Tuesday 12 July 2011 New recipe for this week
Why not try this traditional New Orleans Shrimp Gumbo? Taken from Eating with Uncle Sam this is from the New Orleans City Guide issued by the Records of the Work Projects Administration in 1983.
GUMBO
½ dozen hard-shell crabs
1 onion
1 pound shrimp
2 pods garlic
2 dozen oysters
Thyme, bay leaf, and parsley
1 green pepper
2 stalks celery
Salt, black pepper and cayenne to taste
Scald the crabs, clean, and cut in quarters. Make a roux by browning a kitchen spoonful of flour in the same amount of hot lard. Add the sliced onion and brown. Put in the crabs and shrimp, cover, and cook about fifteen minutes. Add the other seasonings, chopped, and two quarts of warm water. Cover and cook on a slow fire about two hours. Fifteen minutes before serving, add the oysters and their liquor. Just before serving, turn off the fire and add a tablespoon of filé. Pour into a tureen and serve with boiled rice. Never cook the filé, as it will become very stringy. Okra may be used in place of the filé, but it is cooked with the gumbo. The basic recipe is the same, but chicken, veal, and ham or a combination of veal and a ham bone can be substituted for the crabs and shrimp. After Thanksgiving and Christmas, the leftover turkey may be made into a gumbo with oysters. A deep iron pot is preferable for making gumbo.
Editor’s note: Filé, which originated with the Choctaw Nation, is made from dried sassafras leaves pounded to a powder. As with all the other recipes in this book, this has not been altered or tested.
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