Gumbo:

Cajun Cuisine: The Richness of Gumbo

Perhaps nothing is more renown as a staple of Cajun cuisine than gumbo, a spicy, hearty stew or soup whose name literally means "okra." Called one of the greatest contributions from Cajun kitchens to American cuisine, it came to Louisiana with the first French settlers, who loved bouillabaisse, a highly seasoned French stew. Unable to find their usual ingredients to make bouillabaisse, they substituted local ingredients like shrimp, fish, and okra. After a century mixing with Spanish, African, and native cuisine in the region, the stew was no longer recognizable as its French precursor and was instead something completely new: gumbo.

Still extraordinarily common in Louisiana, gumbo is also found all along the Gulf of Mexico, and is often eaten in the cooler months, when the extended cooking required to make the usually large batches of the stew will not heat up the room to uncomfortable levels.

Gumbo consists of two main components, rice and broth. The two are mixed together only for serving, and while new rice must be cooked daily, broth can be frozen and saved for future consumption.

Rice for gumbo is usually white or parboiled rice, steamed or boiled with salt or a touch of white vinegar for flavor. There is some dispute over the proper ratio of rice to gumbo: there is "damp rice," for those who like a lot of rice with their broth, and, on the opposite extreme, some only use a modicum of rice. In some areas, it is also common to add potato salad to the gumbo, either including or excluding rice.

The broth comes in several variations. One of the most common varieties is seafood, containing crab, oysters and/or shrimp. Equally common is chicken gumbo with Cajun sausage called audouille.

There is also duck and oyster gumbo, as well as gumbos made with other fowl, such as quail or turkey. Rabbit can be tossed into gumbo, as can the Cajun smoked pork known as tasso.

Gumbo z'herbes (from the French gumbo "aux herbes"), which is gumbo of smothered greens thickened with roux, also exists, and was commonly eaten during Lent, when meat was traditionally forbidden by the Catholic Church.

Gumbo was originally made with okra, and some folks, especially in Southeast Louisiana, would argue that anything made without okra can not rightly be called gumbo. Okra gumbos usually contain lighter meats, such as chicken or shrimp, and the okra is cut into pieces and simmered in the pot along with the meat and the three spices that form the so-called Holy Trinity of Cajun cooking - onion, celery, and bell pepper.

Other spices and meats such as sausage are added to the mix. Contrary to popular belief, it is frowned upon for a chef to make Cajun cooking overly hot or peppery - these are left to the diners themselves if they wish to spice up their dish with sauces like Tabasco.

Gumbo can also be made with a roux base, which has a much stronger taste and features any sort of meat. Roux by itself is often very dark, though it can be combined with okra to make a lighter stock. Filé, a powder made of dried and ground sassafras, can also be used as a base for gumbo, though it is not combined with okra (it was originally used as a substitute when okra was not in season). Today, however, it is commonly added as a powder to a roux based gumbo.

Regardless of its base and history, gumbo stays a tasty staple of Cajun cooking, as famous as red beans and rice.

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