Last weekend, I was chief cook for a men's retreat and one of the dishes I served was my own recipe, Catican Bayou Gumbo. I had made gumbo several times and this was a synthesis of my favorite parts, at least those that could easily be scaled up to huge quantities and made in a sub-par kitchen.
When I went to the wholesaler who provides us supplies, he said he had andouille sausage in addition to the smoked sausage I normally use. Like an idiot, I got excited at the thought of using andouille and went with it despite never having cooked with it before.
Andouille sausage is significantly saltier and spicier than my standard polska kielbasa. It threw the taste of my gumbo completely out of whack. I stood there in the kitchen in a panic, wondering how to deal with the situation. In the end, as the gumbo simmered, the flavors melded and the andouille's influence waned. The end result was devoured with gusto by the men and I received many compliments, but it was not what I had hoped.
Don't experiment on your guests. You never know what you'll get.
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| That gumbo was horrible! |
Well, at least it worked out. It does kind of raise the question of how you originally started using kielbasa instead of andouille in gumbo to start with, though. I didn't think there was much of a Polish community in the areas that make gumbo, so I wouldn't think that it would be a common sausage type to use in gumbo. Was it just what you had available the first time you made gumbo, so you just kind of stuck with it?
ReplyDeleteKielbasa is big in Michigan, but about 10% of our population is of Polish descent, so that's no surprise. Huron County, where I grew up, was probably 80% Polish, and kielbasa was *the* sausauge. But there was no gumbo.
Suddenly I'm hungry!
ReplyDeleteTim, I don't have easy access to andouille here in San Diego.
ReplyDeleteligneus, y'all come over to Catican Bayou and we'll show you a good time!
Ah, the VERY traditional route - "this is what we have."
ReplyDeleteIf it helps any, grandmother-in-law lives in San Diego and uses Hillshire Farm kielbasa. Her estranged family is/was Big Doin's in that area. ^.^
Would love to visit but I think my traveling days are over. Which State do you live in actually
ReplyDelete