Book Review: New Orleans Classic Gumbos & Soups by Kit Wohl
I regret that I have not been nearly as faithful as planned about updating my Amazon store. The store is up and running at libdrone.com but I have failed to add every book to it that I’ve reviewed. I do however, love the little selection that I am offering and am even pleased at some of the recommendations that Amazon makes to store visitors. It’s through one of these suggestions that I first became acquainted with Kit Wohl’s gorgeous new book New Orleans Classic Gumbo’s & Soups.
Back home in N’awlins it is said that the basis of Every recipe is “first you make a roux, and then you add the holy trinity”. (For non-New Orleanians the “holy trinity” is chopped onion, celery and bell pepper.) And the subject of making a roux to begin your gumbo or soup is a passionate one for many New Orleanians. All of the chefs who have contributed to this volume preach the old way of slowing browning butter and flour for about an hour to get it the perfect dark brown. Me, I never do it that way. I heat the big soup pot on high heat on top the stove. When it’s really hot, I throw in oil (not butter) and flour all at once and whisk like mad. It smokes and I whisk. In about 2 minutes the smoke clears and I turn the heat Way down and add my shrimp or vegetables to simmer in my roux, which is always a perfect shade of Hershey bar brown.
Apart from not standing with me on the Great Roux Question (and I kind of think the dividing line there is that professional cooks want to make it look really hard; informed amateurs just want good food the easiest way they can get it), the chefs whose recipes are included provide a full range of the many wonders of gumbo as experienced in New Orleans’ very best restaurants. And honestly, whether you choose to make the roux the only fashioned way as specified in the recipe or the easy way (see my recipe below) this book would be an excellent guide for a reasonably experienced cook to bring the classic flavors of Louisiana to their own kitchen. The book is also very beautifully photographed by Kit Wohl, herself a New Orleanian who has produced a book that is beautiful and informative.
Alternatively, below the book information I am including my own recipe for Seafood Gumbo. As the only child of gourmand parents who usually brought him along rather than call a baby sitter as they at their way through New Orleans’ best food, I kind of learned to cook by osmosis. the recipe I give is just how I make it, adapated from many different recipes and influences over the course of my life.*
Title: New Orleans Classic Gumbos & Soups Author/Photogtrapher Kit Wohl Publisher: Pelican Format: Hardcover Publication Date: 2009
Seafood Gumbo
2 lbs shrimp
crab (here in the Northwest I use one Dungeness crab. on the east coast I would use two or three blue crabs. in New Orleans I would try to get a couple of pounds of small gumbo crabs. if you can’t get fresh you can add a pound of lump crab meat at the very, very end instead)
1 cup cooking oil
1 cup white flour
2 lbs fresh okra + oil for frying
2 large onions
2 large bell peppers
2 bunches green onions
1 can tomatoes
6–10 cloves garlic
First, make the roux. Measure out your oil and your flour and heat a big soup pot on the stove on high heat. In about 5 mins when the pot is Really hot add the oil and flour all at once. WHISK! It will smoke but keep whisking and leave the heat alone. In a minute or two it will feel like your arm wants to fall off and the smoke will begin to clear. Keep your eyes on the Roux. When it looks like a hershey bar color, turn the heat to low.
Add the two pounds of peeled raw shrimp to your roux and cook over low heat for about three minutes, until shrimp pink. Remove from heat. Meanwhile, in a separate large skillet cook the okra, chopped, in a few tablespoons of oil. (I never measure this). You have to cook the okra for a long time. It will be done when it STOPS making long gummy strings, after about 45 minutes. When the okra is done, add it to the soup pot with the shrimp cooked in roux, which is set aside and not on the heat at this point.
Now, add some more oil to the skillet and fry off all the other vegetables for 5–10 minutes until lightly browned. Add the fried off vegetables to the soup pot. Add the tomatoes and garlic, both chopped. (Note i said to chop the canned tomatoes — just run your knife through them right in the can and to Chop, NOT mince, the garlic.) If you are using crab in the shell, add it to the pot along with about two quarts of water and two or three bay leaves. Simmer over low heat for about an hour, then serve over hot white rice.
*This is why I am always saying that even though I may never return to the city, I will always be first and foremost a New Orleanian, wherver on this planet I may call home.
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1JoyZeeBoy
wrote on 19 June 2009 at 13:32
Alan,
I have often wondered about your roux (amongst other things) and now I know your secret. Every time you have mentioned your gumbo over the years it has triggered a positively Pavlovian response in me.
I love Southern cooking in general, but I worship New Orleans cooking above all. That blend of classic French, Caribbean and bayou Cajun just can’t be beat.
So thanks for the recipe, Brother! You may be assured that I will attempt it when we’re down in Rehoboth (Delaware) in August. Please pray to God that I don’t poison my friends with it.
-ron
let me know how it turns out, ron. i’m sure you know your way around the kitchen well enough not to poisin anyone. lol
2Lyndi
wrote on 27 June 2009 at 6:36
I love seafood but here in my neck of the woods your seafood gumbo recipe would be a very expensive to follow. It does sound exquisite though. I also love garlic and 10 gloves of the stuff sounds just about right to me.
PS. I love the functionality to be able to edit your comment.
Lyndi, it is very expensive here too or anywhere. This recipe is more of a special treat than an everyday thing
3Øyvind
wrote on 27 June 2009 at 7:44
I love seafood too but we don’t have access to as many types as you have. We have mostly brown crab, but now the king crab is visiting us too. The receipes looks awesome but I’m not sure if it would work with brown crab.
It would work with brown crab. Gumbo developed from people using cooking techniques and methods they knew with what ingredients happened to be available in their new location. It is open to infinite experimentation and substitutions.
4Laura
wrote on 27 June 2009 at 13:37
I like seafood too. But I have to be careful to know what fish/ seafood is in anything. I had a bad allergy attack to breaded fish once. Found out they had used fish parts and accessories and did not know what kind of fish was actually in there. We had a really good fish and chips dinner out somewhere around Gravenhurst here in Ontario. Best I have had in many years. They even had those huge stuffed fish on the walls. Can you really enjoy fish and chips without seeing at least a couple of huge stuffed fish? I don’t think so!
The best fish and chips I ever had was at a little hole in the wall on the beach in Maui. No fish on the wall, but the view was superb
5CyberCelt
wrote on 29 June 2009 at 20:03
I am a vegetarian, but if you leave out the shrimp and crab, I’ll be knocking on your door.
I have not been back to New Orleans since the hurricane. I am glad the food survived.
for a vegetarian version omit the seafood and add fresh corn and maybe some greens if you like them. still authentic and pretty much vegan too
6A.
wrote on 30 June 2009 at 15:08
It sounds entirely delicious – and, to me, exotic. I can only guess the colour of a Hershey bar.
Now that I know how to cook okra without the gummy stuff that’s always put me off, I think I’ll have to give it a try!
a Milk chocolate Cadbury bar perhaps? and the okra has a whole different character after all the gummy strings cook away. do try it
7Gargantua
wrote on 30 June 2009 at 17:46
Your recipe sounds very good, but I am allergic to shellfish! The gumbo I make uses sausage and chicken, and I must confess that I am one to take the slow approach to making a roux. I’m going to have to give your approach a try. Here’s to hoping I don’t set anything on fire…
made with chicken and sausage instead of seafood would be totally delicious and again, completely authentic. it’s all about how you cook it, not what you cook
8Lindsayanng
wrote on 30 June 2009 at 20:59
Wow. I’m sitting here at 9:00 pm having not eaten dinner, and you are REALLY making me hungry. I generally dont like seafood, but i LOVE crab.. and i LOVE gumbo. Anything about New Orleans style food makes my mouth water
lol that I got you so hungry. if you can cook do try the recipe it is great
9Mom's Cafe Home Cooking
wrote on 21 August 2009 at 9:56
Oh that sea food gumbo sounds wonderful! Now I’m going to have to go shopping for crab and shrimp
Getting okra is a problem here so I’ll have to wait to make the dish until I can get into the city. Some of the grocery stores there have okra.
Kit Wohl’s book looks like one that would be quite interesting to work your way through. I might just have to pick up a copy.
Thanks!
10kit wohl
wrote on 30 August 2009 at 15:40
Wow! Thanks for the lovely review. I hope you’ll enjoy trying the various gumbos and soups, many that are fish-free, and some that are vegetarian as well. We loved doing the book, and eating the results was the reward. If anyone has any questions about the recipes, or New Orleans food in general, please drop an e-mail at to me at kit@kitwohl.com
The other BIG news is that the P&J Oyster Cookbook has been completed and will be released in early December – it is 224 pages of gorgeous oysters, and was a real treat during the recipe testing phase. Yummy!