First Monday Podcast & Ed's Favorite Gumbo's

Oyster Gumbo File

1 tablespoon butter or margarine
2 tablespoons flour
1 small onion, chopped
½ cup ham, finely chopped
3 cups water, oyster liquor
1 bay leaf
Salt and pepper to taste
2 dozen oysters
2 tablespoons parsley, minced
1 teaspoon filé

Brown flour in butter or margarine, add chopped onion and brown. Add ham, cook for 5 minutes. Add water, bay leaf, and pepper. Bring to boil for 10 minutes. Add oysters and parsley. Cook another 10 minutes. Remove from fire and add filé immediately. Do not cook after filé has been added to gumbo. Serve with cooked rice. Serves 4-6.

Okra and Shrimp Gumbo

3 cups okra, chopped
2 onions, minced
1 green pepper, chopped
2 tablespoons bacon fat
½ can tomato sauce
8 cups water
3 dashes hot pepper sauce
6 green onions, minced
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon salt
3 cloves garlic
2 pounds shirmp
Rice, cooked

Smother okra, onions, green pepper in bacon fat. When okra is almost cooked, add tomato sauce. Add water, pepper sauce, green onions, bay leaf, salt, and garlic. Heat to boiling and cook 10 minutes. Add shrimp (cut in halves). Cover and simmer 20 minutes. Serve with rice. Serves 8.

William Irving Kaufman and Sister Mary Ursula Cooper, O.P. 1962. Art of Creole Cookery. Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Co.