A Little Bit Of Americana -- Gumbo And Potato Salad -- September 5, 2020

I've long forgotten how we got on this subject, but a reader sent me this note regarding gumbo and potato salad. I can't remember if we were talking about gumbo first, or potato salad first. 

Regardless this is a great note -- a little bit of Americana -- that would be nice to keep:

While traveling, we were invited to eat supper one night at a home.  Three generations of that family have been successful retauranteurs, caterers and they run a huge party hall - rented for weddings, anniversaries, etc.

They're Cajun out of New Orleans, but have settled in Beaumont.  Grandpa had a great story.

Anyway - we had appetizers and drinks and then sat down in the dining room.  The menu was a mixed gumbo, white rice, garlic bread and potato salad.  We had large bowls and our hosts put a scoop of rice on the bottom of the bowl and then covered it with gumbo.  No surprise.  I did likewise.  Our bowls were set on a large service plate, so there was plenty of room to tuck a slice of garlic bread.  I watched to see what was happening to the potato salad, and it was put on what I would have thought would have been the bread plate.  So, my gb got slid under the bowl, and I left my small plate empty for a scoop of potato salad.... I copied their lead.

Everything was absolutely divine and I complimented our host.  He's the Cajun and the cook.  (His wife is happy to cede control of the kitchen).  Trading bites of potato salad with spoons of gumbo was so unexpectedly wonderful.  I had to ask if that was a "thing".  He said "Oh, yeah.  I guaranty that if you're invited out to somebody's Aunt's, somebody's Grandma's for the big family meal - that if you walk in just as they're setting the hot food out, somebody will be headed to the refrigerator, looking for the potato salad."

They start the roux cooking and get the potato salad made so it's chilling while the gumbo is bubbling away.

He said that he knows some guys who will put a scoop on top of the gumbo and eat everything out of one bowl - but he preferred to keep the hot and cold separate.

That was December 2018.  I came home to find the current copy of Southern Living magazine featuring a Gumbo Championship in Lafayette, Louisiana.  A couple guys from the local Kiwanis had won the amateur "melange" division  5 years out of the last 6.  They had shared their huge recipe.  I adapted it, made a batch of ND potato salad (the Cajun's was different), and served it at New Year's to rave reviews.

I've made that same gumbo a couple times a year since - always for company - and always served with a side of potato salad.  It's time consuming - but one of the simpler things to make - especially for a big group of people.

................

I'm invited back.  He and his wife manage rental property and flip houses, so he's not directly involved in the catering.  If I can get back there, I bet he will either let me help him cook or he'd give me a couple tips.  

Potato salad was strictly a summertime dish at our house.  We all loved it, but just had it a couple times a year.  Lots of mashed potatoes, sometimes we'd do baked - especially in the winter when we just looked for excuses to keep the oven running - then there was a shortlived spring treat - new potatoes creamed with peas.

Oh, yes, this is how the discussion started. The reader noted this on Twitter: