The Pepper In The Gumbo: A Cane River Romance (32 page)

According
to the last census, a quarter of a million people speak French in the home in
Louisiana. Most of these speakers use Cajun French, Louisiana Creole, or Creole
French. These dialects are similar, but distinct. The Creole people of the
Natchitoches region speak Louisiana Creole and that is the dialect that appears
in the story.

Sha
= dear, sweetie

Merci
(spelled a variety of
ways) = thank you

Misye
=
monsieur, sir

Manzelle
= mademoiselle,
miss

Bonswe
=
good evening

Donne moi un p'tit bec
= give me a kiss

Mais
= well

Natchitoches Meat Pies

I
know this recipe has about a gazillion steps but it’s worth the time and
effort! It’s a long list of ingredients, but they’re ones you probably already
have and you need every one, so don’t skip any. (Except maybe the jalapeño.
People argue about that one. I included it here because more people say it
should be in there, than it should be out. I personally don’t care for
jalapeños, so I leave them out. If you need it a little hotter, adjust the
Louisiana hot sauce to maybe 2 tsp instead of just the one.)

Ingredients

•           1
tablespoon  vegetable oil

•           1
pound ground beef

•           1
tablespoon salt

•           1
teaspoon paprika

•           1/2
teaspoon cayenne pepper

•           1/2
teaspoon chili powder

•           1/2
teaspoon ground cumin

•           1/2
teaspoon black pepper

•           4
small tomatoes, diced

•           1
green bell pepper, finely chopped

•           1
medium jalapeño pepper, finely chopped (optional)

•           1
small yellow onion, finely chopped

•           5
bay leaves

•           1
teaspoon thyme

•           1/2
teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

•           1
teaspoon Louisiana hot sauce or similar

•           2
tablespoons all-purpose flour

•           2
tablespoons water

•           ½
cup sliced green onions

•           Pie
dough, chilled (You can make it from a mix, or use the frozen pie dough, but
store-bought pie crust doesn’t fry as well as the home made. Just a heads up!)

•           1
large egg, lightly beaten

•           Vegetable
oil, for frying

1.
    
Combine the meat, salt, paprika,
cayenne, chili powder, cumin, and black pepper in a large skillet (even better
if it’s cast iron!). Cook the meat over medium
-
high
heat until it is lightly browned and all the ingredients are combined.

2.
    
T
hrow in the
chopped tomatoes, onion, bell pepper, jalapeño. Stir well. Add in the bay
leaves, thyme, and Worcestershire sauce. Cook for an additional 10 minutes or
so, until the veggies have gone soft and the liquid
starts
to evaporate. Take out the bay leaves and throw them away. Sprinkle the flour
over the meat and add the water. Stir it all together. Adding the flour keeps
the mix from
getting
too runny while it cooks in the pie dough. Add in the green onions and hot
sauce, mix well. (Nobody wants all the hot sauce in one pie.) Pour the meat
mixture into a bowl or pan to cool on the counter for about 20 minutes. (Make
sure you cover it if you have cats like I do. My first batch went to the
kitties. Apparently, they don’t mind Louisiana hot sauce at all.) Then put it
in the fridge until completely cooled. This will make it easier to work with
and you can store it covered, up to a day.

3.
    
Roll out the dough to about 1/8 of an
inch thick. Then, using a 4-inch biscuit cutter, cut the dough into circles.
Beat the large egg. Brush the outer edges of each circle with beaten egg. Place
2 1/2 tablespoons of filling into the center. Fold the circle over the filling
to make a half circle. Press the edges closed with a fork and place onto a
baking sheet.

The pies fry up better if you keep the
dough nice and chilled, so when a sheet is filled, pop it into the fridge to
keep it firm. When you’re ready to fry, you can bring them out one sheet at a
time.

 
I love using a Fry Daddy or Fry Baby, but you can always fry the meat pies in a
cast iron skillet or Dutch oven. Use a candy thermometer to check when about 2-
3 inches of vegetable oil reaches 350º F. Fry them four or five at a time,
until golden brown. Remove from the oil and set on a plate covered with several
paper towels, to soak up the excess oil. Let them cool for several minutes and
enjoy!

Gumbo

This
recipe takes a lot of time, stirring, and watching the pot. But it’s absolutely
worth it. If you’ve never had home-made gumbo, you’ve just never had gumbo!

Ingredients

•           1
cup all-purpose flour

•           3/4
cup bacon drippings

•           1
large green bell pepper, chopped

•           1
cup chopped celery, about three stalks

•           1
large onion, chopped

•           2
cloves garlic, minced

•           1
pound good sausage, like Andouille sausage, sliced

•           3
quarts beef stock

•           1
tablespoon white sugar

•           salt
to taste

•           2
tablespoons Louisiana hot sauce or to taste (I usually cut this to one tablespoon,
because I’m a weenie)

•           1/2
teaspoon Cajun seasoning blend (see below for a homemade blend)

•           5
bay leaves

•           1/2
teaspoon dried thyme

•           1
(14.5 ounce) can whole stewed tomatoes

•           1
(6 ounce) can tomato sauce

•           2
teaspoons gumbo file powder (you can order this online)

•           2
tablespoons bacon drippings (I know we already have bacon drippings, but this
is for another step. Yay for lard! Seriously, you can substitute olive oil.)

•           2
(10 ounce) packages frozen cut okra, thawed

•           2
1/2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar

•           1
pound crabmeat

•           3
pounds uncooked medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

•           2
tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

•           2
teaspoons gumbo file powder

Creole seasoning

 
There are lots of recipes for Creole seasoning but I like this one from Emeril
Lagasse. I adjusted it a little because I like more garlic powder!

•           2
tablespoons paprika

•           2
tablespoons salt

•           2
1/2 tablespoons garlic powder

•           1
tablespoon black pepper

•           1
tablespoon onion powder

•           1
tablespoon cayenne pepper

•           1
tablespoon dried oregano

•           1
tablespoon dried thyme

Directions

1.         Whisk
the flour and 3/4 cup bacon drippings together in a large, heavy saucepan (like
cast iron) over medium-low heat until it’s smooth. This is your roux and it’s
the basis of much of Creole cooking. Whisk constantly, until it turns to a rich,
mahogany brown color. This takes about twenty minutes and if you don’t watch,
it will burn. I always set one of my kids on this step so I can keep chopping
ingredients. After it browns, take it from the heat and keep whisking until
it’s cooled or it will burn even after you’ve removed it from the stove. The
joy of cast iron pans!

2.         Finely
chop the celery, onion, green bell pepper, and garlic. Stir the vegetables and
sausage into the roux. Bring the mixture to a simmer, and cook until vegetables
are translucent and tender, about 10 to 15 minutes. Set to the side.

3.         Bring
the beef stock to a boil in a large soup pot. Make sure you have enough room
for what you’re going to add in, so a nice tall pot will do. Slowly whisk the
roux mixture into the boiling water. Mix in the sugar, salt, hot pepper sauce,
Cajun seasoning, bay leaves, thyme, tomatoes, and tomato sauce. Lower the heat
to a simmer. Let it simmer for one hour. Mix in 2 teaspoons of file gumbo
powder about half way through that hour.

4.         Melt
the 2 tablespoons of bacon drippings (or olive oil) in your pan. Cook the okra
with vinegar over medium heat for about 15 minutes. Add the okra to the gumbo,
leaving the drippings in the pan. Mix in the crabmeat, shrimp, and
Worcestershire sauce. Simmer until flavors have blended, about another hour.
Stir in 2 more teaspoons of file gumbo powder about ten minutes before serving.
Enjoy!