1904 - Cooking in Old Creole Days

Okra Gumbo

DDV CULINARY

Put into a saucepan a spoonful of pure lard and one of flour.
Stir it well until it is of a light brown.
Chop an onion into small pieces and throw them in.
Cut up a fat capon or chicken into small pieces and
put it into the saucepan with the flour and lard.
Stir it all the while until the chicken is nearly done.
When the whole is well browned, add a slice of ham cut up small.
Throw in two or three pods of red pepper, and salt to your taste.
Then add a quart of boiling water, and leave it on the fire for two hours and a half.
During that time you take either a can of okra or the fresh okra, and chop it up a bit.
Put it in a saucepan with a little water and let it simmer a quarter of an hour,
stirring it all the time.
Then add to it either six fresh tomatoes, or half a can of tomatoes,
and let it cook on a slow fire for an hour, uncovered.
When your gumbo has been on the fire the two hours and a half,
you take it off to cool, and skim all the grease off.
Then you put it back in the saucepan and add your okra and tomatoes and
let it simmer slowly for an hour or until the okra is thoroughly cooked.
Serve hot, and eat it with dry rice served in a separate dish.

--MME. EUSTIS, MERE.