Louisiana Creole cooking's most complex achievement: the roux must cook for 45 minutes to chocolate-brown before anything else enters the pot. The roux is everything.
About Mardi Gras Cuisine: Gumbo
New Orleans' greatest dish and Louisiana Creole cooking's most complex achievement — a dark, roux-based stew (the roux must be cooked for 45 minutes to a chocolate-brown before anything else is added) with Andouille sausage, chicken or seafood, the holy trinity (celery, onion, green pepper), filé powder and okra; served over white rice; the roux is everything: too light and it is flour gravy, too dark and it is bitter ash.
New Orleans' most complex achievement: a dark roux (cooked for 45 minutes to a chocolate-brown before anything else is added) with Andouille sausage, chicken or seafood, the holy trinity (celery, onion, green pepper), filé powder and okra. Served over white rice. The roux is everything — too light and it's flour gravy, too dark and it's bitter ash.
“The roux is everything — too light and it's flour gravy, too dark and it's bitter ash.”
Celery, onion and green pepper are Louisiana's 'holy trinity' — the aromatic base that appears in virtually every Creole and Cajun preparation.
What to Expect
The gumbo arrives over rice, the broth dark and fragrant with Andouille and filé. The roux's depth is in every spoonful. The okra thickens the broth from within.
Why Try It
Gumbo tells the story of Louisiana — the French roux, the West African okra, the Native American filé and the Andouille sausage from German immigrants are all simultaneously present.
Insider Tips
- Dooky Chase's and Galatoire's in New Orleans serve the most celebrated versions.
- The roux must reach chocolate-brown — this takes 45 minutes of constant stirring.
- Filé powder is added after cooking, not during — heat destroys its thickening property.
