The recent thread on Gumbo brought to mind the recipe that has been in my family for about a century, which my mother got from her Aunt Lillian. Here it is as she wrote it. You may want to use a bit more ham ...
Lillian Wismauer’s Creole Gumbo Recipe (c. 1920?)
(4 people)
Ingredients:
1 lb okra
1 15-cent slice of raw ham
2 lbs of shrimp
10 crabs or ½ lb of crab meat
1 can of Del Monte Tomato Sauce
Scant teaspoonful of flour
Directions:
Wash shrimp several times: peel.
Wash okra, cut stems off, slice very thinly.
Cut fat off the sides of the ham after cutting off the extreme ends.
Slice fat into small pieces (cubes), put aside.
Slice ham into small cubes.
We are now ready to begin.
Put pan on fire with a small amount of lard.
When this is hot, fry small cubes of ham fat until a little brown.
Add ham and fry, this for about two minutes (don’t let it get hard).
Then, push ham to sides and add shrimp about a dozen at a time. They will turn pink when they are fried. Just turn over once or twice, then move to the sides of pan and add more.
When this is complete add cut okra. Stir this around several times, then turn fire off and let this mixture stand while you prepare the gravy.
Take one large onion and one small sweet pepper. Cut both up fine.
Put on another frying pan (if you have one), add a tablespoon of lard and fry onion and sweet pepper until light brown. Then add a scant teaspoon of flour. Let this get a little brown, then add tomato sauce (can). Stir around a few times then add 2 cans of water. Pour this over other ingredients and cook over slow fire about 1 or 1 ½ hours. When shrimp are soft it is done.
If it cooks down too much you can add water. If you use raw crab put them in right away. If you use crab meat, put this in about 15 minutes before serving.
Hope it’s good.
Lillian Wismauer’s Creole Gumbo Recipe (c. 1920?)
(4 people)
Ingredients:
1 lb okra
1 15-cent slice of raw ham
2 lbs of shrimp
10 crabs or ½ lb of crab meat
1 can of Del Monte Tomato Sauce
Scant teaspoonful of flour
Directions:
Wash shrimp several times: peel.
Wash okra, cut stems off, slice very thinly.
Cut fat off the sides of the ham after cutting off the extreme ends.
Slice fat into small pieces (cubes), put aside.
Slice ham into small cubes.
We are now ready to begin.
Put pan on fire with a small amount of lard.
When this is hot, fry small cubes of ham fat until a little brown.
Add ham and fry, this for about two minutes (don’t let it get hard).
Then, push ham to sides and add shrimp about a dozen at a time. They will turn pink when they are fried. Just turn over once or twice, then move to the sides of pan and add more.
When this is complete add cut okra. Stir this around several times, then turn fire off and let this mixture stand while you prepare the gravy.
Take one large onion and one small sweet pepper. Cut both up fine.
Put on another frying pan (if you have one), add a tablespoon of lard and fry onion and sweet pepper until light brown. Then add a scant teaspoon of flour. Let this get a little brown, then add tomato sauce (can). Stir around a few times then add 2 cans of water. Pour this over other ingredients and cook over slow fire about 1 or 1 ½ hours. When shrimp are soft it is done.
If it cooks down too much you can add water. If you use raw crab put them in right away. If you use crab meat, put this in about 15 minutes before serving.
Hope it’s good.
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