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That Works posted:Catching a plane to NOLA as we speak. Will check out cookbook / hopefully post pics when I return. Hit me up.
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Mar 12, 2016 05:04
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Phil Moscowitz posted:Hit me up. I would if I had free time but just here for a wedding then jumping right back out sadly.
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Mar 12, 2016 07:23
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That Works posted:I would if I had free time but just here for a wedding then jumping right back out sadly. Then have a good time! Stay dry.
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Mar 12, 2016 14:34
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Phil Moscowitz posted:Then have a good time! Stay dry. It was a good trip, did a lot of tourist type stuff since I was there with the yankee wife. Most of the time we were out in Thibodaux anyways. I did end up having dinner at Chophouse and it was spectacular. Expensive though, but I couldn't complain about a single thing we ate. Came back to Boston for a week of good weather and now today on the 1st day of spring being greeted with 8" of snow. So, chicken and sausage jambalaya 
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Mar 20, 2016 18:07
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that's a fine looking jambalya, sir. Thankfully we escaped the snow here in NJ.
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Mar 21, 2016 10:27
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With Good Friday approaching, does anyone have a good gumbo z'herbes recipe?
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Mar 23, 2016 15:29
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I am probably going to make Fuckabees's gumbo again sometime in the near future. Right now I'm trying to decide whether to use the two jars of crawfish stock I made and froze four months ago, or make some fresh. How long does crawfish stock keep for? Also, is there anything wrong with putting scallops and/or calamari in gumbo? Both are lean and high in protein and I'm wondering how they'd taste with shrimp.
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Apr 27, 2016 04:22
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Four months in a regular freezer isn't too bad, provided it wasn't in the door or anything. A chest deep freeze, on the other hand, four months is nothing. Though, if you do the ice-cubes thing (while convenient) it isn't great for longevity; too much surface area. You will just want to look for freezer-burn-type desiccation on the surface and if it is there, just scrape and rinse it off with hot knife and water for a bit to get rid of it. And with most long term stocks, you will want to bring it to a full boil for a good minute or two before use. You never know what took up residence during the cooling phase. Spoilage isn't really the big concern in the freezer, just oxidization and if you left fat in/on it, rancidification. Those are somewhat recoverable, but with any freezer-archaeology finds, just be a bit wary before you start dumping your expensive ingredients into possibly off stock.
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Apr 27, 2016 14:23
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I'm pretty sure every Cajun south of I-10 would retch at the idea of scallops and calamari in their gumbo. I think they will give it a different flavor, but I've never tried and can't tell you if it's good or bad. Certainly they're less offensive than putting clams or mussels in there, I would think. Is it seafood only? What else is in there as far as proteins? I use frozen stock in gumbo many months after I make it with no problem.
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Apr 27, 2016 14:35
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I would say heat the stock up separately and taste it but its almost certain to be fine. I've had gumbo from dudes back home in venice with squid in it before since we pull them out of the gulf. It wasn't bad but they don't add much to it compared to oysters or shrimp. I made one once with scallops, shrimp and crab because that's all I could get that looked decent quality while I was living in the middle of Texas for a while and I wanted a pot of seafood gumbo. It came out pretty good in the end. Scallops would probably do fine. I don't think people need to be too particular about what goes into a gumbo. By it's nature it's a catch-all type of dish. I would say throw in a few shakes of fish sauce along with your stock. I've done that to my gumbos over the last few years and it gives a good flavor. To elaborate on Phil's comment, I have tried fatbelly clams in a gumbo once because I got a bunch fresh for real cheap here in New England and fried half of them, used the other half in a few dishes. That particular variety of clam tastes a lot like oysters and it made for a really good gumbo. Never tried mussels as I don't imagine they would taste as good. Regular clams probably would taste like poo poo in that imo.
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Apr 27, 2016 15:56
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Yeah to be clear I wasn't saying don't put it in there, it's gumbo. Put whatever you have in there, that's how gumbo came about. I'd be interested to see how it turns out so please report back. My biggest reason for not putting anything but shrimp, crab, and oysters is probably that I have no idea where the mussels, clams, or whatever else came from, or how long they've been out of the water. I've had bad experiences with mussels and clams bought down here being uh...pungent. But I love clams and mussels, I just think they don't mix with the sweetness of crab, oysters and shrimp. Calamari is basically tasteless so I'm sure it would have no real impact on the general flavor of the gumbo, especially if you are using crawfish stock made from boiled crawfish shells, which are usually so seasoned they produce a powerful stock (at least mine do).
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Apr 27, 2016 16:27
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Phil Moscowitz posted:Yeah to be clear I wasn't saying don't put it in there, it's gumbo. Put whatever you have in there, that's how gumbo came about. I'd be interested to see how it turns out so please report back. I agree with all of that. Let us know how it comes out Gitmo. Am curious as well. One thing I gotta say about New England, the oysters up here are ridiculously good. More flavor than gulf oysters I am sad to admit. They are about 2/3 the size or smaller though so not as good for frying up but great raw or in lightly cooked stuff.
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Apr 27, 2016 16:31
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Phil Moscowitz posted:I'm pretty sure every Cajun south of I-10 would retch at the idea of scallops and calamari in their gumbo. I think they will give it a different flavor, but I've never tried and can't tell you if it's good or bad. Certainly they're less offensive than putting clams or mussels in there, I would think. It's just seafood. Shrimp and possibly either crawfish or calamari. I'm also using half the rice and doubling the total quantity of meat, so it'll either be 6 lbs of shrimp or 3 lbs of shrimp and 3 lbs of one of the other meats. ... I... enjoy shrimp.
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Apr 27, 2016 22:47
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The only thing I'd worry with scallops, is to not let them disintegrate by overcooking them.
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Apr 29, 2016 17:06
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I would imagine you would cook them like how you'd do small shrimp: just dump them in as you kill the heat. The residual heat'll cook em nicely without overdoing it.
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Apr 29, 2016 17:20
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Well it looks like my gumbo won't be featuring calamari after all. Also I couldn't find the bagged seasoned whole crawfish I used last time, so instead I'll be using fresh cooked whole crawfish from the seafood counter. I'll still use 6 lbs of shrimp, although I'm a little disappointed with the quality of the shrimp I just bought at the grocery store. They should be fine, but they're not the brand I was hoping to find. I'll try to remember to post pics.
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Apr 30, 2016 03:39
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Dr. Gitmo Moneyson posted:Well it looks like my gumbo won't be featuring calamari after all. Also I couldn't find the bagged seasoned whole crawfish I used last time, so instead I'll be using fresh cooked whole crawfish from the seafood counter. It's posts like this that make me so thankful to live in a place where the "brand" of shrimp I buy is "shrimp that a guy in a boat pulled out of the gulf the other day" /humblebrag Are you not using scallops anymore? I was wondering if they were going to be bay or sea scallops?
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Apr 30, 2016 14:51
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Phil Moscowitz posted:It's posts like this that make me so thankful to live in a place where the "brand" of shrimp I buy is "shrimp that a guy in a boat pulled out of the gulf the other day" /humblebrag I might still use scallops if I can find some at my grocery store. If I do then they're going to be the little ones.
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Apr 30, 2016 20:16
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Just came in to post that Crystal is the best drat hot sauce around, and all the Vietnamese places near me swear by it.
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May 1, 2016 01:34
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The restaurant I work at has been putting Trappey's on the table and I gotta say, I'm digging that stuff.
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May 1, 2016 01:46
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Made a gumbo with a roux properly measuring it out and drat, the thickening power is way stronger than I thought. 6 oz of butter, 6 oz of flour. Before I just eyeballed the flour bc I didn't have a scale, I probably used way less. It was a nice light brown when I added the veg to stop it. I meant to use AP flour, but I only had bread flour on hand. Does it make a difference? Very thick texture and I think it made the gumbo more filling.
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May 2, 2016 19:11
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Comb Your Beard posted:Made a gumbo with a roux properly measuring it out and drat, the thickening power is way stronger than I thought. 6 oz of butter, 6 oz of flour. Before I just eyeballed the flour bc I didn't have a scale, I probably used way less. It was a nice light brown when I added the veg to stop it. I dont know of any comparison between types of wheat flour for it off hand. Maybe someone else will have more knowledge. I usually use a 1:1 volume ratio for fat / starch for mine instead of a 1:1 mass ratio. I imagine 6oz of flour is a lot more volume than 6oz of butter and that might be why it came out pretty thick. Nothing wrong with a thicker gumbo imo though although some might not expect it.
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May 2, 2016 19:23
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The thickening power difference should be negligible between standard flour types (AP, bread, cake). Thickening is a function of starch gelation, which is the carbs taking in water, and not the proteins responsible for gluten, which is what the flour grades are letting you know. However, the thickening power is greatly dependent on how far you take the roux. The most basic, white roux will have 4-5x the thickening power of a very dark roux.
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May 2, 2016 21:53
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 i boiled 20 pounds of these little bastards this weekend. It wasn't cheap getting fresh live Louisiana crawfish in Missouri but it was so worth it. . e: No after pics. They were eaten rapidly.
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May 19, 2016 05:20
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holttho posted:However, the thickening power is greatly dependent on how far you take the roux. The most basic, white roux will have 4-5x the thickening power of a very dark roux. 6oz of flour is also a lot more than 1 cup, so unless you're doing a really big pot of gumbo that sounds like an awful lot. And can you even make a new olreans dark roux with butter? It would scorch the butter fat when the flour starts browning, wouldn't it?
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May 20, 2016 00:31
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Klyith posted:
If you want some of the flavor and don't want to use vegetable oil, you can clarify your butter and use that. I don't think it matters a whole lot though, I've made plenty of dark roux with butter and it's fine.
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May 20, 2016 00:44
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I made a roux with lard this winter and it was by far the best one I've ever had.
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May 20, 2016 01:51
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Klyith posted:Oh man that explains some things. I once made an etoufee for an event where I was working in an unfamiliar kitchen, and between not having great equipment and cooking for people that I didn't know all that well, I stopped it at kinda medium. I ended up only putting like half the roux in and it was still a bit over-thick. Yea, fine tuning the thickness on a gumbo or something at the end can be a bit fiddly since you don't always know exactly how thick your thickener will get. 6oz by weight would by nearly 35%(!) overweight for a cup. A true "cup" of flour is very nearly 125g. I just remember it as 1/8th (of a kilogram). And since I rarely touch flour without a scale handy, it works great.
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May 20, 2016 04:08
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Phil Moscowitz posted:It's posts like this that make me so thankful to live in a place where the "brand" of shrimp I buy is "shrimp that a guy in a boat pulled out of the gulf the other day" /humblebrag I drive I-20 across the top of Louisiana all the time, and there are little white signs along the side of the highway saying "Jumbo Shrimp $5.99 / lb" and that's it. No phone number, no "at the Shell Station" which is where I'm guessing they are, no info at all. One day when I'm driving a car and not my big rig I will find and eat those shrimp.
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May 22, 2016 21:52
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holttho posted:However, the thickening power is greatly dependent on how far you take the roux. The most basic, white roux will have 4-5x the thickening power of a very dark roux. Doing gumbo again tonight, and that's what I have worked out during previous cooks. The darker the roux, the less it will thicken. I normally take my roux to pretty dark (40min cooking/stirring), and it doesn't thicken a lot in the end, just enough to make a sauce from stock. Nothing like a light roux and bechamel for example. I normally do 3/4 cup oil and 3/4 C flour (not finely sifted, just junk straight from the bag so it's pretty compacted) with 5 cups of stock.
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Jun 8, 2016 13:04
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eK4umRMJlrs Super simple gumbo recipe by one of the greats. I can never seem to get my roux quite that dark without the flavor going too bitter, even if I get it there very very slowly on a low heat. I wonder if some of that is due to the poor lighting / video quality or not.
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Jul 20, 2016 21:00
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That Works posted:Super simple gumbo recipe by one of the greats. It looks like crude oil in the pot so at least a bit must be the video, but he describes it as dutch chocolate so still pretty drat dark. I'm a coward so I go just a shade beyond peanut butter color then turn off the heat (though I also use a heavy pan that holds heat so it gets a bit darker before I add stock to stop it). So this is just a guess, but the bitter flavor might not be the flour getting "burned"; it could be the oil getting rancid aka oxidized. Normally oil going rancid takes a long time but heat makes it happen much faster. And if it's more about the oil chemistry than the flour you may actually need to use higher heat. That cooks it faster = less time for the chemical oxidation reaction to happen. That could be the reason that the normal instructions for cajun roux is to use high heat. He's using olive oil, which seemed odd to me but if it's regular or light rather than EVOO that might be good. Regular olive oil is pretty stable, which is why isn't not good for seasoning your pans. (I've been reading up on oil chemistry because I got a carbon steel pan. Finding out exactly what the "seasoning" is and why it works was enlightening.) Alternate explanation: his roux got totally burned while telling the long joke and he kept going because he wasn't gonna eat it anyways.
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Jul 20, 2016 22:06
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 at the alternate explanation. I guess it could be some kind of rancid type process. Wouldn't have guessed that though. I tried making an olive oil roux one time. It was... really bad. Doubt I'll do that again. These days I just use butter or if I have some on hand, peanut oil.
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Jul 20, 2016 22:21
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1. Drive just west of Baton Rouge across the bridge. 2. Drive thru Lafayette to around Lacassine. 3. From there, drive NE to Marksville. Congrats! You've just outlined the Best Food in the U.S. triangle!
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Jul 21, 2016 00:48
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Man when I think of cajun food, two things come to mind: 1) middle school cafeteria """jambalaya""" which was essentially orange rice, random vegetable, and hot dogs 2) my parents deciding to make gumbo and spending about five hours doing it because we're a new orleans family we are loving SERIOUS ABOUT OUR GUMBO DAMNIT
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Jul 21, 2016 10:57
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So today in Chicago was the middle of a 'heat advisory' as it was 94F and 80% humidity. What better to do with these conditions than cook something from my new favorite cuisine: I figure sweating it out for a few hours in a sauna-esque kitchen with an absolutely biblical thunderstorm going on outside with pint after pint of some lovely crisp cool beer will get me in the right place. I know we northerners know nothing of wet heat, but you know, baby steps. I'm using the OP recipe from That Works as I've never been steered wrong. My only change was (I don't know if this is blasphemy or not) but I like just a dash of cumin in my Hot Wet Rice. Also, my local Mexican grocer rarely carries cayenne as that would be too gentrified; I will cobble together some heat for it using some Arbol, Piquin, some Birdseye chilies I grow, and something that I lost the label to. I'm making a double batch; using a home made/smoked andouille sausage and a goodly amount of chicken thighs. I used all the chicken scraps + 2 Tecate beers in a pressure cooker to make some manky stock for the cookin. Used the rendered chicken fat to fry all the meats and saute the veg. poo poo, I paid for it, I'm gonna use it all.     Not pictured: an absolute haze of aromatics that I just can't clear out of the kitchen. This will be my life for a good few days. Another great success! Rice turned out just perfect cooked around 325F for 40min.
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Jul 22, 2016 05:35
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That Works posted:
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Jul 22, 2016 06:20
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Jul 22, 2016 12:41
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Ate 2 big lobsters as sort of a celebratory thing and boiled down the bodies afterward to make lobster stock. Thinking of using it for something Cajun-esque. I usually make Gumbo but I'm thinking going for Jumbalaya from-scratch. Would that be good? Also, is Jasmine rice acceptable? I also have Basmati on hand, but I figure the former would be better.
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Jul 28, 2016 16:02
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Comb Your Beard posted:Ate 2 big lobsters as sort of a celebratory thing and boiled down the bodies afterward to make lobster stock. Thinking of using it for something Cajun-esque. I usually make Gumbo but I'm thinking going for Jumbalaya from-scratch. Would that be good? I use Jasmine rice in mine all the time. It's great. Lobster stock would be good in a shrimp containing jambalaya of some kind I am sure
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Jul 28, 2016 16:28
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