On Friday, I drove up to Lake Villa to meet the Fabian seafood truck for the first time this year. Came back with shrimp and crawfish meat for my sister and me. (Those are all they had; as usual, true Gulf red snapper is as elusive as the giant squid.) I know I have andouille, chicken, and okra in the freezer. I've been thinking about gumbo ever since.
There is something about this gumbo thread that reminds me of
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. I think there's a line in ZatAoMM about going over old familiar ground. So of course I had to reread this whole thread---which I do every time I think about gumbo---while I was sauteeing my andouille and ham and chicken and trinity and garlic.
In fact, I couldn't wait til the roux was done to get to gumbo, so I scooped off some of the sauteed meat and vegetables and added them to rice to make some jambalaya. All I had all day til I got home from the Fabian truck in the afternoon was one cup of tea, and I was about to pass out. Some butter and Louisiana hot sauce pumped up the flavor. When I say vegetables, I mean various colors of bell peppers and onions and garlic; I'm saving the okra for the gumbo. At the last minute, I will, as the abundant guidance provided in this thread suggests, add some plump and tasty and freshly sauteed Fabian extra-large shrimp.
I know there's at least one line somewhere in that book that says something about motorcycle maintenance that says the same thing about making gumbo.
"Your swimming suit matches your eyes, you hold your nose before diving, loving you has made me bananas!"