Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received this book, free of charge, from WW Norton Press, via EdelweissPlus, for review purposes on this blog. No other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about it.
A sprightly, deeply personal narrative about how gumbo—for 250 years a Cajun and Creole secret—has become one of the world’s most beloved dishes.
Synopsis:
Ask any self-respecting Louisianan who makes the best gumbo and the answer is universal: “Momma.” The product of a melting pot of culinary influences, gumbo, in fact, reflects the diversity of the people who cooked it up: French aristocrats, West Africans in bondage, Cajun refugees, German settlers, Native Americans—all had a hand in the pot. What is it about gumbo that continues to delight and nourish so many? And what explains its spread around the world?
A seasoned journalist, Ken Wells sleuths out the answers. His obsession goes back to his childhood in the Cajun bastion of Bayou Black, where his French-speaking mother’s gumbo often began with a chicken chased down in the yard. Back then, gumbo was a humble soup little known beyond the boundaries of Louisiana. So when a homesick young Ken, at college in Missouri, realized there wasn’t a restaurant that could satisfy his gumbo cravings, he called his momma for the recipe. That phone-taught gumbo was a disaster. The second, cooked at his mother’s side, fueled a lifelong quest to explore gumbo’s roots and mysteries.
In Gumbo Life: Tales from the Roux Bayou, Wells does just that. He spends time with octogenarian chefs who turn the lowly coot into gourmet gumbo; joins a team at a highly competitive gumbo contest; visits a factory that churns out gumbo by the ton; observes the gumbo-making rituals of an iconic New Orleans restaurant where high-end Creole cooking and Cajun cuisine first merged.
Gumbo Life, rendered in Wells’ affable prose, makes clear that gumbo is more than simply a delicious dish: it’s an attitude, a way of seeing the world. For all who read its pages, this is a tasty culinary memoir—to be enjoyed and shared like a simmering pot of gumbo.
Review:
It's appropriate that the first recipe of the New Year is gumbo, as for many homes in Louisiana, it's one of the dishes that is either made for Christmas Eve, Christmas, or New Year's Day! Some may swear by Hoppin John, but if you have a whole lot of mouths to feed, gumbo stretches pretty far! Plus you can use all the leftover meat and veggies, if so inclined, from Christmas dinner, for the pot!
Gumbo is definitely an unique Louisiana dish- no one makes theirs the same, and more likeLy never the same each time they make it! What I have found, having not been born in Louisiana, that how you make it, depends on your background- not only ancestry, but WHO raised you, and who taught THEM to make it! It's a dish that encompasses everything Southern all in one pot- it's tradition, lore, family and love, all at once.
Wells does an excellent job in searching out the history of the dish, and who claims to have invented it, and how each of those different inventors, actually added something unique to the dish,to truly make it the melting pot of Louisiana cuisine that it is today! This isn't a book to be rushed, but to enjoy each chapter ad mini vignettes. History loves and foodies alike will enjoy this book, and thanks to the included gumbo recipes, you can find which version of gumbo fits YOUR family! We highly recommend it!
About the Author:
Ken Wells covered car wrecks and gator sightings for his hometown weekly before leaving the bayous for a journalism career that included twenty-four years on the Wall Street Journal. He has written five novels of the Cajun bayous and lives in Chicago. Check out his website for more info.
Recipe:
Now in the book there are some AMAZING recipes for different styles of gumbo, but I'm gonna share Mom's Gumbo, which was a version she learned from friends in NOLA soon after we first moved here, and it was her standby forever after that! You'll note, her's does NOT include okra- that's a taste thing, we preferred it without it. Depending on who she was cooking it for though, she might add 1 tsp or 2 of file powder
Mom's Gumbo
Ingredients:
1 cp
unsalted butter
1 cp
all-purpose flour, divided
1- 1/2 cps Trinity- red and green bell peppers, onion and celery
(or equivalent diced and chopped)
10 cps Homemade Chicken Stock
1/2 lb andouille sausage, sliced 1 /4 inch-thick
(or any good German or deer sausage)
Meat from 1 (3 1/2 lb) roasted chicken, shredded
(can also use leftover turkey, if you have enough)
1 tbsp Creole seasoning
1 tbsp sea salt, plus additional to taste
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp dried thyme
(can also substitute additional Cajun seasoning for the above 3 seasonings,
if you don't have them)
2 tsp minced garlic
(you can reduce, we like it with more)
1 bay leaf
Serve with:
Hot cooked
rice
French
bread
Directions:
1. In a 12-quart stockpot or Dutch oven, melt butter over low
heat. Yes, it's large, that's why every household in LA. has a 'gumbo' pot!
2. Gradually add 1/3 cp of flour, stirring constantly with a wooden
spoon, and cook 30 seconds. Repeat this step twice.
3. Continue cooking the roux, stirring constantly (this is KEY), until it is dark,similar to a dark rich brown, about 45 minutes to 1 hour (and why it can be time consuming!).
4. Add trinity and stir constantly, about 30 seconds.
5. Gradually add your Chicken Stock to the roux, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon to prevent lumps.
6. Once well combined, add your sausage, your seasonings, garlic and bay leaf, and bring to a boil.
7. Simmer
gumbo, uncovered, 45 minutes, skimming off any fat and stirring occasionally.
8. Add meat, and simmer another 15 minutes. Adjust the seasoning to taste.
9. Set burner to low and keep hot til served.
10. Serve over rice, with French bread.
Note: gumbo has been called 'everything but the kitchen sink' soup, and you can vary the meat ingredients, and add some leftover veggies if you like. Mom would add some corn, carrots or beans, and add them with the chicken.
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