Mustard or mayonnaise based? Not that it matters, I have no intention of ever putting potato salad in my gumbo! Speaking of which, my wife made a pot of seafood gumbo that was ready just in time for kickoff of the game this past weekend. She tried Emeril Lagasse's recipe and it was pretty damn good.
Over the years I have eats gumbo in lots of places from hole in the wall dives to upscale restaurants as well as in people's homes in a lot of places in Louisiana as well as east Texas. Never once have I seen potato salad or even heard it mentioned at all until it was brought up on this forum. The only places I have even seen potato salad on the menu were barbecue places. Hamburger place serve fries. Chicken places serve fries and mashed potatoes. Places that serve steak have baked potatoes and sometimes stuffed potatoes as well as fries. Seafood places serve fries. I think this whole potato salad in gumbo thing is an internet hoax.
My wife just reminded me that we ate at Cajun Mike's in Pearl River about a year ago. He claims to be a decedent of the original Cajuns in La. and knows a lot about the history of Cajun cooking. He told us the history of this was to stretch the meal and also to cool down the heat from spices.
I learned from my Cajun wife that Gumbo and potato salad is a long standing tradition on Christmas eve. Just after mass and before the bonfires got lit. Course her Cajun ass has a lot of Irish and German in it so maybe that's where the potato comes from. She never said anything about putting the potato salad in the gumbo, and laughs when people do. My Cajun wife says there's a difference between spicy and hot. I always put hot sauce in mine too. Not to derail the thread any further off course (LOL) but what sauce? I use Crystal mostly and some Cholula.[/QUOTE]
[/QUOTE] I like Crystal for jambalaya and red beans but for gumbo I prefer Tobasco. Never tried Cholula.
