DEL.ICIO.US"Once, when I asked if her mother used the same ingredients, she said that they used whatever Papa shot that afternoon. So it might be squirrel in it one day, or crayfish — which they called 'mudbugs'
Published on: 02/15/07
With this installment of our ongoing series, we explore the murky world of gumbo, learning from two readers that there is no wrong or right way to make it. The first story is from a grown-up son in which he shares his mother's recipe, which relies heavily on okra. It's believed that the vegetable was the original thickener for the one-pot dish. The second story is out of New Orleans, via Jonesboro, and calls on so many different kinds of meat and seafood that it requires a real investment in time to prepare. But it is rich, spicy and worth it.
Contributor: Glen Bray, 47, a senior geologist and Columbus native who still lives near his hometown, where he works for Building and Earth Sciences. He is trying to teach his two young sons the art of making gumbo, as he learned from his mother.
 Family |
 Family |
Bray's story (as told to Rosalind Bentley): "The Leblancs of Lake Charles, La., wanted a little boy. When complications arose and the mother died during childbirth, the father honored the mother's wish and named the little girl Ezekiel. Ezekiel Le-blanc was a descendant of 17th-century French colonists who settled in the Canadian 'Acadie' [Acadia] region. She grew up on a farm between Lake Charles and Lafayette during the Depression, so they were poor.
"She later married an aspiring Air Force pilot from Georgia, and they moved to Columbus in the mid-1940s. Ezekiel, now Ezekiel Bray, brought her family recipe of gumbo along. The gumbo always started with a roux of flour and butter. She would also use fresh chicken stock and serve the chicken as jambalaya later.
"As a boy, I would watch as my mom would use many other ingredients, some of which would change by what was on sale at the time. She did have filé [powdered sassafras leaves] on hand, a little jar of it, but because it was so expensive, she'd only use a little bit of it. She'd keep it so long it tasted old.
"Once, when I asked if her mother used the same ingredients, she said that they used whatever Papa shot that afternoon. So it might be squirrel in it one day, or crayfish — which they called 'mudbugs' — the next. I don't think she put squirrel in ours, but I'd have never eaten it if I'd known it had.
"We were pretty poor, too, growing up. There were six of us, and I'm the baby of the family. We really couldn't depend on Dad (he was an alcoholic), so Mom worked as a waitress at the old Ralston Hotel downtown. Then she became the kitchen manager when they turned it into a retirement home.
"She'd get up every morning at 4 a.m., and she'd walk the half mile to get to the bus stop, then she'd take the bus to work. She was on her feet all day walking back and forth.
"She met John Wayne once at the hotel when they were at Fort Benning filming 'The Green Berets.' She always used to talk about that.
"Then, after work, she'd walk and take the bus back home. Sometimes she'd get food from the hotel and bring it home. But she'd be so tired when she got home, we kids had to learn to cook.
"Gumbo was one of the main things we'd eat during the week. She'd get fresh okra from the farmers market, and she grew tomatoes in our garden. You'd have to get the roux dark golden brown, like a light roasted coffee bean. Of course it had rice. Rice speaks for itself with her being from south Louisiana.
"Dad died in 1973. She died in 1994.
"I can't remember her even sitting down to teach me how to make gumbo, but it's like I've always known. It's part of me, I guess. I think of her every time I make it. I'll stand over my roux and watch it, constantly stir it, and I think about the hard times she went through.
"My sons like to have their okra fried and put on their gumbo instead of in the stew. One son is 10, Landon. The other is 12. His name is Ezekiel."
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