🇺🇸 United States · New Orleans and south Louisiana (Creole)
Gumbo z'herbes
Gumbo made with a large odd number of cooked-down greens, with several meats such as smoked sausage, ham, brisket and chaurice, eaten in Creole New Orleans on Holy Thursday.
Origin and history
Gumbo z'herbes is a Creole New Orleans green gumbo tied to Lent, traditionally eaten on Holy Thursday, the last day Catholics traditionally ate meat before Easter; older recipes may have been meatless. Leah Chase of Dooky Chase's Restaurant served it every Holy Thursday. An odd number of greens is said to forecast how many new friends one will make in the coming year, and some say nine matches the churches visited on Good Friday.
Make it at home
- Makes
- 8 servings
- Total time
- 2 h 30 min
- Hands-on
- 1 h 15 min
Ingredients
- 1 bunch mustard greens
- 1 bunch collard greens
- 1 bunch turnip greens
- 1 bunch watercress
- 1 bunch beet tops
- 1 bunch carrot tops
- 1 bunch spinach
- 1/2 head lettuce
- 1/2 head cabbage
- 2 medium onions, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, chopped
- 450 g1 lb smoked sausage, bite-size pieces
- 450 g1 lb smoked ham, bite-size pieces
- 900 g2 lb beef brisket (stew meat and boneless brisket), bite-size pieces
- 450 g1 lb hot chaurice (Creole fresh pork sausage) or other fresh hot sausage, bite-size pieces
- 5 tbsp all-purpose flour, for a light roux
- 1 tsp thyme leaves
- 1 tbsp salt, adjust to taste
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tbsp filé powder, stirred in off the heat
- steamed white rice, to serve
Method
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1. Wash all the greens and cabbage in several changes of water, discard bad leaves and remove thick center stems.
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2. Put the greens, onions and garlic in a large pot, cover with water and boil for 30 minutes.
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3. Strain, keeping the cooking liquid, and purée the greens in batches in a food processor (or a meat grinder).
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4. In a 12-quart (11 liter) stockpot, steam the smoked sausage, ham and brisket with 2 cups of the reserved liquid for 15 minutes.
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5. Meanwhile, cook the chaurice in a skillet until its fat renders; remove the sausage and keep the fat in the pan.
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6. Stir the flour into the hot sausage fat and cook for about 5 minutes, until the flour is cooked; this roux stays light, it does not need to brown.
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7. Pour the roux over the steamed meats and stir, then add the puréed greens and about 2 quarts (2 liters) of the reserved liquid, and simmer 20 minutes.
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8. Add the chaurice, thyme, salt and cayenne and simmer 40 minutes more, stirring often so the greens do not stick, adding more liquid if it thickens too much.
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9. Take the pot off the heat, stir in the filé powder and serve over rice.
Notes
- Quantities follow Leah Chase's recipe as printed from One Big Table (serves 8), which lists a pound each of smoked sausage, smoked ham, brisket stew meat, boneless brisket and hot chaurice; the half heads of lettuce and cabbage come from Chef John Folse's printing of her recipe, which gives no servings. Folse's version also adds celery, bell pepper and more garlic to the boiling greens, uses 2 gallons of water, and cooks the meats separately in the greens' liquid first.
- This variant is built on a purée of an odd number of greens, uses a light roux made in the chaurice fat, no okra and no tomato, and has several meats; it is eaten on Holy Thursday. Sources give the number of greens as nine to thirteen (64 Parishes) or seven to eleven (Salon); both agree it is odd, and this recipe uses nine. Salon's version, passed on by Sara Roahen, lists seven meats, and says gumbo z'herbes is not a precision project.
- Older versions may have been meatless, since some Catholics once abstained from meat for the whole of Lent (64 Parishes says this is possible, not certain). For a meatless pot, leave out the meats and cook the greens in water with the onion and garlic. If a green is missing, substitute kale, arugula, parsley or dandelion greens, keeping the count odd.
- Make-ahead: it improves the next day; reheat gently and add the filé only after reheating, off the heat, because filé turns stringy if boiled.
Adapted from Leah Chase, Gumbo Z'herbes, from Molly O'Neill, One Big Table (Kitchen and Culture) and WAFB, Gumbo Z'Herbes (Chef John Folse).
At the festivals
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