A Step into the Past, Creole Style!

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



In the late 1930's my maternal grandmother lived in New Orleans with her social worker husband who believed in living with the people that he worked with and they did just that.  My mother, her daughter, recently gave me a cookbook that was my grandmothers and I love this book!  Copyright 1938, the Creole Cook Book was the ninth edition, reprinted from the fifth edition 10 years earlier, "containing recipes using wines and liquors customary before prohibition" and was, according to the book's title page, created


"To assist the good housewives of the present day and to preserve to future generations the many excellent and matchless recipes of the New Orleans cuisine by gathering up from the old Creole cooks and the old housekeepers the best of Creole cookery, with all its delightful combinations and possibilities."

The Times-Picayune came to be after The Picayune merged with its rival The Times-Democrat in 1914.  The first edition of the Creole Cook Book was printed in 1901 by the newspaper's publishing company and was reprinted every 5-10 years before my copy showed up at my grandmother's house.  As I was reading through this book I came across the gumbo chapter and what a chapter it is.  Not one of the gumbos uses a flour roux!  Is this traditional?  Is this strange and unusual?  I just don't know, but the book it pretty cool. 


I was going to tackle this gumbo thing and went looking for oysters to follow the recipe that was in the book. Well, let's just say that I wasn't willing to pay what was being asked for oysters in the Midwest.  So I wandered the store and came across crawfish.  Perfect and far less expensive!  Now to make some adjustments to the recipe I had.  First, I decided to make a roux.  Second, I hate okra so I was going to get my hands on some sassafras powder (file') to use to thicken the gumbo and add to the flavor.  Most of the file' powder that is easy to find has thyme and other herbs in it and changes the flavor of the powder completely.  I did find file' that was ONLY sassafras but it took a while.  I had all my ingredients and it was time to give this a shot.

First the roux.  I cooked mine till it was a peanut butter brown and then added the Cajun trinity and let it cook a bit longer.  Then it was time to add some of the good stuff, andouille, my own blend of Cajun spice, tomato paste and chicken broth.


Now comes the time of waiting while all of the flavors meld and the spicy tones rise throughout the broth.  When the waiting is over it was time to toss in the crawfish and  leave it for a little while longer.  When the heat goes off, that is the time to add in the file' powder.  I added 2 tablespoons of file' and the gumbo thickened up really quickly.  We served it over rice with homemade cornbread slathered in rich clover honey and don't forget an ice cold beer.  Good gosh almighty, this was good stuff.  Spicy but not so much so that you can't taste what you're eating after the first bite.

Another challenge down and another great cooking experience.  Thanks to Denise of There's a Newf in My Soup for the great idea this month.  Be sure to check out other great gumbos on the blogroll at The Daring Kitchen. Links to print out the gumbo and cornbread recipes are below.


Crawfish File' Gumbo  


Wonderfully Moist Cornbread

Our May hostess, Denise, of There’s a Newf in My Soup!, challenged The Daring Cooks to make Gumbo! She provided us with all the recipes we’d need, from creole spices, homemade stock, and Louisiana white rice, to Drew’s Chicken & Smoked Sausage Gumbo and Seafood Gumbo from My New Orleans: The Cookbook, by John Besh.


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