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Shrimp Gumbo
Chop fine 1 red sweet chili and an onion, and cook slowly for half an hour in 4 tablespoonfuls olive oil.
Add 1 pint okra (washed and sliced), 1 pint shrimps, and 1 pint water; cover and cook slowly half hour. Wash and flake 1/4 pound salt cod, cover with cold water, and bring to a boil; drain, and repeat; when it comes to boiling the second time, squeeze dry, chop and sprinkle over the shrimps, with 1 level teaspoonful salt.
Moisten 1 tablespoonful flour in a little cold water, stir it in carefully, boil a moment, add a tablespoonful butter, and serve.
A pared-down gumbo with no roux and no filé, thickened only with a spoonful of flour at the end. The two things that decide whether it works are the okra, which needs the full slow half hour to lose its ropiness, and the salt cod, which must be properly freshened before it goes in.
- "Red sweet chili"This means a sweet red pepper, not a hot chile — one medium red bell pepper is the intended quantity. If you want heat, add it separately and in small amounts.
- A pint of okraMeasured by volume after slicing: roughly 8-12 oz of fresh pods, or a 10 oz bag of frozen sliced okra. Frozen goes in without thawing and works well here, since the long slow cooking is what breaks down the mucilage.
- A pint of shrimpsRoughly 1 lb of peeled shrimp. Shrimp were often sold already boiled, which may be why a recipe like this tolerates half an hour of simmering; raw shrimp will be tough after that. Either use small cooked shrimp and add them for the last five minutes, or add raw shrimp near the end and give them two to three minutes.
- Freshening the salt codThe two changes of water called for are the minimum. Modern hard-dried salt cod is best soaked in cold water in the refrigerator for several hours first, then given the two boils. Taste a flake before adding it — if the cod is still aggressively salty, hold back the teaspoon of added salt.
- Not much liquidOne pint of water for a pound of shrimp and a pint of okra makes something closer to a thick stew than a soup. If you want a spoonable gumbo, increase the water to a quart and use two tablespoons of flour to thicken.
- The final thickeningFlour slaked in cold water needs a full minute at a boil to lose its raw taste, and the butter goes in off the heat or with the pan barely bubbling so it emulsifies rather than splitting out.
- Serving and yieldServes about four as a main course. Gumbo of this kind is usually ladled over plain boiled long-grain rice, though this recipe says nothing about rice at all.
The word gumbo is generally traced to a West African term for okra — ki ngombo in Kimbundu and related forms elsewhere — and okra, brought to the Americas through the slave trade, is the pod that gives the dish both its name and its body. What is striking about this version is how far it has traveled from Louisiana: there is no roux, no filé, no ham or andouille, and olive oil in place of lard. The salt cod suggests a Northern or European hand, since dried cod was a cheap pantry staple in Atlantic households long after fresh fish became easy to buy.