Bayou Classic Bonus Gumbo From Leah Chase

Football Foodies is written by The Gurgling Cod, who each week will recommend good eats to go with the game.

A special bonus F4F this week, for one of NBC's rare forays into college football. (Not counting Notre Dame, but the less said about that, the better.) Befitting the corporate sibling of Bravo, NBC televises what is the most fabulous college football game of the year - the Bayou Classic. This is the traditional matchup between Southern and Grambling, Louisiana's biggest and proudest historically Black universities. You will want to be sure to stick around for halftime, when two of the nation's best marching bands face off in a contest that frequently overshadows what the guys in the helmets do. And I guarantee that you will yawn the next time you see a script Ohio, or the like.

In any case, they play this game in the New Orleans Superdome, and there's no better time to celebrate the reopening (for lunch only, for now, Ms. Chase wants me to remind you) of the legendary Dooky Chase restaurant than sharing one of Ms. Chase's gumbo recipes. There is still a whole lot wrong in New Orleans, but this is one, small, right thing to be thankful for.

DOOKY'S CREOLE GUMBO

Leah Chase - Dooky Chase Restaurant - New Orleans, LA

From the book Creole Feast by Nathaniel Burton and Rudy Lombard

4 hard-shell crabs, cleaned*

1⁄2 pound Creole hot sausage, cut in bite-size pieces

1⁄2 pound smoked sausage, cut in pieces

1⁄2 pound beef, cubed

1⁄2 pound smoked ham, cubed

1⁄2 cup peanut oil

4 tablespoons flour

1 cup chopped onions

3 quarts water

6 chicken wings, cut in half

1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 tablespoon paprika

1 tablespoon salt

1 tablespoon filé powder

2 dozen oysters, with their liquid

1⁄4 cup (2 ounces) chopped parsley

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon ground thyme

*Remove shells, entrails, and legs. Cut crabs in half and use along with paws.

Put crabs, sausages, stew meat and ham in a 5-quart pot over a medium flame. Cover and let cook in its own fat for 25 minutes. (It will produce enough, but stay with the pot.) Heat oil in skillet and add flour to make a roux, browning until golden. Add onions and cook over low heat until onions wilt. Pour the onion mixture over the ingredients in the large pot. Add water, chicken wings, shrimp, paprika, salt and filé powder. Bring to a boil and cook for 30 minutes. Add the oysters, parsley, garlic and thyme. Lower heat and cook for 10 minutes more before serving.

Serves 8 to 10.