highchef

I don't think I would add them with the trinity. You're adding the trinity to cool the roux down but to also cook/soften the veggies, something you don't really need to do to tomatoes unless you're looking to make ketchup. Talk about cosmic timing...on today's "Essence of Emeril" he made Crawfish Etoufee. He also called it "gumbo" since it was started with a roux. He added his tomatoes when the stock was added. The final dish didn't look very thick even though he had added a slurry to the pot. Is gumbo soup-like in consistency or stew-like? ← soup. etouffee is stew like, so is (my) creole.

And gumbo freezes well, especially the sausage and chicken. Fistfularoux...I'm sick too, flu. (that's funny...too much cough medicine!)

Was it this recipe by any chance? It seems a little curious to me that a recipe for chili powder has chili powder as one of the ingredients . THW ← Yep, same one. and you're right, I checked the cookbook version against the online version and there's been some editing, but I'm not sure which is THE one to follow. in the on lline edition the toasted chilies are ground with still more (I guess commercial type) chili powder and the rest of the spices and all added together as one ingredient with it's own recipe. In the book the toasted chili powder is a separate ingredient and added separately. I doubt it makes a difference with the chili recipe how you do it, but I like homemade spice mixes and it makes sense to double it up and have it on hand. the reviews are stellar...except the one where the guy didn't think chocklate (or something similiar to that spelling) and chili flavors were a good combination. I disagree, and am really anxious to try it. I'm homebound at the moment (working on term/research papers with the boys) but when I break out tomorrow I'll get the stuff to give it a try. I have done the toasted chili bit, and it's got a nice little smokey taste to it, have thrown it in my old blah recipe before to liven it up (made with ground meat). This looks to be a pretty decent adaptation, beans optional!

actually it WAS a chili recipe, and the peppers are dried ancho's torn up and heated in a pan until you can begin to smell them and then ground into chili pepper. pretty basic and cheap ( about 30 large dried peppers were under 2$.). It's a good looking recipe, maybe it could be the next cook off challange.

hwilson wrote ' The bare bones chili sounds like fun. Now all I need is a decent recipe for homemade chili powder ' Yes, me to. I did buy a bag labeled 'Mexican Chilies' which I THINK are dried red poblamos (sp?)..any way I roast them in a pan and grind em up in the spice grinder and add them with the spices. This came from something in Tyler Florence's cookbook, but I don't think it was a chile recipe. I'll look it up when I get a minute.

my recipe calls for 2cups of flour, but I took a hint from 'the sweet kitchen' and replaced 1/2 cup of it with rice flour. It makes a real difference in the crumb, gives it that particular mouth feel that screams 'authentic' to me. I add finely chopped ginger to it to. Oh, this is good stuff. I also bake mine in a pan w/sides and turn out and cut while warm.

You should have just driven to Donaldsonville and gotten them. You could have spent the difference on lunch at Prejean's, or bought sausage at Poche's or Champagne's. ← I had 4 10yr olds here since Friday..kids are out of school for Mardi Gras, but most parents still have to work. If I'd driven across the state w/that crowd plus their brother and friends I'd need a bus and prozac. thanks for putting that in perspective for me. 45 bucks looks like a bargain now!

Patti wrote "Last night I ordered John Folse's Encyclopedia of Cajun and Creole Cuisine and I can't wait to get it (although I should've, since Barnes & Noble said they'd have it next week and shipping was $15)." I just ordered 2 and paid 45 just for shipping! Where did you order from? I ordered from Folse's site. edited because I'm an idiot.

crawfish etouffee'. Lent.

I have to 2nd this, what is carbquick? and when it smells burnt, it is burnt. If I use okra I usually sautee it a bit first (less ropy). Veggies are way too big, where's the celery and the bellpepper? If you're worried about carbs, remember a cup of flour in a whole pot of gumbo isn't really that much. I just don't think that's gonna work. I hate for you to waste a bunch of stuff, but I don't want you to make a gumbo that's gonna make you hate gumbo. curious-are those italian sausages???? Man this is a tough crowd, huh?

how about jambalya? pick up a hunk of ham to go in it. btw Cusina, I think you did a great job on the gumbo.

There was no planning when Lafayette was growing and it really sucks trying to get around. Just remember Johnson St. cause it's the only one that goes anywhere near where I ever need to be. I still can't picture the white chili, I think I'm stuck on how similiar that sounds to my cassolute (sp?)..sans the sausage.

You might want to bring your own seafood if you're cooking any meals while there (we go every year to a beach house). Seafood, for some reason is unbelievably expensive there. It may just be me, but living so close to the gulf I expected similiar prices. I hope someone does have resturant advice as I'd like to know as well. Only thing I can think of is that place with the throwed rolls (back on the main drag, by the outlet mall, but I don't think that's what you're looking for.) and I can't even vouch for that. (throwed rolls do not connote good food to me.) have fun, hope they've rebuilt by now.

You people have given me inspiration. I've been reading 'professional' cultural cookbooks to help me explore other cuisines. What I should be doing is finding the communities cookbooks and learning from the home cooks. I've been checking out a vietnamese resturant lately and I know there's a large vietnamese population south of NO. I wonder if they have a cookbook? Around here i second River Roads 1; 2 and 3 arn't bad either, but the original is hands down favorite. Cotton Country is good too. Pirates Pantry is great. there's a compilation of the best of the local cookbooks out there which is handy for tourist wanting to try the food themselves. Interestingly enough I've only seen them at Cracker Barrel Resturants!! he he...

Isn't North Lousiana (Shreveport) also known as "South Arkansas?" ← My husbands family is from around Shreveport and it's just a different culture. I'm sure sometimes they'd rather be part of Arkansas, if only to escape the debauchary (we call it fun) of Mardi Gras. I think it's a religious thing, North La. is pretty much southern baptist and we southerners are pretty much Catholic (heathens, according to my mil). I have no idea how they make their chili though! mil's was always from the back of a packet and mild, to say the least. lousy cook. edited to add that mil WAS a lousy cook, but did make a hell of a cornbread..go figure.

The only measurements I've ever followed for gumbo is the 1:1 ratio of oil (peanut for me) to flour. after the roux it's just how you like it. My seafood gumbo cost a fortune because I fill it up. That recipe looks to make about 6 quarts. I think the roux is light for so much seafood and stock so keep those measurements if you quarter everything else. I don't like tomatoes and I prefer file to okra, unless I'm wanting okra gumbo specifically, and then I just use shrimp (no crabs or oysters) a regional thing I'm sure. If you don't have shrimp seafood stock, Knorr's makes a fish buillion that is better than nothing.

I have never had chili on rice anywhere in Louisiana and we are seriously into rice. However, I live in SOUTH Louisiana, which for all practical purposes is another country from North Louisiana. My neighbor says if you put beans in chili, they should be pinto, I always used red, but I like his way better. Another friend has a recipe she says I HAVE to try for white chili. I have no clue what this is, or where it comes from as I've not gotton the recipe from her. I'm having fun imagining what it could be though.

I sneak a can in my spagetti sauce...followed my mom's recipe when I was first married (she was Irish, but cooked the best spagetti, ever) and when it called for canned tomatoes, I threw in ro-tel not knowing any better. It was different, but still pretty good so I moderated it to have just the one can for a little kick. It is a pantry staple.

I think because guacamole is more of a California thing than a Texas thing, possibly ← I beg to differ, my friend . I spent the first 26 years of my life in Fort Worth, and we always had guacamole with chili and also with enchiladas, cheese and chili. We always used the dark, rough skinned ones (Hass, aka "alligator pears") to make the real thing. And that is pure Tex Mex, dating back (at least) to the 1960s. THW Edited to correct dumb spelling mistakes. Hey, I'm on my second bourbon and water, so I have a good excuse . ← We (in south louisiana) call mirlitons alligator pears because of the way the end looks..like it has teeth. Mirlitons are the same thing as chayote squash for you to the west, and vegetable pears for you to the east. they are not the same things, obviously, as avacado's. Sorry, just didn't want some poor LaLa student trying to make chili w/a mirliton....although...

Since we were being such purist here I didn't want to mention all my cheats. I can make a hellofa gumbo in 30 minutes.... but I think cheatin' cajun should be another thread!

You, my friend, are taking gumbo back to it's roots. Please let us know how it came out. My gumbo had to go long as I ended up w/a dozen or mor unexpected guests last night. However, I will be making another on Friday, this time seafood as it is now lent. I shall post pictures if possible. I don't know about oysters as they guy hasn't been around for a while, but I've got my pretty gulf shrimp and am promised some beautiful crab meat. my guy in cameron says they've been catching nice full ones lately so my fingers are crossed. Today is ash Wed. so we're doing crawfish...either etouffee' or creole, probably the former. About the Folse's cookbook, there is another thread somewhere here about it, but the book has been out of print since Before Christmas so I haven't been able to really get my hands on one yet, just lusted at a friends. It's 2nd edition is due out in March and I will be happy to put a copy on the wait list for anyone who cannot get it. I am sure you can get it via internet, but the offer stands if you cannot for whatever reason. Books a million has never had it, but Walden's did for about 5 seconds in December so it's really hit or miss. I have never eaten in his resturant (until this week i thought it was in Lafayette... Lafite's Landing, Lafayette.. duh...) but my niece had a great wedding last may catered by the man, complete w/Albita Springs beer in all it's forms. There are people in New York still talking about that one. I made potato salad and okra w/sausage and chicken as sides...talk about good. So, back to gumbo, how did ya'll's turn out? Edited...there is a link above to Folse's cookbook. I haven't heard from Walden's about it, so that is probably the best way to get one. I'm going to call this morning and make sure, mainly because I was told it would not be out until March... they must have put a rush on it because of demand.

It's fat tuesday and gumbo's are all over the place, literally lining the parade routes. I'm starting on mine in a little. speaking of what to serve with the gumbo, I know lots of cajuns who drop a hard boiled egg down in the bowl, and I know lots who put their potato salad in the middle of the whole thing. I think this evolved from trying to eat on horseback though, cause it's mostly the more rural friends who's families eat it that way. It's an aquired taste. The egg business isn't bad though.... but the file makes the yolk a funny grey/green. Be careful out there, don't let the napalm talk scare you, it's not that hard, just don't let yourself be distracted. I get to see my friends parents today and they'll be telling their stories. The last thing they always say is remember mass tomorrow!! They're always afraid we'll be so hung over we'll blow it off. No way, it's a part of Lent, smelling the burbon left over from the night before...

Mr Folse isn't from Lafayette. He's in the Patterson/Donalsonville area, sort of between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, or a little south of there. He's in a swampier area than where I grew up. He's also closer to New Orleans than Lafayette. ← Yes, but doesn't he have a resturant in Lafayette? Is he around Albita Springs?? Anyway, what does his book say???

If anyone has Mr. Folse's new cookbook, could you look and see if he uses okra, garlic and/or tomatoes??? I'm curious as Lafayette is dead center south Louisiana.

I MUST get in on this one. for novices, a couple of pointers. Take up the offer of the jar roux if you have young children. You cannot break up a fight or wipe up blood when you are in the middle of a roux. When I burnt the 3rd one in a row (slow learner) I caved in a bought a jar. I don't usually admit that. I'm usually such a purist. I still keep a jar handy if I'm the only adult around! The differences to me, seem to be thus: tomatoes are ok above I-10, the roux gets darker the further south you live and okra starts disappearing as a main ingredient the closer you get to Texas. File is not optional below the interstate. I have never seen fish in a seafood gumbo, but have seen sausage. I admit that bothers me. Seafood gumbos cost me a fortune to make because I only use off the truck gulf shrimp and lump crabmeat and/or cracked claws. I don't put crawfish in gumbo because, well, crawfish taste so much better in a lighter sauce and since I live in sw LA, I make a dark roux. I do put garlic in though....I thought everyone did.