fifi

You can always halve a recipe like gumbo. It is very flexible. I have never had the guts to try Prudhomme's fast roux technique. I guess I just like the process and smelling the nuttiness develop.

Cusina . . . Just do what floats your boat. Tomatoes are always optional. They are a natural pairing with okra. I am not crazy about okra so I will leave that out. I have seen bags of it in the frozen food section, though. I like seafood gumbo both with and without tomatoes. I just think that this time around I am in the mood for the tomato. I almost always use canned tomato products. Unless someone gives me some out of their garden, I am not inclined to do all of that skinning and deseeding. If you are starting with mediocre store tomatoes it is a lot of work for an end result that is inferior to a decent canned product, IMHO. Here is something I have never thought about . . . I normally add tomatoes after I add the stock. Now I am wondering what will happen if I add drained diced tomatoes along with the trinity to quench the roux. Will that add some "toastiness" to the tomatoes? My roux for this gumbo won't be the really dark stuff. I will be aiming for a color about like hwilson41's so it won't be quite as hot as the really dark stuff I use for chicken and sausage but I think it will still be pretty hot. Oddly enough, surveying recipes in my admittedly paltry book collection, I can't find one with tomato. It has been a while since I used tomato and I probably just added until it "looked right." Any suggestions out there how much "petite diced" tomato would be about right for a 2:1:1 (in cups) trinity? I really can't tell from the linked recipe.

That picture is shoving me toward getting some shrimp and crab to pair with the andouille I bought. My gosh that looks good. I really like the roux color. Thanks for reporting on the roux proportions. It is always a good thing to have one's suspicions confirmed.

I was just browsing the forum and ran into this topic. The point is, paying attention to how you bring your leftovers back to life may have something to do with how good they are. Am I the only one that thinks the microwave makes meat taste funny? I use foil packets and throw them into the DeLonghi.

Welcome to the Society, cacao. I have never used one of those or an unglazed clay pot of any sort. And I have no idea if a Romertof will translate to being used as a bean pot. But I can tell you my formula for all kinds of dried beans, including garbanzos. This is what we lovingly call "the Parson's method" that was discussed at great length here. For one pound of beans: I do not soak, use 5 cups of water and 1 teaspoon salt, add other ingredients for seasoning. In a pot like a Le Creuset, bring to a boil on top of the stove. Put the lid on and put into a 250 degrees F oven. It should take about 2 to 2 1/2 hours for garbanzos. If you soaked them it may not take that long. I check the liquid level at about 1 hour and adjust if necessary. Using the clay pot you won't be bringing it to a boil on top of the stove so it may take a bit longer but I don't know how much.

Me, too. I guess I don't put packages of smoked meat, for instance, in the "leftover" category. I think of that as an ingredient. I might have that single serving of beef stew, mushroom soup or red beans in there to actually eat. But for the most part my freezer is for ingredients. If that chicken pot pie makes it to the freezer, it is lost to mankind forever. When I moved out of my house and sold the freezer, what I threw out was very instructive.

I don't drain. I think the culprit may be the microwave, or the way it is used. When you do it the traditional way on the stove top, it is over low heat and you stir. You can't put the concoction in the microwave, nuke it on high and walk off. You end up with uncombined glop. If you must use the darn thing, don't go any higher than 50% and stop every 30 seconds or so and stir.

I don't think the package of powdered cascabel that I had read the chart. The package of arbol was right up there, too. Heat can be very variable. I have run into poblanos that scorched my teeth. I start with a base of ancho add and taste from there. hazardnc, I don't think I could do regular chili on spaghetti. I don't even want to think of that "alternate lifestyle chili" recipe on spaghetti.

I have to agree with snowangel on the two categories. Soups and stews you are just going to eat it again. Luckily, they freeze well. When there was more than just me and I had freezer space, I would purposely make enough to have some to put in the freezer. That is especially true of something that takes some doing like a gumbo. (That tactic actually led to me buying a 9 quart Le Creuset so I could make a double batch of my gumbo. But that is another story.) But, I have to say that there are only a few things that we like that much that the freezer would be naked without it. The second category is more common for me. There are some things that I make enough of on purpose so that I can be sure that I have enough to go on to something else. If I am smoking a brisket or pork butt, I will put however many chicken thighs in there that I have room for. Little foil packets of boned out smoked chicken are pantry gold. They are ready to be made into salads, quesidillas, tacos, or just a simple sandwich. Heck, we may not eat them at all on smoking day. (Yeah! Right!) And that brisket or pork butt has to be big enough for a pot of BBQ posole with the leftover meat. My son liked that posole so much that more than once I actually had to smoke some pork so I could make it. That was a case of the "leftover" meal driving the original. That smoked meat can do the same thing that the smoked chicken does, too. If I bake a chicken, I have to do one big enough to have enough leftover for chicken and dumplings. If I am having more than one person over and can't find a big enough chicken, I bake two. The carcass is used to make the stock for the c&d. Other than things like that, my other cooking efforts of late have been learning how to scale down. I love to cook but I really can't tolerate eating too much of the same thing within a reasonable passage of time. Besides, if I have too much in the freezer, I feel like I really shouldn't cook which is no fun at all.

I thought you guys would enjoy re-visiting Robb Walsh's Q&A. Or, if you haven't seen it I have now dragged it out of The Fridge for you. Within that Q&A, there is an interesting discussion regarding saltines and other add-ons here.

Hmmm . . . I am particularlly taken with Emeril's version of that in his Louisiana Real and Rustic. That has possibilities. I wonder if I could make the croutons ahead so the reheat would be more or less painless? I can get the gruyere.

I had the last of my chickeny chicken soup today. I ate it with a biscuit. Ok . . . two biscuits. It was like dunking into the best chicken gravy ever made. I have confirmed that a 4 cup batch is the absolute maximum I will make when cooking for myself. Now that my freezer has beef and chicken stock, I am thinking of what is next. I have a bit of onion confit to use up. I may head for something Beef Stroganoffish.

One thing to think about on the island cooktop. Apparantly, some building codes will not allow for an island gas cooktop. I think it has something to do with providing adequate ventilation but I am not sure. I just know that I more than one acquaintance that have had to move the cooktop to a wall location when switching to gas due to code requirements. If I had to rearrange to get gas, I would. I would stick with the electric ovens though. I am going with GE Monogram (range built by DCS) mainly because of service in my area and several folks I know that have been very happy with the appliances and the service. I am going with the 48" range with 6 burners and a griddle. I can't talk myself into an indoor grill. What got me with this range is that the small oven can be set to proof bread, make yogurt and such. I am in love with the fridge with the bottom freezer. And the ice maker makes those little clear cubes. Having been to various kitchen design emporiums, I have settled on Ikea cabinets unless the buider prefers to build them on the job. It will be a cost versus quality issue. I am very impressed with the Ikea hardware, full extension drawer slides and hinges.

On crawfish fat . . . I think one reason why they do that is so that they will keep longer, even frozen. Many years ago, when I worked for FDA, we used to analyze crawfish tails from the various packers when they were in season. Since we didn't use all of the samples some . . . ahem . . . found their way to our freezers. (I think the statute of limitations has run out. ) Back then, the fat was kinda in there with the tails. After not very long in the freezer, and I mean a really cold well below zero freezer, the crawfish took on this awful taste. To me it almost tasted like formaldehyde. It was really inedible. Then they started packing the fat separately. This was in the very infancy of the retail prepared crawfish trade. I believe one of the local universties figured out the fat problem.

oh my, oh dear, oh my I fear that the reputation of gumbo is on the line. I have no idea what is in that bake mix stuff but it ain't makin' a roux. Why worry about carbs in gumbo? If you do a dark roux you can't have much carbs left. I don't get it.

I usually adjust the heat using cascabel, cayenne or chipotle. I may also dice fresh jalapeno in there. It is really fun to do a bare bones chili, basically browned meat, onion, garlic, chile peppers and cumin. Then from the bare bones style really go nutso with toppings. A few years ago I did a big party with Mexican eats. I had a "chili station." It was a basic chili surrounded by bowls of toppings: chopped onion, shredded cheeses, sour cream, Fritos, and some other stuff I don't remember. I don't think I had thought of the cabbage and radishes yet.

I am thinking about getting some shrimp and doing a small pot of gumbo and another small pot of patti's etouffee from here. That will give me an excuse to see if I can extend my "scaled down cooking" exercise to gumbo and etouffee.

Patti . . . I think you have just defined the classic etouffee. Very simple. It is one of those things where if you just look at the recipe you could not imagine how good, no, ethereal it is. The only crawfish tails I can find in the groceries are those damn things from China. I refuse to partake. I may be going to the fish houses this weekend to get an inspiration for a small pot of gumbo. I will check out the crawfish situation. If I can't get anywhere with the crawfish, I will do your etouffee with shrimp.

Cusina . . . THAT is a mighty fine looking gumbo. You did yourself proud. That sausage looks really good. Your butcher may not know how to pronounce it but he seems to have the texture spot on. Just for info, I did find a package of Tony Chachere's andouille at the Kroger's yesterday. The texture looks similar to Cusina's picture. I also checked out the Aidelle's and Emeril's brands (though they were out of Emeril's andouille if they ever had it) and the texture is finer than I would like. I had to search through the pile to find the one package of Chachere's andouille. Is there a run on the stuff? Now that I have it I am wondering what to do with it. I really don't want to do chicken and sausage. I did that the last three times around. Maybe I will go to one of the fish markets here over the weekend for inspiration.

Thank you for the frites adventure. I really don't know how they do it. Almost universally, the frites are crispy and toothsome on the outside and creamy, fluffy and melting on the inside all at the same time. I prefer the Belgian mayo as well. Sambal mayo! That was driving me nuts. And, my-o-my. A new thing to do with one of my favorite vegetables, eggplant! Thank you for that recipe.

But no! Those of us that cook for one or two live for leftovers. They must be treated with utmost respect. And if you can make the re-run high quality, why not? Many stews, braises, gumbos and their ilk are better the next day. I endeavour to make the leftovers at least as good as, maybe better than the original. I find the microwave does funny things to the taste of meat and are a disaster to any seafood gumbo or such. Hmmm . . . There may be a whole new topic on that.

I have been known to dump a can or two onto a pot roast. Add a can to a bean soup. BTW . . . Get the hot stuff. They have dumbed down varieties out there now.

Our single most favorite pasta recipe is a rif on this one. I used it for the first time when I had some leftover smoked salmon. I didn't have asparagus at the time though I have done it with that too. Flakes of smoked salmon and some capers are divine. I also sauteed some shallots to start. As usual, I just used the recipe for the basic quantities and went from there. I really don't refer to the recipe much anymore. Basically: Saute some diced shallot in a bit of butter. Add the lemon zest, capers and salmon, stir briefly to warm. Pour in cream and heat gently. Add the cooked pasta of choice and toss. Finish with grated Parm. (Not too much.)

I only see two challenges to cutting down this recipe and they are not huge. That small a quantity of roux will be hard to do in a pot of any size. It won't be deep enough to get stirring action. But then you aren't trying to get to the dark stage. You may find it easier to do the roux and trinity in a smaller cast iron or other heavy skillet separately. The other thing I see with the recipe is that that is not very much roux for that quantity of stock. It is probably one of the thinner varieties. If you go a little bit heavier on the roux you won't be straying far from the norm. The other problem is the trinity. I hate it when veggies are given quantities like "2 green bell peppers." Sheesh. Those things go from honkin' huge to green nubbins. And an imbalance in bell pepper in your trinity has serious flavor implications. My suggestion is to take a look at the volume measurement I gave for the chicken and sausage and its ratio to the volume of stock. You won't go wrong. I ended up with those quantities by surveying dozens of "authentic" recipes and that ratio is about the median. (As I recall, I surveyed something like 40 recipes and even set up a spreadsheet complete with graphs illustrating the ranges. Yes. I am a geek.) I happen to like tomato in my seafood gumbo from time to time. It is particularly good if you use the okra. You may want to give it a whirl.

"Pure" chili powder = ground chiles anchos? THW ← That is what I have always used. BTW, it is getting hard to find, at least here. Fiesta Mart used to have it in great quantity. Now you are lucky if you can find it in a paltry little cellophane package. I used to buy it by the pound at an herbalist shop across from the "farmer's market" on Airline but I was never sure of how fresh it was. And I don't get over there that often. You can always order it I suppose. But I stubbornly think that I should be able to just buy it at my local grocery. I am about to make the next step and do my own. Anchos are easy to get and I have a dehydrator setting on my DeLonghi oven. The other approach is to rehydrate the chiles in hot water and puree them in the blender and use the paste. What I don't know is what the equivalents are to powder. I suppose you could taste as you go.