Bacon Fat Tuesday

I hardly ever use recipes.  I should re-phrase that, actually.  I use recipes quite frequently; I never follow them to the letter.  Most dishes I make are an amalgam of several recipes I’ve downloaded from the internet, read in a cookbook, or inherited from family members, and my own quirky shortcuts.  And so it was with my shrimp and sausage gumbo last night….what was always a slightly complicated and time-consuming gumbo was reduced to its basic elements for a weeknight prep.  I had read several recipes and found the commonalities:  some sort of fat and flour to make a roux, onions, peppers, shrimp or fish, and spices providing that specific brand of Cajun heat.  Sausage was in several of the recipes, and I happened to have some Triple S Farms Andouille Bratwurst.  I cut it into bite-sized chunks and fried it up in the Cauldron.  I started defrosting the "anti-eco" shrimp (I promise I'll buy it from another source after I exhaust my supply!).  I then removed the sausage to a plate and kept it warm in the oven.  Triple S pigs seem to get a little too much exercise to provide enough fat to make a roux from the sausage, so I added in some stored (Triple S again!) bacon fat I’d saved from my breakfast-for-dinner meal.  It totaled about a half a cup of fat; I heated it thoroughly, then added—bit by bit—a half a cup of unbleached flour.  The tricky part of a roux is the temperature; too high and it will burn and be bitter; too low and it will taste like flour and not get that kind of cake-batter consistency.  Really, it should look like caramel-colored cake batter when you finish, even a bit more chocolaty if you can wait longer—which I couldn’t.  To avoid burning it, you should keep stirring constantly.  If you do it right, it will take 20-25 minutes.

Which is where my “quirky shortcut” comes in.

I figure if it’s blended, not burnt, and smells good, a light brown roux won’t kill anybody, so I save a chunk of time by adding the cut up vegetables earlier and not waiting until it’s dark brown (the dark roux tastes better, of course, but that will have to wait for a weekend).  A couple of cut-up bell peppers (I don’t like green, so I use orange and yellow), two cups of diced onions, and 3 or 4 stalks of cut-up celery are the most important.  Second shortcut:  I let the roux cook them for 5 or 10 minutes (not allowing them to burn) and make sure all the veggies are coated with the roux.  I don’t cook them for the whole 30 minutes that my recipe recommends.  At this point I add in diced tomatoes (3 large fresh or one 28-oz of canned) and 4 cups of chicken broth.  Stir, stir, stir.  Back in goes the sausage, then a package of cut-up frozen okra (fresh would be better, of course, if it’s available), and some Cajun spice (not too much, as the Andouille is pretty spicy) and a couple of bay leaves.  If you have leftover cooked chicken, you can add that in too, of course.  I bring the whole thing to a boil, then turn down to simmer, cover, and start my rice. The gumbo needs a good 35-40 minutes yet.   

I like brown rice for many many things, but it just doesn’t seem right for gumbo.  Long grain white rice cooks fairly quickly, so it will be ready and waiting by the time the gumbo is done.  I sauté the dry rice in a little olive oil, then add the water, cover, and bring to a boil.  When boiling, I lower the temperature to the lowest setting and don’t lift the lid for 15 minutes.  I check quickly, lifting the lid for a brief second without letting the steam escape.  When the rice looks done on the top and has little holes (like rabbit holes) all around the surface, it’s done.  Replace the lid tightly and let it sit for another 5-10 minutes.

Meanwhile, I pour a glass of wine and thank my husband for chopping veggies in advance.  I check my son’s homework and set the table.  My shrimp has been defrosted, and I make sure there’s not a lot of water left in the strainer.  I add it in to the gumbo for the last five minutes of cooking, just until the shrimp is pink, and the whole thing is heated through.  A scoop of rice and a ladle-full of gumbo—suddenly I’m in the Mardi Gras mood!  I’d give up many things for Lent, but not delicious food.