Now that the witches and goblins have been put away, it’s time to turn our attention to the next holiday, the truly All-American one: Thanksgiving.
It’s surprising how many people now celebrate the holiday in a restaurant, but a real bonus about eating the Thanksgiving meal at home is leftovers.
We were recently approached by Rent.com to offer their readers some tips about preparing Thanksgiving leftovers. In our opinion, the turkey andouille gumbo is one of the best things about Thanksgiving in South Louisiana. We offered a few pointers rather than a recipe. See our suggestions here: Creative Thanksgiving Leftover Recipes
Since Rent.com is associated with the real estate company Redfin, the article was a national one featuring different regions of the country. So gumbo was only mentioned once, in the blurb I sent them, but gumbo has lately broken out of the region. There are recipes all over the place for it and it turns up in restaurants now all over the country. Everyone knows what gumbo is.
I remember the first time I realized you could make a gumbo out of a turkey carcass. My sister’s mother-in-law taught her how to do it. This was an epiphany for our family. You can do something else with the bones when you have picked a turkey clean? There’s more?
Indeed yes, and that part is every bit as good as the original feast. It’s so simple. Just put the carcass in a large pot of water with some onion and celery and some parsley and boil until the meat falls off the bone. In a separate pot, chop 2 ribs of celery, a small onion, and a small red bell pepper. Grill two links of andouille in the oven and chop into thin discs, then again in quarters.
Heat a Dutch oven on medium heat, melt half a stick of butter and a half cup of flour. Stir this consistently without stopping, carefully watching it to make sure it doesn’t burn. This should clump into a ball. Keep stirring it until it gets a dark brown color. If it starts smoking, either ladle some stock into it to cool it or put the vegetables (which we call the trinity) into the hot pot of roux (the flour and butter ball) until the vegetables get blond and translucent.
Take the carcass from the boiling pot and remove all the meat from the bones. The turkey meat goes back into the pot with the vegetables and the roux. Add the andouille and enough stock to cover all of this comfortably. Let it simmer until it blends into a thick soup.
Ladle this gumbo over rice, (or boudin removed from the casing.) And in the rural areas of western Louisiana, this is served with baked sweet potatoes that can be plucked from the holiday table. It's a whole complete, and really delicious, second meal.
