THEU
2,500+ Posts
My argument is not that they don't know how to cook good food, or cajun food. Mine is a linguistic argument. Perhaps in my frustration, it didn't come across that it wasn't the food that I was having a problem with, it was the name. I do like what another poster wrote about gumbo with a different thickening agent. I have heard that history of winter or (sp) filee gumbos. I also wasn't arguing the need for a roux as a base. And I do have a culinary question for others here. Does anyone use butter as the oil/fat for their roux, or do most use veggie oil? Just a question there. I am also not arguing that EVERY single coonass calls many things without orka, gumbo. That isn't my point. My point is that it's about like calling meatless chicken fried steak, steak at all. My problem is with the linguistics of it, not the cooking of it. I hope that makes some sense. I tried to use the vodka 'martini' debate as an analogy. Maybe that didn't come through either. My frustration is that a culture is calling something okra in another language without it including okra as an ingredient. I know they do it, it just bugs me. Also, in the winter I am assuming that cajuns might can okra. I know many in the south that traditionally can okra. Might not be something ever done in cajun cooking, that I do not know, but I do know that it is canned in the south. It is canned mainly after being pickled though. I don't know if you can can it in a way that retains many qualities of fresh okra.
