N'awlins

Thanks to a brilliant radio show called Good Food on KCRW (that I only extremely recently discovered), I heard about this market in Chinatown, Los Angeles called the Little Jewel of New Orleans. It has a kitchen, as well as a market for all of your southern cooking needs. Now YOU can go home and make red beans and rice - properly - with the right ingredients.
We were on our way out to a gallery show not too far from there, and decided to stop in for a quick meal and peruse the market to find anything that might strengthen my gumbo game (impossible!). And actually, they sold tasso! I have only used it once in my gumbo (on advice from a southern friend) and it has brought my gumbo game up a notch! Thankfully, now I/we have two sources for it in Los Angeles. In addition to many of the products I've seen in New Orleans (Zapps, Abita, chicory coffee, Camellia beans, Crystal hot sauce) they also have an old school candy aisle that's just fun!
I will return, this time with a decent sized cooler, and ingredients list so I can take a stab at more recipes from my southern cookbooks. Like bbq'd shrimp and grits, red beans and rice, maybe even something with okra!

Gumbo

… rang in the new year!

I'm so glad I remembered to consult my notes (from a post 5/29/13) before making this most recent batch of Gumbo. I tried several techniques to insure great results, and I think it all worked for a terrific tasting Gumbo.
Here are a few techniques I tried this time:
a. 1:1 ratio, using all-purpose flour (not GF)
b. Started off a little hotter for a quicker pace
c. Used heated stock, whisked in, boiling before each addition
d. Acted quickly when it started to go too fast. I noticed at one point it smoked, and firmed-up at the same time. I immediately pulled it off the heat and stirred vigorously to cool down. I never saw black speckles (phew)
e. Stayed very conscious of any drastic temperature changes. Even made sure vegetables were room temp going in
f. Pulled it off at the milk chocolate color stage, to be a little conservative. The roux took about 46 minutes - my fastest roux yet!

Well.......

I made gumbo last weekend, and a funny thing has happened the last couple of times I've made it. I get the roux good and dark, and relatively thin, but then something happens in the end that thickens it back up again. It's almost a thick gravy consistency when it finally hits the plate; I would even describe it as gelatinous.
It's frustrating because it takes a long time just stirring the roux (step one) and once it's achieved the right color, you can't do a taste test, you just have to proceed with the veggies, stock and spices. THEN it will have some of the right flavor. But by then, you're already in an hour or two, and all of your prepared ingredients are used, so why bother.
Well, since it was all very fresh on my mind, I googled "roux too thick" and made notes from various sources on how to do it right. Here I've jotted some down for future gumbo-making. One goal, aside from remembering to read this post BEFORE my next attempt, is to make the perfect roux in 1 hour or less. I hear it is possible.

1. If you see smoke during the roux, it's burning - turn it down or off to stop the smoking
2. When it's time to add the liquid (warm if possible, not hot) add it about 1/4 at a time, whisk it well to incorporate (VERY IMPORTANT), let it bubble before adding more. Too much of a temperature change too fast will make it separate. That's when you wind up with a layer of brown grease floating on top
3. If you see black speckles in the roux, it's burned. May want to start over
4. If smoking, then burning- you should notice a consistency change as soon as it starts burning as it will firm up very quickly and start sticking to the pan. Don't cook past the color of dark chocolate
5. blond roux = 20 minutes
6. brown roux = 35 minutes (peanut-butter-color)
7. dark roux = 45 minutes - 1 hour (the color of melted milk chocolate)
8. a darker roux has less thickening power. Mr. B's ratio is more flour to fat. However since I like thin, liquidy gumbo I should probably try 1:1
9. also suggested, after sausage, add water, bring to boil, then simmer

side note: this is the first time I used gluten-free flour. I might have blamed it for the problem, except that I've had the same problem in the past with regular all-purpose flour. So I still think I need to get serious about some of the above tips and keep trying until I get it right!

Memphis

Whenever I am in Orange County and not craving Mexican Food (in which case I go to Taco Mesa because it rules) I try and make it to Memphis. It is delicious, with a cool vibe, and a southern twang to the menu. I intended to get a big salad or sandwich, but when I walked in recently on a chilly Saturday afternoon, the gumbo was calling my name. It was the kind with seafood and okra, different than the one I make.

I love this restaurant, and if it were closer to me, I would be a regular. You'd hear them shout my name when I walked through the door, a la Norm on Cheers.

gumbo

Gumbo Notes

Made gumbo again.. getting pretty good at it. Especially now with my new stool! This time, making the roux was a little different because from the beginning I put the heat up a little higher than my usual conservative-don't-wanna-burn-it, low level. It went from blond, to caramel to dark caramel much faster, though still about 90 minutes of constant stirring. The hardest part is the anxiety of judging exactly when that color has gone to the perfect "milk-chocolate" tone. 

Stool!

I got the stool I've been coveting. Gumbo-making will be a breeze!

less is more

It's a busy, busy summer. I have been eating, cooking, traveling, reading food blogs and cookbooks, and sampling friend's specialties at backyard barbecues. But, I haven't been so thorough on blogging about it. So, I am taking the pressure off of myself to craft a post with wonderful photos, thought provoking, descriptive entries full of discoveries, research, successes and failures. Instead, I'm saying it's A-OK to blurt out a little something, one line perhaps and throw in a so-so picture if that's all I have, or not. Always keeping the focus on good food and its pursuit, just not stressing out about the documentation. Less is more. Right?
Now that I got that off of my chest, here's a long blurb about the gumbo I made last weekend...

Though the photos don't show the final product, they show the preparation, and frankly, the roux is THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT THING! And most time-consuming. The last photo shows the clock at nearly 85 minutes. I learned that my clock stops at 99 minutes. In the end, I stirred this roux for approximately two hours. And it still wasn't chocolate brown! I was tired, hot and ready to be done with it and go on to phase 2: the rest of the gumbo cookin'! The final result was pretty good, not great. I brought it to a southern friend's bbq, and I heard someone comment that it tasted like gravy. I think that was a good thing (?) Everyone seemed to really like it, and it was tasty the next day too. I just know I've made better, and I know that it starts with the roux.
Last time I made it so successfully, I definitely achieved that dark brown color, and it was thin, liquid-y. This time, I gave up too soon because I couldn't stand it - and the result was much thicker, and not as tasty. Two things to try next time: 1) slightly higher heat, especially if I have a fan on in the kitchen. And 2) BUY a proper stool- geez! I sat for two hours on two phonebooks on a kitchen chair (low rent). I love gumbo, thus I need the proper tool to make it- a stool. Will post pictures when I find the perfect one!

Something old/Something new

I just spent way too long writing and rewriting a post about two dishes that I made over the weekend, which did not turn out quite the way I had wanted. It happens. I've decided that all I really need to write about these is two lines for next time, to be noted on the recipes themselves:

Saffron Scented Potato Gratin with Asparagus: must cook until finished (no day-before partial cooking unless you want still-crunchy potatoes)

Mesquite Chocolate Chip Cookies:  watch oven temperature carefully, adjust timing as needed, do not overcook.

Now - on to my huge success of the weekend: GUMBO! Damn was it good! The recipe is from Mr. B's cookbook for Gumbo Ya-Ya. I did "ya-ya" whilst constantly stirring the roux, you have to do something. I talked to my brother, my husband, my dog, checked facebook, and listened to a podcast during the 1.5 hours it took to achieve the right darkish-mahogany color. The end result was soooo worth all that stirring and attention to detail up front. The only thing I changed from the recipe was that I threw in shrimp instead of chicken because I just wasn't in the mood for bird. I used raw frozen shrimp, thawed in the fridge for a couple hours, thrown in during the last 5 minutes of simmering. Here are some pictures:

Preparations

Plated

I bought French bread at lunch today for dipping, and I cannot wait to get home for leftovers tonight!