Shrimp and Okra Gumbo with Tasso Recipe
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Shrimp and ham are a classic pairing, but this gumbo contains little else that’s traditional. While most gumbos are thickened with roux and flavored with the “Cajun Trinity” of bell peppers, onions, and celery, this gumbo has neither, proving that sometimes shaking up tradition can be a good thing.
What to buy:
Some grocery stores carry shell-on shrimp that are deveined, meaning the intestinal tract that runs up the back of each shimp has been removed. Deveining is optional in this recipe, but if prefer it, you may need to clean the shrimp yourself.
Fresh okra works best in this dish, acting as the thickener, but you can also use frozen sliced okra. When cooking it, especially the fresh variety, don’t be alarmed by the glutinous clear liquid it emits, which is normal. Some cooks add a touch of vinegar to cut the slime; younger, smaller pods have less of it.
Tasso is cured pork, usually shoulder, that’s rubbed with a mixture of filé and other spices, then smoked. It’s a Cajun specialty that adds a lot of character to this dish, but if you have a hard time finding it, you can substitute pancetta or another variety of ham; or get it online from CajunGrocer.com.
For the shrimp stock:
- 2 pounds large shell-on shrimp
- 4 cups water
For the gumbo base:
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 pound fresh okra, cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
- 6 ounces tasso ham, medium dice (about 1 heaping cup)
- 2 medium yellow onions, medium dice
- 3 medium garlic cloves, minced
- 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- Peel shrimp and place shells in a medium saucepan; (if desired) devein cleaned shrimp, cover, and refrigerate. Add water to shrimp shells and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer gently for 30 minutes; strain through a fine mesh sieve, discarding shells, and reserve stock.
For the gumbo base:
- Heat oil in a large, shallow, heavy pot or Dutch oven over high heat. Stir in okra and tasso, and season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
- Cook, stirring occasionally, until okra is tender and begining to brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in onions, garlic, tomatoes, and bay leaf, scraping up any browned bits that have adhered to the bottom of the pan.
- Reduce heat to medium high, and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are very tender and breaking up, about 30 minutes.
- Add cayenne and reserved shrimp stock (4 cups), and bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to medium, and simmer 30 to 45 minutes.
- Stir in reserved shrimp; cook until shrimp are opaque and no longer raw in the center, about 10 minutes. Taste to check the seasoning, and add salt and freshly ground pepper if necessary.
- Serve over cooked white rice, and pass hot sauce such as Tabasco on the side.
It's true that roux is the base for gumbo. I was raised in New orleans and was taught by my mom and sisteron how to cook gumbo. There are two types of gumbo, as bluejet says, "Okra and File", File gumbo doesnt have okra and tomatoes but it does have chicken, shrimp, ham, oysters, crab, smoke sausage,bay leaf, trinity (onions, bell peppers and celery), andouille sausage, cayenee pepper, salt, water and roux (flour and oil).
Boy! u guys are passionate about your Gumbo. I'm just wondering where's the chicken.
IMO this is not a typical New Orleans Gumbo as there is no 'roux' and there is a lot of tomato.
I agree with monkeyrotica. I have lived and fished on the Gulf Coast for most of my life and have many fond memories of my grandmother making Gumbo of the various crab and fish we'd catch. Gumbo is Okra or File' and Roux as a base. We'd clean the crabs and boil down the shells. You can also use the fish heads, backs etc. I've usually had it heavy on the stock and light on the tomato. The tomatoes are normally crushed, not diced. Gumbo is the South's Clam Chowder. This recipe, as it notes in first paragraph, more like a nod.
Damn, now I'm hungry.
I believe the difference is the okra. I don't think shrimp creole usually has okra, which acts as the thickening agent, making this a gumbo.
"Gumbos can be broadly divided between the use of okra as a thickener, and recipes using filé powder in that role." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gumbo)
I will call this stuff "gumbo" as soon as someone explains how this is any different from shrimp creole.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrimp_C...
Because if it looks like shrimp creole, tastes like shrimp creole, and quacks like shrimp creole...
Okra is indeed one of the traditional thickening agents used in gumbo. Many people in the Acadiana region of Southwest LA, known as Cajun Country, make this type of gumbo. I would personally reduce the amount of tomato in the recipe. But to say it is not gumbo would be absurd to anyone native to this region.
Monkeyerotica: Have you tried this recipe? I'm sure if you try it you'll see that it does indeed meet all the things one requires from a gumbo. We provided this recipe, along with two others, in the gumbo story that Regan cited to show that there are different methods and approaches to making gumbos. Gumbo is like so many "defining dishes" of various food cultures (various Italian tomato sauces, French Daubes, etc) in that time and tradition play off each other to result in myriad takes on the dish. We should hope that you are open to trying a different way of making a gumbo from that which you are accustomed as we found many sources and many cooks who thicken their gumbo with okra (as we did here) and still proudly label it as such.
Yes, and it's still just THICK <a href="http://www.recipesource.com/soups/sou... and okra soup</a>, not gumbo.
While we're at it, let's make borscht, except with slow cooked onions instead of beets and croutons instead of beef and cover it with gruyere instead of sour cream. Oh, waitaminit, that's french onion soup. But let's just call it borscht instead because we're just shaking up tradition here. Whatever.
Yes, and okra is a thickening agent...
From the link:
"Gumbo has three parts: a thickening agent, the stock, and the stuff in the stock."
Where's the thickening agent here? No roux, no sassafrass, no thickening. This is the difference between a soup and a stew: one is slow cooked, reduced, thickened with a breaking-down starch like potatoes. A soup is a liquid and other ingredients added.
Like I said, this may be a good soup, but it's not a gumbo. If this were labeled on a restaurant menu as a gumbo, and I ordered it, I would probably send it back as being misidentified.
Well, that's just not so, monkeyerotica:
http://www.chow.com/stories/10548
This seems like a shrimp and okra soup. It might be good, but I don't see how you can call it a gumbo. No roux, no ground sassafrass.
It's like making an "Irish Stew" with pork and turnips instead of lamb and potatoes.