/ck/ - Food & Cooking

>>16587773
Can't really think of something truly american. But would love a real, original southern gumbo, but that's partly fFench, North African and Native American.

>be a teenager
>Dad is in the hospital, mom is out staying with him 90% of the time
>Mom is back in town one weekend, decide to surprise her by making gumbo
>the only part of gumbo I know how to do is make the roux
>make a very nice, even roux
>oh fuck what now
>fill up a pot with water and dump the roux into it
>I now have a pot of vaguely roux flavored black water
>fuck what goes in now
>add a diced onion, chicken or something, and a can of tomatoes
>pot is still mostly black water
>remember okra goes in
>for some reason we have okra, dump it in
>ended up putting in like double the amount of okra to the rest of ingredients
>pot is still mostly water
>boil it for a while and give my mom a bowl
>the bowl is mostly boiled okra in black water
>she didn't notice I was doing anything in the kitchen the entire time she had been home
>tastes it, doesn't say anything
>I taste it
>it's fucking horrible, basically tastes like roux and only roux

I can make a pretty decent gumbo now, but damn that first one at 16 was a bad attempt.