Gumbo Smells Like Saltines

I was forced to make a gumbo since I had all these leftover okras (all this leftover okra?) from an aspic-making experiment. Let me tell you, when you do all your grocery shopping for a food-based arts and crafts project, you'll end up spending lots of money and a day later you'll still have nothing to make. Cause believe me, you don't want to eat aspic, that stuff is just fun to make.

So I am watching this okra go bad, and I thought I'd get what I needed to put it to good use. The recipe in my brand new Joy of Cooking that secretary's mom got us for Christmas looked good and authentic. One of the ingredients is "File Powder", and I had no idea what that is.

I bought a whole chicken at Staubitz, my local butcher, and by the way, the best Butcher in Brooklyn. They can get you the best cuts of meat, from any animal, any time of the year. And the guys behind the counter are funny, and awesome. I told the guy I was making Gumbo and I needed 3lbs of a whole chicken.

"You need it cut up?"

Yeah I needed it cut up, and I wouldn't have asked out of shyness and embarrassment being a man who doesn't really feel totally confident dismembering a whole chicken.

"You need File Powder?"

Yeah I needed File Powder, and he proceeded to show me where on the shelf it was.
Unfortunately their Chef Prudhomme Brand File Powder was all out, but I appreciated the effort. Walking home with a sack of chicken, minus the powder, still felt like an achievement. Turns out that File Powder is ground sassafras root, and is used as a thickener. When I got home, secretary suggested that I use corn starch instead. Worked great, by the way.
Let me cut to the chase. The best part of making gumbo is making of the roux. You take about equal parts canola oil and flour and you slow roast the flour until it is mahogany brown. The cookbook actually says, "Mahogany Brown." I love that. It takes about a half an hour, but this gelatinous oily mess slowly transforms into a truly decadent slurry. My description can't do justice to the smell that made me hungrier for gumbo than I have ever been. When you slow roast the flour, it starts to smell like the most delicious saltines you have ever tasted. A perfect toasted smell, and this is before you have included the browned chicken, the andouille sausage, and the vegetables. You know that at its very base, Gumbo is made from some delicious stuff. That's why I like gumbo, it has good character.

The recipe gave me the choice to use chorizo or andouille, and I chose the latter. Good choice. Totally spicy, and because I sliced it so thin, every bite had at least 2-3 sausage rounds in it. The sausage was even made in Connecticut, where carpenter is from. As usual, I didn't think that the gumbo would be hot enough, so I added some "After-Death" hot sauce to knock it up a little. I thought it might have been too hot in the long run - after 5 bites it was really kicking. The heat then plateaued magically, and each bite just maintained a nose-running, but totally exhilarating hotness. I believe that the roux had something to do with it, the perfectly toasted flour slurry keeping the balance of flavor and heat in perfect balance.

Gumbo takes a while, but the rewards are worth it.

-carpenter

Buffalo Chicken Dip for Dinner

I went to a crazy birthday party with secretary this weekend and had a killer dip. Reminded all of my friends of the famed Buffalo Zone from our college calzone shop, DP Dough.

Thanks to a friend's research on the internet, we have the recipe. I made it for dinner last night with a white bean hummus to take the edge off of the unhealthiness of having a dip for dinner. Made a few updates to the recipe myself. My changes are in bold.

CHEESY BUFFALO CHICKEN DIP
From Frank's RedHot Co.

• 1 8-ounce package of cream cheese
• 1/2 cup blue cheese salad dressing
• 1/2 cup Frank's RedHot Buffalo Wing Sauce or cayenne pepper sauce (I used Jim Beam Buffalo Hot Sauce)
• 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese or shredded mozzarella cheese
• 2 cups shredded cooked chicken
  

To make shredded chicken, coat 2 medium chicken breasts in canola oil, and chopped fresh garlic. Put in baking dish with a little water, and bake, covered until chicken is done, 30 minutes or so. Use 2 forks to shred the chicken.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place cream cheese in deep-dish 9-inch pie plate. Microwave 1 minute to soften. Whisk in salad dressing, wing sauce and cheese until smooth. Stir in chicken.
Bake 20 minutes or until mixture is heated through. Stir well. Serve with crackers or crudités. Makes 3 cups (about 12 servings).

-carpenter