fifi

Beef brisket liberally rubbed with lemon pepper and what have you, braised in double strength coffee = Aggie Brisket. A classic. And good. Oatmeal, butter, Cajun seasoning = the breakfast of champions.

The sauce wasn't as thick as I would have liked. That is why I said at the end that I would have reduced the amount of shrimp stock. It wasn't "bad" but I could have done with less liquid. In the two hours simmering the level of the liquid went down by about 3/4 of an inch. (I know that because I was just cleaning up and saw the lines of crud and noticed.) I don't know how that translates to volume. I was using my 4 1/4 quart Le Creuset soup pot because that seemed to be a good fit for this quantity. I don't think that the boil off was a significant factor. This andouille did not overpower the shrimp and crab but it was not really all that smoky. It seemed to enhance the shrimp and crab and add a pleasant textural contrast. I can see how a smokier andouille could intrude on the seafood flavor. This one did not. Of course, I prefer the smokier and more highly seasoned varieties for chicken and sausage gumbos.

Oooo yeah . . . bacon drippings. That is all good and that is what I use if I don't have my own fresh made lard. Actually, beef with enough fat in it is my favorite. I have been in a Cajun gumbo etouffee mode this week but I might have to go in a chili direction next week. There were some really pretty radishes at my HEB yesterday. Really, you have to try radishes on chili. It is just sublime, texture and taste wise. Now I am wondering where the radish thing came from in Mexican cuisine.

Let me tell you a story . . . Ok, I won't go there. I suggest that you chill out and take a couple of months to compile a cooking diary. Keep track of how you cook, what you cook and what you think would be the ultimate to do that. Too many folks get into the "entertainment mode" and ignore what they do 90% of the time. I did that when I was still in my house, planning the retirement house, and let me tell you . . . there were some big surprises. A lot of what I thought I wanted made no sense. I even went into the way I cook, assembling ingredients a la mise en place, clean up patterns (I am a clean as you go freak), shopping patterns (buy what is good when available and store it). All of this led to subtle changes in the original plan. Try it. It is time well spent.

You just reminded me of something I haven't made in years. I would brown off wheels of hot Italian sausage, dump the Ro-Tel in there and cook down. Then I would split a crusty loaf of Italian bread, brush with good olive oil and fill with that stuff. Press it for a while and slice into serving pieces and you have pressed sandwich heaven. Sounds almost like the same thing. All great minds!

Consider this an experience in developing a gumbo “recipe.” I will try to document my thought processes along the way. I started with Emeril’s recipe for seafood gumbo and went from there. I used Emeril’s recipe mainly for the proportions because I normally find those spot on. We shall see. The other “new” thing that I am trying is adding petite diced tomato. I sometimes like a little tomato in a seafood gumbo. The other twist here is that I have drained the tomato really well and will dump it into the roux along with the trinity. I have no idea if this will make any difference. I dumped the can of diced tomato into the strainer, spread it out, and left it to drain while I went after some shrimp and crabmeat. I ended up using 1 cup of the tomato. It just looked right. Otherwise, that is 2 cups onion and 1 cup each celery and green pepper, dusted with 1 teaspoon cayenne and 2 teaspoons kosher salt. The shopping adventure: Well, I couldn’t get near the seafood shops in Seabrook. Then I realized that it is the first Friday of Lent. Duh! So, I decamped from the traffic jam and headed for my local HEB. For grocery stores, the HEBs here are known to be one of the go-to places for seafood. After all, this time of year, shrimp from whatever source is previously frozen. They had some really nice looking medium tails. They also had crabmeat. I bought 2 pounds of tails (one pound to be reserved for etouffee tomorrow) and an 8 ounce tub of lump crabmeat (not jumbo, too pricey, the regular was bad enough) and an 8 ounce tub of claw meat. I like claw meat. So, I arrive home and start to peel the shrimp. Now here is a revelation. Each shrimp is split across the top about halfway down. This essentially deveins the shrimp or at least makes it easy to get the vein out. I have never seen this. I normally buy shrimp during season at the seafood houses and they have nothing like this. I will say that it made peeling amazingly easy. You pinch the tail and that comes off. Then on the front of the shrimp, you pinch the legs and the rest of the shell comes off. This is almost painless shrimp peeling. And, no one hates to peel shrimp as much as I do. This has to have been done by machine. If so, whoever invented the shrimp splitter needs a reward, at the very least a turn as King Of Bacchus. (Try saying “shrimp splitter” three times real fast.) I made some shrimp stock with the shrimp shells, the onion and celery trimmings and a couple of bay leaves. It was simmered very gently for about an hour. It smells heavenly. (That is really the shells from 2 pounds of shrimp tails. Remember, the other pound is for the etouffee tomorrow. I will also be saving some of the stock for that adventure.) I am going to use Tony Chachere’s brand andouille because it might be more widely available. It is about the texture I look for in my andouille. The seasoning seems spot on, about middle of the road. It is not as smoky as some of my favorites but that might not be a bad thing for this recipe. This is a 14 ounce package. I have made a deliberate decision to only go for a peanut butter roux, not the dark stuff. As usual, I dumped in the trinity (quadity?), the sausage and a couple of bay leaves. I added the shrimp broth and proceeded to burble for 2 hours. It took that long for the andouille and veggies to get to the texture I was after. Emeril’s original recipe called for 8 cups of liquid for ¾ cup each flour and oil. I made the stock with 8 cups of water and robbed a cup for the etouffee. As I added and stirred, I quit at 6 cups. I was afraid that 7 cups would be too thin. I am allowing for the fact that a lighter roux would have more thickening power so I decided to just wait and see and adjust if needed. I left it at 6 cups. Tasting about half way through the burbling, something is missing. I remember researching the Brennan’s turtle soup recipe. Some of the magic of that Creole heaven is the combo of tomato and Worcestershire. I added the magic sauce, tasting as I went. Three tablespoons . . . Bingo! I added the pound of shrimp and pound of crabmeat and heated to just cook the shrimp. The crabmeat was well warmed by then. I did get some oil break out and skimmed that off. That phenomenon is one of those things I don’t understand. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn’t. I recall one batch of chicken and sausage gumbo where I got almost the whole cup of oil back. Voila! We have gumbo mes amis. What would I do differently? I am not sure that draining the tomatoes and adding with the trinity did very much. Also, to get that one cup of drained tomato, I threw out about a quarter cup of tomato and the juice. I think I would just dump in the whole can, juice and all, just prior to adding the stock. I might even cut the stock back to 5 cups, maybe 4. I do think the roux color is spot on for this style. I wouldn’t change that. But, all in all, this is one of the best gumbos I have made . . . ever.

Welcome Pat W. And you might want to check out this discussion. There are also other discussions here that you can go searching for. That is the delight of eGullet. We have a bit of everything. Have fun!

Heh heh . . . I love the glimpse into your freezer. Aren't those deli containers the best? What I find interesting are your labels. I have been using freezer tape and an extra fine Sharpie. Looks like you have one of those label machines. You are making me feel techno-challenged. I am not doing soup this week. I am consumed with gumbo and etouffee. (OK . . . Those are kinda soupish.) Onion soup maybe next week.

Thanks for my morning chuckle. My other two previous encounters with "fresh andouille" were perpetrated by Central Market, I think. Actually, no one is fessing up. You could always cook it and use it. Remember, gumbo is often about using what you have. Not all gumbos have smoked sausage.

I stumbled onto this thread and may be of some help. First, I am not sure where this "fresh" andouille business is coming from. I never heard of such a thing. For as long as I have been cooking Cajun, andouille, by definition, is a smoked sausage. That is what is being referred to when you come across it in Cajun recipes. If you want to buy fresh and smoke it yourself, go for it. But "fresh" ain't it. There are some brands that may be more widespread than the local mail order stuff: Aidell's, Emeril's and Tony Chachere's. I think the Tony Chachere's comes closest to those good brands available by mail order. The other two appear to be ground a bit fine. None of these are as deeply smoked as what I get from the famous sources, but that is ok. It is all still good. I am working on a gumbo now and will have some pics up tomorrow. I purposely bought the Chachere's to see how things went with a more widely available product, even though I have a Cajun grocery in the neighborhood. Stay tuned.

I run with a pretty casual crowd so being able to spend a lot of effort plating (unless we are cooking buddies having fun with a concept) doesn't really figure in my plans. That being said, I like four and a maximum of six for a sit down affair. I just like smaller groups. Beyond that, the crowd mushrooms and it is definitely a buffet type affair. I actually can only put up with one of those maybe once a year.

So, in a proper gumbo, the trinity should still have some body to them when you sit down to eat? I would assume given the time it takes to make gumbo, they would be throroughly devoid of any guise of their former selves having done their duty for God and country. ← This is another case of "it depends." In the ultradark chicken and sausage version, the trinity pretty much cooks away. Then there are "lighter" gumbos that may retain some vegginess. I made a really good one once. All I had was crabmeat, but a great lot of it. I made a peanut butter shade of roux. I cut the celery and onion a little larger than I usually do. (I did make a finer dice of the bell pepper, though because I don't like big chunks of that in my mouth. Also, I used red.) I made stock from the crab shells. I didn't saute the trinity very long in the roux and I didn't simmer long either before adding the crab. It was lovely.

Twelve or fifteen years ago, I got back into cooking after about a ten year hiatus. I started connecting my science with my cooking and then the fun began. I still remember the day I discovered Harold McGee! There hasn't been any particular epiphany, just slow and steady progress. And I am still having fun.

Here is a link to Emeril's other stuff. clickety I have come to prefer the Rustic Rub and that is what I keep on hand. I don't find Tony Chachere's brand all that hot.

I have always browned my meat. That being said, I have a friend that makes chili without browning the meat. It has won a couple of times in chili cook-offs. Go figure. I'm not ready to go there, though.

Is this the spice mix you are referring to? That mixture is intriguing, to the point that I keep a jar of it around. I suppose one could make an interesting chili based on that profile. It was originally published in relation to a slow roasted pork loin. (That group of recipes has made it into my permanent repertoire, by the way.) Maybe it could make a killer pork chili. Maybe combined with some New Mexico green chiles. Then dollop crema on top. Hmmm.

OK . . . As I suspected, we aren't talking about the same cheesecloth. I think the cheap stuff I have been using is intended to be disposable. I need to look into the other stuff.

HIgh fives to Dim Sim. *happy dance* Totally amazing. Spreading the gumbo love around the globe. That roux and the shot after adding the trinity is a feast for the eyes. As you were there, you know what a treat it was for the nose. It is an unforgettable aroma. Wowser.

I, of course, have all the guts I need. Cajun Napalm is now my preferred method. It works great. Just make sure that you have the veg ready to go in at the instant it gets dark enough and be prepared to blow it and burn the stuff up every once in a while. Other than that, I love it. ← Yeah, yeah, yeah . . . And you wield your okra sword high. OK . . . One of these days I will try it. In the mean time . . . As to the fish question, keep in mind that both times I have done it and eaten it I was dealing with very fresh (or fresh processed), firm fleshed cubes of fish. I am really leary of anything like catfish that may break up. I suppose the same could be said of speckled trout and redfish. I don't know about snapper. Perhaps one of those big 30 pounders that I liked to boat could be coaxed into service but I never tried it. I am not an oyster fan, of any sort. It is just one of those things.

Thank you, I think. I was hoping that I dreamed it. I remember it now. I think your friend's "bowl of red" is close to what the San Antonio Chili Queens served. And I think that originated on the cattle ranches in northern Mexico and south Texas.

That was my impression as well, LDLee. And I was there only for lunch. Lots of smart young things in the crowd. I did think the food was solidly good, not a "wowser" experience that I would remember the rest of my life but well prepared and presented. The FOH staff was friendly and showed that there was an effort at training. All in all, very good, but it seemed to attract a "buzz" that was out of proportion to the offerings. I don't deny them that. Good for them.

Yeah . . . trash can. Seriously, the only kind of cheesecloth that I know about is the flimsy stuff I get at the little packet at the grocery. I can't imagine boiling that stuff. I might be missing something here.

I will share with you what I learned about the term "Creole" when I read Robb Walsh's Are You Really Going to Eat That? about a year ago. The "Creole Country" chapter was really an eye opener. It gets really complicated but there are really two kinds of "Creole." To simplify, there is the New Orleans definition of sophisticated city food . . . Then there is a different group of free folks of color, French speaking, that gathered in New Orleans and in the bayou country. Their cuisine is more rustic but I take it that the gumbo might have tomato as well. Then there is another group . . . Oh rats! I am getting a headache. The whole thing is a lot more complicated than I thought all of these years. Get the book. It is worth it for that chapter alone. (Although the rest of it is pretty darned entertaining and informative as well.) So, that settles it. I am going to put tomato in this batch and I will call it "Fifi's Creole Seafood Gumbo" and I will let the anthropologists figure out which Creole I mean. Then when they find out that it was developed by a Texan of Germanic heritage their heads will explode.

I find that the addition of chocolate to the chili, either the Mexican bitter or unsweetened cocoa powder, rounds out the flavors. I certainly don't taste chocolate but there is a definite difference, all for the good. I will swear that I read somewhere (here?) that someone ran into chili served with chocolate chips sprinkled on top! OK . . . Maybe I dreamed it. But, I don't usually have bad dreams. I think as far out as I will go is the shredded cabbage and radishes, thank you.

I went there for lunch a couple of times maybe a year ago. I recall that it was very good and I enjoyed the experience. I don't remember what I ate, though. That doesn't mean it wasn't great. I just don't remember those things that often. When a chef leaves, I would always expect things to change. That doesn't mean it is a bad thing.