[Sca-cooks] Re: File Seasoning

[Phlip]

Lord ha' merci, Akim, Yankees gonna teach us'ns how to cook gumbo!

Gumbo, folks, is basicly a stew, using whatever is to hand. Down south,
where it originated, Sas'fras leaves and okra were handy, as were many bits
of various meats and fish. Trouble is, being invented by po' folks, there
was never enough of any one thing to make a meal of it, so you might find
your gumbo containing one scrawny, elderly chicken, a squirrel, a few
crawdads, and whatever else you might have fished or trapped or shot that
day, along with whatever you might have in your truck patch, or can find in
the neighboring woods or swamp- it's how most Cajun folks make one chicken
feed 20 people.

The onliest thing that's common to gumbos is the fact that it's thickened
with okra or sas'fras (or both), and it has Mystery Meat (or Fish) in it,
along with available vegetables, and frequrently a roux and hot peppers-
after that, all bets are off- except, you know it's gonna taste good.

But keep in mind that flour costs money, but rice and corn can be fairly
easily grown. Pigs are easy keepers- the Irish refer to them as "The
Gentleman who pays the rent" but cattle are kinda difficult to raise in a
swamp- or anyplace else with out lots of fairly clear grazing land.


Phlip

 If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is probably not a
cat.

Never a horse that cain't be rode,
And never a rider who cain't be throwed....