Wild Duck Gumbo

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As I have stated before, you will find a lot of Creole/Cajun recipes here. Well, here is another one: Wild Duck Gumbo. I bought a book over the summer called “In a Cajun Kitchen” and was introduced to teal duck (no clue). I have a coworker that is an avid duck hunter so I asked him what it was. Next thing I know is that 3 months later he is telling me that he has some duck for me in the freezer. Crap, what am I going to do with duck when I’m not a fan?
So, I start digging in cookbooks and looking online and I found one, but to my dismay it didn’t have okra in it. What? Gumbo has to have okra or it’s not gumbo. The name of the dish came from the African word for okra; ki-ngombo. How can you have gumbo without okra? So, I added okra and now its gumbo. Yea!
People look at me strange and tell me to move there when I say that I love Louisiana. My response is that I would if I could. I figured out the other day why I love it and the food so much. It’s a true melting pot of cultures and there is an aura of mystery about the whole state. The culture is also a draw for me. I was watching a tv show the other day that was about the Creole/Cajun culture and noticed that it is a lot like the family that I grew up around. I noticed that the cookbook that I’ve previously mentioned talked a lot about family and knowing the family stories and traditions. I’m used to sitting at my family reunions and listening to the “elders” talk about the old ways and how things were done. Love it. My last post was about my Aunt Dotty and she was the greatest to get the old stories from. The best (and saddest) I remember is her talking about the raft that was carrying supplies to the camp during the Flood of 1927 and it flipping. Their ice, lemons, and sugar to make lemonade went floating away. Every time I heard it, it made me heartbroken.
Anyways, here is my take on Wild Duck Gumbo. I hope you like, my family and I did.




Wild Duck Gumbo

6 wild teal duck breast
½ c. cooking oil
2/3 c. all-purpose flour
1 lb. smoked sausage, sliced
2 c. chopped onion
1 ½ c. chopped green pepper
1 ½ c. sliced celery
2 Tbsps. minced fresh parsley
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
1 (14.5 ounce) can stewed tomatoes
1 ½ c. frozen cut okra
2 bay leaves
2 Tbsps. Worcestershire sauce
1 ½ tsps. pepper
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. dried thyme
2 Tbsps. Cajun seasoning
2 quarts water
Hot cooked rice


In a Dutch oven over medium heat, brown duck in batches in oil. Remove and set aside. Discard all but 2/3 cup drippings. Add flour to drippings; cook and stir over medium heat until brown, 12-14 minutes. Add sausage, onion, green pepper, celery, parsley and garlic. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add next nine ingredients; mix well. Cut duck breast into cubes and add; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 60-75 minutes or until duck is tender. Simmer 5-10 minutes or until heated through. Remove bay leaves. Serve with rice.

Crawfish Chowder and Louisiana

As you will be able to tell thru out my blog, I am going to be posting lots of Cajun/Creole recipies. I love Louisiana and I am hoping that one day I will be able to live there (maybe my husband's job will make that possible). Some of my fondest memories occured there and I love the culture. Being from Arkansas, I get a little bit of the Cajun "Southern" culture. One of which, food is the center of everything.... weddings mean food, baby showers mean food, funerals mean food, tailgating means food (Geaux Tigers!). We look for any excuse to cook and eat. I myself love a good family reunion or potluck.
There is a resturant in downtown Little Rock by the name of the Flying Fish. The first time that I ate there I ordered the Crawfish Chowder. Yum Yum! Creamy, crawfishy, hardy, extremly filling. I fell in love. So I came home and started searching. I found something super close to theirs. This recipe uses corn like Flying Fish uses but when I make it I ommit the corn. It's amazing.

Crawfish Chowder 
                                                                                    
1/3 c. vegetable oil                                                             
1 1/3 c. red potatoes (Peeled and Cubed 1”)                                     
1/2 c. bell peppers, diced
2/3 c. yellow onion, diced                                                           
2/3 c. celery, diced
2 tsp.salt                                                                                                 
1/2 tsp. pepper                                                                 
1/2 Tbsp. dry basil
2 tsps. Garlic, minced                                                           
1 c. chicken broth                                                                               
1/3 c. all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp. Cajun seasoning                                                                           
1 q. half and half                                                                                   
2/3 c whole kernel corn                                                                         
1/2 lb. pre-cooked crawfish tails  (110/150)                                 

Pour oil into cooking pot, add potatoes and cook on medium heat. Stir potatoes until half cooked. Add bell peppers, onions and celery to potatoes and continue to cook on medium heat. Stir potatoes and veggies continuously until ¾ cooked. Add salt, pepper, basil and garlic and mix completely.  Add chicken broth, flour and Cajun seasoning and mix thoroughly until product thickens. ***Be sure to stir continuously to prevent sticking or burning. *** Add half and half and mix with a whisk over high heat for 10 minutes. Lower to medium heat and add crawfish meat and stir continuously.  As product continues to thicken, add corn and continue to mix. ***To test for proper thickness, tap the whisk on the side of the pot. If the product runs slowly down the side of the pot, you are ready to go. *** Remove from the burner and continue to stir for 5-10 more minutes.

The burned cookbook and Étouffée

My first attempt at blogging and my first recipe. Yeaaaa me.

For Christmas this year, I asked my 10 year old daughter, Skylar, to get me the “stuff” (3” 3 ring binder, separation tabs, and clear document covers) to put my cookbook back together.  I got it! Now the story of my cookbook…. I had a binder that housed all my recipes but during one of my cooking experiences I laid it on the stove and turned the wrong burner on. Eck! The back of the binder and a few of my recipes melted and burned. I was able to save the recipes and patch up the binder, but cosmetically it did not look good.  Now I’m retyping all my recipes and sharing them with you.

My first recipe for you…… Étouffée. I had my husband tell me what I should do first and he said by far it should be this.

 Étouffée

4 Tbsps. Butter

2 Tbsps. Creole Seasoning

1/2 c. chopped yellow onion

1/4 c. chopped celery

1/2 c. chopped green bell pepper

1/4 c. flour

3/4 c. chopped tomato

2 Tbsps. minced garlic

1 Tbsp. thyme

2 tsps. Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp. hot sauce

1/2 c. chopped green onion

1 c. water

1 beef bouillon

1 can tiny shrimp (reserve juice)

1 can crab meat (reserve juice)

cooked rice

Melt butter in a large pot. Sauté onions and celery until crisp-tender. Add flour and cook about 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Add creole seasoning, juice from shrimp and crab meat, water, and beef bouillon. Stir in tomatoes, bell pepper, and garlic. Add thyme, Worcestershire sauce, and cook about 20 minutes. Add shrimp, crab meat, and green onions. Cook for 5 minutes. Serve over cooked rice.