Gumbo time!

This has been the first year I haven’t shot some coots. Haven’t even seen any which is odd.
Will be some good eating there
 
I see your "duck luck dampener" in the upper edge of the frame. No superstitious captain would allow that yellow fruit on his boat!

We used to pull the gizzards, cut the mastication pads off the inside faces, and toss them in a slow cooker. When done, they would get diced and sauté in with Fresno peppers and then tossed in the gumbo prior serving. But, it also took four fish biologists and two canoes to get enough coot for a big pot of gumbo via Paul Prudhomme's recipe...Good Shootin' Tex!

Seriously, the last two falls have driven some very odd migration patterns through up here!
 
I thought about pulling the gizzards but ended up not doing it. Might have to next time I kill a few coots.
Also thought about pulling the livers to make pate, too.

Gumbo came out great, simmered the coot breasts for 2 hours, changed the water half way, cooled & shredded. Them made my own roux for the first time, never using store bought gumbo mix again!
Added an onion, 4 stalks of celery, a red bell pepper, can of tomatoes, 1/4 fresh okra, cumin, garlic powder, chili powder, cayenne pepper, black pepper and salt plus 6 cups of chicken stock. Family loved it.
 
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No garlic? I have 4 gumbo recipe variations-all call for garlic, either in powder form or minced fresh cloves. I use a mix of cayenne and crushed red pepper, as well as unsalted butter. Do you sauté your Okra prior adding?
 
Lots of garlic powder!
All the veggies got "saute'd in the roux before the tomatoes and stock went in.
 
Nope, I dont know that you can find it in any grocery store outside of Louisiana or SE Texas!
But no need when you can make a good roux and add okra.
 
Okra works fine, especially for the"texture & flavor" that Todd puts in his...[;)]

I've made Gumbo with either Okra, or, Fele, never both in one recipe.

You can find fele in bulk food and spice stores, even above the Mason Dixon Line. One small package lasts a long time.

Yer correct. Roux is the foundation, if it ain't good everything else don't matter.

That ya put those Coot to good tasty use is what's important anywho.
 
Vince Pagliaroli said:
That ya put those Coot to good tasty use is what's important anywho.
Click to expand...

Yep.
Given that all the birds we shoot down here are either divers or puddler feeding on same vegetation, which is the same thing the coots are eating, I find it hard to tell them apart.
No grain fed mallards or geese down here to compare them too though!
 
Carl -

The many times that I waterfowl hunted in NC. The only bird the local men and guides that I hunted with, would ever leave the blind for to go after, were Blue Peters/Coots. By their account they are the best eating in their area of hunting. I respected that, and who am I to judge.

I shot them, and ate them in ND & SD when they flew strong. Like nothing else I've seen them do in the Atlantic Flyway. Even made a small rig to use out there.

Mighty fine bird they are. My favorite ODCCA pin and t-shirt, is the year of the Coot. Pissed some REAL decoy carvers off, cuz they held them in disregard.


My bad it's File/fele = Sassafras
 
Obtaining Okra that is not canned or frozen is like finding hen's teeth in the UP! Even getting frozen Okra stocked is difficult. Consequently, I combine some file' powder with canned Okra as the thickening agent. The plus is the background flavor it adds as well. Even tried the local farmer's market routinely since it opened three years ago.

We have a Meijer opening in the spring ( I lived a half-mile from the Okemos Meijer that had a custom-cut butcher shop located on one of the out-lots during my last year of grad. school.) which will infuse some good quality and broader array produce into the local economy. The one aspect of "life on an airplane or in a car" over 25 years was the variety of local specialty ethnic food and condiments shops that various destinations held. I worked a display booth at a couple of national Medical Specialists meetings in New Orleans when I was still in infectious disease; great food that "fights back" that employs a variety of protein sources to build a recipe on!

Coot reminds me of guinea hen- in a gumbo!
 
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