The Hobbit Hall Report:

[kenno]

The Hobbit Hall Report:  Moving into the weekend on a high, of nailing a major back office project in three days, we found the pizza crust to be superior and for the first time in recorded pie history we ate the whole thing in equal portions.  That was one good pie.
Saturday brought the conservatory lighting project, with the materials I ordered

Comments

[harmonic_motion]

I would say a good roux is essential for a gumbo, but neither okra nor file is. The file is added at the table, according to each persons tastes, the same way you'd have a salt shaker on the table. I've never known many Cajuns who favor file-- it might be an "old" Cajun thing, since Cajun cooking has done a lot of changing in MY 50 years.

It's an old, dumb, but oft-repeated Cajun joke whenever someone asks how you made practically EVERY Cajun dish. The canned response begins, "Well, first you make a roux..."