Many years ago, we went to Southeast Texas to see some of Paula's cousins. Her cousin, Lee David Dry, told us he was going to fix us some gumbo. His sister's name is Linda Arceneaux, so you can maybe see where we're going. We were excited about trying this cajun dish. At Linda's home, we watched him spend most of the day preparing it. He started with a big pot and cooked a whole chicken off the bone. Other ingredients were added, a homemade roux was prepared, and then it was time to eat. David referred to the gumbo as "a food of love" because of the time and attention it takes to prepare it.
When it came time to eat, he told us they eat the gumbo over potato salad rather than rice. Paula and I both thought that sounded gross, so we ate our first bowl over rice, which they had prepared for us just in case. Having watched others eat it over potato salad, we got up the courage to eat our second bowl over potato salad too. We have never looked back. That is how we have eaten it since that time.
We brought the recipe home to our family and encouraged them to try it over potato salad. Their initial reaction was the same as ours, however, they now it eat it that way too.
This year, we introduced it to our son-in-law's family. We asked them to trust us and try it, and they liked it.
We had a little bit left over, so I took it to school for a couple of my buddies to try. One of them, after his second bite said, "I'm a convert!" The other was too busy eating his first bowl of two, to say anymore than this is good, this is great.
Maybe everyone else in Missouri has always eaten their gumbo over potato salad, rather than rice, but in case you haven't, I encourage you to give it a try!
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