Recipes are only one ingredient of novelist Ken Wells’ stewpot of a book, Gumbo Life: Tales from the Roux Bayou. Wells was born on the bayou and, though now living in the somewhat colder climate of Chicago, revisits Louisiana in his combination of memoir, cultural history and culinary tour.
As Wells explains in his book’s glossary, roux is a base for soups, gravies and gumbo and was like mother’s milk while growing up in a sleepy Cajun town southwest of New Orleans. Back then (the 1950s), Cajun and Creole cooking (Creole has deeper French roots) were Pelican State secrets. Nowadays Louisiana dishes can be found around the world.
Wells’ prose makes you taste the robust flavors in Gumbo Life, and yes, his journey is capped with recipes for gumbo made with duck, lobster, sausage, shrimp and you-name-it. Some are definitely ample enough to feed a large family.
