Gumbo

[BrooksNYC]

It makes such good sense. Somehow, I'd never seen this tip (or maybe I had, and it didn't sink in) until I stumbled across a YouTube vid of Ms. Tooker doing a roux.

Community cookbooks are great. Someone should do a thread on community and Junior League cookbooks. A hundred years ago (well....the 1970s) I had a couple of spiral-bound Louisiana community cookbooks — one from Baton Rouge (with a name I've forgotten) and the other called Jambalaya.

[HungryC]

It makes such good sense. Somehow, I'd never seen this tip (or maybe I had, and it didn't sink in) until I stumbled across a YouTube vid of Ms. Tooker doing a roux.

Community cookbooks are great. Someone should do a thread on community and Junior League cookbooks. A hundred years ago (well....the 1970s) I had a couple of spiral-bound Louisiana community cookbooks — one from Baton Rouge (with a name I've forgotten) and the other called Jambalaya.

The Baton Rouge book is River Road Recipes, which has multiple spin-offs (I, II, III, IV). More than 1.9 million copies in print, it's the best selling community cookbook series in the nation. If you're into community cookbooks, check out the Tabasco Community Cookbook hall of fame.

[BrooksNYC]

Right you are. It was the River Road Cookbook. Now in four volumes......wow!

And thanks for the Community Cookbook Awards link. Just downloaded their list of winners.

Thanks kindly for your help.

.

[Pierogi]

Great stuff, all. Thanks.

While we're on the subject, Poppy Tooker has an interesting tip for making dark roux that I never see in a gumbo recipes. She makes a peanut-butter-colored roux and adds the trinity in stages, beginning with onions only. As the onions caramelize, the roux continues to darken. Only after. the roux reaches the desired shade of darkness does she add the celery and green pepper.

She argues that adding the trinity in one swell foop releases too much liquid for the onions to caramelize, and that caramelized onions add depth of flavor.

.

That's John Besh's technique in his "My New Orleans" cookbook. I'd not heard of it either, and tried it when I made his gumbo recipe the first time. It's a great tip, makes the flavor even deeper and more layered.

[BrooksNYC]

Pierogi, do you like the Besh book? I enjoyed the sample pages I read on Amazon, and the book looks beautiful.

[Pierogi]

Pierogi, do you like the Besh book? I enjoyed the sample pages I read on Amazon, and the book looks beautiful.

Hey Brooks,

Yes. It's worthwhile for sure. Paul Prudhomme's "Louisiana Kitchen" is still my Bible for that cuisine, but Besh's book is visually stunning and has some recipes I've fallen in love with. It's very different from Prudhomme's, but I'm still very glad I have it.

That said, there are a lot, a *LOT* of recipes in it that are very "restaurant-y"....lots of steps and involved preparation that I look at and think..."yeah, I'd eat that at 'August' but not gunna make it at home". There are also a lot of recipes that are made with local, southern Louisiana ingredients that aren't available elsewhere....mayhaws and quinces and buster crabs and fresh, live crawfish. Prudhomme offers alternatives where he can, Besh is more like, find the authentic stuff. Which I appreciate, but can't necessarily accomplish.

For a basic, introduction to the cuisine, I'd recommend "Louisiana Kitchen" hands down, and it would be one of the 3 or 4 books I'd rescue if the house burnt down. For the next level, Besh is a winner, but look at it as "fine cuisine" New Orleans, and not the basics. Besh's gumbo, red beans and rice and brown butter fig tart, though, have become standards in my kitchen. His jambalaya is also good, and though I haven't tried his etoufee, I'm planning on it.

Hope this helps....

[BrooksNYC]

Very helpful, Pierogi.

For someone like me who loves reading cookbooks but is not, in all honesty, an experienced cook, it sounds like Louisiana Kitchen might be a better way to learn the ropes.

So.....Chef Paul it is! Again, thanks.

Edited May 25, 2011 by BrooksNYC (log)

[billyhill]

Thinking about gumbo for tomorrow night.  I have never made it before. Going to use fifi's recipe from the gumbo challenge or a Prudhomne (spelling?) recipe I have been carrying around since the 80's..

[TdeV]

@billyhill, this gumbo base is what I've been using.

[Okanagancook]

You must not stop stirring…….The best advice I can offer about making gumbo is, before you start making the roux, put the dog outside, sequester the children somewhere safe, empty your bladder and open a beer.😃

Edited January 16, 2023 by Okanagancook (log)

[Smithy]

4 minutes ago, Okanagancook said:

The best advice I can offer about making gumbo is, before you start making the roux, put the dog outside, sequester the children somewhere safe, empty your bladder and open a beer.😃

 

Yep. That's almost exactly what Fifi said! 😄 

[MaryIsobel]

8 hours ago, Smithy said:

 

Yep. That's almost exactly what Fifi said! 😄 

Oven roux is the way to go. Haven't made it any other way since I tried the oven technique. https://www.thespruceeats.com/oven-roux-recipe-3060577

[KennethT]

In the past, I've made really good dark roux using the microwave (back when I had a microwave). Only occasional stirring required (in between microwave shots)

[Dr. Teeth]

The only advice I have which is alluded to by others is that the roux itself should be rather dark brown.

[billyhill]

The state of the roux a little over 1 hour in. Oven method.

[billyhill]

For some reason my roux seems thinner than I expected.  Houston, is there a problem or my expectations off? 2 cups flour to 2 cups of canola oil.

[billyhill]

Hope this works.

[billyhill]

My son approves.

[Okanagancook]

My roux always turns out thinner.  I think flour loses some of it’s thickening power as the starch gets heat applied to it.  But I am no food scientist.

[chromedome]

8 hours ago, Okanagancook said:

My roux always turns out thinner.  I think flour loses some of it’s thickening power as the starch gets heat applied to it.  But I am no food scientist.

That's correct. The darker the roux, the lesser the thickening power.

 

(...or at least, so I was taught in culinary school...)

[Tropicalsenior]

1 hour ago, chromedome said:

(...or at least, so I was taught in culinary school...)

Did they ever say anything about soft wheat flour versus hard wheat flour? The only flour that I can get here in Costa Rica is soft wheat and it doesn't seem to thicken worth a darn.

[billyhill]

It seems to pass muster.  I fed some to a self described gumbo aficionado and it got a good review. The bitter edge I tasted at one point seemed to fade away as it continued to cook. 

[MaryIsobel]

16 hours ago, Okanagancook said:

My roux always turns out thinner.  I think flour loses some of it’s thickening power as the starch gets heat applied to it.  But I am no food scientist.

I read somewhere to save a bit of the roux when it is more blonde and add at the end for a bit of thickening power - seemed to work.

[Dave the Cook]

1 hour ago, MaryIsobel said:

I read somewhere to save a bit of the roux when it is more blonde and add at the end for a bit of thickening power - seemed to work.

 

But that's what filé and/or okra are for!

[MaryIsobel]

50 minutes ago, Dave the Cook said:

 

But that's what filé and/or okra are for!

True, but where I live, neither file or okra are easy to find! I did buy file in New Orleans when I was there but it's long since gone and I am not a big fan of okra. You do what you gotta do.