Cut up a chicken; sprinkle with flour, and fry in the vessel in which the gumbo is to be made. When the chicken is nearly done, chop an onion and fry with it. Pour on this three quarts of boiling water, and let all boil slowly till the flesh leaves the bones of the chicken. Then add the liquor from the oysters, two tablespoonfuls of tomato catchup, and salt and pepper to taste. Let this boil a short time; then add one hundred oysters. Do not allow them to boil more than two minutes. Remove the vessel from the fire, and before pouring into the tureen, sprinkle in two tablespoonfuls of filé. Serve always with rice.
To Prepare Filé for Gumbo.—Gather sassafras leaves, as late as possible in the season, before they turn red. Dry them in the shade and open air. When perfectly dry, pound thorn, sift the powder and bottle it Keep tightly corked.
GUMBO SOUP.
From MRS. VIRGINIA T. SMITH, of Connecticut, Alternate Lady Manager.
Fry three rather thin slices of salted pork; and three large onions in the some fat. Fry also a chicken of medium size, after which put pork, onions, chicken and a half pound of lean ham, into a dinner kettle containing four quarts of boiling water. When the mixture begins to boil, add one quart of gumbo, the corn cut from two ears, three tomatoes, and two VERY small red peppers. Add boiling water as it needs and cook slowly five or six hours, after which strain and serve with bread "crunchers" cut in dice.
CHICKEN GUMBO WITH OYSTERS.
From MRS. ALICE B. CASTLEMAN, of Kentucky, Alternate Lady Manager.
Take a young chicken or a half grown one; cut up; roll it in salt, pepper and flour, and fry it a nice brown, using lard or drippings as if for a fricassee. Cut up a quart of fresh green okra and take out the chicken and fry the okra in the same lard. When well browned, return the chicken to the pot and boil. Add to it a large slice of ham—a quarter of a pound will be about right for this gumbo. Pour on to the chicken, ham and okra half a gallon of boiling water and let it boil down to three pints. Ten minutes before serving, pour into the boiling soup two dozen fine oysters, with half a pint of their liquor; let it come to a good boil and serve with well-boiled rice.—La Cuisine Creole.
OKRA SOUP.
From MISS FLORIDA CUNINGHAM, of South Carolina, Lady Manager.