Test Kitchen: Crawfish and Tasso Chowder

What does a Country Roads office potluck entail? Juicy caprese salad, slow-roasted chicken stew, Portuguese-style green beans...and that's just the start.

As I struggled to come up with a recipe fit to stand among the rest, I turned to one of the best recipe supplies I know: the Country Roads archives. It wasn't long before I hit upon the winner. Crawfish and tasso chowder, elevated to stardom by potatoes, fresh-shucked corn, tarragon, cayenne, and thyme, red and green peppers, and the usual suspects of onion, celery, and carrots.

You'd think a recipe with this many ingredients—full list below—would be too busy or overly complicated. But I had fun, and the final flavor was simultaneously unified and eye-popping.

With my mise-en-place smoothing the way, I spent a focused but dynamic half-hour over the stove—smothering vegetables, par-boiling potatoes, and making a roux all at once, without breaking a sweat.

All the while my buttermilk and bacon grease cornbread (recipe on my blog) cooked in the oven—don't worry, it's not nearly as heavy as it sounds. I dipped a triangle of it in the chowder when I finally sat down to taste-test. It's a winning combo.

Recipes like these are fantastic for honing time-management skills. Just give it a bit more than a once-over, plan out your approach, pre-dice what needs to be diced...and hum happily as the aromas begin to meld, right under your nose.

The recipe accompanied a piece Brenda Maitland wrote in August 2010, following the restaurant specials of COOLinary New Orleans (through this link you'll find a handful of other tempting recipes from New Orleans chefs.) Chef Nick Gile of The Bombay Club is the auteur of this masterpiece. I've reprinted his instructions—which served me more than ably—below.

Note: please do take him seriously when he says "stockpot." My Dutch oven overspilled just a tad...

Creole Crawfish and Tasso Chowder
by Chef Nick Gile of The Bombay Club

Yield: 6–8 servings.

Ingredients:
½ cup salad oil
½ lb. bacon, diced
1 cup tasso, finely diced
1 large onion, diced
3 celery stalks, diced
1 large carrot, diced
1 each red and green peppers, diced
2 ears corn, remove kernels from ears
1 tbsp. each tarragon, thyme, kosher salt
1 ½ tbsp. garlic, minced
2 tsp. fresh cracked black pepper
1 bay leaf
1 pinch cayenne pepper
½ cup white wine
¼ cup Worcestershire sauce,
2 dashes Tabasco
1/2 gal. shrimp stock or broth
1 cup blond roux
1 qt. heavy cream
4 cups crawfish tails, pre-cooked
3 Russet potatoes, cubed and par-boiled

Method:

Heat oil in a medium stock pot, add bacon, sauté 3 to 5 minutes or until bacon is slightly crispy. Add tasso, onions, celery, carrots and peppers. Sauté for 5 to 7 minutes. Add corn, garlic, herbs, and spices. Sauté another 2 to 3 minutes. Deglaze with white wine, Worcestershire, and Tabasco. Simmer for 2-3 minutes. Add shrimp stock, bring to a boil, then whisk in roux, stirring well, so no lumps form. Turn down heat and simmer for 5 minutes, add heavy cream, crawfish, and strained potatoes. Simmer for 5 to 10 minutes. Season to taste.