Tonight on the Food Festivals TV program they visited a Gumbo Festival and contest near N.O.. with a dozen or more entries in each catagory I was surprised to see-
1. The soup was 'thin, but full of chunks of the meat items. We saw NO Rice or Okra or other veggies anywhere in any of the entries.
I had always thought that one of the basic ingredients was Okra, serving as both a veggie and a thickener for the Gumbo. And Rice was also an ingredient either in the soup or a 'lump' of it in the bottom of the bowl or cup.
2. The meat/chicken/seafood was included in very large pieces, whole crabs cooked in the shell, as well as major pieces of chicken noteably legs and wings in their whole condition. I can understand 2-4" pieces of sausage as the way to do it...but the others caught me off guard.
3. Many of the competitors used bottled Roux purchased from grocery stores. I thought that the Roux was what made one person's Gumbo better than someone elses???
One of you
Kay-John folks set me straight on Gumbo, Please.
AL
