Seafood Gumbo

Name: Seafood Gumbo
Cook time: 1 1/4 hr
Total time: 2 1/4 hr
Yield: Makes 8 (main course) servings
Ingredients: 1/2 pound bacon, chopped; About 1/2 cup vegetable oil; 3/4 cup all-purpose flour; 2 celery ribs, chopped; 1 medium green bell pepper, chopped; 1 medium onion, chopped; 5 garlic cloves, finely chopped; 2 1/2 quarts fish or chicken stock (or a combination); 1 (14-ounce) can whole tomatoes in juice, drained and chopped; 1 pound frozen cut okra (not thawed); 1 teaspoon chopped thyme; 1 Turkish or 1/2 California bay leaf; 1 rounded teaspoon cayenne; 1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley; 1/2 cup chopped scallions; 1 1/2 pound medium shrimp in shell, peeled and deveined; 2 dozen shucked oysters with their liquor, oysters picked over for shell fragments; 1/2 pound lump crabmeat, picked over; Accompaniments: rice; gumbo filé powder; N/A gumbo filé; N/A powder

For most people, the word gumbo immediately conjures the Cajun and Creole cooking of Louisiana. But okra (ngombo in Bantu), for which the soup-stew is named, reached South Carolina with the slave trade some years before Europeans settled in Louisiana, and the Creole world, where African, European, and indigenous cultures meet, actually extends up the southern Atlantic coast. There are many different gumbo recipes, all taking advantage of local ingredients and served with rice. This one is a heady, fragrant slurry thick with seafood. If desired, add filé powder (ground dried sassafras leaves), a Choctaw thickening agent with an almost lemony flavor, just before eating.

By Edna Lewis

December 7, 2007

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Cook's note:

We like Uncle Bill's Creole Filé (225-388-0893). Allow each person to add their own filé (if using) just before eating. If reheating with filé, do not boil or filé will make gumbo stringy.

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