Today Katharine Shilcutt wrote about stumbling onto Cajun Town Café, which turned out to be an awesome discovery. She loved the gumbo, a version made with oysters, crawfish, shrimp and crab, which got some readers discussing how things are done in New Orleans. Commenter Brandius stepped in with some info:
A lot of people from NOLA do not use crawfish in gumbo as it's not the preferred meat of choice for the area. Gumbo is a very special dish in Louisiana because each region can make it drastically different from another.For example, one of my grandmothers was from central Louisiana. Her gumbo had a light roux and was very "watery" and somewhat soup like. She would use meats such as sausage, duck, or crawfish and she made sure things were peppery.
My other grandmother was from NOLA and her gumbo was incredibly thick and dark. She never mixed meats (as in if you are going to use seafood, ONLY use seafood) and would make hers with a dark roux or okra and add in shrimp and crab.
I prefer dark rouxs and okra and while the bulk of my family is from NOLA, I still prefer SOME crawfish. Though, I'm typically not making gumbo during crawfish season so this hardly ever happens.
Did that help?
Sure it did, Brandius. Thank you. Also: We're free for dinner at your house, whenever.
