{"id":2443,"date":"2018-11-09T19:52:38","date_gmt":"2018-11-09T19:52:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adhc.lib.ua.edu\/globalfoodways\/?page_id=2443"},"modified":"2018-12-14T17:35:41","modified_gmt":"2018-12-14T17:35:41","slug":"signature-dishes","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/adhc.lib.ua.edu\/globalfoodways\/home\/creole\/signature-dishes\/","title":{"rendered":"Signature Dishes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Manale\u2019s Seafood Gumbo Recipe<\/b><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re looking for authentic Creole fare, you can\u2019t go wrong with a bowl of homemade gumbo. Just about every New Orleans family has their own recipe for gumbo, some of which have been passed down for generations. Thanks to the city\u2019s immigrant legacy, the range of cultural influences any given Creole family may draw upon in their gumbo is boundless. A family with an Afro-French background might go heavy on the hot sauce and sop up the gumbo\u2019s peppery juices with French bread as they eat. A family with a Native American and German background might make their gumbo with deer or duck and serve it over potato salad rather than rice. The various and constantly intersecting ethnic backgrounds of New Orleans families have made for an incredibly wide range of different dishes that can all be called gumbo.<\/p>\n

Every family likes theirs best, of course. We all think our recipe is the real<\/i> one. Ours is right<\/i>. The beauty of Creole cooking, though, is that they\u2019re all right. The widespread variation and personalization of Creole dishes are what makes Creole food so gosh darn special.<\/p>\n

Today, I\u2019m gonna walk you through one of my family\u2019s recipes (since it\u2019s the best of its kind, obviously). This gumbo recipe contains tomatoes \u2014 a very controversial ingredient! Some say gumbo has to have them, some say gumbo must NOT<\/i> have them under any circumstances.<\/p>\n

In any case, the tomatoes in this recipe are evidence of my family\u2019s Italian roots. Most of my mom\u2019s side of the family immigrated to New Orleans from Sicily in the late 1800s. They settled in an area in the back of the French Quarter called \u201cLittle Palmero,\u201d often with an abundance of extended family members all living in one house. In 1913, my mom\u2019s great-great uncle, Frank Manale, opened the doors to the family restaurant: Manale\u2019s. One of Frank\u2019s trusted nephews, Pascal Radosta (uncle\/surrogate father to my grandpa), took over after Frank died in 1937. Pascal updated the name from just Manale\u2019s to Pascal\u2019s Manale Restaurant so that he would be represented too, as the new owner. I\u2019ll tell you something though; my family still calls it Manale\u2019s. I\u2019m gonna keep calling it Manale\u2019s. Probably force of habit.<\/p>\n

Anyway, Manale\u2019s got to be really popular under Pascal\u2019s direction. By the fifties, the restaurant was famous. My grandpa, Papa, worked there pretty much his whole life. He moved in with Pascal\u2019s family at age ten, after his father died, and started helping out as a delivery boy. He was promoted to maitre\u2019d as soon as he was old enough (probably like 20), and became a fixture of the restaurant as it began to rise to prominence.<\/p>\n

In it\u2019s heyday Manale\u2019s was a New Orleans nightlife staple, where people went when they were \u201csteppin\u2019 out.\u201d Papa said the bar used to be so busy there wasn\u2019t enough room to stand there and change your mind. He told me, \u201cSuper Bowl weekend the bar would be be so packed a broad could put her hand in her pocket and wind up with her hand in your pocket!\u201d He was called the \u201ckeeper of the book\u201d because he asked any famous people who came to eat or have drinks at Manale\u2019s to sign this special leather-bound guest book he kept in a safe in the back. Marilyn Monroe even signed it once. Needless to say, Papa told me stories about his glory days at Manale\u2019s that would make any grandkid\u2019s eyes sparkle.<\/p>\n

Papa\u2019s last gig on the floor at Manale\u2019s was Mardi Gras, 2015. He was 83 years old. EIGHTY-THREE YEARS OLD! Papa loved Manale\u2019s, and he loved the hell out of his job. He passed away this year, to my great sadness. However, when I made the gumbo recipe I\u2019m about to share with you I felt close to him again. I was reminded that he lives on through me as a part of my heritage, in my very genetic makeup. He also lives on through all the people who were there \u2014 the people who remember Papa\u2019s gold-toothed grin greeting them from behind the maitre\u2019d podium at Manale\u2019s throughout its most iconic years. So, let\u2019s celebrate Papa! I\u2019m going to show you how to make a classic from the Manale\u2019s menu: seafood gumbo. I think if Papa were here today he\u2019d be glad you\u2019re trying your hand at it. That is, making gumbo the right<\/i> way.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what you\u2019ll need:<\/p>\n