More Simmering Pots

I told you I wasn’t through talking about pots simmering on the stove. How could I end with some many southern food specialty pots yet unexplored? There are several local delicacies that we haven’t talked about as well as some of my own favorite creations. There is nothing more creative than a one pot meal and this is the time of the year when a simmering pot equals a feeling of home and wellbeing.
Every southern cook has some variation of chicken and dumplings as well as a gumbo recipe. The original creation of chicken and dumplings came as a result of having a tough old bird that needed eating. It had to be turned into chicken and dumplings, dressing, or chicken salad in the traditional rural southwest Alabama kitchen. The chicken would create a fat rich broth. Some cooks were content to just stew the chicken with salt and pepper. I could never let well enough alone. I have to put celery, onions, carrots and herbs in my broth along with a tenderer version of the chicken. I might even add some tiny English peas to pot at the end since they don’t take long to cook.
The preparation of dumplings is a personal matter. Originally, it was a matter of making a biscuit dough or pie crust and rolling it out thin. The dumplings would be dried for a few minutes, and then slid into boiling chicken broth. The pot would then be covered and allowed to simmer for a bit on low heat. The best dumplings I ever ate were a tie between those prepared by Dot Ellison of Midway Baptist Church and Miss Lola Brown of St Stephens. Miss Lola’s are thicker. Dot’s were thin and silken. I had Dot give me dumpling making lessons. I learned that her tricks were to use very little shortning in the dough, roll them paper thin, then let them dry for 15 minutes. Women now rarely have the patience of Dot and Lola. They want instant dumplings. Some use canned biscuits. Some use bought dumplings. I have discovered a perfect substitute for Dot’s thin, silken specialty (please forgive me, Dot). I use flour tortilla, sliced into strips directly from the package. They are a duplicate of Dot’s painstaking labor. Try it. I won’t tell if you won’t.
Gumbo is another painstaking process if you make a roux. Around here we call any thick soup with okra a gumbo, but the real one always starts with a roux. Making a roux is a long process of browning flour and fat together without burning it. Fortunately,
I ran upon a real Louisiana Cajun with an eye toward progress. He taught me to make a roux in the microwave. You take a two cup Pyrex measuring cup and put in ½ c each of flour and your favorite fat. Mine is bacon grease with no apologies, but my vegetarian friend uses olive oil with good results. You put it in for 2 ½ minutes on high, then stir. If it is not brown enough to suit you, then put it in for a minute more. You can then dump it into a pot and add the vegetables you wish to sauté in the roux. Gumbo is something you can’t shortcut the simmering process in to meld the flavors of the seasonings. However, if you are making seafood gumbo, the seafood should only be added at the very end (about the last 15-20 minutes) or it will be tough and dry. The shrimp will all but disappear if cooked too long. Again, this will be continued. It’s dinner time.