Watch CBS News

Wynton Marsalis: An ode to gumbo

(CBS News) On New Orleans' Super Bowl Sunday, Wynton Marsalis brings us an essay about his home town's signature dish, as much a cultural symbol of New Orleans as the bayou or jazz:

New Orleans, the Crescent City. It remains a fascinating place because of the diversity of its culture. We have street parades, voodoo, and all kinds of wildness right next to door cathedrals, debutantes and manicured mansions.

We have our own music, architecture, way of speaking and, of course, food. Fried food like po' boys, sweets like beignets, rice dishes like jambalaya.

But our signature dish is gumbo.

Gumbo is symbolic of the best of New Orleans. It's as much as cultural symbol of Louisiana as the bayou, or jazz. That is why, like New Orleans herself, gumbo is temperamental -- approachable, but unpredictable.

And across America, no dish speaks more vividly of a melting pot than gumbo. Dating back more than 300 years, it's a complex dish born of necessity, bringing together a multiplicity of ingredients and ethnicities.

Many believe the West African slave population first created this dish out of hardship. The name "gumbo" derives from the word kingombo, which is Bantu for okra, a popular ingredient.

But it was the Chocktaw Indians who developed the spicy file powder, a key additive made from sassafras leaves. And it was the French who lay claim to the thickening agent known as the roux.

Now we didn't know any of that history when I was growing up, but when we saw those ingredients for gumbo coming through the front door, we knew it was going to be time for a celebration -- and it was.

You can find gumbo in every corner of this city, and argue every day as to whose is best. But the answer always is: There is no better pot of gumbo than one made at home.

Wynton Marsalis visits New Orleans chef Poppy Tooker. CBS News

New Orleans chef Poppy Tooker's middle name might as well be gumbo. He told Marsalis that the best way to learn how to make gumbo "is from your grandmother, or your great-grandmother."

"I started making gumbo when I was a little girl, and I was a pro by high school," she said. "I had it down."

Her take on the signature dish is revered by those near and far. She says that a few steps are required.

First, the all-important mix of flour and oil that makes up the roux. "I just stir. You can't answer the phone, you can't go to the door, you can't leave it alone," she said.

Every gumbo has to include the holy trinity of vegetables: Onions, celery, and green peppers. That's going to be followed by Tooker's lyrical favorite, okra. After that, it's really just a matter of taste and opinion.

"The most important ingredient in any gumbo are the gumbo crabs," she said.

As long as it's made with Louisiana's finest, and strained, simmered and stirred constantly with love, the result will always be quite poignant and soulful -- like the Crescent City herself.

There is a big difference between gumbo and just any old soup. Gumbo is a full meal. It's a tradition and a philosophy. The fundamentals don't change, but the variations are endless. A good pot of gumbo is so much trouble to make, nobody ever makes a small pot -- which is fortunate, because with a good pot of gumbo on the stove, your whole neighborhood may end up in your kitchen.

Mmmm . . . have mercy, Poppy!

For the recipe for Poppy Tooker's Seafood Gumbo, click to page 2.


For more info:

Poppy Tooker Seafood Gumbo

Ingredients:

1/2 cup oil
1 cup flour
4 gumbo crabs
2 lbs. shrimp
1 onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
2 lbs. okra, sliced 1/4"
Oil for frying okra
1 one-lb. can crushed tomatoes
1 gallon shrimp stock
1 clove garlic
2 teaspoon thyme
1 bay leaf
1 bunch green onions
Crystal hot sauce to taste


Peel shrimp and combine peels, onion skins and tops in a stock pot. Cover with water and boil for 20 minutes.

Strain and reserve.

Fry okra in very hot oil until lightly browned (or roast).

Make a dark roux with the flour and oil, cooking to the color of milk chocolate brown. Add onions, stirring together until the roux darkens to a bittersweet chocolate brown. Add celery and bell pepper.

Saute for five minutes, then add the gumbo crabs, tomatoes, okra, herbs and the shrimp stock. Add garlic and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer 45 minutes or longer.

Ten minutes before serving, add shrimp and green onions. Add Crystal Hot Sauce and salt as needed.

Serve on top of cooked rice.

For more info:

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.