Smoked Coon Gumbo

So while we were sittin' and watching the smokehouse do it's thang with the sausages, we started creating a pot of what is known in our small town as a "man dish", famous in these parts as what guys make at da camp or wherever fellas gather in the winter.

We took 3 seasoned, smoked coons and put them in a gumbo pot with a couple gallons of water.  While the water slowly came to a boil we put oil and flour in an oval magnalite pot on the stove and started making a roux, nice and dark brown.

As the roux browned we put sausage and andouille into the gumbo pot to keep the coons company, and then chopped onions and veggies to go into the roux pot.

It takes a lot of steps to build a gumbo, but as we got the whole thing built and simmering away in the gumbo pot, guys started showing up for the feast and before long we were all talking, drinking, trading and having a good ole country boy shindig.

Naturally, since Sam was the head of this beast feast, an' didn't wanna "guina pig" the rest of us,  he got him a test bowl to make sure the coon gumbo met with his approval.

We all had a ball and the Gumbo was a smokey delicious critter creation deserving it's well-known reputation.

Some one brought along a tube of those paper cups that looked like they had been pilfered from a coffee pot at work somewheres.  We used them to sample the half a dozen bottles of homemade wine that also showed up.  Having fun, Colin held up 2 identical cups and hollared, "Which one of these yall like best?"

From across the room Bebe (pronounced baybay) held up an identical cup and hollered,"Meh, Colin, dis one is da best!"

Without missing a beat, Colin drank the cup of wine in his left hand and pitched the empty cup into the 5 gallon bucket/trashcan, turned to me lifting the other cup and saying, "Hey Cap, Bebe is right, dis one is betta.'"

  As I mentioned earlier, part of what we do when we get together like this is do some tradin'.  I showed up with a grocery sack of our lemon jelly and an ice chest full of beer.  I left with the pecan wood seen in Sam's truck, assorted muscadine, black berry jellies and a couple jugs of homemade wine.  Not to mention 3 of the biggest turnips I have ever seen.  While I was visiting, Peggy came over and went across the street to visit with Sam's wife ( her "BFF") Louise.  We planned it that way knowing full well that I would be drinking and one thing I NEVER, EVER do is drink and drive.  She brought me home with my "trade goods" and musta did some trading herself cause she scored some of Sam's homemade smokehouse goodies (which were NOT coon, she hastens to add;...must be a girl thing). Well, das how we roll down in tradin' Cajun country.