It’s Fat Monday, oh you will! Lundi Gras (French for Fat Monday) amps up the Mardi Gras holiday with a full schedule of parades, balls, and of course, the Courir de Mardi Gras—a rustic Cajun celebration before the onset of Lent.
The smoked chicken and sausage gumbo is worth begging for. (All photos: George Graham)
Pierce the cabochon (a ceremonial cone-shaped hat), put on a colorful mask, and sip on your favorite beer—it’s time to start begging. Explanation required? Courier is my favorite of all the Mardi Gras customs seen all over Acadiana.
Colorfully dressed Mardi Gras revelers beg for the ingredients for a Cajun recipe for festive gumbo.
Unlike the lavish parades in New Orleans, this celebration takes place in the small communities that dot the area. It is a family event with as many children as adults dressed up and riding (sometimes on horseback) from house to house begging for Cajun recipe ingredients to make a celebration of chicken and smoked sausage.
Give me something, mister!
This custom dates back to medieval France with its origins in the Catholic religion, and flashy costume is said to make fun of aristocratic society. Here in the Cajon region, a troop of revelers led by… le capitin, Going from house to house “begging” for ingredients to make gumbo, chicken sausage, and smoked sausage. My wife, Roxanne, remembers that when she was young, she would hide behind her grandmother Moe Eve when the “Beggars” would ride home every Mardi Gras. And when her grandmother appeared on the front porch with a sack of onions or the like, the masked merry-makers would break into the music and dance. A highlight at the end of the ride is when a live chicken is thrown into the crowd, and the chase ensues.
Dancing at dinner!
It all culminates in communal gumbo as the fiddle bows, and the squeezebox plays chank-a-chank music to the audience while blackened iron pots simmer. This is a colorful Cajun tradition that few people get a chance to try. But my Cajun smoked chicken and sausage recipe is one everyone can enjoy.
It’s chicken okra time!
Of all the varieties of gumbo, chicken and smoked sausage gumbo define rural Cajun food culture. The deep, dark roux-based flavor is punctured with smoked ham and sausage, and heated up hot enough to make you grab another beer and beg for another pot.
Jumbo smoked chicken and sausage
total time
Recipe by: George Graham – AcadianaTable.com
Serve: 6 to 8
ingredients
- 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil
- 4 chicken thighs, bone in and skin on
- 2 chicken breasts, with bone and skin
- 2 cups yellow onion, cut into cubes
- 2 cups green pepper, cut into cubes
- 2 cups celery, cut into cubes
- 2 tablespoons of minced garlic
- A quarter cup of chopped parsley
- 2 cups smoked ondo or pork sausage, cut into small pieces
- 12 cups chicken broth, plus water if needed
- 2 teaspoons of cayenne pepper
- 2 teaspoons Acadiana Table Cajun seasoning mix, see recipe here
- 1 cup dark roux, such as Rox’s Roux
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Dash of hot sauce
- 8 cups cooked long-grain white Louisiana rice, such as Supreme, to serve
- 1 cup green onion cubes
- Fillet powder to serve
directions
- In a large cast iron saucepan over medium heat, add the oil. Once hot, add the chicken pieces skin side down. Brown the chicken on one side and brown the other side. Remove the chicken to a plate and keep hot.
- Add to the saucepan onions, sweet peppers and celery. Saute onions until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and parsley and sauté until combined. Add the sausage and stir-fry until it starts to brown. Add 1 cup of the broth to the mixture and scrape the bottom of the pan to melt the browned flavour. Add the chicken back to the pot.
- Add enough chicken stock to the bowl of okra to cover the chicken and vegetable mixture. Season with chili and Cajun seasoning. stir until combined. Add the roux and stir until combined. Bring the pot to a boil, then reduce the heat to a gentle simmer. Cover the pot and let it cook for an hour.
- Uncover the chicken pieces and remove them. Scrape the surface of any excess oil. Taste the okra and if you prefer a thinner okra, add more broth; If it’s thicker, add more roux. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cover the pot and let it simmer for 30 minutes longer.
- Uncover the pan and skim the surface again of any excess oil.
- At this point, you can leave the chicken on the bone or remove the bones and skin from each piece. Just before serving, add the chicken back to the pot, cover, and simmer for another 20 minutes.
- Uncover the pan and scrape the surface of any excess oil. Taste the prepared okra and season with more Cajun seasoning and hot sauce to taste.
- Place the okra in large bowls on top of a pile of rice and garnish with the diced green onions. Add a little more fillet powder if you like.
notes
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