Is It Soup Weather Yet?

 Living in the South, there aren't many cool days but when we do have those days, I want soup!  Hearty tasty soup!  I don't like soup on hot days, just cooler days!  

I looked at the national trending day calendar and found that Today is National Gumbo Day!!  Yum!  Delicious gumbo!  

NATIONAL GUMBO DAY TIMELINE

1802

A gustatory delight

American surgeon John Sibley records his comments on gumbo, “which is made principally of the ochre into a thick kind of [soup] & eat with rice, it is the food of everybody for dinner and supper."

1824

It’s as easy as one, two, three

Mary Randolph’s cookbook, “The Virginian House-Wife,” publishes a gumbo recipe called “Gumbo — a West India Dish.”

1980s

“Good cooking, good eating, good loving!”

Chef Paul Prudhomme’s rise to television popularity multiplies the American interest in Creole and Cajun cooking.

1989

Not knowing it would snowball

Fewer than a dozen chefs participate in the inaugural World Championship Gumbo Cook Off in New Iberia, Louisiana.

But, which one should we make?  There are so many choices--

first, take an inventory of the pantry and freezer/refrigerator--what's in stock?  Don't want to run to the grocery when you want to cook gumbo!!  we can go with a traditional New Orleans Gumbo with chicken, sausage, shrimp or recipe that adds okra--don't have okra so we'll go with the traditional.  We'll use file'--

short history of gumbo is the way to begin, if you don't have any idea what gumbo is or where it came from.  Now, begin your gumbo, gather your veggies, chop, make your roux, and we're off to the races with a delicious gumbo!

There are so many recipes that you can search for gumbo--but different regions of Louisiana add potato salad to their bowl of gumbo!  We don't use rice but use riced cauliflower instead.

My mouth is watering as I write!

Here's to National Gumbo Day!