Beef and Ham Gumbo

In New Orleans, I picked up a few cookbooks, one being THE LITTLE GUMBO BOOK by Gwen McKee.  The book is “twenty-seven carefully created recipes that will enable everyone to enjoy the special experience of Gumbo”.  The book contains a step-by-step gumbo recipe that provides detailed instructions that will enable anyone to create a great pot of gumbo!

One recipe really stuck out to me was the Burgundy Beef Gumbo.  I’ve only made a gumbo with chicken and sausage or seafood, so the thought of using beef sounded intriguing.  Now if you go to Amazon.com and search for the book, on the books page you can select to Look Inside!  A feature Amazon has to check out some of the pages of the book – a preview before you buy.  This recipe shows up in the preview pages also.

This is the first recipe I made from the book.  It’s really well written and informative on the process of making a gumbo.  It tells of time-freeing ways of cooking using a microwave or crock pot along with using cast-iron pots.  Need a low-calorie gumbo or a recipe for fifty people?  It’s in the book!

One change I made was with the Burgundy Wine.  From what I found online, Burgundy Wine was a red wine made in the Burgundy area of France.  I couldn’t find it at the store I was at buying groceries.  I went with a sweet red wine.  So the gumbo is called Burgundy Beef Gumbo but it’s minus the Burgundy…

NON-BURGUNDY BURGUNDY BEEF GUMBO

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 stew meat, cut into cubes
• 1/2 lbs ham, diced
• 1 (20-oz) bag of frozen okra
• 2 tsp creole seasoning
• 3 quarts hot water
• 1 beef bouillon cube
• 1/2 tsp kitchen bouquet
• 1/2 cup burgundy wine (I used a sweet red wine)
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 tbsp flour
• 2 onions, chopped
• 1 bell pepper, chopped
• 1 tsp minced garlic

Brown the meat in 2 tablespoons of oil in a large pot.  Add the ham and cook for about 5 minutes.  Remove the meats and add the okra to the drippings, stir until the okra loses its ropyness.  Put the meats back in the pot and season with the creole seasoning.

Boil the water.  In 1 cup, dissolve the bouillon cube.  Stir in the one cup of bouillon water to the pot.  Now add the kitchen bouquet, wine then the remaining boiling water.  Lower the heat, cover and simmer for 1 hour.

In a separate pan, I use a cast-iron skillet, make a roux with the flour and remaining oil.  Once it’s a nice brown color, add the onions, bell pepper, and garlic.  Stir until the vegetables are soft.   Add the roux to the meat pot.  Simmer for another hour.

Cook your rice.  Once everything is finish.  Serve the Beef Gumbo with the rice.  Offer Gumbo File’ at the table with french bread.  Enjoy!

If you own the book THE LITTLE GUMBO BOOK and made a recipe from it, or this one, let me know what you thought or recommend.