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This 1700s Gumbo has ALL THE THINGS | Ancient Recipes With Sohla | History

HISTORY

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Sohla is cooking up an old school Creole favorite - a gumbo recipe from the 1700s that contains 4 types of protein in one pot. This delicious stew combines West African and Native American cultural traditions with French and Spanish ingredients, plus it’s the official cuisine of Louisiana. Learn more about it’s history in this episode of Ancient Recipes With Sohla!

THE RECIPES

kosher salt
1 pound boneless beef short rib, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 ham knuckle, deboned & cut into 1-inch pieces
½ cup lard
½ cup all-purpose flour
2 large crabs, cut into quarters
4 dozen okra pods, sliced into ½-inch rounds
1 large yellow onion, peeled and chopped
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
3 celery stalks, chopped
1 pound peeled shrimp
cooked Carolina gold rice for serving

1. Generously season the beef all over with kosher salt.
2. In a large pot, heat the lard over medium-high heat. Sear the beef and pork knuckle in batches until deeply browned on all sides. 3. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
4. Reduce heat to medium. Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly, until it’s a peanut butter brown color.
5. Add the okra, onion, pepper, celery, and big pinch of kosher salt. 6. Cook, stirring constantly until tender, about 5 minutes.
7. Add the crab, beef, and ham and cook, stirring frequently, for about 15 minutes.
8. Add enough water to cover the contents 2 inches deep. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer.
9. Add salt to taste and cook until the beef is tender, about 2 hours.
10. Add the shrimp and simmer until cooked, about 3 minutes. Serve over rice.

#HISTORY #ancientrecipes

Chapters:
00:00 Gumbo’s African, Native, French, and Spanish Roots
02:30 Creole vs Cajun Gumbo Explained
03:07 Okra, Filé, and the Fight Over Authenticity
04:25 Why This Gumbo Recipe Goes Back to the 1700s
07:46 Choosing Proteins and the Right Roux Color
10:11 Searing Meat and Building Flavor
14:25 Making a Creole Roux and the Holy Trinity
21:55 Tasting the Finished 1700s-Style Gumbo

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Ancient Recipes with Sohla takes the food you know and love and traces it back to its origins. In each episode, Sohla El-Waylly details the surprising history of some of our favorite dishes as she attempts to recreate the original version using historical cooking techniques and ingredients. Along the way, Sohla highlights the differences between the ancient recipe and how we would prepare the modern version today.
http://histv.co/ancientrecipes

CREDITS

Host
Sohla El-Waylly

Created By
Brian Huffman

Executive Producers
Sarah Walker
Brian Huffman
Jon Erwin

Executive Producer
Sohla El-Waylly

Co-Producer
John Schlirf

Writers
Jon Erwin
Diana Davis

Historian - Scripts
Ken Albala

Guest
Lolis Eric Elie

Post-Production Supervisors
Jon Erwin
John Schlirf

Editor
Jordan Podos

Colorist
John Schlirf

Mixer
Tim Wagner

Manager, Rights & Clearances
Chris Kim

Executive Creative Director, A+E Networks
Tim Nolan

VP, Marketing Production, A+E Networks
Kate Leonard

VP, Brand Creative, History
Matt Neary

Music Courtesy of
Extreme Music
A+E Signature Tracks

Additional Footage & Photos Courtesy of
Getty Images
Alamy
Pond5
Wikimedia

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This 1700s Gumbo has ALL THE THINGS | Ancient Recipes With Sohla | History
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20 Comments

@SAmaryllis 4 years ago

The expert in this episode dropped so much knowledge in such a short amount of time! So glad you brought him on

@SourGir1986 4 years ago

I love how descriptive Sohla is. She doesn't rest on, "it's delicious. It's so good" when she takes a bite. She's going tell you in detail about the depth of flavor, how certain ingredients play together, why the dish works, and more. She's fabulous!

@Becausing 4 years ago (edited)

That smirk when Lolis is talking about cultural erasure in recipes, you KNOW Sohla was thinking about all the writers and everything that went down at Bon Appetit.

@AutumnWytch999 4 years ago

This is a GREAT episode! I would love to see more food historians join Sohla to explain the origins of the dishes she's about to make. This kind of reminded me that we're so disconnected from our food on some level, and understanding the origins/history of our food. I loved this episode!

@ladragonshark 4 years ago

I’m Haitian and this gave me a lot of insight into my own culture. The area I’m from in Haiti calls okra . . . gumbo! Lol. In most other regions it’s called kalalou.

@Jordan_The_Drummer 4 years ago

The Maryland crabcake gained recognition in the 1930s from Crosby Gaige's "New York World's Fair Cookbook" but I've heard that the concept dates back to traditional Native American recipes from the Chesapeake Bay region. It would be really interesting to see you explore the history if this dish pre-20th century.

@LaGooba 4 years ago

In the middle of the night, under a fuzzy blanket, I love to watch sohla while eating a tiny piece of dark chocolate

@killercaos123 3 years ago

Why is History channel not showing this on TV? This is phenomenal work. I wish I could watch this growing up

@doctorPearTits 4 years ago

I LOVED that historian and how he spoke to his evolving perceptions of gumbo as he researched more and more!

@dcheram 4 years ago

If you want to talk historically, the first lards were actually bear lard, a technique that comes from Native Americans.

@AshishPatel-pv6oz 4 years ago

I made this and it was delicious! One thing I did different, was I made a quick shrimp stock with the shells and water. I added that to the beef/pork/crab/okra mixture. I think it adds a deeper shrimp flavor to the dish. Thanks Sola!!

@artinfluence 4 years ago

Leah Chase said in an interview I saw in the 80's that original gumbos used just guinea fowl( african origin), okra and sausage hence the original chicken and sausage gumbo.

@jameshebert8186 4 years ago

I am 24 Karat Cajun, and I love the history of this dish. I never knew where the name, Gumbo, came from but, I always knew it wasn't French. I think it's wonderful that you made this video; Gumbo is the dish of America; the borrowing and melding of several cultures. Everyone gets along and loves life around the dinner table. Thank you for this and Mr. Elie as well.

@e.samantha06 4 years ago

You always bring amazing guests to this show! All of them are always super knowledgeable without being pretentious. We love educators like these.

@elvisneedsboatsbennett2455 4 years ago

I grew up in the Florida Panhandle and we had several sassafras trees. We dried the leaves and ground them into file and we pulled up the roots to make sassafras tea for upset stomachs. My family has always worked on the shrimp boats so we always cooked the "trash fish", the fish that came out of the nets that could not be sold. They were always thrown into gumbos and fish stews.

@MissBanks777 4 years ago

You know my family is from Haiti and we make something similar called “Tom Tom”. The old recipe resembles Tom Tom so much. I would love to make this myself.

@tiredofit4761 4 years ago (edited)

My husband is from Louisiana and his family has their recipe for gumbo. I’ve seen at so many recipes and each family has their own, seems there are a 1000. Maybe each cook’s own taste and preferences changed the recipe. So interesting and such great food!

@tompoehnelt 4 years ago

how about jjajangmien? it’s one of my faves from childhood when my korean mom made it? found out there’s a chinese version also, with the same name, that i’ve never tried. it’d be cool to learn about how it migrated and when. btw, thanks for doing these. love watching them.