My Mother Kept This Gumbo Recipe for 50 Years. Here's Why.

My mother helped write this cookbook in 1976. Her favorite seafood gumbo recipe has never been made on camera — until now. The Galveston Island Cookbook was published during America's Bicentennial year by the women of Trinity Episcopal Church in Galveston, Texas. It still sells on the island today. Inside is this seafood gumbo recipe. On the first page, the 7th Rector wrote my mother a personal note: "Without your work, this book would not have been." That meant a great deal to her. This is Episode 3 of Road to America 250 — a series tracing American recipes from 1776 to 2026. We cooked from 1794 and 1876. This is 1976, and this one is personal. What you'll learn: • How to build a dark chocolate roux from scratch • The Holy Trinity of Gulf Coast cooking • How to layer seafood into gumbo without overcooking it • The story behind a 50-year-old community cookbook that never went out of print New American recipe every Saturday #ForgottenRecipes #GumboRecipe #SeafoodGumbo #HistoricalRecipes #RoadToAmerica250 Gumbo Recipe Adapted from: Galveston Island Cook Book – 1975 Page 27 Deluxe Gumbo Roux 1/3 cup bacon grease 1/3 cup flour Stir over medium fire in Dutch oven CONSTANTLY until roux is a dark brown similar to chocolate, about 20 minutes. 1 lb. Shrimp – large or medium – don’t use extra-large or jumbo 1 lb. Crab 1 cup chopped ham or half pound of link sausage 1 6 ½ ounce can minced clams 1 quart chicken stock 1 16 ounce can tomato sauce Spices 1 bay leaf 4 tablespoons of file´ 1 tsp. salt 1 tsp. pepper ¼ tsp cayenne pepper – less if you don’t want the heat – 1/8 gives a mild “kick”. Sauté 1 chopped onion 2 green onions including tops 3 large cloves garlic, minced ½ Green Bell pepper ½ Red Bell Pepper 2 stalks chopped celery 1 pound fresh okra chopped – 1 tsp vinegar to help de-slime it 2 tablespoons chopped parsley Sauté all ingredients together expect garlic for about 5-7 minutes. Add garlic at the end and stir for 1 more minute. Mix sautéed vegetables with roux and add spices of salt, pepper, cayenne – 3 minutes Add tomato sauce, minced clams, and ham. – mix together Add 1 quart of chicken stock – mix together and let simmer for 30 minutes. Add raw shrimp to let them cook for about 6 minutes. Add Crab Let simmer for another 30 minutes. Serve with Rice Seafood gumbo freezes well so you can freeze the extra or prepare it in advance and freeze for the future.