St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1893-03-18
Gumbo File and Creole Coffee.

D
MI L. Housh, Of Chicago, who ac
companied Mr.. Waters on recen
shooting trip to Opelousas, writes Ell,
| tertainingly aboutr" Gumbo File anC
Creole Coffee" in a late number of the
sportsmen's journal, Forest and Stream
After describing how our neighbor, Mil
lie, makes coffee and telling how good
it is, he tells about her gumbo, as fol
| lows :-~--
Many have heard of gumbo who
know not gumbo. You can't get real
gumbo in the north, because it doesn't
grow there, any more than bananas do.
For gumbo, real gnmbo, gumbo as is
gumbo, you have to 60 to Louisiana, to
Opelousas. Then, it may be, you will
have to go to that same small side
street and look up black Millie, who
made the puissant coffee. At least,
four OF us went there one night and
tlemen, who oughtsfo know good gum
DO when they see it.
Millie had the gumbo ready. We had
to order gumbo The day before because
it takes nearly day to make good
gumbo. This was gsod gumbo.
MiIlie handed us each dish contain
ing what first seemed soup, then pot
au feu, then heaven. Visible in the
rich liquid were Eoceno evidences of
chicken, also Of rice. In addition, |
thought [ detected AIRED pepper hull,
and maybe trace Of tomato, though
the latter | doubt Pepper OF some
sort was there, for the gumb0 was hot
enough to make gnmbo tenderfoot
weep. Other things also were there,
and all through everything, making the
subtle, indeiinable, unmistakable lavor
of this gumbo, was 4; keen, savory
smack unlike anything had ever met
before. This was what | had missed
all my life. | had been looking for
this. II any gentleman has lost a
chord he can find it by applying to
Millie, Opclousas.
GLOW do you make this gumbo, Mil
Iie?1 | asked, afterI had eaten two OF
three plates of tit was purely q gum
DO festival, nothing but gumbo and
coffee.
"WelI, syll,' said she "ct takes good
vile tcll make gumbo. lo' put things
in the pot, ych, long III the day some
time, an yO' lets ct scmmer, II 6Cmmer,
d semmCr."
This seeming, to her, q rational cx-
planatiOn of the product of gumbo,
felt bound to press the matter further.
"What things do you put ii, Mlllic :"
| asked.
IVY, CHICKEN, IL rice, n things"
What elsei'
"W'y, law dunno.
"ADy red pcppcr?"
"Ch. yeSSah.'
"Wber do ypu put ~ the G!r 7"
"W'y les puts ct in ; sort Of aitch
aU lie you know, sch.~
"liow long do You leave the gumbo
on the fire before you put in the 1i!., ,"
IVY, bress meh ha,ht, kahn sea 'scIy
jes' member, sch.
How much file does it take ,"
"Oh, not er srca deal, sch, les bout
huff to season up wat yo got on e.
cookin at the time, seli.'
"Well, how long does it take the gum
DO to get done -
"W'y dunno oh, quite CT " lie, Sch
"And you can't tell me how Won make
il, so can show the folks up north ?"
IVY, no, sch, kahn tell how all
makes et. ies' makes ct, sch, dat's ALL
specs yO think cts a heap hah'deh
teh make Il ct is. Et's mighty easy teh
make gumbo. | kahn jes' zacly scribe
how does ct, but .es' makes et''
From the above directions trust any
one will be able to make gumbo Oh sight.
For my part, believe in letting we'll
enough aloue, and SO think will only
eat gumbO hereafter when ] am some
where around near Opclousas, and then
| will eat it first, last and all the time.
There are other sorts of gumbo be-
sides gumbO file.
But gumbo file is the distinctive gum
DO, and is acknowledged to rather lay
over all other gumbos in the gumbo-
line qualities OF its gumboessenceness