Scenes from "Gumbo Life"...a scrapbook...continued...
All images copyright Ken Wells 2019
Feasting among the poule d'eau cookers...
I had a wonderful time down Bayou Petit Caillou back in December 2015 watching Glynn Trahan and several of his 'podnahs' put together a delicious (and exotic) poule d'eau (pool doo) gumbo at Glynn's man cave in Chauvin, La. (That's the bird officially known as the American coot.) If the rest of the culinary world shuns the coot, here it's cooked with care and reverence in a tradition that goes back generations.
From top to bottom: Glynn, who also farms alligators; "Sous" Henry at the gumbo pot; some of the decor from Glynn's place; Glynn and friends enjoying some homespun Cajun music;
the guys swapping stories around the gumbo pot; the luscious, dark-roux finished gumbo.
Feasting among the poule d'eau cookers...part two...
In March 2016, I was fortunate to get a second poule d'eau gumbo cooking demonstration from Larry and Beverly Freeman of Houma--Peg and Bev to their friends and families. While the Chauvin chefs cook only with the gizzards and breasts of the poule deau, the Freemans, in their 80s when this took place, use the whole bird and add oysters. In the second photo down is their daughter, Carla Jane Freeman helping out. Peg had been eating his poule d'eau gumbo since childhood, when his mom used to buy the birds for ten cents a piece at a local market. It was an inexpensive way to feed a big family where money was tight. Peg learned well from his mom; the finished gumbo is simply beautiful. The Freemans have both since passed away and I am grateful to have been able to record their lessons and recipe for posterity.
