Creole Gumbo and All That Jazz: A New Orleans Seafood Cookbook (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

This delicious compilation is cooked with a roux of raconteur Howard Mitcham's wit and served with a side dish of jazz history and lyrics.As an appetizer, Mitcham traces the development of the cuisine that made New Orleans famous and the history of the people who brought their native cookery to the melting pot that makes New Orleans a living gumbo. For the main course, he puts together a cornucopia of local delights that are ready to prepare in any kitchen. A dazzling array of photos, foods, and far-out folklore, spiced up with tidbits of jazz history and lyrics, comprises a seafood cookbook that celebrates the world-famous cookery of New Orleans. Howard Mitcham offers more than 300 enticing dishes, from crab gumbo and shrimp-oyster jambalaya to barbecued red snapper and trout amandine. Mitcham traces the development of sophisticated Creole cooking and its rambunctious country cousin, Cajun cooking, with innumerable anecdotes, pictures, and recipes. Along the way, he offers a list of substitutes for hard-to-find seafoods, a bibliography, and a guide to the best mail-order seafood markets in New Orleans. Howard Mitcham, renowned chef, poet, artist, and storyteller, has practiced the inventive art of New Orleans cuisine for three decades.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Pelican Publishing (March 31, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0882898701
• ISBN-13: 978-0882898704
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #683,762 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great book, August 22, 2001

By	"t_r1" (s fla) - See all my reviews

I have used this book fro over a decade and am about to order a fresh copy. It is a great read and a great, practical cookbook. I have used it constantly.

12 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars best book on gumbo; gumbo recipe below evolved from book, November 14, 1999

By A Customer

Creole Gumbo (makes 12 quarts = 48 servings, can be made in smaller batches)

Recipe below evolved and adapted for the beach from "Creole Gumbo and all that Jazz" by Howard Mitcham,who nails it far better than anyone in print. This book is highly recommended.

6 quarts chicken stock or water 6+ washed tomatoes 2+ lbs washed medium shrimp 12+ washed live crabs (essential, buy 18 before boarding ferry)

Bring stock to boil. All in same stock, boil tomatoes 1 minute, skin and seed. Boil shrimp 4 minutes, shell and fridge the meat. Boil live crabs 20 minutes. Eat some crab meat for lunch, return all crab parts, well crushed with shrimp shells, to same stock. Boil vigorously 15 minutes, no longer. Strain stock well e.g. through paper towels and colander.

stick butter flour bunch scallions 3+ onions 1+ heads of garlic 3+ red or green peppers 4+ sticks celery

Melt butter in heavy nonstick. Add flour bit by bit till thick slurry. Stir with spatula over med heat till deep tan or as dark as you dare, without burning. Add chopped veggies (chop garlic and onions at last minute) and saute till soft. Move to heavy gumbo pot if this wasn't it.

3 lbs okra, fresh or frozen 2+ lbs good ham 3 bay leaves bunch fresh thyme bunch parsley 2-3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce 1-3 tbsp tabasco sauce 1+ tbsp freshly ground black pepper 1/2 lb double smoked bacon 2+ lbs fresh Andouille sausage or similar hot sausage, or kielbasa

Add okra sliced into rounds, diced tomatoes, diced ham, thyme tied into bunch, minced parsley, bay, any meat you crave and have (chicken? beef browned in bacon fat?). Add enough stock to cover solids and keep sloppy. Add some Worcestershire, tabasco, pepper. Slice and cook bacon, crumble and add. Braise sausage in inch of water till ready to eat, poking with fork to release fat. Slice and save.

Simmer gumbo 2-4 hours, low enough and stirred often enough to never stick at bottom. Tasting over next few hours, remembering flavors will "cure" and salt gets added at end, gradually add more W,t,p to taste. Add sausage 30 minutes before serving, shrimp 10 minutes before serving, add any seafood you crave and have (oysters? lobster? crawfish tails?). Salt generously to taste, serve with ample cooked rice.