My First Stew: Good Wishes Gumbo du Monde

by Justine C. Tajonera

I followed Chuck Taggart's Gumbo du Monde recipe but made some changes based on what I could find in the grocery and what kind of pot I was using.

He couldn't emphasize the stock making process enough so I did follow his advice and spent the whole day cooking!

The Stock (very important):

• I didn't have a big cast iron sauce pan so I didn't exactly follow the number of quarts required in Chuck's version. Since I was using my rice cooker-cum-pot, instead of 8 quarts of cold water I used only 9 cups (250ml) or 2.5 quarts.
• Around nine pieces of chicken parts from a Magnolia soup pack
• 1/2 kilo of shrimps (with heads and shells)
• 2 onions, chopped
• 1 big stem of celery, chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 2 heads of garlic, chopped
• Sachet of spices (I emptied a tea bag and stuffed it with the following spices):
• 1 teaspoon of cracked black peppercorn
• 1 bay leaf
• 1-2 parsley sprigs
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil leaves

Procedure:
Make sure the chicken is in 3-4 inch pieces, exposing the bone. Brown the chicken parts in a skillet with oil.

Put the chicken in the stockpot with the water and bring slowly to a simmer. Periodically skim off any scum that forms. Let this simmer for 3-4 hours. In my case, I really let it simmer for four hours. It's the long simmering process that extracts maximum flavor from the chicken meat and bones.

Add the onion, garlic, carrots and celery. Place the peppercorns, parsley sprigs and dried herbs in a tea ball (in my case, an emptied tea sachet). Tie it up. To make it easy to retrieve, tie the end of one string to the pot handle so it's easy to retrieve. Simmer for one more hour. Then add the shrimp shells and heads. Simmer for an additional 30 minutes. Remember not to stir the stock while simmering.

Strain thoroughly. Ladle the stock out and pour through a strainer. A tip from Chuck: If you did this ahead and want to keep the stock for the gumbo to be done the next day, you can cool down the stock by freezing some water in a Ziploc bag and putting it in the stock (that way, you cool it down without putting it in the refrigerator right away) and you don't dilute the stock.

Make some Roux!

What you'll need:

• 1- 1/4 cups flour. I used 1/3 only because I had such a small pot
• 1 cup oil. I used only 1/4 cup (1/8 butter and 1/8 oil)

Procedure:

Blend thoroughly on a skillet. Be careful not to burn it. If you see black specks on the roux that means you've messed it up. You have to throw out that batch and start again.

I got so scared of this warning that I cooked the roux on low heat (as in, the lowest heat) and ended up stirring the roux for an hour! Just keep stirring and don't let it clump up, otherwise it gets ruined. If you don't have enough time, then cook in medium heat but wait only until the color is peanut-buttery. Don't get any splatter on you. Because I cooked mine on low heat, I didn't get any splatter.

This roux will be mixed in with the strained stock. You can make this ahead and refrigerate or freeze. Thaw and heat up when you're ready to mix with the stock.

For the Rest:

• Chicken, cut up (since I was budgeting, I used the same chicken in the stock. I could not see myself throwing out that chicken!)
• 1 Schublig sausage. Ideally, you should use andouille sausage or any smoked or creole sausage. The schublig was the only one I could find in Shopwise that was smoked. Badger ended up eating only this part of the gumbo.
• 1/2 kilo shrimp (de-veined and peeled)
• You can have crabs but I skipped the crabs
• Okra. I used 10 pods of okra (cut up diagonally)
• 1 onion (chopped)
• 1 bunch green onions (chopped) but I wasn't able to buy any so I skipped this.
• 2 bell peppers
• celery, chopped (I used one really long stem)
• garlic, minced (I used half a clove)
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 bunch fresh parsley (chopped)
• Creole seasoning (in my case I used some ground nutmeg, cayenne pepper, black pepper)
• Salt to taste
• Tabasco to taste
• Rice

Procedure
Sprinkle the chicken with some spice and brown (I had to fry because I don't have an oven). Slice the sausage and brown as well.

Saute the onions, green onions, garlic, bell pepper and celery. Add to the stock (with the roux). Add the chicken and the sausages. Add the bay leaves and more spice (to taste) and stir. Bring to a boil and immediately reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 45 minutes. Keep tasting and adjusting the seasoning as needed.

Add the okra and cook another 30 minutes. Make sure the "ropiness" or "stringiness" of the okra is gone. Add the parsley. Cook for another 15 minutes. Add the shrimp last. Give it another 6-8 minutes until the shrimp is cooked. Be careful not to overcook the shrimp. Skim the fat off the top of the gumbo.

Serve the gumbo over steaming rice.

The Story Behind this Recipe:

Badger and I watched The Princess and the Frog the other weekend. There were two instances in the movie that gumbo was cooked. I got so hungry watching all that gumbo being cooked so that right after the movie, Badger and I ended up in Gumbo (the Atrium, Megamall). I got so enthralled with the gumbo that I decided to try cooking it. Quite ambitious for a first time cook, right? I was thinking that my love for the dish would carry me through. Also, it's a really messy looking dish so I wouldn't fail on presentation. Hahahaha!

When I looked up Chuck Taggart's recipe I was challenged by the fact that it takes the whole day. I've never really cooked before, much less the whole day. So I told myself that it would be worth something if I cooked a dish the whole day.

Stretching the Groceries
Just buying the ingredients was a challenge. My husband told me, "Honey, next time you have a craving for gumbo, just buy some." Our grocery bill was high (I think that was due to the numerous spices that weren't available in small sachets). After cooking the gumbo, though, I realized that even a 2.5 quarts recipe was still too large for our small family so it would last us for another day, saving us more ingredients. I think we might be able to stretch our groceries for another week. :-) Also, try to re-use as much of the ingredients from the stock. I felt really bad about throwing some of the ingredients out together with the shrimp shells.

Cooking Prayers
Cooking the gumbo was kind of like a prayer for me. In meditation class, I remember my teacher telling me that cooking is a big deal because the cook imparts her psyche into the food: the more good wishes, the better the overall sustenance of the dish. So, I took the opportunity to put all my good wishes into the stock, into the roux, into the whole gumbo dish. It's actually, literally a Good Wishes Gumbo! Because it takes so long, there are moments when you get lost in the smell of the stock and your thoughts get drowned out with the aroma from stirring such a potent stew.

The results: my husband's praise and lots of time spent with my son. In between checking the pot, cutting things up and stirring, I spent a lot of time with Badger! And when Vier got home he couldn't help but comment on how good our condo unit smelled. Badger didn't like the gumbo because of the okra so he ended up eating a lot of the sausage in the gumbo (I'm glad I put cut-up pieces of a whole sausage in it!). But Vier and I had a feast. It's not exactly the same as the gumbo from the restaurant but I was proud of my first efforts. Because of my mindfulness, I didn't burn anything. Because of the love that I was constantly stirring in my mind, we had a fabulous and filling dinner together.