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A SHORT HISTORY OF GUMBO

by Stanley Dry

Of all the dishes in the realm of Louisiana cooking, gumbo is the most famous and, verylikely, the most popular. Gumbo crosses all class barriers, appearing on the tables of the

poor as well as the wealthy. Although ingredients might vary greatly from one cook tothe net, and from one part of the state to another, a steaming bowl of fragrant gumbois one of life!s cherished pleasures, as emblematic of Louisiana as chili is of "eas.

Gumbo is often cited as an eample of the melting#pot nature of Louisiana cooking sinceit includes ingredients and cooking styles from Africa, Spain, $rance, and %ativeAmerican. &ut trying to sort out the origins and evolution of the dish is highlyspeculative. "he name derives from a 'est African word for okra, suggesting that gumbowas originally made with okra. "he use of (l) *dried and ground sassafras leaves+ was a

contribution of the hoctaws and, possibly, other local tribes. -ou has its origin in$rench cuisine, although the rou used in gumbos is much darker than its Gallic cousins.

"oday, the gumbos people are most familiar with are seafood gumbo and chicken andsausage gumbo. &ut that merely scratches the surface of gumbo cookery, both historicaland contemporary.

Lafcadio earn!s La Cuisine Creole, published in /001, contains recipes for severalgumbos made from a variety of ingredients2chicken, ham, bacon, oysters, crab, shrimp,

and beef, among them. Some of the recipes are made with okra, others with (l).Although there is no mention of a rou in any of the recipes, some of them call for theaddition of 3our or browned 3our as a thickener.

The Picayunes Creole Cookbook, published in %ew Orleans in /45/, includes recipes fora variety of gumbos. Among the principal ingredients are chicken, ham, oysters, turkey,wild turkey, s6uirrel, rabbit, beef, veal, crabs, soft#shell crabs, shrimp, greens, andcabbage. Some of the gumbos are made with okra, others with (l).

"raditionally, gumbos have been divided into two large categories2those thickened withokra and those thickened with (l). According to some accounts, before the advent ofrefrigeration and free7ers, okra was the preferred thickening agent for gumbo, while (l)was a substitute used only in the o8#season when okra wasn!t available. "hat soundsplausible, but 9!ve also come across references to dried okra as an ingredient in /4th#century gumbos. &y drying okra, cooks could use it in their gumbos year round.

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9n some respects, putting gumbo into either an okra or a (l) category is still valid, but formany cooks, a brown rou is the only thickener, and (l) has virtually disappeared fromtheir recipes. Often rou#based gumbos do incorporate (l), and to my taste they are thebetter for it. $il) is used both for thickening and for 3avor. 9t is usually added to a gumbo:ust before serving, or at the table. ;any okra gumbos also incorporate a brown rou andsome rou#based gumbo contain a small amount of okra, often cooked until it virtuallydissolves.

9f all those variations aren!t confusing enough, there are also raging controversies overwhat constitutes a proper gumbo rou. -ou is 3our that has been browned in oil orsome other fat. &oth cooks and eaters have their own opinions on how dark the roushould be and how much should be used in a gumbo. "here is no agreement on thesematters, as anyone who has tasted gumbos from di8erent cooks can attest.

Seafood gumbos often include crabs, shrimp, and oysters. Shrimp and okra gumbo is a

perennial favorite, as is chicken and okra gumbo. hicken and sausage gumbo isetremely popular, and in the households of hunters, ducks and other game birds oftenwind up in the gumbo pot. "urkey and sausage gumbos appear fre6uently during the"hanksgiving and hristmas holidays. An unusual but delicious combination is a gumboof steak, smoked sausage, and oysters. Some cooks use ham or tasso in their gumbos,and others use fresh sausage in place of the smoked variety. "he possible combinationsare virtually endless.

One ingredient that does arouse controversy is the tomato. Some cooks use it in theirgumbos, others wouldn!t be caught dead putting tomato in theirs. 9n that respect, thesituation is analogous to :ambalaya, where the 6uestion of the appropriateness of tomatois a burning issue. "omatoes are most often found in okra gumbos, but 9!ve had rou#based seafood gumbo that also contained tomato. 9n my eperience, tomatoes in gumbo*:ust as in :ambalaya+ are found more in %ew Orleans, where wealthy Spanish and $renchancestry could a8ord them for their dishes. 'est of %ew Orleans, tomatoes in dishes arerare, however, as cultures mied you can (nd people west and in %ew Orleans whoalways put tomatoes in their gumbo or who absolutely refuse them.

One point everyone can agree on is that gumbo is always served with rice. -ice iscooked separately and a scoop of rice is served on top of the bowl of gumbo. owever,that was not always the case. .. -obin, a $renchman who published an account of histravels in Louisiana in /05