People often ask me the difference between Cajun cooking and Creole cooking. My late Momma explained it like this: “Creole housekeepers went to the French Market each day and bought the finest, freshest ingredients available. Cajun housewives walked into the yard and grabbed whatever didn’t run away. And they took it to the kitchen a cooked pretty much the same thing!” The common thread is fresh, local ingredients and some common classic French techniques. Many people think these foods are spicy, and they can be if hot peppers are in season and the cook wants it to be that way. I personally think that “flavorful” is a better way to describe it, because I don’t like food that’s so hot it burns your tongue just so you can say “it’s Cajun!”
There are as many ways to make Gumbo as there are Cajuns in Louisiana, and every Cajun claims to know someone (usually their Momma or Grandmother)
who makes “the best gumbo in the world”.
I’m going to share what my Momma taught me about making gumbo. I’m not saying my way is right or other ways are wrong. This is just the way I know how to do it. One thing I do love about this gumbo technique is that it can be done in one big pot, from roux to finished product. I know Cajun women who still won’t own or use a dishwasher (“it won’t get my dishes clean enough!”) so easy cleanup is a popular feature.
Also, Cajun cooking is family cooking, so shortcuts and conveniences are common “tricks” that can speed up the process. Many people use jarred roux from the grocery store, which can speed upthe process, but in only comes in one color, so it often has to be darkened to make the right flavor. In that case I’d just as soon make it from scratch.
On the subject of roux: the most flavorful meats, like wild game and venison, should be used with the lightest roux, which is a golden brown color. More delicate meats and seafood should be balanced out with a darker roux. Chicken falls somewhere in the middle, and the correct color is like a copper penny. That was Momma’s rule of thumb, and it works for me. We’re making seafood gumbo, and for that Momma made the darkest roux she could without burning it. It looked like melted dark chocolate when she finished.
There are 2 kitchen tools you really must have to make roux: a really heavy pot and a “roux paddle”, or wooden flat-edged spatula. My brother John inherited Momma’s heavy cast iron Dutch oven, so I bought this one.
The heavy weight and black interior make it easy to control the heat.
The first step is to dice your vegetables- onions, celery, and bell peppers. Here's the amount I'll use for this 8 quart pot.
Cajun cooks call this “the trinity” and is included in many Cajun dishes. Momma Ginger used the food processor (another favorite invention of Cajuns) to chop up pounds of it, which she kept frozen for times when she was in a hurry.
Set them aside, and then cube your sausage and brown it in the Dutch oven. I’m using andouille here, which is all the rage, but honestly I never even heard of it until I was an adult.
Momma Ginger used local sausage from a Cajun market, but it wasn’t called “andouille”. Andouille, like most sausages, is a combination of beef and pork, but andouille also includes onions and potatoes in the mixture. (Those clever Cajuns know how to stretch a dollar!) It is characteristically very coarse in texture, and red pepper gives it an orangey color. It is not particularly smoky, and not really all that spicy. The Internet savvy among you could have it shipped in dry ice, but really: use what you can get. It’s all good!
Once your sausage is browned, drain it on a paper plate and deglaze your Dutch oven with water. Set aside the glaze to add to your broth later.
You’re going to need about 8-12 cups of broth to make a good size batch of gumbo. If you are making chicken gumbo, you can use canned or fresh chicken stock. For seafood gumbo, you can buy or make seafood stock, but I prefer vegetable stock, which is easy to make from leftover ends of onions, celery, and whatever else you chop off the vegetables you eat. Keep them in a gallon Ziploc until you’re ready to make stock, and then just boil the hell out of them to make the stock.
When you have your vegetables, sausage, and stock ready, you can start your roux. I use a little less than a cup of peanut oil, and a little over a cup of flour to make roux for about 8 cups of stock. Keep your vegetables handy, because you are going to need them quickly when the time comes.
Most Cajuns prefer to make gumbo outside, at least the roux. Honestly, it stinks the house up something awful, and it’s a hard smell to eliminate!
Heat your Dutch oven over medium heat until it’s good and hot, and then pour in the oil. With a whisk, shake in the flour a little at a time and whisk until smooth.
Now switch to the roux paddle and repeatedly draw the flat surface across the bottom of the pan, wiping it clean with each pass.
Move the paddle evenly and consistently to ensure no parts of the roux burn. Adjust the heat to keep the roux darkening at a rate you can control.
Here is the golden brown color. This is where you would stop for venison or game gumbo.
Here is the "copper penny" color you would use for chicken:
And here is the dark brown color I use for seafood.
Keep cooking until the roux reaches the desired color, and then stir in the vegetables all at once to stop the browning process. A dark roux for seafood gumbo takes about 15 minutes on medium heat.
Once the vegetables are stirred in, let them “smother” for a while with the lid on to release their water. You can add the sausage now and a can of diced tomatoes if you want them. This would also be the time to add okra if you wish. I use frozen okra discs, which seem to be less “slimy” the fresh okra. Stir it all occasionally. It’s going to be thick and lumpy. Keep cooking it until the vegetables start to soften.
Now, stir in the stock a cup or so at a time until you have reached the desired quantity/consistency. Seafood gumbos are generally thinner, and chicken generally a bit thicker.
Let the gumbo simmer until the vegetables are no longer crunchy, and adjust your seasonings with salt and red pepper to get the desired “heat” and saltiness.
When you’re almost ready to serve, add your shrimp, crab, oysters, or whatever seafood you want. They cook quickly, so once they are done, turn off the heat. Serve it now with rice, or let it cool to freeze for later!
Speaking of rice: please don’t use “minute” rice or boil in bag types of rice! They taste like cardboard, and they don’t lump together enough to make a proper “blob” of rice in the center of the bowl. Use long grain rice in a ratio of 2 cups water to one cup rice. Don’t rinse it; just dump a cup of rice and 2 cups water into a heavy saucepan (with a tight-fitting lid) and cover over high heat just until itboils. Upon boiling, turn the heat all the way down to low and leave the cover on for 20 minutes. Don’t peek! After 20 minutes, use a basting spoon to scoop out perfect blobs of rice to drop into your bowls of gumbo.
Freeze the leftovers if there are any!
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Before 1900, Galveston was the biggest city in Texas, the cultural center of the western Gulf Coast. Back then, Houston was just a horse town, but Galveston boasted an opera house, government offices, and trade centers for shipping, banking, and finance. That all changed in 1900, when an enourmous hurricane killed 7,000 people and washed much of the city out into the Gulf. That bad luck for Galveston was the beginning of Houston's enourmous growth.
