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#off-topic
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2016-02-13
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akiva21:02:53

My gumbo is legendary.

akiva21:02:55

Just so you all know.

akiva21:02:04

All, uh, 4,456 of you.

echristopherson21:02:50

I know. I've heard the legends... we've ALL heard the legends!

echristopherson21:02:37

opinions on Brave and True. GO!

echristopherson21:02:03

I bought ebook + print copies and donated the print one to my library. It's already gone out of state for interlibrary loan simple_smile

akiva21:02:05

It’s very good. I also think that @gigasquid’s Living Clojure is great.

echristopherson21:02:20

I just created #C0M8PCF7U . Not sure if I should have, since I'm not the author. But if anyone's interested.

echristopherson21:02:06

I thought I could star/pin stuff personally on Slack, like if I wanted to just bookmark @akiva's book recommendation

echristopherson21:02:11

I don't see how though

akiva21:02:44

It’s… complex. I should write it down. But basically cut up the trinity (bell pepper, onion, and celery). Get a bunch of chicken thighs and cook them at high heat with Crystal’s, salt, and pepper (or a hot sauce of you choice). You’re basically just searing them. Let them cool so you can fork them apart. Follow that with some sausage (I know andouille is the standard but I prefer a venison/pork combo). Again, just sear the hell out of it. Then sauté the trinity with salt, pepper, and cayenne (basically as much cayenne as you can possibly tolerate) and deglaze meanwhile. Once that’s done, do your roux; basically a 1:1 of flour and a neutral oil like canola or just ‘vegetable oil’. It needs to have a high smoke point. This will take hours of you standing there and stirring; it’s worth it. Get it to the color of chocolate. If it burns, at all, start over from scratch. While this is going on, get several cups of chicken bullion going (you can simply buy the boxes but I prefer the Better Than Bullion brand which requires you to boil water and blah blah blah). Once the roux is really dark, add the bullion SLOWLY because it will flare up. Throw the trinity in. And here’s a secret: add an entire bottle of really dark beer: a porter or stout. I go for Brother Thelonious. It’s phenomenal. Let it get to a good, rough simmer. Shred the chicken, add the sausage (cut on the bias, of course), and turn it all down until it’s cooking very, very slowly. Dice up some okra, add that. Dice up some green onion, add that. Get about a pound of shrimp in. I know some people are down with head/tail on but F that. Season the hell out of the whole thing. Sweet basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme, whatever you have on hand. More cayenne. More Crystal’s. And a ton of sassafras. Just go nuts. Have a pot of rice on the ready nearby. Boom. You’re set.

akiva21:02:50

Holy crap that’s a lot of words.

akiva22:02:32

It’s my dad’s recipe and he died in ’99. I get up EARLY and make it and it’s a whole day.

akiva22:02:50

But crikey that’s a lot of words.

echristopherson22:02:00

doesn't sound kosher 😉

akiva22:02:10

Oh it ain’t.

akiva22:02:38

I mean, you can make it kosher. I’ve made it vegetarian by omitting the shrimp and chicken and using vegan sausage.

akiva22:02:35

The basic thing is to make your own roux, make your own trinity. But the beer is essential. It really makes it.

akiva22:02:51

I love to cook.

akiva22:02:05

I like Clojure better. But cooking is nice.

echristopherson22:02:54

@gigasquid's book looks more regimented

echristopherson22:02:57

I might need that

echristopherson22:02:17

Oooor I guess I could get off my butt and start coding things

akiva22:02:25

Hahaha. That’s the best way to do it

akiva22:02:35

I like that she gives a very organized plan.

akiva22:02:56

But I also dislike that a lot of the book’s text is wasted on basically repeating what’s freely available online.

akiva22:02:20

Also, @echristopherson, if you’re on Twitter, she’s on there as well and is very available if you have questions.

echristopherson22:02:28

🎵 crimson and Clojure... over and over...

meow22:02:33

I liked her book and just skipped the plan at the end.

akiva22:02:53

She’s fantastic all around.

jonahbenton22:02:21

wow, @akiva, that is outstanding. can you speak to the sassafras?

meow22:02:57

Her posts on tranducers is good, as is her stuff about clojure and art on the O'Reilly site.

akiva22:02:15

@jonahbenton, how do you mean? It’s just filé. I mean literally sassafras is gumbo filé. It just has a great flavor and it’s a good thickener. And yeah, I use okra too so my gumbo is non-traditional but people will line up.

meow22:02:07

I have to wait to taste this gumbo before I can say anything good about it cuz that recipe was just wall o text not gonna read material. 😉

akiva22:02:21

Hahah yeah.

akiva22:02:31

I don’t normally do that.

meow22:02:39

I love okra

akiva22:02:40

But it’s a REALLY good gumbo, son.

meow22:02:11

I'll believe you when I taste it.

akiva22:02:21

Oh you’ll believe, my friend.

meow22:02:39

Find us a place to live in Seattle.

echristopherson22:02:45

I thought okra was key to gumbo

jonahbenton22:02:23

ah, fantastic, thank you.

akiva22:02:43

@echristopherson, there are a few different varieties. Usually you don’t use okra and filé. They are two different kinds, technically. They’re both thickeners.

akiva22:02:53

And some people hate okra.

akiva22:02:11

I’ve had a creole gumbo that had tomato in it.

akiva22:02:19

It was almost like an etouffe.

echristopherson22:02:33

oh, not both together. right.

akiva22:02:47

Yeah, usually. Which makes mine non-traditional.

echristopherson22:02:06

Sassafras I only know of from root beer. Hard to imagine it in gumbo.

akiva22:02:46

Hah, yeah.

akiva22:02:51

I like a good root beer too.

akiva22:02:45

I don’t like to necessarily admit that I’m from [heavy accent] the South.

akiva22:02:52

But damn there’s some good food down there.

akiva22:02:00

No one’s ever really lived until they’ve had a deep fried turkey and also some kind of heart attack.

echristopherson22:02:43

I forgot sassafras is thought to be somewhat carcinogenic

akiva22:02:58

I didn’t even know that and I’m practically a corpse.

echristopherson22:02:23

It's the safrole oil. Maybe it isn't concentrated enough if it isn't distilled.

akiva22:02:42

Probably not. And in the case of gumbo, it’s literally just powdered sassafras.

akiva22:02:05

You find a bottle of ‘gumbo filé’ and it literally has one ingredient: sassafras.

akiva22:02:27

Also I think this is the most outside of a Bugs Bunny cartoon that I’ve seen the word ‘sassafras’ so often.

akiva22:02:23

Meanwhile, @jonahbenton, that’s my recipe and it’s refined from my father’s (he never used beer, for instance). The thing about a good gumbo is you make it your own. It took me YEARS of cooking it once or twice per annum to figure out what made my father’s gumbo mine and blah blah blah. It’s an effort of love.

echristopherson22:02:27

Ooh, magnetic primer

jonahbenton22:02:39

thank you very much for sharing @akiva. we are northern folk and have been getting into stews and we love the occasional bits of southern cooking we get. hearing of a great gumbo got my attention, and it sounds fantastic, a labor of love in the roux alone.

jonahbenton22:02:55

i'm very curious about the flavor of the filé

akiva22:02:12

Excellent! A good gumbo just brings people to the table and that’s what I like a lot. Ditch the shredded chicken or don’t. Ditch the sausage or don’t. Add crab meat if you want (and especially if it’s local). Make it your own.

jonahbenton22:02:22

love root and sassafras beverages and can almost picture it

akiva22:02:31

Filé just kind of has a… I dunno. Earthy flavor? It’s just really good in this context.

jonahbenton22:02:37

oh, yeah, crab meat would fantastic

akiva22:02:15

Yeah, look for locally-sourced meats. I mean really the heart of the gumbo is the roux. It’s what makes the flavor. The shrimp or chicken or lobster or moose or whatever is just decoration.

akiva22:02:55

Don’t do salmon.

akiva22:02:07

Oh lord I ruined two gallons of gumbo one year with that idea.

akiva22:02:10

[shakes head]

jonahbenton22:02:48

salmon definitely has to live on its own

akiva22:02:08

Yeah It’s too fierce a flavor.

akiva22:02:21

Meanwhile. since we’re being hella #C03RZGPG3, Justice Scalia died.

akiva22:02:39

2016 has been bloody harsh on famous deaths.

akiva22:02:13

Abe Vigoda. [drops mic]

meow22:02:29

David Bowie

akiva22:02:37

Alan Rickman.

echristopherson23:02:38

>Meanwhile. since we’re being hella #C03RZGPG3, Justice Scalia died. [

meow23:02:29

Since we're this far off topic, today is sexy selfie Saturday

echristopherson23:02:24

I hope that doesn't violate the CoC I got when I joined here

meow23:02:48

Not for here, just in general.