Gumbo (CATKTVC)

So back last fall at some point, I decided to execute Jambalaya (CATKTVC) thinking for some reason that it was Gumbo. Perhaps I could blame this foolish mistake on the fact the former recipe wasn't accompanied by a photograph, but it's more likely that I really wasn't paying attention.

There's plenty of overlap between the two dishes when it comes to flavor profiles and ingredients, but jambalaya is a hearty rice dish and gumbo is a hearty stew or soup. Unsurprisingly, the process for each dish is quite different. Maybe I'll make jambalaya again someday and you can compare the two blog entries, but I don't remember particularly loving the dish. Do some damn research on your own if you're really curious!

• 1 1/2 pounds small shrimp (51 to 60 per pound) [Sizing can vary wildly from brand to brand. One company's medium could very likely be another's small. Any good recipe will tell you the count per pound which is a much better, infinitely more consistent measure than ES/S/M/L/XL.] shells removed and reserved
• 3 1/2 cups ice water
• 1 (8-ounce) bottle clam juice
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, preferably bleached [Eh, I only have unbleached]
• 2 medium onions, minced
• 1 medium red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and chopped fine
• 1 medium celery rib, chopped fine [Yet another ingredient that failed to make it to my grocery list]
• 6 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through a garlic press (about 2 tablespoons)
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• Table salt
• Cayenne pepper
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 pound smoked sausage, such as andouille or kielbasa, sliced 1/4 inch thick
• 1/2 cup fresh parsley leaves [If you've been thoroughly following my blog, you'll already know I don't believe there's much point in garnishing meals I usually only cook for myself]
• 4 medium scallions, white and green parts, sliced thin [ditto]
• Ground black pepper

Mise en place minus the clam juice still sitting in my pantry at this point.


I simmered shrimp shells in water for 20 minutes over medium-low heat to create stock.

Cooking a Cajun-style roux for the first time (I've made bechamel a few times in the past. Oh, to varying degrees of success.):

"Roux ( /ˈruː/) is a cooking mixture of wheat flour and fat (traditionally butter). It is the thickening agent of three of the mother sauces of classical French cooking: sauce béchamel, sauce velouté and sauce espagnole. Clarified butter, vegetable oils, or lard are commonly used fats. It is used as a thickener for gravy, other sauces, soups and stews. It is typically made from equal parts of flour and fat by weight.^[1] When used in Italian food, roux is traditionally equal parts of butter and flour. In Cajun cuisine, roux is almost always made with oil instead of butter and dark brown in color, which lends much richness of flavor, albeit, less thickening power. Hungarian cuisine uses lard (in its rendered form) or—more recently—vegetable oil instead of butter for the preparation of roux (which is called rántás in Hungarian)."

A Cajun-style roux involves constant stirring for about 20 minutes. There were a few seconds where I left the roux unattended to turn down the heat on the stock, consult with my copy of CATKTVC on the kitchen table all the way on the other side of the room, and set timers.

It didn't burn. I wasn't keeping track, but I'm also pretty sure it didn't take 20 minutes. I thank God on both counts, perhaps not literally.

Vegetables and spices stirred into the roux and cooked until softened.

What can I say? Me and spicy food go WAY back though occasionally I overdo it.

Was worried that would be the case here, but I successfully stayed on the edible side of the line.

Quite delicious. Jessica D, I'm pretty sure your boyfriend Junior would enjoy this rendition and not claim that it was way under-seasoned. I assume there are so many ways in which you aren't doing this right.