boiling, shredding, and using the stock. The meat itself didn’t add much and the broth was weak because it was from chicken breast instead of other parts. Next time I’ll leave out the chicken, double the sausage, and use 50-50 store-bought broth and water.
By the way – I realise that the photo of my dinner looks like partially digested dogfood. It didn’t taste like dog food. Shut up. I’m not telling you how I know what dog food tastes like. Here’s a pic from part of the process that I’m proud of for some reason. Please ignore the wonky pot. Wonky pots need love too. I think the way it is pulling away from thr pot is a sign that I had a good roux. I think I did anyway. The book goes on and on about having a good roux. I remember this 13 months later.
Lesson of the day:
I like Gumbo—I didn’t realize how much. It has such a distinct taste—even without the hotter sausage. The kids didn’t love it, but they didn’t hate it, and they could feck off anyway. I will have sausage-only gumbo (can that be called gumbo?) in the future. Oh – I have never had okra before – hardly a strong feature but the okra wasn’t disgusting.
eat-my-books.com 