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You are here: Home / Food & Recipes / Cooking / Open Thread: Thursday Night Menu

Open Thread: Thursday Night Menu

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From our indefatiguable Food Goddess, TaMara:

I struggled with tonight’s menu. I was going to do gumbo, but I don’t feel like I have a good recipe for it. I’d love it if anyone would share one. I know someone out there has to have the perfect recipe. I get stopped at the roux – standing over a stove for an hour and half stirring is not my idea of a fun evening. The gumbo I had in New Orleans was terrific and had a spice I could not identify.

I finally settled on catfish because I really like it and haven’t had any in a while. The potatoes are different and a bit decadent (all that butter), I always add garlic – but hey, I pretty much add garlic to everything…
__
On the board tonight:
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1. Pan-fried Catfish
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2. Broccoli
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3. Buttered Potato Pie
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4. Sliced Pears

Recipes and shopping list at the link.
***********

From Anne Laurie: I screwed up last week — told Cole I’d be off the grid from Thursday through Sunday, but I forgot to warn TaMara. So, tomorrow, there will be a bonus Friday Night Menu to bring us up to date. Look for it!

Reader Interactions

105Comments

  1. 1.

    Steeplejack

    On one of his shows Alton Brown did a really good roux that didn’t involve standing around and stirring it constantly. I’ll see if I can look it up.

  2. 2.

    stuckinred

    Try a quick roux. Higher heat, constant stirring with a stainless spatula that will get the entire bottom. Chop your holy trinity and have it right with you. When you reach the desired color quickly add the veggies, it stops the cooking process. Here’s a video of mine.

  3. 3.

    Steeplejack

    @Steeplejack:

    Actually, Alton’s whole shrimp gumbo recipe is not bad.

    For the low-maintenance roux:

    Place the vegetable oil (4 oz.) and flour (4 oz. all-purpose) into a 5- to 6-quart cast iron Dutch oven and whisk together to combine. Place on the middle shelf of the oven, uncovered, and bake at 350° for 1½ hours, whisking 2 to 3 times during the cooking process.

    If you get a chance to see the actual episode, “Bowl o’ Bayou,” he goes into a lot more detail on the gradations of roux.

  5. 5.

    stuckinred

    Now to recipes. There are two basic kinds, okra and file. With okra you slice or use sliced frozen. Saute it in oil until the gumminess disappears and then add to your stock. Add spoonfuls of roux mix one-at-time and stir. The okra serves as a thickener. This is a good base for shrimp, chicken and or sausage gumbo. Don’t like okra? Don’t use it, brown your chicken or sausage and add to the stock with the holy trinity (green peppers, onion and celery) and roux in the same way as above. Simmers and let it thicken. When you serve it add file in small amounts and stir in. File is ground sassafrass and will also serve to thicken. If you do shrimp add at the very last minute and just let it get opaque.

  8. 8.

    Immanentize

    I have the best Louisiana/East Texas Gumbo recipe evah. Literally award winning. I agree with some of stuckinred’s points, but frozen okra? really? My recipe is both roux and ocra. Too fine. I will get it up soon. And everything great requires some work….

  9. 9.

    freelancer

    @Comrade Luke:

    Seriously. We need some kind of Political version of Snopes (I know they cover political mythmaking, but we need something BIGGER) to slap this bullshit down the second after it comes up. The public needs to be shown that these people are opportunistic liars who want nothing more than power.

  10. 10.

    Southern Beale

    standing over a stove for an hour and half stirring is not my idea of a fun evening.

    I must be doing it wrong because it doesn’t take me nearly that long to make a roux. 20 minutes, tops.

  13. 13.

    Carrie

    @stuckinred:
    Pardon my ignoramus question but, is gumbo a staple food for people in the south?
    I’ve never had it (never had cornbread either) but i’ve always wanted to try it. Just need to find a good recipe.

  15. 15.

    stuckinred

    @Carrie: @BGinCHI:

    Gumbo is a traditional Louisiana dish, here’s some info

    Scholars and chefs have put forth varying theories on the etymology of the word “gumbo”. The dish was likely named after one of its two main ingredients, okra or filé. In the Bantu language spoken by many of the slaves from West Africa, the vegetable okra was known as “ki ngombo” or “quingombo”. In the language of the native Choctaw people, filé, or ground sassafras, was called “kombo”.[1][2]
    [edit]

    Years ago when I first got interested in this kind of cooking I visited a friend in Metarie, He was tickled at all the fuss about gumbo because, in his family, it was just vegetable soup! I have made jambalya for 800 people, 3 huge cast iron pots. It’s great food and fairly economical.

    Drivin and Cryin played at Athfest this summer. Remember Jody Grind? I think Kelly Hogan is up in the windy city now.

  16. 16.

    South of I-10

    I am on my phone, so I can’t link you to it, but google Prejean’s gumbo recipe, we use their chicken and andouille recipe. For those of you too lazy to make a roux, get a jar of Richard’s dark roux from Cajungrocer.com. Step off roux purists, sometimes you want gumbo and don’t want to spend the entire day in the kitchen.

  17. 17.

    Lee

    Roux in the oven is the easiest way to go- mix up your veggie oil and flour into paste consistency (my chef mentor back in the day said, “just like wet beach sand”, and he was right), cast iron skillet or dutch oven works best, put it in 250 deg oven overnight. If you can start it early in the evening and stir it once or twice before you go to bed, that’s a good thing. You’ll have a really nice dark roux in the morning, but not burnt.

    I know some people don’t care for the okra, but it just ain’t Gumbo without it. Sorry. Call it Cajun Soup if you want, but not Gumbo.

  20. 20.

    stuckinred

    @Lee: Lee baby! A recipe to bake roux and then being dogmatic about file vs okra. Come on dawg.

    Actually when Prudhomme first introduced quick roux it was considered heresy.

  21. 21.

    Southern Beale

    @Carrie: @BGinCHI:

    Gumbo is a Louisiana dish. We don’t eat it in Tennessee. It’s like a stew, slow cooked, with shrimp and other stuff.

    I have friends from Baton Rouge who do a fabulous gumbo. However, I tend not to eat it too much as it contains okra and I despise okra.

  23. 23.

    Mnemosyne

    @sven:

    Pelosi is considering staying around?

    Pelosi just won her election with 70 percent of the vote. Where the hell is this “she’s going to quit Congress” meme coming from other than idiots in the media? It’s not like we have a parliamentary system where you have to leave if the other members give you a vote of no confidence (and even then I’m pretty sure you get to keep your seat).

    The stupid! It burns!

  29. 29.

    South of I-10

    @Lee: As a life long resident of the heart of Cajun Country, okra sucks. Usually people put okra in seafood gumbo, but not chicken. And don’t come near my gumbo with a tomato!

  34. 34.

    Southern Beale

    @Bnut:

    I saw that today, hilarious! I sent it to my own editor for shits and giggles.

    I loved the haughty editor rationalizing because she edits the copy she receives, why, writers should pay HER! Cause she gives them the benefit of her expertise for FREE!

    Sounds like one of the Teanutties.

  35. 35.

    Mnemosyne

    @Southern Beale:

    The article that sven linked to at ABC says it in the very first line:

    In the wake of Tuesday’s shellacking, outgoing Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, has been widely expected to step down as the Democratic leader and leave Congress. (emphasis mine)

    Why does ABC suck so much? Why?

    ETA: To be clear, I’m not blaming sven for ABC’s suckitude.

  42. 42.

    Carrie

    @stuckinred: @jeffreyw:
    Yum, you guys have inspired me. It’s my turn to cook tomorrow night and i want to make jambalaya.
    If someone has a favourite recipe that they’re willing to share please email me at :
    carrie zero 9 @ gmail dot com

    Did i say please?

    Merci beaucoup!

  44. 44.

    arguingwithsignposts

    @stuckinred:
    I need to stop by and eat with you sometime!

    I have mentioned this story here before, I believe, but when I was growing up in se texas, we ate lots of “country comfort” foods, as my parents (and redneck stepgrandparents) would call them, including several types of greens, etc. And I love the blackeyed pea!

    When I moved to Fort Worth, a co-worker thought he would show me an authentic “soul food” restaurant, so we went there and I looked at the buffet and shook my head. “Soul food? I’ve been eating this my whole life.”

    (and I hope people understand that I was joking with the okrabot comment)

  46. 46.

    mr. whipple

    As noted, you can make a very fast roux. How to do it is outlined in the Prudhomme cookbooks, but basically involves heating the oil in a cast iron pot until it’s very hot(almost smoking) and adding the flour in thirds and constant stirring. 1:1 ratio of flour to oil. ( I use lard)

    I think it tastes better to slow cook/stir for 1-2 hours or so, but that’s a very long time to expend.

  47. 47.

    ruemara

    I’ve never made a gumbo with roux, but I’m from the tropics. Just tons of okra, peppers, onions, celery, shrimp, sausage & crab. Roux seemed…hard.

    Since this is an open thread, I just got a warning from GOS about language, because I told Cenk to DIAF for a darned near gloating I Told You So, diary. I only mention it because the warning seemed so pearl clutchingly funny. “We do not tell other kossacks to die in a fire. Please click yes to acknowledge your warning.” It sounded like someone’s digitized matron aunt. Sadly, I wouldn’t take it back at all. I wish him no ill, but the man is insufferable. Of course, if I’d agreed then said Obama was a corporatist sellout and he intended this gridlock, I doubt I’d have gotten a warning on that.

    Edited to add if.

  56. 56.

    Anya

    Here’s an interesting link to a CBC interview yesterday, with Former Congressman Tom Davis talking about what the GOP’s victory means — and what should they do with this new power.

    I must admit that I don’t know who Davis is, but he seems reasonable. While listening to this interview, I was asking myself, is he saying these things because he’s talking to a Canadian audience and not an American one. He basically said that GOP should not think that they have a mandate and that the exit polls showed that the voters like Dems more than Repubs.

    The interview is in the first segment and starts at 3; it’s not long. Here is the link: The Battle Hymn of the Republicans

  58. 58.

    JGabriel

    @ruemara:

    “We do not tell other kossacks to die in a fire. Please click yes to acknowledge your warning.”

    BWAHAHAHA!

    There needs to be a new BJ tag to mock that.

    Something like: Where “Die In A Fire” is just our way of saying, “Hello!”

    .

  64. 64.

    eemom

    @Anya:

    Davis was formerly my Congressman. He was a typical so-called “moderate” republican of the Bush era — talked the “moderate” talk, but walked the goose-step walk.

    He was one of the early casualties of the extreme right purge of any repub that even PRETENDED to be sane — got fucked over by the party poohbahs here in ole Virginny when he tried to run for the Senate in ’08.

  65. 65.

    stuckinred

    @South of I-10: Yea, actually I think there is more difference in the BEPee’s than any of the others. We have friends who spend half their time in the Quarter and half here in Athens so I have a pipeline.

  68. 68.

    ruemara

    @skippy:
    I’m sorry, skippy, he’s a lovely bird and he sounded like a real sweetie. Most of the cockatiels I met were nippy, so I wish I could’ve met him.

  70. 70.

    immanentize

    Had to put my son to bed….

    GUMBO!

    Stnd: 12 QT

    3 c chopped onions
    2 c bell pepper (red and green 1 inch dice)
    2 c cut celery
    ¾ c plus 2 T corn oil
    2 cans plum tomato coarsely chopped
    5 c chopped okra
    1 bunch scallions sliced small
    7-10 T flour for roux

    Seasoning:

    6 cloves garlic crushed
    2-3 T black pepper (to add to roux)
    1 ½ T paprika
    1 T thyme
    1 T Basil
    1 T Cayenne

    Stock:
    Either use good seafood or fish stock or: make your own with shrimp skins and heads from those you will add later

    1 and ½ lb shelled and de-headed shrimp (dry before cooking)
    1 lb crab meat

    Instructions:

    2T oil to sauté okra. After 10 minutes, add tomatos + 1 c stock. Seeds must separate from okra. Turn off and set aside….

    Remaining oil ¾ c – heat in large pot (the thicker the better) until oil just starts to smoke. Whisk in flour — add black pepper – keep whisking vigorously and continuously until it gets to the right darkness – like a walnut color. Do NOT burn! Throw in all the vegetables. Whisk together until veg.s are coated by roux. Add 3 c stock. Bring up to simmer. Add all other seasonings except the scallions. Continue to whisk/stir until blended. Add remaining stock, stir in okra tomato mix.
    Cook for 5 hours.
    Salt to taste and add Tony‘s seasoning as desired.
    Cook for another 20 minutes. Turn off heat, stir in seafood. Serve with scallions on top.

  71. 71.

    JWL

    I’s hard to imagine anyone not liking catfish. My local store buys theirs from a catfish farm outside Sacramento, and it’s as delicious as it is reasonably priced. My butcher actually toured the facility, and remarked it was as clean as a whistle- fresh water, good corn meal (or whatever type grain it is the fish are fattened up with).

  73. 73.

    Anya

    @ruemara: By that standard, they should ban every commenter, who accuses Obama of being weak, ineffective or rhapsodize about their version of the Great White Progressive Hope, who will primary Obama. That place is full of rabid Obama haters that most times, I am thinking they are probably wingers posing as disaffected base. This place with all its obsession with recipes, sports, kittens and obscure music reference is a million times more enjoyable; even BJ firebagger sympathizers are adorable in their taunts and mockery.

  74. 74.

    Anya

    @eemom: Not sure if you listened to the interview but he was posing as a moderate. The term moderate lost it’s meaning, when so called GOP moderate’s vote is indistinguishable from conservative ones. I don’t know why they bother with the pretense?

  75. 75.

    WereBear

    @skippy: I’m so sorry. That was lovely. Poor Lestat; how can people think animals don’t have feelings, when they obviously do?

    My mother has a cockatoo; bigger, and long lived enough that she had to make provisions for him when, heaven forbid, she might not be able to take care of him.

    They are such amazing personalities, and so bright.

  76. 76.

    immanentize

    stuckinred —
    sea bass is so modern — but I love it! Firm, fleshy hangs together. But it’s really expensive here in Boston where I have been transplanted from Texas. Really for me sea bass should be put in summer chowder rather than gumbo, as I like the shellfish version. I mean, I love the andouille chicken gumbo, but shrimp and crab is still my favorite. My friend and I would go to the cut and buy shrimp off the boat from the Vietnemese fishermen outside Houston and take ’em home for his mother to prepare. She could snap a head faster than I could — well, do anything. I learned from her that you can freeze peeled shrimp if you keep them in water with a bit of salt when you freeze them. I owe that woman so much….

  80. 80.

    skippy

    thx for your condolences. i knew this was the blog to share my feelings on.

    @werebear: i know the problem of making provisions if the pets outlive us. i am trying to convince mrs. skippy to get a new cockatiel for lestat to have as a playmate, but she doesn’t want to get something that very well could outlive us.

    cockatoos are even more emotional when it comes to bonding, they are like living teddy bears with feathers.

  82. 82.

    immanentize

    arguingwithsignposts —

    I used to rent a place on Boliver every late spring. I spent a lot of time in the Port Arthur area — but it always smelled like gasoline and gave me a headache. I miss it so.

  83. 83.

    Anne Laurie

    @stuckinred:
    __

    Have you had Camillia brand dried beans. I thought, what could the difference be? They are incredible.

    Well, I just went & placed an order, so you better be telling the truth. I like beans, and should eat them more often, but I have a medically-certified very short attention span. However, now I also have a pressure cooker, so we’ll see how Camellia’s lady cream peas come out for me. (I also ordered a couple of their microwave cans for comparison purposes, just in case.)

  87. 87.

    ruemara

    @Anya:

    I have to be honest. I only joined because I had hoped that the energy of that place could be harnessed for some of the pet projects I have a hand in. I think if you don’t like the laws, then change them and if we all get behind pushing it, we have more of a chance. Each diary I did got less than 5 comments, no one seemed interested in more than a pie fight. I log in to read the front page, up rate things I find interesting, especially when it calls for action or is positive, and once in a while, to smack back at professionally left people like, say…Cenk.

  89. 89.

    stuckinred

    @immanentize: It was a crazy trip, the cobia bite this spring was the best ever but I caught a noreaster and couldn’t get out on a boat to get at em! The best I could do was a headboat and the sea bass.

    You know it’s bad when you go to the pier and the damn weather channel is set up there!

  92. 92.

    TaMara (BHF)

    @jeffreyw: JW, if you have a recipe for those yummy looking brownies, can you put it on our blog? I’m hopeless and usually end up doctoring a brownie mix (not bad, but I’d love a foolproof recipe).

  93. 93.

    grunculus

    @eemom:

    Yup. Tom liked to sound moderate, but he was a very reliable vote for Bush’s policies. Don’t forget that he was chair of the Government Reform committee that subpoenaed Terri Schiavo, too. Oh, and he had his PACs give his wife’s campaign lots of cash in a losing effort to get reelected to the Virginia Senate. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeannemarie_Devolites_Davis

    Don’t be fooled…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  94. 94.

    TaMara (BHF)

    @skippy: I’ve had 2 parakeets and a duck and I didn’t believe it was possible to love them as much as I loved my cats and dogs, but birds are smart, funny and loving. My condolences. He was beautiful.

  96. 96.

    Lee

    @stuckinred: Aw cher, it ain’t no big thang- call it what you want. A good friend once said that Okra is one of those black/white divides in the human race, you either love it or hate it. My wife can’t even look at the stuff, so when I dish up her bowl of gumbo, I pick all the okra out for me. It’s a great marriage.

    I’m heading down to Port A (Aransas, not Arthur) this weekend to get in on the last of the bull redfish run- they’re pullin’ in 20-30 pounders till they’re arms are tired, but not for much longer. I buy shrimp off the boat there, still kickin’, so gumbo is definitely on the menu next week. Life is good.

    And the “soul food” story- you’re singin’ my song. Grew up on the stuff.

  103. 103.

    PGE

    I make lots of roux at once, put in into cookie sheets, refrigerate overnight, cut into cubes the next day, and freeze the cubes in gallon bags. I’ve always got it on hand for thickening a pan sauce, or whatever; just pull out however many cubes I need. Works great.

  104. 104.

    something fabulous

    @Southern Beale: Wow, I’ve been seeing him on the talkies for such a while now, it occurs to me I haven’t actually read him in forever. He’s really good, isn’t he?

  105. 105.

    Michael E Sullivan

    the trick to roux is don’t be a wuss.

    Make it over medium direct heat — yes you have to watch it and stir pretty constantly, but it only takes a few minutes to get to light, and maybe 10 to get a nice dark. If you want black roux that doesn’t taste like carbon, that takes longer, but hardly anything really requires a black roux. Gumbos are great with a good medium to dark roux.

    Another thing about roux — you can make it in big batches and store it in the fridge for a month or more, and the freezer nearly forever.

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