Phil Moscowitz posted:

If I were you I would stick to milk chocolate, not dark chocolate. While it's true you can bring a roux to a deep brown, and many cookbooks and videos will show it dark as poo poo the margin for error is very thin at that level of browning. And you can make a perfect gumbo with a lighter roux. Also, if you are going to add vegetables before the stock, the roux is going to continue to cook, so you can put the trinity in when it's the color of milk chocolate and end up with a nicely colored roux.

Example:



Add vegetables and 10 minutes later:

Klyith posted:

if you're making it with commercial chicken stock I wouldn't add any extra salt until the end. maybe some salt on the chicken if you're seasoning it in advance.

for a soup type thing like gumbo there's zero downside to doing salt at the end, when you can taste it.

Phil Moscowitz posted:

Your temp is too low. Raise it to 350 or 400 like I said. Or you should just plan on a much longer cook time.

Phil Moscowitz posted:

Shape boudin into balls, then roll in bread crumbs and deep fry.

Do you want a boudin recipe?

Phil Moscowitz posted:

Shrimp etouffée.

Light roux.





Add trinity.




Some herbs.



Add shrimp stock.





A little butter to lightly sauté the shrimp.








Add the shrimp.



Done.

Phil Moscowitz posted:

My new favorite app...though the prices need to drop a bit! poo poo was like $5/lb during Mardi Gras

Phil Moscowitz posted:

I think it’s best fried, then tossed in sauce like buffalo wings.

I’ve marinated strips in a citrus marinade and grilled it on skewers too.

That Works posted:

I like it fried too. Usually I've had it chopped up in a fried meatball kinda thing.

https://www.cajuncookingrecipes.com/alligator/alligator3.htm

Ton of recipes out there for it but if you've got fillets I'd probably pound em flat and cook them up more like a beef milanese or something.

Phil Moscowitz posted:

Trying to force autumn to show up. Seafood gumbo (shrimp, lump crab).

Phil Moscowitz posted:

I just made it. I don't really use a particular recipe, but here's what I did last night.

2 celery ribs, chopped then run through the food processor until very finely diced (NOT pureed)
1 green bell pepper, same
1 large onion, same
8 cloves garlic, finely diced (I put those though a smaller processor because I'm lazy)
Chopped okra, frozen is fine
5-6 gumbo crabs
1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
about 1/2 lb lump blue crab meat
about 1/4 lb tasso
a couple very fat green onions from my garden (about as thick as the diameter of a nickel), white parts mixed with the onions and green tops thinly sliced
2 quarts homemade lobster stock and 1 quart shrimp stock
Seasonings as below

Roux - 1 cup flour in 1 cup oil over high heat, stirring with a whisk constantly for about 15 minutes, then gradually lowering the heat every 5 minutes until it looked like this, about 20-25 minutes total (picture is from immediately after adding the onions)



Add the onions, and cook another 5-10 minutes at medium/low heat, stirring frequently. Add the celery, garlic, and pepper and cook for a while longer. I then added the stock which I had heated up.

Now, a couple roux tips. 1:1 flour to oil ratio will get you a thinner roux that will always be a thick liquid until you add the vegetables. If you go with more flour, you will get a roux that is more solid, kind of like wet sand.

Also, when you get your roux as dark as this it's going to want to break and separate when you add the stock. It looks like tiny little globs of roux floating in the stock. Don't worry--this doesn't mean it's ruined, but it's important to whisk it together gently, one ladleful at a time, so that it can come together.

A caveat, though--if you have burned the roux, then it will separate in a similar fashion, it'll never come together properly, and your gumbo will taste bitter. But if you've brought it to the color of chocolate, and not coffee grounds, you should be okay. If you are at all in doubt, START OVER. Oil and flour are cheap and plentiful. Crabmeat and shrimp are not.

Once the stock is fully incorporated I usually add creole seasoning, a couple bay leaves, some fresh thyme, and salt & pepper to taste, as well as the gumbo crabs.

Gumbo crabs are smaller blue crabs that are really there more to soak and add sweetness as opposed to be eaten. You can buy them frozen at the supermarket. I also had a few soft shelled crabs that have been sitting in my freezer forever so I threw them in too. Over an hour or two all of their flavor comes out into the gumbo and I pull them out, except a few claws for decoration. You can eat the meat, but it's not quite as flavorful as, say, fresh boiled crabs.

Ok so after simmering for like 30-45 minutes I usually add 2/3 of the shrimp or so, along with the tasso chopped up and some Worcestershire sauce and whatever seasonings I need to adjust for flavoring. This gumbo is quite sweet from (a) the gumbo crabs, (b) the shrimp, (c) the lobster stock. Throw in a cup or so of chopped okra. Let it simmer another 30-45 minutes. When I'm about 10 minutes from wanting to serve it I throw in the lump crabmeat and the rest of the shrimp as well as the sliced green tops of the scallions.

Phil Moscowitz posted:

How did this go?

Made some crawfish etouffée tonight.



Usually buy pounds like this frozen, or fresh during crawfish season. It keeps very well, but needs to be thoroughly washed. If you don't wash them, they're about this interesting:



Then when you wash them...



...they get a little more fun:



Seasoning blend. Cayenne, black, white pepper, basil, thyme, salt.



Here's the stuff.





Let's make a drink. I would like to drink a French 75.





Make the light roux. These three pictures span about 6 minutes.








Add the trinity/garlic



Lobster stock is warm, and added to the pot.



In the meantime, melt some butter to sautee the crawfish with green onions.





Combine the crawfish and etouffee.



Add more butter to the etouffee because this is a Paul Prudhomme recipe.



And the final product!



Full stomach...

Nur_Neerg posted:

Casamento's: ten minutes into our meal Guy Fieri popped in to film a segment for Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. Girlfriend had to sign a waiver because she was in the shot the whole time.
Cochon: Ran into Guy Fieri here as well.

Phil Moscowitz posted:

Lol

The_Doctor posted:

This got posted on Reddit in the BR sub, and dang that gumbo looks good at the end.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5XXU47q9js

Phil Moscowitz posted:

Pretty sure Louisiana Kitchen is the only one you’d need.

Kaiser Schnitzel posted:

And what do I do with crawfish? It’s crawfish season and the whole suck the heads thing has always grossed me out and I don’t love real spicy stuff anyway. Are crawfish tails pretty much interchangeable with shrimp?

That Works posted:

You can also make crawfish monica which is really good but very rich.

Kaiser Schnitzel posted:

Y'all have any favorite cajun/creole cookbooks? I have this https://www.amazon.com/Leon-Galatoires-Cookbook-Galatoire/dp/0882899996/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=galatoirs&qid=1554343236&s=gateway&sr=8-2-spell and like it very much. I never would have thought to put Worcestershire sauce and red wine vinegar in my trout meuniere, but now I do and its great. Most recipes start with several tablespoons/cups of clarified butter, and as my dad says, you could dip your belt in clarified butter and it would be delicious. I'd love any other suggestions to broaden my horizons, especially with more Cajun stuff.

The_Doctor posted:

River Road Recipes is my go-to, although some of them are a little dated now, and others seem to depend on you feeding about 50 people per sitting.

Phil Moscowitz posted:

Folse's Encyclopedia is the best all around book for breadth and depth. Plenty of recipes to work with and it's a beautiful book. Not sure if its in print anymore. He has a few other books that are also very nice and have some duplication of recipes, but this one is the bible.

https://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Cajun-Creole-Cuisine/dp/0970445717

That Works posted:

I've got the Picayune cookbook (an amalgam of Picayne recipes put together in 1901 and reprinted in paperback).

That Works posted:

Yeah it's hilarious / amazing but most of the recipes still stand up well.

I. M. Gei posted:

Looking through the Picayune cookbook again and man, I REALLY wish there was a searchable easy-to-read Kindle version of this thing. I think Amazon used to have an updated version, but it’s out of print and doesn’t have a Kindle edition.

So many awesome looking recipes, but it’s so drat dense and tough to read, at least for me

I. M. Gei posted:

I’m making the orange pie on page 273 right now. Will post a trip report when it’s cooked and chilled and ready to eat.

Phil Moscowitz posted:

Yeah I would scarf 1/4 of that standing up at the stove after dinner

goodness posted:

Here is an annotated kindle version

https://www.amazon.com/Picayunes-American-Antiquarian-Cookbook-Collection-ebook/dp/B00BSHNZUQ/

I. M. Gei posted:

I’m making seafood gumbo for dinner tomorrow. The stock is cooking on the stove right now and the smell is making me tingly. Shrimp and crab shells. gently caress yeah.

Shooting Blanks posted:

Just a reminder that shrimp stock makes your kitchen smell awesome

neogeo0823 posted:

Hey goons, I found this dump of recipes. Maybe you'll enjoy them, maybe you already know them all. I dunno, but I'm looking forward to trying a few when next I have to go shopping.

Cooking For The Soon To Be Dead

neogeo0823 posted: