Today is the Monday after Easter. My folks live in Minneapolis, and I live in the fine city of Austin. I got a call from my mom today where between my mom, dad, and I spent 20+ minutes talking about what we ate for Easter dinner, and how it turned out. Easter Sunday we spent somewhere in that ballpark talking about what we were going to eat later that afternoon. I'm pretty sure I had a conversation with someone earlier in the week - talking about the meal and specifically what they were doing for dessert.
Is it any surprise I turned out the way I did? That I have a food blog; that my obsession with food is for better or worse one of my defining characteristics; that I talk about food while eating food; that I spend 45 minutes on a treadmill thinking about food every time I'm at the gym?
Easter Sunday in my family almost inevitably means a ham. My dad, in particular, loves to go all evil scientist with his hams: studding them with cloves, smoking them, grilling them, THEN baking them in some insane concoction loaded with fruit and spices. And it's fantastic. I think he told me on the phone this year it was just his "standard" sauce with apricots and beer and dijon and a ton of different spices. The discussion about my mom's potatoes, and the desert carried on for quite some time as well.
For some reason, though, I decided that this Easter I needed to make a gumbo. And not just a gumbo, but the best damn gumbo someone as pigmentally challenged as myself could throw together. Maybe I was just yearning it, maybe it was Treme coming on the same night (had a lot to do with it), or maybe it was the only way I could get the absolutely horrible gumbo my friend made a few weeks back out of my head.
I've only made gumbo once before. It was good, but nothing worth bragging about. Proportions were a bit out of whack, my shrimp stock wasn't great, and most crucially - the roux needed to get another 2-3 shades darker before I fully committed. What I did retain from that gumbo about 2 years ago was the process - I picked up the rest from about 3-4 different recipes I looked at.
The results were stellar. It was a true labor of love, with the total combined time (between all prep, stock making, etc) being in the 6 hour time frame, I can understand why they call it soul-food. Asa, seeing me spend 2 hours perched up on my counter, stirring constantly, gave me a bit of grief. Upon tasting the first bite, he exclaimed I "had the soul of an old black woman". Probably the best compliment someone can give you in those circumstances...
With no intention of writing a post on Gumbo I set off on my journey, and forgot to take pictures. My apologies for a vanilla post.
The Gumbo Process:
Basically it all starts with your shopping list. Are you doing meat or seafood? I chose seafood and the rest is dictated by that choice.
Step 1 - Buy Shrimp With the Shells On. Without shells you can't make your stock. Like just about everything else you cook on the planet, water alone will likely be a very poor and flavorless substitute for a rich stock. The stock (recipe below) only took about 45 minutes to an hour (maybe a few minutes longer, add an additional 15 for peeling the scrimp) to come together, but it was entirely worth it.
Step 2 - Buy Real Andouille Sausage (smoked). You can buy raw Andouille from a number of stores, but unless you plan on smoking it yourself, it just won't give you the same texture and flavor. I used Aidel's because it was what I could find on hand - but use what you can get.
Step 3 - Do all of your prep in advance. Chop all your veggies. Chop you sausage. Make your spice mix. Prepare your stock well in advance, and make sure it's hot before adding to the roux. Get all of your measurements down (if that's what you do). When you spend upwards of 2 hours to make a perfect roux, and things can burn at ANY second (in which case you have to start over), do you really want to start chopping veggies or mixing spices? Do you want to be forced to use plain water so your roux doesn't burn because the stock isn't ready - or you haven't strained it yet?
Step 4 - Make a perfect roux. The most critical step, and the most antagonizing. Frankly, it's not difficult so much as it is tedious. This is where the soul in soul food comes from. My roux took me 2 hours - of constant stirring, never leaving the pot unattended for more than 15 seconds at a time. If you allow even the slightest amount of the roux to burn your whole dish is toast and you have to start the fuck over again. General consensus is to start with medium hot oil, whisk in your flour and continue on medium heat until it turns to a shade just darker than a milk chocolate bar - almost a reddish brown. I saw a technique to do a 12 minute roux which i tried for fun and failed at miserably. That's some roux-ninja shit I won't develop for quite some time.
Step 5 - Time your seafood. The stock and veggies may need to boil for 1.5-2hours, but the seafood really only needs 15-20 minutes. As opposed to stews like a green chili pork stew where the meat almost dissolves into the sauce, your seafood will just end up getting tough and nasty if you throw it in too early. Have patience, grasshopper.
Step 6 - Cook your rice with extra shrimp stock/chicken stock. A trick my family has been doing for years, just substitute the stock for water. It will add such an incredible amount of flavor to your rice...I barely cook rice without stock anymore. I also add about a cap-full of rice wine vinegar or other vinegar (white wine/apple cider/etc) to the party. Not essential, but you won't go back to making normal rice anytime soon.
On to the recipe:
I used a 7qt Le Creuset Dutch Oven, and it was nearly full. Use a heavy pot..it makes a difference. Feeds 10-12
Shrimp, Crab, Andouille, and Okra Gumbo:
2 Onions
3-4 Stalks of Celery
1 Green Bell Pepper
1 Red Bell Pepper
3-4 Ripe Tomatoes (~1 lb)
6 Cloves of Garlic
1 lb of Okra
12oz Andouille Sausage
2 lbs of 31-53ct Shrimp Shelled
.5 lb of Lump Crab Meat
6 Bay Leaves
Salt and Pepper
.5 tbls Thyme
.5 tbls Cayenne
3-4 tbls Cajun Seasoning (recipe below)
4 qts shrimp stock? (imprecise measurement...recipe below)
Canola Oil
3 cups of rice
Crystal hot sauce
Red/Brown Roux:
1.5 cups of AP Flour
1.25 cups of Canola Oil
Dice the onions, celery, peppers and garlic. Keep the onions separate from the other vegetables. Dice the tomatoes and season with salt and pepper. Cut your andouille into half moons and set aside. Slice your okra into rounds 1/8-1/4 an inch thick and set aside.
Begin your roux. - Note - there are tons of great articles on making a roux which I'll let you research yourself. Do what you feel most comfortable with. Heat a pan over medium-medium high heat. Add your oil. Once the oil begins to shimmer and slightly smoke, whisk in your flour. Continue whisking constantly for the next 45-90 minutes. Yeah - you may want to turn your phone off and take a bathroom break. You will see the oil and flour roux turn from pale, to a creamy yellow, to a light "peanut butter" stage, to something resembling milk chocolate, to a dark chocolate reddish/brown color, at which point its done.
All of the good recipes give approximate times, but so much is variable, that the color is an indicator rather than time. For me, it took almost 2 hours, but my le creuset was being a bit temperamental and the wooden spoon I was using may have been almost too effective. Or my heat may not have been high enough with such a heavy pan. Either way about 30-45 minute should get you near a peanut butter stage, 50-70 minutes a milk chocolate, and 70-90 an almost burnt looking roux.
The texture the whole time should be liquidy, but not oil-y per se, and never clumpy. It should smell nutty, but not burning. Please note that the darker it gets, the more flavor it will have, but the less thickening power the end product will have as well. It may seem like a lot of roux, but at this dark of a color, you may only have 1/4 the thickening power you were with in the peanut butter stage.
Once your roux reaches the correct color, add your onions. Stir it in well. This is a magical phase as the onions and roux get much darker very quickly, and almost form a caramel like texture. Allow them to cook for 5 minutes, stirring relatively frequently. Add your peppers, celery, and garlic, and cook for another 5 minutes or so. Add your diced tomatoes and juices, spices and spice mixture, and bay leaves and allow to cook for 3-4 minutes. Those who like it hot can add quite a bit of cayenne (as i have listed in the recipe), or you can taste as you go along. The toasted spices make a difference.
Take hot shrimp stock, and add just enough to cover the roux and veggies. stir in, wait for it to come to a boil, and then add the rest of the stock. Turn the heat up to high, and bring everything to a boil for about 5 minutes, and turn down to a simmer. Skim the fat off the top (there will be some) every so often.
In a large frying pan, heat a bit of canola oil on high, and brown your andouille. Throw the sausage into the gumbo, leaving the excess oil in the frying pan. Add a bit more oil, and stir fry your okra. This helps cook the okra, as well as remove some of the sliminess. Depending on the size of your pan, you may need to do this in 2-3 batches. It should take about 5-8 minutes per batch, depending on the size of your pan, heat, and sliminess of okra. Throw the okra into the gumbo.
Boil the gumbo for around an hour, tasting for doneness of vegetables and seasoning. Begin to cook your rice. When there is about 20 minutes of total cook time left on your rice, add the 2 lbs of shrimp. With about 10 minutes left, add your lump crab. When the rice is done - fluff it, and serve. Garnish liberally with hot sauce.
Shrimp Stock
Shells from 2 lbs
1 onion - rough dice with skin still on
2 celery - rough dice - with leaves
Carrots - rough dice
Cold water
Kosher Salt - at least a few tbls
Bay leaves
Chili flakes
Peppercorns
Combine all ingredients in a large pot (4-5 qt) with cold water and bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes, then turn down to a simmer and allow to simmer for 45-60 minutes. The broth should be fragrant and a pale yellow. Strain into a bowl, and chill immediately if you are not using it in the next 30 minutes.
Cajun Spice Blend
I'm pretty piss poor with measurements. Think of this more as a "proportion" or "measures" rather than exact amounts.
1.5 tbls Paprika
1.5 tbls Cayenne
1 tbls Kosher Salt
1 tbls Cracked Pepper
1 tbls Thyme
.5 tbls Mexican Orgeano
.5 tbls Onion Powder
.5 tbls Garlic Powder
.5 tbls Celery Salt
.25 tbls Savory
.25 tbls Allspice
Combine all thoroughly. If you don't have Savory or Allspice they are non-essential but add a really cool note to the dish. I also always have them in my pantry.
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