WineLovers Discussion Group

Seafood Gumbo

Salt Pork – One package diced fine (about 4-6 ounces)
Okra – Three cups sliced
Onion – One large processed medium fine
Celery – Three stalks sliced thin
Green Bell Pepper – One large processed medium fine
Flour – 1/3 cup
Bacon grease – 1/3 cup
Tomatoes – Two cups processed medium fine
Oysters – Two dozen small (two small jars)
Chicken Stock – Six cups
Thyme – ½ teaspoon ground (double for leaves)
Marjoram – 1/8 teaspoon ground (double for leaves)
Basil – 1/8 teaspoon ground (double for leaves)
Oregano – 1/8 teaspoon ground (double for leaves)
Rosemary – 1/8 teaspoon ground (double for leaves)
Salt – 1 ½ teaspoons
Black Pepper – ½ teaspoon fresh ground
Cayenne (Red) Pepper – 1/8 teaspoon ground
Garlic – Two cloves pressed or diced fine
Parsley Leaves – Two tablespoons chopped fine
Bay Leaf – One large
Tabasco Sauce – Two dashes
Worcestershire Sauce – One teaspoon
Crab Meat – ½ pound
Shrimp – One pound 25-30 count (after peeling)
Fish Fillet – 1 ¼ pounds of white fish (cod, halibut) cut in ½” cubes
Cream – One cup
File – To taste
Cooked Rice

Fry salt pork until very crisp. Set aside in small bowl. Sauté the okra in the drippings for three to four minutes. Add the onion, celery and bell pepper and cook until tender (about five minutes). Drain well and set aside in a small bowl. Make a golden brown roux with the flour and bacon grease over medium heat, stirring constantly. Add back the onion/celery/pepper/okra to the roux and stir well. Add the tomatoes and stir well; cooking for two minutes. Add half of the chicken stock and stir well. Mix in all of the seasonings and stir until smooth. Add the rest of the chicken stock and stir well. Cover and simmer for one hour. Add the salt pork, crab, shrimp and fish cubes. Cook over medium heat for 10 minutes. Add the oysters and cook until the edges curl. Add the cream, stir well and remove from the heat – do not boil. Serve over rice, adding file to taste if desired.

Serve with a wine such as 2004 Domaine de la Pepiere Muscadet Sur Lie Cuvee Eden Vieilles Vignes. We had this combination last night – fantastic.

File and okra together!
I had a Cajun friend who called the okra seeds crab eyes. It always made the uninitiated queasy.

Take out the tomatoes and the cream and it might almost be gumbo. At least you made a roux.

(Posted by someone who married into a family from the Gulf Coast)

Take out the tomatoes and the cream and it might almost be gumbo.

Get out of the kitchen, rookie.

Uh, David? Bucko is also married to a Gulf Coast native.

Bucko, nice recipe. I'll bet the cream, which I've never seen in gumbo before, adds a nice softening effect. Your last sentence though "add file to taste" which follows serving over rice. Sounds like you're adding it on top, like pepper. Is that right?

Bucko, nice recipe. I'll bet the cream, which I've never seen in gumbo before, adds a nice softening effect. Your last sentence though "add file to taste" which follows serving over rice. Sounds like you're adding it on top, like pepper. Is that right?

Correct on both counts. The cream adds a sense of richness as well. File adds a bit of sliminess to the gumbo that I pass on, but my Cajun family loves the stuff.

There are several styles of gumbo of course. Chicken and andouille sausage gumbo uses no cream. Crayfish gumbo uses no cream. I don't think I've ever seen a gumbo recipe that does not use tomatoes though. That is sacrilege.

There are no rules for making gumbo beyond the roux, okra and filé powder -- just your imagination. There are as many distinctive recipes for gumbo as there are cooks in Louisiana.

Carole's grandmother paid her doctor bill more than one time by taking the doctor a big pot of chicken gumbo, filled with whatever was growing in the garden at the time. She raised eleven kids, so times were pretty hard.

Anyway, I made this for my mother-in-law for mother's day (they are visiting us presently). She says it is the best gumbo she has ever eaten -- high praise or a little white lie to please me. Either way, I love it, and I think others will as well.

I copied it to file Randy, and plan on doing a big pot of it on my new grill as soon as I get it broke in. Wonder if I could do it in a 7qt dutch oven at about 350 degrees?

I used an eight quart dutch oven with room to spare. It should work fine. Just don't boil the cream or you'll get curds.

Have you named that danged grill yet?

Bucko, thanks--never heard of using file as a condiment like that. I'm so un-Southern it hurts, doesn't it?

I just might put this on my menu as soon as the weather cools down--I just discovered that I have quite a bit of last season's crab in the freezer (two pounds, and I thought I didn't have any) and a gumbo would be the perfect use for it.

Anyway, what a nice thing for you to make a Mothers Day dinner for Carole and her mother. Very cool. How's their situation, post-Katrina?

Anyway, what a nice thing for you to make a Mothers Day dinner for Carole and her mother. Very cool. How's their situation, post-Katrina?

Thanks for asking. In spite of all of the BS you see on the network "news," building is going on at an incredible rate around her relatives townships. Her family members are all rebuilt and back to their normal lives.

I am taking the grill on it's maiden flight today Bucko. I fired her up at 8 AM and put a 10 pound pork butt on around 11. the break in specifies 150 to 250 degrees for the first 24 hours, and the pork butt will take about 20 hours to be done. So, I will check her when I go to bed tonight and again first thing in the morning. I hope 15 or so pounds of charcoal will do the job. I will consider a name after the break in is over and I can fire her up to about 800 degrees to sear some ribeyes. You might need to come to Kentucky to see some serious q'ing.

Randy Buckner wrote:Seafood Gumbo

Salt Pork – One package diced fine (about 4-6 ounces)
Okra – Three cups sliced
Onion – One large processed medium fine
Celery – Three stalks sliced thin
Green Bell Pepper – One large processed medium fine
Flour – 1/3 cup
Bacon grease – 1/3 cup
Tomatoes – Two cups processed medium fine
Oysters – Two dozen small (two small jars)
Chicken Stock – Six cups
Thyme – ½ teaspoon ground (double for leaves)
Marjoram – 1/8 teaspoon ground (double for leaves)
Basil – 1/8 teaspoon ground (double for leaves)
Oregano – 1/8 teaspoon ground (double for leaves)
Rosemary – 1/8 teaspoon ground (double for leaves)
Salt – 1 ½ teaspoons
Black Pepper – ½ teaspoon fresh ground
Cayenne (Red) Pepper – 1/8 teaspoon ground
Garlic – Two cloves pressed or diced fine
Parsley Leaves – Two tablespoons chopped fine
Bay Leaf – One large
Tabasco Sauce – Two dashes
Worcestershire Sauce – One teaspoon
Crab Meat – ½ pound
Shrimp – One pound 25-30 count (after peeling)
Fish Fillet – 1 ¼ pounds of white fish (cod, halibut) cut in ½” cubes
Cream – One cup
File – To taste
Cooked Rice

Fry salt pork until very crisp. Set aside in small bowl. Sauté the okra in the drippings for three to four minutes. Add the onion, celery and bell pepper and cook until tender (about five minutes). Drain well and set aside in a small bowl. Make a golden brown roux with the flour and bacon grease over medium heat, stirring constantly. Add back the onion/celery/pepper/okra to the roux and stir well. Add the tomatoes and stir well; cooking for two minutes. Add half of the chicken stock and stir well. Mix in all of the seasonings and stir until smooth. Add the rest of the chicken stock and stir well. Cover and simmer for one hour. Add the salt pork, crab, shrimp and fish cubes. Cook over medium heat for 10 minutes. Add the oysters and cook until the edges curl. Add the cream, stir well and remove from the heat – do not boil. Serve over rice, adding file to taste if desired.

Serve with a wine such as 2004 Domaine de la Pepiere Muscadet Sur Lie Cuvee Eden Vieilles Vignes. We had this combination last night – fantastic.

Well, I'm with you on passing on the file. Classically, okra and file were never mixed. I never mix them myself - and I make a half dozen different gumbos. File was used during the winter months when there was no okra around.

But, then, those of you who were wise enough to buy Creole Nouvelle already knew that, didn't you?

Randy Buckner wrote: Her family members are all rebuilt and back to their normal lives.

I am so glad to hear that; you're certainly right that the network news didn't give me any reason to expect that answer.