Who Dat? Super Bowl Gumbo

Yeah, it’s pretty obvious that I’m rooting for the New Orleans Saints to win this Sunday’s Super Bowl. Not that I have anything against the Colts and Peyton Manning (whom if you haven’t heard already is from New Orleans), but I like my sports laced with Behind-the-Music-like back stories.

So I’m rooting for the Saints, which has not gone to the Super Bowl in their entire franchise history. For the city that continues to look for a silver lining since Katrina. And for the quarterback Drew Brees whose shorter-than-normal height for a quarterback has odds makers leaning toward the more experienced Manning.

Forget the chicken wings and nacho platters, because this year’s Super Bowl party can be as simple as cooking up a nice pot of Louisiana gumbo in honor of the Saints.

I love gumbo but never made an authentic version before, so I went looking for a recipe. I looked no further than Chef John Besh and his new “My New Orleans” cookbook, which was released last year. Besh has several restaurants in New Orleans and have appeared on the Food Network, so I knew next to Emeril his recipe would be straight from the heart of Nawlins’.

The following recipe, which Besh calls “Drew’s Chicken and Smoked Sausage Gumbo” because he apparently got it from a friend, was pretty easy to make although a bit time-consuming. The biggest challenge was finding all the ingredients since I don’t do a lot of Louisiana-style cooking. For one, I had to hunt down okra, the West African vegetable that gave the French the inspiration for the dish. I typically find okra at the Asian markets.

Then I had to find Creole seasoning, which actually isn’t a type of seasoning but is a combination of spices. The closest I could find in my market was Cajun seasoning, which had most of the spices of Creole seasoning (chili, cayenne, paprika) but lacked sweet basil, which I bought separately and just added in.

An important part of making the gumbo authentic is creating the dark roux at the beginning. This resulted in a very rich-looking gumbo. In the end, I enjoyed the flavors of the spices and sausages in the gumbo. The only thing I might add next time is some shrimp or crawfish just to have another dimension in taste. Otherwise, make a big pot of this gumbo and serve it up in bowls and you’ll be fired up for a Saints victory!

Drew’s Chicken and Smoked Sausage Gumbo
(excerpted from “My New Orleans: the Cookbook” by John Besh)

Ingredients
(Serves 10-12)
1 cup rendered chicken fat or canola oil
1 cup flour
2 large onions, diced
1 large chicken, cut into 12 pieces
2 tablespoons Creole Spices
2 pounds spicy smoked sausage, sliced ½ inch thick
2 stalks celery, diced
2 green bell peppers, seeded and diced
1 tomato, seeded and chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
Leaves from 2 sprigs fresh thyme
3 quarts chicken stock
2 bay leaves
6 ounces andouille sausage, chopped

2 cups sliced fresh okra
1 tablespoon Worcestershire
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Filé powder
Tabasco
4–6 cups cooked white rice

Directions
1. Make a roux by heating the chicken fat or oil in a large cast-iron or heavy bottomed pot over high heat. Whisk the flour into the hot oil. It will immediately begin to sizzle. Reduce the heat to moderate and continue whisking until the roux takes on a deep brown color, about 15 minutes. Add the onions, stirring them into the roux with a wooden spoon. Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue stirring until the roux is a glossy dark brown, about 10 minutes.

2. Season the chicken with Creole Spices. Add the chicken to the pot, raise heat to moderate, and cook, turning the pieces until browned, about 10 minutes.

3. Add the smoked sausage and stir for a minute before adding the celery, bell peppers, tomatoes, and garlic. Cook, stirring, for about 3 minutes. Add the thyme, Chicken Stock, and bay leaves. Bring the gumbo to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 45 minutes. Stir occasionally and skim off the fat from the surface of the gumbo every so often.

4. Add the andouille, okra, and Worcestershire and season with salt and pepper, several dashes of filé powder, and Tabasco. Simmer for another 45 minutes, continuing to skim the fat off the surface of the gumbo. Remove the bay leaves and serve in bowls over rice. Pass more filé at the table.