Maw Maw Kingfish’s New Orleans Gumbo
5 pounds okra, cut in ? inch slices
4 pounds shrimp, cleaned
4 large crabs, broken up
2 ham steaks, chopped
1 veal steak, chopped
1 large can tomatoes
2 pounds crab meat, lump white meat
2 large onions, chopped
8 garlic cloves, chopped
1 bunch fresh parsley, chopped
2 bay leaves
flour
season to taste
water
Put sliced okra in pot and smother for one hour. Add tomatoes (chopped or
mashed) and cook down. Saute chopped onion and garlic in a little oil and/or
butter. Add veal, chopped in small pieces, and browned. Add flour and brown
then add ham and mix in with okra. Poor a small amount of water in fry
(saute) pan getting up browned flour and add to soup. (If soup is too thin
add a little corn starch with water to thicken.) Add broken crabs and cook
for about 2 hours. Add shrimp and cook for an hour. Add crab meat and
parsley at the end and continue to cook for a short time. Add tabasco or any
other seasoning to taste.
Note:
Most other gumbo recipes do not call for meat due to the fact that in the
country gumbo was made on Friday. Since most of the country folk were
Catholic and Catholics didn’t eat meat on Friday it wasn’t used in the
recipe, only seafood was used. This recipe has passed down from “Maw Maw
Kingfish’s” grandmother and has not really been written down since the
preparation was learned by watching and doing. For this reason the amounts
are approximate and experimentation to your own taste is encouraged. “Maw
Maw Kingfish” made the best gumbo in New Orleans and everyone always raved about it.