Another recipe from Royal Recipes from the Cajun Country— a fun cookbook to read!

Mr. Big Food used goose stock rather than beef and used shrimp and sausage– it’s gumbo, after all, you can do your own thing!

“This is one of King Culinary’s specialties, and when he prepares it, he cooks it in a big ole sugar kettle under the live oak tree on the bank of the bayou in front of the Royal Palace. Well, the folks come from miles and miles to help him eat it, and the King ices down a bunch of beers and everybody has a grand time eating gumbo and drinking beer and singing and telling stories and dancing with the girls and all. And sometimes some of the guests don’t get home until the middle of next week.” —John and Glenna Uhler, Royal Recipes from the Cajun Country (1969)

CAJUN COUNTRY SEAFOOD GUMBO

8 Tbsp vegetable oil
8 Tbsp flour
1 C shallots, chopped fine
1 C celery, chopped fine
2 C fresh okra, sliced
1 C onion, chopped fine
8 oz (1 C) tomato sauce (preferably homemade)
1 lb stewed tomatoes with liquid (preferably homemade)
2 quarts beef stock (preferably homemade)
2 lbs shrimp, peeled, deveined
1 C flaked crab meat, “claws, too, if available”
4 tsp salt
½ tsp Tabasco (or more, to taste)
½ tsp black pepper
¼ tsp garlic puree or powder
½ tsp seasoned salt
2 bay leaves
¼ tsp thyme
1/8 tsp oregano
2 Tbsp sugar
¼ tsp red (cayenne) pepper
1 Tbsp sherry
1 pint oysters, drained
Cooked fluffy rice (for serving)

Have shallots, celery, okra, and onions ready. Make a roux by heating vegetable oil in a large iron pot, adding flour, and cooking, stirring frequently, until dark brown. “Don’t burn!” Add vegetables to roux, remove from heat, and stir until vegetables stop sizzling. Add tomato sauce, tomatoes, beef stock, shrimp, crab meat (and claws, if using), salt, Tabasco, black pepper, garlic puree or powder, seasoned salt, bay leaves, thyme, oregano, sugar, red pepper, and sherry, and simmer very gently for 1 hour. Add oysters just before serving and cook for a few minutes more. Serve over fluffy rice. “The King likes to pass the rice bowl and let each guest help himself.”