I am not too familiar with Cajun food so I was looking up what's normally served with gumbo to get some ideas. (I got a ginormous bag of fresh okra and I'm leaning toward making that for dinner.)

I see lots of suggestions for potato salad and hard-boiled eggs. Not just on the side, but actually in with the gumbo.

Has anyone actually tried those combinations? They seem gross, but it could be one of those bizarre things that just works. I was leaning toward some combination of rice or cornbread, perhaps some macque choux because I am in the mood, and a green salad. But now I am intrigued.

11/4/2010 1:00:43 PM

cornbread

11/4/2010 1:12:12 PM

cornbread

11/4/2010 1:12:45 PM

ive seen/eaten/cooked it served soup style, which is i guess the regular way it's served, and also on a bed of rice.

[Edited on November 4, 2010 at 1:28 PM. Reason : .]

11/4/2010 1:27:00 PM

^

11/4/2010 1:27:48 PM

Jambalaya and a crawfish pie and file gumbo
'Cause tonight I'm gonna see my ma cher amio.
Pick guitar, fill fruit jar and be gayo,
Son of a gun, we'll have big fun on the bayou.

Thibodaux, Fontaineaux, the place is buzzin',
Kinfolk come to see Yvonne by the dozen.
Dress in style and go hog wild, me oh my oh.
Son of a gun, we'll have big fun on the bayou.

11/4/2010 2:07:16 PM

blood of a virgin

[Edited on November 4, 2010 at 2:14 PM. Reason : .]

11/4/2010 2:14:37 PM

If you have gumbo, you have to have cornbread. It would be a sin to have none.

Also, my favorite thing in all of Cajun cooking is red beans and rice.

And it's a staple dish.

...so yea.

11/4/2010 2:17:13 PM

cornbread

11/4/2010 2:18:24 PM

Gumbo is generally served with french bread. Cornbread would be delicious, but not authentic.

11/4/2010 2:38:54 PM

Fuck authentic. Who writes these goddamn rules, anyway?

11/4/2010 2:42:14 PM

coon asses

11/4/2010 2:50:41 PM

PLEASE COME LIVE WITH ME, TARA!

11/4/2010 2:53:30 PM

Will you let me have a pet raccoon? Aaron will not. This may be the deciding factor.

11/4/2010 2:55:21 PM

no biters, then sure.

[Edited on November 4, 2010 at 2:57 PM. Reason : also, has to be raised from infancy.]

11/4/2010 2:57:21 PM

Also, hard boiled eggs belong in turtle soup........not gumbo. Never heard of tater salad in it either.

11/4/2010 2:58:18 PM

strife

11/4/2010 3:27:21 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BorQ_ULcvss

11/4/2010 3:29:21 PM

Well when we make it (here and in Louisiana) we put it over rice and serve it with cornbread

Seafood gumbo is the tits!!!

11/4/2010 3:32:28 PM

if you've really got a huge bag, save some to make bindi masala if you like indian food. its one of my favorite dishes with some basmati rice. the okra is sauteed/panfried with onions, tomato, bellpepper and spices, and it doesn't have the gummy texture the okra acquires in gumbo. the secret to that is to wash your okra and dry them completely (hours in advance is preferable) before cutting. then let the slices airdry before cooking. if you use some pam and a nonstick pan, you can also cut down on the oil in the recipe

11/4/2010 3:33:59 PM

I will probably save part of it for something Indian. The last time I got it I can't remember what dish I made exactly but I want to say it was okra and potatoes.

I think I'm going to serve it over a little rice with some jalapeno cornbread. I still am very curious about the potato salad thing though, so I may make some potato salad another day and try it with some of the leftovers.

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/126167 is where I got that from btw. I swear I didn't make it up.

11/4/2010 3:40:01 PM

Gumbo mixed with potato salad? I'm no cajun food expert but that doesn't sound good to me.

Served over rice with cornbread on the side is what I'm used to, and in my humble opinion, is hard to improve on. Add an ice cold beer to that place setting and you're golden.

11/4/2010 4:57:17 PM

we always had it over white rice and with french bread

[Edited on November 4, 2010 at 5:02 PM. Reason : growing up in nawlins; now i leave off the french bread]

11/4/2010 4:59:31 PM

Make that an abita turbodog

11/4/2010 5:00:09 PM

Looks like y'all need the resident New Orlenian to interject...



Gumbo over rice with potato salad and French bread is a motherfucking MEAL. In fact I know people who dump some of their potato salad into the gumbo. Sopping up excess broth with French bread works, not so much with cornbread. Also consider serving a mac & cheese with angel hair pasta instead of elbow shells.

[Edited on November 4, 2010 at 7:48 PM. Reason : 32r2]

11/4/2010 7:47:25 PM

im blaming you for the fact that i made a 14 lb batch of gumbo.

and it's glorious so thank you.

11/4/2010 9:38:54 PM

I do what I can. That is a fuckton of gumbo though. But I guess it's one of those things that's hard to make in small batches.

I ended up making random stuff for dinner tonight and am going to make the gumbo tomorrow. I did make the roux tonight though. I sill plan on trying potato salad with leftovers at some point. I will report my findings when I do it.

11/4/2010 10:02:50 PM

i almost burned my roux

still getting used to a gas range again

but it's cool

also, i guess i am out of cayenne, but used chipotle chili powder instead, and i might start doing that more often

[Edited on November 4, 2010 at 10:11 PM. Reason : a little darker than i like, but still that great reddish brown omnnnnnyy]

11/4/2010 10:10:05 PM

I may be the only person who loves cooking as much as I do yet doesn't like gas ranges. I never cooked on one until I was in high school, and then not much, so I guess my experience is still pretty limited. I just know electric ranges so well I suppose. Gas is out of my comfort zone. Someday this will have to change.

What kind did you make? I'm looking to make one without sausage. Either veggie or seafood or seafood/chicken. I am not sure yet.

11/4/2010 10:15:02 PM

shrimp and andouille

drop the shrimp near the end on the simmer

asshole at the fish market just grabbed handfulls of shrimp, and got a lot of the ice into the bag that the shrimp was resting on.

expensive ice. i hate that.

11/4/2010 10:18:33 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gV7_2oy8LMY

11/5/2010 6:51:22 PM

Served over rice with french bread was how I grew up with it (in Morgan City). Also, the okra should be in the gumbo, not on the side.

11/5/2010 6:54:28 PM

Who puts okra on the side? Or is that what you thought I meant? No, it's in there. Cooking away now. I went with some veggie gumbo plus a few shrimp, and cornbread. Will try potato salad with it probably Sunday for dinner.

[Edited on November 5, 2010 at 7:09 PM. Reason : oh, over rice. It's brown though. Maybe that makes me a horrible person. ]

11/5/2010 7:09:10 PM

served over rice with cornbread. also put the okra in it and have it on the side. you can never get enough okra

11/5/2010 7:24:38 PM

Cornbread, folks?

I am disappoint

11/5/2010 7:25:53 PM

Our seafood gumbo has chicken AND sausage

but lord is it delicious!!

and it's brown

11/5/2010 8:12:23 PM

I wish I'd felt like cooking a whole chicken this time. That will be a definite the next time I do gumbo. I still don't eat sausage though so I feel like I'm missing out. Oh well.

11/5/2010 8:35:16 PM

there's three lbs of andouille in the one i made the other night

lol

also, a full pint of okra from the farmers market that was amazing.

i found myself picking out the okra and eating it by itself.

good lord i love okra.

[Edited on November 5, 2010 at 8:47 PM. Reason : fm in southeast texas. ]

11/5/2010 8:46:52 PM

I need to get some okra soon so I can stew it with sausage and skrimps over rice

mmmmmm mmmmmmm bitch

11/5/2010 8:51:45 PM

Carl Weathers approves.

11/5/2010 8:53:17 PM

I tried it with potato salad. It's interesting. Weird, but not bad. If I had both on hand I'd eat it this way again, but I probably wouldn't go out of my way to make both at the same time.

11/10/2010 7:42:15 PM

Dirty rice!

11/10/2010 8:16:43 PM

I had Skwinkle gumbo and it was def Tara spicy and pleasure overload.

Thanks.

I did not share with Ken.

11/10/2010 8:23:06 PM

i haven't seen any okra for sale here this year


it makes me

11/11/2010 2:11:49 AM

Quote :

"Who puts okra on the side? Or is that what you thought I meant?"

I wasn't sure if you meant on the side or in the gumbo. Serving fried okra as a side for other cajun dishes is pretty common, but it wouldn't be for gumbo, so I was just clarifying, that's all.

11/11/2010 2:15:49 AM

^ Gotcha. That's what I figured.

^^ We are out of the okra window now so you may have to wait until next year Which is a shame, because gumbo is a great fall food. But I guess that's why they make frozen.

I wasn't expecting to see any in the store, but I think the bag I got was 3.75 pounds of it for $3.50 or something on the produce markdown rack. I saw it and I think my eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas. It's kind of sad how excited I get about produce. (Speaking of, the farmers market was closed when I went yesterday even though I checked business hours before I left )

[Edited on November 11, 2010 at 9:27 AM. Reason : lolmadsmiley]

11/11/2010 9:08:43 AM

South of Houma we just use french bread, but you probably couldn't go wrong with some pickled okra or cornbread on the side. Don't forget the beer, you're not gonna find a cajun without one in their hand when someone on the bayou is cooking some gumbo

11/11/2010 9:27:08 AM