SoI am here off Bourbon street I am going to go to one of the classiest places around
Restauran t R'evolution in the Royal Sonesta hotel to try a dish called death by gumbo
tell me all about death by gumbo okay well it's kind of complicated you know there's
a few different elements involved there's the actual gumbo base which starts with a
traditional dark rueso you need some smoking hot oil and you're gonna add some flour and
you're going to keep whisking that that nice dark brown chocolate nutty rue are you're
gonna add your Trinity which typical of any gumbo the trinity consists of celery, onions
bell pepper that's the Trinity and garlic being the pulpIt's just smidgen be behind
being burned and that's what you’re going for right up to the edge just at that at edge
literally in seconds it will be burnt so is it the Cajun or creole gumbo this is a cajun
gumbo that we're doing here so there's meat absolutely it's all about smoked meats so
in the process of while we're making our rue we also have our stock going which has been---
we use a chicken stock based but we fortify it with all the little quail bits parts and
pieces that are left over from the stuffed quail as well as duck bones chicken bones
whatever we might have in house you're really extracting all the flavor from-- all the smokey
flavors from house made tosso to any smoked sausage leftover tidbits of bacon all that
deliciousness goes in that stock.I was going to say there's a sheen on it right?Absolutely
created from that oil that is inside the rue that's your basic very traditional gumbo we're
not we're not like reinventing the wheel here very simple.
But you are adding a significant complexities of that that we are and that begins with really
the quail so what we do is we take this beautiful little fat quail who's semi boneless already
and we took off some white rice we're gonna season that white rice with a little chopped
parsley some slice scallions and the file a powder that's really really a huge element
to the flavor component in the gumbo.
So tell us about the file powder cause that's very popular in New Orleans cooking correct?Absolutely
so file comes from the sassafras tree and it comes from the grinding of the dried leaves
it's actually used as a thickening agent brought to us from the Choctaw Indians introduced
to us as one of the seven nations being the native Americans that's how was introduced
into the Cajun creole cuisines of Louisiana the idea behind it is all the ingredients
that you would normally eat with this gumbo are stuffed inside of that quail like normal
you eat rice with the gumbo right so we're stuffing as well with the file rice the poached
oyster the smoked andouille table side that broth is poured over the quail and into the
bowl so it's kind of a deconstructed reconstructed and then there's some other things going on
there....
Evolution of gumboI really smell the andouille sausage, that spikey flavor just coming right
out.Smokey Oh my god the mouth feels issensational and you can really taste the pepper in thisyou
can taste the onion it's amazing cause some of his been reduced for that long yet still
have those flavors so apparent it's pretty special there's a viscosity to this thing
it's like just coats your whole mouthinflavor it's amazing if that's all therewas I would
be delighted but the whole quailsitting in this soup.so let's get down to business wow
it is super cute almost don't want to eat it.ALMOST don't want to eat it.Theybasically
debone this whole quail.
There's a couple of bones up front and some in the back but I'm just going to get in there
right now beautiful piece of quail meat love the pink hue also perfectly cooked a lot of
time because quail mall it looks really nice on the outside this kind of shriveled and
charred and sort of sad but this one is really quite pleasant I'm going to try some of this
stuffing now so this is deeply evocative of so many things I've eat in New Orleans the
sausage the gumbo itself the jambalaya.
But when you get that quail it's kind of smoky it's almost like barbecue and I guess that's
a sausage sort of having its influence on it and look at that motherlode right there
also made in house so really this is as artisanal as you can get wow everything's perfect cooked
like nothing that the the quail is like tender and supple just a hint of pink the sausages
like rendered the but it's not over cooked I mean it's just---Oh and then giving up smoking
is coming through it is really a pleasant dish I found the oyster so I win the prize
maybe maybe the oysters what kills you if you don't eat oyster it's not death by gumbo.Let's
find out anyway Mmmmmm what I find remark about this dish is that it's the clarity of
flavor that oyster that was stuffed in this thing roasted it's got this stuff all over
it it's surrounded in shrimp but it still tastes like oyster that you got that brininess
out of it.the same with the quail the same with the andouille it's just the flavors all
their combined there really profound but you can identify them it's like listen to orchestra
but you could hear the separate instruments remarkable I kinda want to just keeping this
so let's just wrap this up I would encourage you to come down to New Orleans and definitely
try Death By Gumbo