Was I Right?

[indianwells]

Went to a cooking class at Charleston Cooks last week. Although the lecturer was extremely knowledgeable, when it came to the tasting (gumbo), I commented that I could taste the fennel in the hot Italian sausage she used in the recipe. She said there WAS no fennel in the sausage and seemed very surprised I would say such a thing. Now, I think fennel has a very distinctive taste and i'm absolutely positive it was an ingredient. I didn't push the point as nobody voiced agreement with me and the class tutor was a lovely girl. Am I right in thinking roasted and ground fennel is a key ingredient in (most) Italian sausage recipes?

[stir it up]

I'd say it's likely you could have been right. I have definitely had fennel seed in some Italian sausage, I wouldn't say all. I made a mock sausage a while ago that was vegan, part of the trick to give it a sausage taste was fennel seed.

Now why were they using Italian sausage and not Andouille? Maybe she didn't want to be called out on using the wrong sausage, so was pretending there was no fennel? If you were tasting herbs, it should have been thyme. Was the sausage also unsmoked? Blasphemy if it was!



Can you tell I take my gumbo seriously? If you make it in the future, get real Andouille, or make the Andouille.

[phatch]

Italian sausage is not the right product for gumbo.

But Italian sausage is a bastardized misnomer of a non-product. Some sausages may have fennel seed but it's not a required ingredient and to my knowledge is actually not too common in sausages native to Italy. Usually just the generic ones outside of Italy. Sort of like how German sausage is Bratwurst. Well yes, but which regional varietal plus knockwurst, weisswurst, bockwurst and on and on.

[shroomgirl]

Charleston Carolina? Well, maybe they make their gumbo there with Italian sausage. But it certainly is not a cajun recipe.
Wales, what brings you to a Gumbo class in Carolina?

[siduri]

sausages here in rome rarely have fennel, but i remember in the states having to look carefully to find them without it. I think it is probably a regional specialty, which was brought to the states with immigrants from that place and it caught on. Like so many recipes, e.g. lasagne with ricotta instead of the usual italian way with bechamel.

[KYHeirloomer]

I have had all sorts of gumbos in my day; gumbos made in the Louisiana swamps by white-rubber-booted Cajuns; gumbos made in haute restaurants; even gumbos made in the flatlands of the high plains.

None of them ever contained Italian sausage. And I suspect the instructor's original source recipe merely said "sausage," and she didn't know any differently.

Gumbo, as it originated among the Cajun folk, is a "use whatever is available" dish. But fundamental to it are smoked and Andouille sausages. A typical relationship would be four pounds of smoked sausage and a pound or pound and a half of Andouille, plus whatever other ingredients are going in the pot. This combo provides an earthy, spicy flavor base that compliments any other protein being used, whether it's fish, fowl, or good red meat.

[indianwells]

Originally Posted by shroomgirl

Charleston Carolina? Well, maybe they make their gumbo there with Italian sausage. But it certainly is not a cajun recipe.
Wales, what brings you to a Gumbo class in Carolina?

Hi Shroom, I come over to Florida once a year for business reasons. However, as soon as the business is done I scoot out of the Sunshine State pretty sharpish. Everyone seems to be 85 and goes to bed at 8pm!
I usually go up to Savannah for a few days and this time I took in 3 days in Charleston. I must say, the quality of the food was superb. I ate at Hymans seafood restaurant and Donald Brickman's Magnolias, very impressed. Overall, I preferred Savannah as a city, too much aggressive begging in Charleston for my liking.