Introduction

My name is Taylor Hargrave and I was born and raised in South Louisiana.  The goal of this blog is to help preserve the culture that I was raised in and that I have grown to love.  Residents of this region do not merely live here.  This is our home and it is who we are.  We love the Saints, the Tigers, our dogs, cold beer, and food.  As a means to reach my goal I will be concentrating on the Cajun and Creole methods of cooking.  I have never attended any type of culinary school so many things on this blog may contradict what you have previously learned.  Every time I cook something it always tastes a little bit different than the last time, and that my friends, is what makes cooking so unique.  Each time I prepare a dish I will be taking step by step photos and explaining a little about the cooking process.  Please feel free to change up the recipes and let me know the results.  Enjoy - Taylor

Hen and Sausage Gumbo

Hello everybody, this will be my first recipe posted on this blog.  A basic hen and sausage gumbo with potato salad and garlic butter bread.  I've chosen this recipe for two reasons: 1 - it a good chance to explain the roux making process 2 - it is prefect gumbo weather outside.


THE GROCERY STORE
Let us start with the grocery store trip.  You can always add or omit some of these items, but like I said we will keep this basic.  So go to your favorite grocery store and pick up the following items: a whole hen, gizzards and hearts, chicken necks, andouille sausage, tasso, onion, celery, bell pepper, parsley, green onion tops, garlic, flour, vegetable oil, carrots, potatoes, eggs, mustard, mayonnaise, French bread, and last but not least your beverage of choice.  Now that we have all of our supplies on to the prep work.


PREP WORK
I like to get everything ready before I fire up the burner because nobody like to chop veggies while stirring a roux.  First let's prepare the meat.  The hearts need no prep work so we can throw them into our chicken bowl.  The gizzards on the other hand do need to be trimmed a little bit.  If you look at the gizzards closely you can see the blood red meat (the good stuff) and the rubbery white connective tissue on one side.  We are going to slice the rubbery part off so that when we eat our gumbo all the gizzards will be nice and tender.

trimming gizzards

  You can always skip this step if you like chewy gizzards.  So now we have our hearts and gizzards in our chicken bowl.

gizzards and hearts

Now on to the hen.  Try to buy a nice fat motherly looking hen, because we got mouths to feed.  Quarter up your hen trying not to butcher it too bad. We will come out with 2 breasts, 2 thighs, 2 wings, 2 drumsticks, and a back. 

cut up hen

Now get as much meat off of the back as you can then throw the bones into your favorite stock pot.  Season the meat with your favorite blend of spices.  I'm using a seasoning blend, garlic power, and paprika, but use whatever your taste buds like.  Once you have seasoned the front and back throw your cut up hen into your chicken bowl. Don't short change your hen and just season the front either, that's not nice.  Now the meat is all prepped up and hopefully we didn't cross contaminate anything because salmonella don't play and I'm runing short on sick time.  Lets get back to our stock pot and add the chicken necks, very roughly chopped carrots and celery, minced garlic, salt, and whole black peppercorns. 

stock pot

Make sure not to use all of your garlic because we have a few more things to do with it.  This will be the chicken stock that we will use later.  On to the Cajun trinity.  What is the Cajun trinity you might ask.  It is a combination of chopped celery, onion, and bell pepper.  Nearly all gravies or sauces incorporate some form of this holy mixture into the process.  Nothing smells as good as cold chopped veggies hitting the black pot once you've browned a little meat in it.  So chop up your celery, bell pepper, yellow onion, and throw some mined garlic on top of that.  So now we have our chicken bowl, stock pot, and veggie bowl.  Open up your sausage and tasso and thinly slice the sausage then chop up the tasso.

tasso and sausage

Now all of our  prep work is complete, so open up your brew and let's take this party outside.


A FEW THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND

1. Black cast iron pots are usually the way to go when cooking Cajun dishes because they retain heat well, they make an awesome roux, and they don't break.
2. The pot might not break but it will break your glass top stove, so do everyone a favor and invest in a propane burner, besides it's way more fun to cook outside anyway.
3. I have 3 utensils that I deem necessary for the kitchen which are: a strong set of tongs for lifting meat, a wooden flat tip spatula for making a roux and whatnot, and a metal flat tip gravy spoon for scraping the bottom of the pot to stir up your graton.
4. Call some friends to come over because nobody likes to cook or drink alone, but I'll do it if they make me.
5. Setup your cooking area with a cold beverage and some music and we're ready to light the burner.


COOKING IT UP

Turn your burner on medium and add your sausage and tasso.  We want this to get a little black on the outside because it adds flavor and we want to get as much grease out of these products as possible.   If we don't brown the meat before adding it to the gumbo then a thick layer of grease will float on the surface - not good.

browning tasso and sausage

Once we have reached this point take the meat out and place the hen in the pot.  Don't burn the hen but dont be scared either, and if you're scared, just say you're scared.

browning hen

After the hen has been satisfactorily browned on all sides take it out and place it in a clean bowl.  At this time lets add water to our stock pot and bring to a boil.  Once our stock is boiling reduce to a simmer a leave it covered. 

boiling stock

Now it's time for the roux.  The single most important part of making a gumbo is the roux.  Without it you'll be eating a soup.  Okra or file can be used instead of a roux, but for this gumbo only a roux will doux.  A roux is simply oil slowly frying flour, and it is all about your ratio and heat.  I usually use a ratio of about 4:3 flour:oil, but because I still have some grease in the pot from browning my meat I will take that into account and use less oil.  Turn your fire down to low and add your flour and oil.  Stir the roux until you get a light brown uniform color.

starting roux

Now, roux is easy to burn so constant stirring is required and slowly increase your fire to low medium - medium.  Once you have burned a roux there is no salvation, so if it's gone black, it won't come back.  After an hour or so the roux will be a dark brown or reddish color and have a great nutty smell.  After our roux is on point then add all of your chopped up veggies to the roux.  This will result in a dark clumpy mixture with brightly colored veggies. 

roux with veggies

If the smell doesn't make you want to slap yo mama then you did something wrong.
 Stir this mixture for about 10 minutes then strain all of your stock into the main pot.

after adding stock

It should be smelling really good now.  If you need to add water to achieve adequate thickness of the gumbo do it now.  Gumbo should be thicker than soup but it should still fall off of a spoon like a liquid, not a paste. Our gumbo is starting to look and smell right.  Bring this to a boil and reduce to a simmer.  Once our pot is simmering add all of the hen, sausage and tasso, and hearts and gizzards. 

after adding meat

Cover your gumbo and let it simmer until the biggest chunks of meat become fork tender.  Season to taste with your favorite seasoning blend and voila, we have a gumbo. 

THE SIDES

Boil some red potatoes and eggs in salted water.  Peel the eggs and combine the potatoes and eggs together in a mixing bowl to mash.  Add mustard and mayonnaise to achieve a tasty consistency.  It's good to have some chunks of potato and egg because nobody likes the texture of baby food.  Season to taste and our potato salad is finished. Roast some garlic in the oven at 400 for about 25 minutes.  Melt 1 stick of butter in the microwave.  Slice open your loaf of French bread.  When your garlic is finished pop out the cloves and mix into the melted butter and lather your bread with it.  Now toast your bread in the oven for about 10 minutes. 

garlic butter bread, chopped parsely and onion tops

1.  spoon some gumbo over white rice - Louisiana rice of course
2.  get some potato salad and French bread
3.  put some chopped parsley and onion tops on that gumbo
4.  get a fresh beverage and sit around a table with friends and enjoy.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this adventure as much as I did creating it.  Next time I will remember to take better pictures of the finished product, sorry Corey for cutting your face off in the last one.  I have many more recipes in the works and some collaborations to come.  Please let me know if you try this method out. 
Until next time, keep your guns clean and your dogs fed - Taylor