October 12: National Gumbo Day
Ohhh gumbo. If we were in a relationship on Facebook it would definitely be “it’s complicated”.
A few years ago I was given a gumbo mix. One of those “all the spices are in this box, just add the water and proteins of your choice!” dealies. It ended up looking like dark brown water with turds (the sausage I added) floating in it. Not my finest culinary moment. But I gave myself a pass since I didn’t really MAKE it, it was a mix!
I was confident that REAL gumbo made by ME would be a different story.
Ahem. It’s not. Apparently gumbo is the creole word for “dark brown smelly water with sausage turds floating in it”.
(This is after I shredded and put the chicken back in, so it’s slightly more appealing than just the sausage turd water.a)
What I learned making gumbo:
- There is a spice mix called ESSENCE. Essence of what? I’m not sure.
- Gumbo takes hours (and hours) to make and if you don’t start cooking by noon, you will be eating dinner at 10pm.
- You will require a McDonald’s snack when it becomes apparent that you won’t be eating the brown water until 10pm.
- You will have a minor breakdown when you remember that there’s a New Orleanian restaurant in town that sells gumbo for $4 and you could have gone there and also had a hurricane instead of dropping 40 bones at the grocery store and slaving away for hours.
The final product isn’t bad. I think it tastes the way it’s supposed to taste… it just that Bryce and I aren’t gumbo people. Sorry, Emeril.
Tomorrow: National Yorkshire Pudding Day
