Things can certainly change quickly, can’t they? Unhappily, the pandemic is still with us, but the vaccines are now arriving every day. We have had a new year, an insurrection, and a new administration all in the space of one month. And, I have been called back into the kitchen at Crook’s Corner for a bit. It’s a long story, but basically, Justin Burdett, who took over the kitchen there when I retired has had a health emergency (not COVID-19) and has had to step away for now. I agreed to come back in while the owners try to figure out what’s next. I made it clear that I didn’t want to resume my old post, but I can oversee the food without being the boss. The lockdown has made all of this doubly complicated. Most of the business right now is take away. There is in house service now, but unless it’s warm out, that means only four or five tables. Lots of things are not well suited for to go service — fried oysters come to mind. My job is to comb through the repertoire of town favorites for things that are. My stamina isn’t what it was, I must say, but it was nice to have the discipline of work again. I’ve only been back in the kitchen for a week. Nothing in that kitchen is where it was when I left. My post next month promises to be interesting, to say the least.
Our farmers markets continue to be well attended, even though many of the vendors are taking time off. Salvador still had live crabs at Tom Robinsons’ this week. Our restaurants seem to be soldiering on somehow. Most are deciding how to handle St. Valentine’s Day this year. Traditionally it is a really busy night and it sort of kicks off the spring season after the post-holiday lull. Presumably there will be romantic takeaways for two as well as limited in house dining. La Residence had decided to offer its Valentine specials for all of February.
This year, Mardi Gras is early. It falls just two days after Valentine’s Day. I would always switch a lot of the menu at Crook’s to the food of Louisiana for this every year. We’ll probably do a little of that again this year. So, in anticipation, I’ll leave you with a wonderful recipe for Gumbo Z’herbes that I learned from Chef Leah Chase of Dooky Chase, her wonderful place in New Orleans. The text is pulled from a book I’m working on, so pardon the wordy introduction.
I was at a lunch party at Dooky Chase in the Tremé neighborhood of New Orleans the summer before Katrina. Mrs. Chase had made a giant buffet. I served myself what I thought to be collards. Boy was I wrong. It looked like collards, but it was full of all kinds of meat. It was one of the most delicious things I have ever tasted. No one at my table was from Louisiana, so I tapped on the kitchen door. Ever gracious, she invited me in told me that we were having Gumbo Z’herbes. How come I had never even heard of something this good? Mrs. Chase usually only prepared it on Holy Thursday, but I serve it all during Mardi Gras season at Crook’s Corner. She says that it is considered lucky to have an uneven number of kinds of greens in the pot, so I always do that, but no two batches have ever been the same. Her recipe calls for a kind of sausage known as “chaurice” which is hard to find outside of Louisiana, so I use andouille here. Let me state from the outset, that mine is never as good as hers. This version came about when on a Christmas visit to the New Bern Farmers’ market, I discovered a green called Hen Peck.
Gumbo Z’herbes
(Serves a crowd)
- 1 bunch of mustard greens
- 1 bunch of collard greens
- 1 bunch of turnip greens
- 1 medium head of green cabbage
- 1 bunch of watercress
- 4 pounds turnips, diced*
- Water
- 1 smoked ham hock
- 8 tablespoons bacon grease, divided
- 2 medium onions, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 pound Andouille or similar sausage
- 1 pound stew meat
- 5 tablespoons flour
- 1 teaspoon thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- Salt to taste
- Cooked rice
Pick through the greens, discarding any bad leaves and any stems that seem too tough or woody. Rough chop them, place them in a large pot with the ham hock, cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, in a skillet, brown the other meats in half of the bacon grease and when they have good color, add the onions and then the garlic. Don’t let these brown.
Strain the greens but save their liquid and the ham hock. Puree about a quarter of them. Put the meats in a stew pot and cover with some of the liquid from the greens. Bring to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes. While this is stewing, cook the flour in the rest of the bacon grease over high heat until it is sort of a beige color. It needn’t brown. Add this into the simmering meats, stirring constantly to prevent lumping. Then add the turnips and the greens, both pureed and not and add enough of the reserved liquid to cover. Add the seasonings and simmer on medium heat for at least twenty minutes or until the greens and the meats seem sufficiently tender. Check for salt.
Serve with rice.
*The addition of diced turnips comes from the version of Gumbo Z’herbes made by my friend Marcelle Bienvenu, another fabulous Louisiana chef. Mrs. Chase only used the greens.
“Just The Bill, Please” is a regular column on Chapelboro.com penned by local culinary legend Bill Smith. Born and raised in New Bern, Bill Smith spent 25 years heading up the kitchen in Crook’s Corner — and over the years, he accumulated the accolades to match his incomparable takes on classic Southern food.
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