Filé powder. Dark chocolate-brown roux. Cayenne pepper. These are the some of the ingredients that help give gumbo its signature and soul-satisfying flavor. When I discovered that Crescent Dragonwagon devoted an entire chapter in her cookbook Dairy Hollow House Soup & Bread to this distinctively, and to Northerners, exotic, American soup, I knew I would want to try my hand at making a pot of gumbo before the club moved on to the next book. Having followed Crescent’s very detailed and clear instructions, I’m convinced that anyone can make a good gumbo. The making of an authentic gumbo is not to be taken lightly; it is very involved, but I assure you it is worth the work.

 

In the gumbo chapter, called “Gumbo Zeb,” after the version she finally settled on after trying twenty-one different gumbo recipes, Crescent gives a fascinating history of the development of the soup, starting with filé powder—made from ground dried sassafras leaves—a seasoning used by the Choctaw Indians. She then describes how she arrived at her version in an interesting recount of recipe development, from research, testing, and retesting. After the many months of refinement, and the positive feedback from customers (it became a Dairy Hollow House favorite), Crescent is completely confident of the excellence of her gumbo: “To say it’s good,” she writes, “is understatement, but to say how good it is, is bragging.” I don’t know of much more of an incentive to take on gumbo making than that.

 

To make Crescent’s delicious gumbo, first you must make her Gumbo Zeb Base, which is used in seven plus gumbo recipes. You will need lots of greens, quarts of stock, preferably homemade, a well-stocked spice drawer, and patience to make a proper dark roux. Once the stock and base are made, the gumbo recipe comes together fairly quickly. The recipe for the base makes more than you need for any given gumbo recipe in Dairy Hollow House Soup & Bread, but it freezes wonderfully, Crescent says. Given the work needed to make the base, the large yield makes sense—and how nice it will be to simply pull some lovingly created base and preferably homemade stock out of the freezer, and then, in practically no time flat, have a great bowl of gumbo ready to enjoy.

 

I’ve included the recipe for the base below and the gumbo that I tried, Andouille Gumbo Zeb. To get the whole gumbo backstory, and the benefit of Crescent’s detailed instruction and hand-holding tone, plus the full range of Crescent’s gumbo ideas for putting the Gumbo Zeb Base to good use, I highly recommend picking up Dairy Hollow House Soup & Bread. There’s lots of wonderful stuff in this book, but the gumbo chapter alone is worth owning a copy.

 

(From Dairy Hollow House Soup & Bread by Crescent Dragonwagon, with minor tweaks.)

Gumbo Zeb Base

For the roux:
1 cup mild vegetable oil, such as corn, canola, or soy
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

 

For the mirepoix:
1 stick butter (8 tablespoons)
2 large onions, chopped
2 green bell peppers, stemmed, seeded, and chopped
1 bunch celery with leaves, chopped
1 large bunch (8 to 10) scallions, chopped

 

For the seasoning purée:
8 cloves garlic, peeled
¼ cup Pickapeppa or Worcestershire sauce (I used Worcestershire)
¼ cup tomato paste
1 tablespoon Tabasco sauce
2 teaspoons dried basil
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 teaspoon paprika
Heaping ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
Heaping ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
Heaping ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
6 to 8 good grinds of black peppercorns
1 (16-ounce) can whole tomatoes, drained and coarsely chopped
1 bunch fresh Italian parsley, leaves and stems rinsed and coarsely chopped

 

For the stock and greens:
6 cups any well-flavored chicken or vegetable stock, or bottled clam juice (I used chicken stock)
2 cups tomato juice or V8 vegetable juice (I used tomato juice)
1 teaspoon salt
4 bay leaves
6 bunches greens (about 4½ to 5 pounds total), ideally 1 bunch each mustard greens, spinach, turnip greens, beet tops, collard greens, arugula, and watercress, very well washed and finely ribboned

1½ cups tomato or V8 vegetable juice (I used tomato juice)

 

1.  Have all of the prep work done before beginning to make the Gumbo Zeb Base.

 

2. Make the roux: Pour the oil in a heavy bottomed pot or saucepan (Crescent uses cast-iron) and set over medium heat. Add the flour and whisk until fully incorporated and smooth. The color will be a pale cream to beige color. Stir often to keep the roux from burning, and constantly during the final cooking stage. During the early stage, you may move on to the next step—sautéing the mirepoix—but don’t forget about the roux. Check back frequently, stirring every few minutes or so.

 

As the roux cooks it will darken in color and begin to smell nutty and, if you go all the way to dark roux, like burnt popcorn. Roux making cannot be rushed: The entire process will take from 45 minutes to an hour or more. Crescent says she prefers her roux a shade or two beyond caramel. I went all the way—to a dark chocolate-brown roux.

 

When the roux becomes fairly brown, the oil will separate out partially from the flour. This is what you want. Crescent says not to take the roux off the heat before this point. After the oil has separated, how much longer to cook it is a matter of taste. The darker and nuttier it becomes, the richer the flavor. (A side note: As a roux cooks, the starch granules break down, diminishing the flour’s thickening capability. So, a darker roux will give you a more flavorful gumbo, but also a thinner one—okay by me.)

 

I found that the roux moved fairly quickly from beige to caramel or light brown, but progressing from the light brown to dark brown stage was slow going, and took the bulk of the cooking time. This is when patience and vigilance is required, especially if you’re going for dark roux. If just one black speck appears in the roux, you will need to throw it out and start over.

 

3. Sauté the mirepoix: In a heavy skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onions, and sauté until softened, 5 to 6 minutes. Add the bell peppers and celery; lower the heat slightly and continue sautéing another 10 minutes. Add the scallions, and sauté until limp, about 5 minutes more. While the mirpoix is sautéing, prepare the seasoning puree, but remember to keep checking the roux and stirring it. Once the vegetables are softened, remove them from the heat and set aside.

 

4. Prepare the seasoning purée: Place all the ingredients for the seasoning purée except the tomatoes and parsley in a food processor. Process until the garlic is chopped fine. Add the tomatoes and parsley to the food processor, and chop coarsely.

 

5. Check the roux: If it has become caramel-colored or darker, it’s time to give it your undivided attention. Jump to Step 7 for the final steps in preparing the roux. If it’s not yet caramel-colored, begin to prepare the stock and greens.

 

6. Prepare the stock and greens: This is the mixture into which the other three mixtures you’ve prepared—the roux, mirepoix, and seasoning purée—will go. In a large stockpot, bring the stock and tomato juice to a boil. Add the salt and bay leaves. Drop in the fresh greens. Bring back to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, covered, about 30 minutes.

 

7. Finish the roux: When the roux is done to your liking, remove it from the heat and let cool for a few minutes. Drain off any excess oil that has separated out, but be careful not to pour off any of the browned flour. Vigorously whisk in the 1½ cups tomato juice. It will be a smooth and thick orange paste.

 

8. Complete the base: When the greens have finished their 30-minute simmer, remove them from the heat. To the stockpot, add the roux mixture, sautéed mirepoix, and the seasoning purée. Taste for seasoning and adjust, if needed. Set the pot over the lowest possible heat and let simmer, covered, another 15 minutes, stirring often.

 

Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature. It is now ready to be used in Andouille Gumbo Zeb (below) or in any of the other gumbo recipes in Dairy Hollow House Soup & Bread. Leftover base can be frozen in small portions.  Makes 5 to 6 quarts

 

Andouille Gumbo Zeb

Of the seven gumbo recipes Crescent offers, not counting the variations, I decided to make this one because I love Andouille sausage and because I’ve got a good source right here in Vermont: On the Edge Farm, owned by Bill and Dana Pape, in Woodstock. Their andouille is made with a combination of their own farm-raised beef and pork, and is smoked by Green Mountain Smokehouse in Windsor, Vermont.

 

1 to 1½ pounds andouille, sliced
6 cups Gumbo Zeb Base
5 to 6 cups any well-flavored chicken stock
1 cup or more cooked white rice
Filé powder
Finely chopped fresh parsley, for garnish

 

1. Fry the andouille in a skillet over medium heat until slightly browned and to cook out as much fat from the sausage as possible, about 5 minutes. Discard the fat and drain the sausage on paper towels.

 

2. In a large stockpot, bring the base, stock, and andouille to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and let simmer gently, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes.

 

3. To serve, place a mound of rice in each serving bowl,

ladle the hot gumbo over it,

sprinkle about ¼ teaspoon of the filé powder over each portion,

and garnish with the parsley.

 

Pass additional filé at table. (Note: There is a good reason why file is sprinkled on after cooking; according to authors of The Food Lover’s Companion, undue cooking makes its tough and stringy.)

 

For absolute contentment, serve with cornbread (click here and here for two cornbread recipes). Serves 4 to 6