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I’m told that okra gumbo is the one exception some Cajuns — not me — make. Paul Prudhomme used canned tomatoes in his okra gumbo. I don’t like it, but I get it. When you cook okra with tomatoes, the natural acidity in the tomatoes helps reduce some of that gooey texture of the okra. But if you, like me, don’t think tomatoes belong anywhere near gumbo, you can just use frozen okra in your gumbo, since it doesn’t get as gummy as fresh. The “tomatoes in gumbo” debate is just the tip of the culinary iceberg. Do you put tomatoes in your jambalaya? What about your étouffée? Food writers say it’s the difference between Cajun and Creole cooking…but not so fast. I grew up Cajun in Thibodaux. I will argue all day long that jambalaya, like gumbo, should be brown, and that étouffée should not contain tomatoes. There are chefs and cooks, especially in New Orleans — including people who work at Rouses — who swear that adding tomatoes is the only way to go. Yet the chef who made the okra and tomato gumbo on our cover is a Cajun from Raceland, which is just down the road from Thibodaux. So obviously, this might also be a bit of a “to each their own” situation. You might notice that this magazine’s issue has two covers. If you prefer brown gumbo, flip the magazine over, and start from that side. If you are #teamtomato, you’ve come to the right place too — just start from the other side! — Donny Rouse, CEO, 3

much I liked it — I just don’t know if I’d call it gumbo.

tomatoes. Since we were talking about tomatoes in gumbo, I wanted to try it. Lower Alabama gumbo falls somewhere between Cajun and Creole. It’s thicker, like Cajun gumbo — and this was very thick gumbo – and it almost always has tomatoes. The roux was lighter, too. (The color of the roux is just as fiercely debated as tomatoes in gumbo around here.) Louisiana dark roux looks like melted chocolate; Alabama dark roux is lighter, more like the color of a paper bag. I was very pleasantly surprised by how I say,

Beach, Alabama, we went to eat at Fresh Off The Boat, a really delicious, fun and casual seafood restaurant where they’ll even cook up your catch for you. They have the best bourbon selection in Orange Beach. They had a seafood gumbo on the menu made with

HOW DO YOU GUMBO? ARROW-CIRCLE-RIGHT Recently on vacation in Orange

PHOTO BY CHANNING CANDIES

I live by the “no tomatoes in gumbo ever” rule.

Whether it’s okay to cook that okra with tomatoes, even in the summertime…well, that’s up for debate.

There’s no roux in the summer seafood gumbo pictured on our cover. It is thickened, instead, with okra. There are people who will insist that a gumbo isn’t a gumbo without a roux. I disagree. Cooks were thickening gumbo with okra long before roux became popular.

TEAM TOMATO

Or do you?

First you make a roux.

Gumbo or No?