What is gumbo food

In the other, okra is stewed in water and dressed with butter. Domingo," the writer notes, "they are called gambo. An article on okra in the New England Farmer noted the plant's "known reputation in the West Indies" and that, "a very celebrated dish, called Gombo, is prepared in those countries where okra is grown, by mixing with the green pods, ripe tomatoes, and onions; all chopped fine, to which are added pepper and salt, and the whole stewed.

In the mid 19th century, gumbo shifted from being a dish associated with the West Indies to one associated with New Orleans, perhaps thanks to the extent to which cooks and diners of all races had embraced it in Louisiana. By the late s, New Orleans newspapers were already incorporating gumbo into jokes and aphorisms as a sort of well-loved local dish. Meats started to appear in published gumbo recipes around this time, too.

Eliza Leslie's Directions for Cookery includes recipes for both "Gumbo Soup," which incorporates "a round of beef" along with the okra and tomatoes, and just plain "Gumbo," the traditional stewed okra and tomatoes, which she describes as "a favourite New Orleans dish. More common than beef in gumbo, though, was chicken. The version provided to the Mobile Mercury by Mrs.

Wright in is typical. First, fry a cut-up chicken "to a nice brown color," presumably in a cast iron skillet over the coals of a fire, then add a large plateful of okra. After cooking it a little, pour over a few quarts of water and let it simmer until the chicken is tender. Wright notes, and as in most recipes of the period, she specifies that it be served with "rice boiled tender, but be careful that the grains are separate.

The Carolina Housewife includes a recipe for "Okra Soup" made with beef, okra, and tomatoes, as well as one for "New Orleans Gumbo" made with turkey or fowl and onion, to which a hundred oysters and "two teaspoons of pulverized sassafras leaves" are added.

What Mrs. Fisher Knows About Old Southern Cooking , the second oldest known cookbook to have been written by an African-American, can help us answer that. Abby Fisher was born around in South Carolina, apparently the daughter of a French-born slaveowner and a Carolina-born slave.

She wound up in Alabama sometime before the Civil War, and from at least to she lived in Mobile with her husband, Alexander C. Fisher, an Alabama-born minister. In the late s the Fishers moved westward to San Francisco, where Abby Fisher made a living as a cook and operated a pickle and preserves business with her husband. Abby Fisher dictated her book to a committee of nine residents of San Francisco her "lady friends and patrons" just a few years after she arrived on the West Coast.

A great many 19th century cookbook authors borrowed recipes from any and all sources, so the fact that a recipe appears in a book published in, say, Kentucky, doesn't necessarily mean it's an old Kentucky recipe. The author may very well have borrowed it from an English cookbook, and there's not even a guarantee that he or she had actually tried cooking it. In Abby Fisher's case, it is much more likely that a recipe that appears in her book is something she learned to cook during her years in Alabama and South Carolina, and that she actually cooked it from memory on a regular basis.

And that makes her three recipes for gumbo all the more interesting to historians. There's "Ochra Gumbo" with cut okra stewed in beef broth seasoned with just salt and pepper and served with "dry boiled rice.

And finally, there's "Oyster Gumbo Soup," which also starts with browned chicken simmered in water, but instead of okra, a quart of fresh oysters are added with their liquor and, at the very end, "one tablespoon of gumbo.

When I first came across this reference to adding a tablespoon of "gumbo," I was a bit deflated. But, there it was. It took several days before the realization hit me, and it's an explanation that's easy to miss in this era of frozen foods and vegetables grown in California and Peru and shipped thousands of miles in refrigerated containers.

Okra is seasonal, and in the South it can be picked only from July until October. But okra's thickening effect could be simulated in a stew by using dried and powdered sassafras leaves. So here we are, with a West African dish having taken firm root in the American South, most deeply in Louisiana but with a significant footprint in other coastal areas, too.

That footprint can still be found today outside of Louisiana, though many diners may not necessarily make a connection between it and Louisiana-style gumbo. When considering gumbo's broader impact on the South, it helps to look to regions beyond Louisiana, such as the coastal Lowcountry of South Carolina. He grew up in the s and s eating traditional Lowcountry foods with West African pedigrees without thinking much about them. It wasn't until he decided to pursue a culinary career that he started really digging into the culinary heritage of his grandparents and their generation.

That heritage includes traditional West African-style gumbo, which is often called okra soup in the Lowcountry. A lot of okra-based dishes in Gullah Geechee cuisine likely have a direct link to 19th century "gombo.

There are plenty of recipes for "okra and tomatoes" and "shrimp and okra", too, that are almost identical to the more basic gumbo recipes being published in the s and s. You can find his recipe here. Other Gullah chefs in the Lowcountry are noted for their gumbos and okra dishes, too.

Historians generally agree that its existence is first documented at the beginning of the 19th century. Creole Jambalaya may include tomatoes, while Cajun typically does not. The powder is usually added at the end of the recipe to thicken and season the gumbo and can usually be found in a well-stocked supermarket or spice store.

Traditionally, when okra is out of season, dried okra can be used instead. Roux: Derived from French cooking, gumbo roux is much darker than the mildly toasted roux used in classical French cuisine. Depending on the recipe, shallots, garlic, and parsley can also be included in this essential blend. Gumbo is traditionally made by whatever protein is on hand or in season, so there are endless variations that all yield delicious results.

Best Ever Seafood Gumbo. This spicy, tangy, seafood gumbo makes use of crabmeat, shrimp, and sausage. Serve it over rice for a filling and complete meal. This recipe uses tomato paste, a less traditional but still tasty addition. Chicken Gumbo. This chicken gumbo is hearty, wholesome, and fast, making it a perfect weeknight dinner option.

Linda's Soul Food Catering Company, dished out a wonderfully spiced Creole seafood gumbo, teeming with enormous pieces of shellfish. Massive crab claws and shrimp tails poked out from the soup, making it seem almost alive. A few tables down, Cherie Brocato of TCA Brocato, another local catering team, offered an alluring andouille and chicken gumbo, prepared in typical Cajun fashion, with a very dark roux.

Brocato herself is of Creole heritage, but her husband and business partner, Troy, is from Cajun country. Next to Brocato, Linda Moore of the Praline Connection was serving a classic Creole okra gumbo with "a little of everything," seasoned with some thyme and bay leaf.

Linda explained that she fried the okra separately before adding it to the stew. It worked. Conversations about often gumbo inevitably turn to the all-important issue of how to prepare a roux. So it's a good conductor, to get the roux to cook faster.

Poppy Tooker, a well-regarded New Orleans cooking instructor and slow-food advocate, also offered some wisdom regarding the roux. Tooker's gumbo credentials were burnished last year when she appeared on Throwdown with Bobby Flay and defeated the cocky celebrity chef in a gumbo cook-off.

And then you can add the other seasonings--the celery and the bell pepper. But Tooker has little patience for that conceit. It's not the holy goddamn trinity! Tooker claims to make the best gumbo in the city see her recipes for seafood gumbo and "diaspora gumbo" , but I asked her to suggest some establishments where one might find a reliably authentic version of the dish. She named only one: Dooky Chase's , where the legendary Leah Chase has been cooking for more than 50 years.

I asked Lolis Eric Elie the same question. He first mentioned Loretta's, in the Marigny neighborhood, where he had recently tasted a seafood gumbo that reminded him--just a little bit--of his mother's. In addition to its signature doughnuts, Honey Whip Donuts serves some plate lunches, including gumbo on Fridays. Well, they were as poor as the fleas on a church mouse. My grandmother had been very generous to them, and so that was their kind of way of paying tribute to that relationship.