Emeril needs to brush up on his 'Cajun'.

[trof]

The goddam rice goes in the BOTTOM of the bowl!
NOT on TOP of the goddam gumbo!

And the traditional side dish is POTATO SALAD!

jeez

putz
:eyes:

[texas1928]

1. That dude uses to much garlic for my taste...

If I ate his food, I would die of gas issues. More than one clove and I am hurting.

[trof]

16. The only time I had too much garlic was in ice cream.

;-)

[texas1928]

45. I wish I was that way.

I love garlic, but it don't love me. And I would rather not live my life in constant pain, because I ate to much garlic.

[GOPisEvil]

2. Why isn't Alton on at 7pm eastern anymore?

x(

[GOPisEvil]

4. I see he's on at 8pm eastern now, and there's a full hour.

Right when Olbermann is on. Thanks shitloads, Food Network.

[trof]

6. Yeah, it's screwed up my whole Mon-Fri TV viewing schedule.

Philistines.

[GOPisEvil]

7. Exactly.

I had a nice routine. Now I'm all discombobulated. Morans.

[supernova]

3. Actually, I think that's lowcountry style

I think Gullah style is to serve a dollop of rice on top.

[trof]

8. Low country is low country, and Cajun is Cajun.

If you're callin' it Cajun, then don't run some low country in on the unsuspecting.

Where the hell do you think gumbo came from, anyway?
AFRICA or somethin'?
;-)

[supernova]

9. True, one should not

confuse the two. :D

[trof]

14. Acutally, you bring up an interesting question.

Gumbo is now accepted as a Cajun dish.
But if I remember right, it came to us from Africa?

So when and how did the Africans and Cajuns cross paths and the Cajuns co-opted gumbo?

I gotta do some more research.

[supernova]

21. "Gumbo" History

Here's one interesting little history:

Okra, or "Gumbo," from Africa


0kra (Hibiscus esculentus) is also called "gumbo" in this country, although the latter term is more often applied to soups or other dishes which contain okra. Both of these names are of African origin. "Gumbo" is believed to be a corruption of a Portuguese corruption, quingombo, of the word quillobo, native name for the plant in the Congo and Angola area of Africa.

Okra apparently originated in what the geobotanists call the Abyssinian center of origin of cultivated plants, an area that includes present-day Ethiopia, the mountainous or plateau portion of Eritrea, and the eastern, higher part of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. Considering the little contact between that region and the rest of the world within historic times, it is not surprising that little is known about the early history and distribution of okra.


The routes by which okra was taken from Ethiopia to North Africa, the eastern Mediterranean, Arabia, and India, and when, are by no means certain. Although it has been commonly cultivated in Egypt for many hundreds of years, no sign of it has ever been found in any of the ancient monuments or relics of old Egypt.

Since the Spanish Moors and the Egyptians of the 12th and 13th centuries used an Arab word for okra, it probably was taken into Egypt by the Moslems from the East who conquered Egypt in the 7th century. It requires no stretch of the imagination to suppose that the plant earlier was taken from Ethiopia to Arabia across the narrow Red Sea or the narrower strait at its southern end.


http://plantanswers.tamu.edu/publications/vegetabletravelers/okra.htm

[trof]

24. dang

Thanks.
:thumbsup:

[supernova]

41. Oh, I'm sure

I didn't exhaust the supply of gumbo lore.

Research away! :D

[Maddy McCall]

5. And saltine crackers.

Did he at least have saltines on the side? Because gumbo without saltines is heresy.

:hi:

[trof]

11. Hmmm...*thinking*...

I don't remember if Miz t.'s mamma had saltines.
But she mighta.
I gotta go ask.

The late (and much missed) Llona DeRouen Landeche is MY AUTHORITY on all things Cajun.
;-)

[tammywammy]

12. My family never does crackers

Just French bread. And potato salad.

[trof]

17. Potato salad. RIGHT!

[tammywammy]

18. But, no okra

I think it all depends on where in Louisiana you're from. But we're a no okra family.

[trof]

20. OK. You just lost me.

No okra?
Not gumbo.
Period.

[tammywammy]

23. Ehh, whatever

It's gumbo, but no okra.

I think it depends on where the family's from....a regional thing, like the crackers. We don't do crackers either. But we do put the potato salad in it. :shrug:

My family's from Opelousas originally.

[trof]

25. IN it?

Oh god.
NEXT to it.

[tammywammy]

26. See again, it's a regional thing

You put it on the side of the bowl.

It's like the rice, some people like lots of rice and some not so much.

[pitohui]

27. file gumbo pronounced fee-lay is the real gumbo in new orleans

i personally prefer okra as far as flavor but yeah the "no okra" file gumbo is the more authentic around these parts


maybe i'm showin my age, i dunno?

[tammywammy]

28. And my mom always said okra makes it slime-y

:shrug: We just never have it in it. mmm, I may have to make some chicken and sausage gumbo this weekend. :)

[pitohui]

31. my husband born and bred in new orleans says the same

he will not tolerate okra :-)

[Maddy McCall]

33. File is used as a thickener as much as for taste.

In the old days, file was used when okra wasn't available. (They didn't have freezers to put up okra from their garden.)

I someetimes cook file gumbo in the winter (because I don't like the texture of frozen okra), and I use fresh okra in the summer. My Cajun-country aunt told me never to use the two in the same pot, though, or you'll have gloopy gumbo.

I've had both in New Orleans--I like both. I guess, since I love okra, I favor the okra gumbo a little better.

:hi:

[tammywammy]

34. We have the bottle file on the table for seasoning

:)

I also have heard that you never do file and okra before.

[Xipe Totec]

36. Damm straight. Ain't no Gumbo with no file nt

[trof]

46. Miz t. uses both. But don't boil the file.

She says if you boil it, it turns bitter.
She puts it in after the gumbo's done.

[Xipe Totec]

37. Williams Hank Jr Song - Jambalaya

Goodbye Joe, me gotta go, me oh my oh
Me gotta go pole the pirogue down the bayou
My Yvonne, the sweetest one, me oh my oh
Son of a gun, we'll have good fun on the bayou

CHORUS:

Jambalaya, a-crawfish pie and-a file gumbo
'Cause tonight I'm gonna see my ma cher amio
Pick guitar, fill fruit jar and be gay-oh
Son of a gun, we'll have big fun on the bayou.

See? file gumbo; no okra.

http://www.cowboylyrics.com/lyrics/williams-hank-jr/jambalaya-947.html

[musette_sf]

32. the Santa Battaglia way, of course!

Santa Battaglia tasted a spoonful of the potato salad, cleaned the spoon with her tongue, and placed the spoon neatly on a paper napkin next to the plate of salad. Sucking some pieces of parsley and onion from between her teeth, she said to the picture of her mother on the mantelpiece, "They gonna love that. Nobody makes a good potatis salad like Santa".

[trof]

13. OK. Miz t. sez 'Yes' on saltines.

Her mamma always had 'em.
But...Emeril DIDN'T!
Faux. Cajun.

[Maddy McCall]

35. I love saltines with gumbo...

Prefer it to french bread.

I like french bread with jambalaya and etouffee, but not with gumbo.

[yewberry]

10. Whadja expect? He's from MA.

Another masshole escaped from the Dunkin' vortex!

[trof]

15. Yeah.

Another wannabe.

I, on the other hand, am Cajun-by-marriage.
By. God.

[Left Is Write]

19. I'll take your word for it.

And when you want to know how to eat lefse and rommegrot, you come to me. :D

[trof]

22. Recipes?

[Left Is Write]

29. I can get you recipes, but bear in mind that it's the kind of recipe

that relies on how the stuff looks and feels.

Lefse is a flatbread made with mashed potatoes, baked on a very hot griddle, and served rolled up with butter and sugar (some people just use butter; some people use jam). Rommegrot is a thick cream pudding served hot with butter and brown sugar.

(I don't acutally use a recipe for lefse, but if you want me to post a few, I can. I just make mashed potatoes fit for the table with butter, milk, and a little salt, then let them cool completely. When ready to bake the lefse, work in just enough flour to make a workable dough. Too much flour will cause the potatoes to weep, which makes the whole thing much more difficult to work with. Roll the dough into balls about tennis-ball size, then roll out into a large circle with a lefse rolling pin (which will feature a grooved or waffled surface). Roll the dough pretty thin, but try not to tear it. Using a long spatula or lefse stick, carefully transfer the rolled dough to the hot griddle (about 500 degrees). Bake until brown spots appear on the underside and the lefse starts to puff a little, about one minute. Turn and bake on the other side. Stack baked lefse between two flour sack towels. When cool, cut into wedges.

I'll have to get my dad's recipe for rommegrot (it's much less complicated than the lefse).

[Arkansas Granny]

49. I haven't eaten lefse in years. My mother (Swedish) would make

it sometimes. She used a regular rolling pin and preferred to cook it directly on the lid of the cast iron cook stove we used in the kitchen for supplemental heat. We buttered it and rolled it up to eat it. I've never had it with sugar or jam.

My aunt used to make big batches of lefse and keep it for months in the freezer. She would put it back on the ungreased griddle for just a quick reheat on each side and it was delicious.

[Xipe Totec]

30. Cajun potato salad nt

[asthmaticeog]

38. I'm loving this thread.

People are arguing over the correct way to prepare and consume a dish that originally consisted of whatever fish and vegetables happened to be available, thrown into a cauldron. Brilliant. :eyes:

Hey everyone, CORNFLAKE CHICKEN!

[tammywammy]

39. No arguing from me

Different people do it different ways. :shrug:


At least it's not the Olive Garden.

[asthmaticeog]

42. I'll bet we could all agree that the Olive Garden would serve pretty bad gumbo.

:thumbsup:

[tammywammy]

43. Indeed!

[Xipe Totec]

40. GD? Down the hall two doors to the right nt

[Rabrrrrrr]

44. trof needs to brush up on his 'American'

Thinking 'gumbo' should be eaten at all.

Chowder, dude. Or, more rightly, chowdah. Now, that's how ya cook up some seafood.

[trof]

48. I will not dignify that comment with an answer.

Oh wait. I just did, didn't I?
jeez

[trof]

47. Miz t. on the different varieties of gumbo:

"No two gumbos are exactly alike. Each cook's gumbo is a little different. I make mine like mom did, but I like the roux a little darker. And she put in oysters sometimes, but I don't like 'em, so I don't put 'em in."

So...everybody's right and nobody's wrong.
All winners, and no losers.
And I like it like that.
:-)

[cobalt1999]

50. Now, I'm hungry.

Damn you! :)

[BOSSHOG]

51. Give em Hell Trof

[trof]

52. I JUST TELL THE TRUTH AND THEY THINK IT'S HELL!

Now who said that...?
;-)

[triguy46]

53. Needs to stop hanging out with Limpballs, more importantly.

[Midlodemocrat]

54. trof, how do you feel about turtle soup?

Personally, I think it is delicious.

And, I LOVE crawfish. Yum. Yum. Yum.

[KamaAina]

55. Hell, my New Jersey-raised stepdad knows better than that

and he's a repuke to boot!

Yes, he made some while I was up there last week (Mom bagged a guy who cooks! :bounce: ), albeit from a distinctly non-Louisiana recipe featuring not only okra but tomato. We were, admnittedly, stymied by the side dish question (we went with the corn that was also supposed to have gone in there!), but then, I don't like "potatis salad" anyway, as long as either mayo or "moutarde" is employed. :puke:

He tried his best, right down to the traditional jazz CD in the background -- but I still have to get back some time...