While recently organizing the contents of the freezer, I came face to face with a hunk of ham I had been ignoring since Easter. I really dislike beans, so all of the traditional soups and stews that you make with ham were out of the question for me. I had it in my head that I wanted to make gumbo with the ham, so I went on a hunt for recipe.
Surprisingly, using solely ham is not a common approach to making gumbo, but after trolling through lots of different recipes, I came up with an amalgam of my own that in the end was pretty darn tootin tasty, if I do say so myself. The thing about gumbo is that it's more of an approach to cooking than it is a specific list of ingredients. You make a roux (just fat and flour cooked together), you add veggies, meat, seasoning, and liquid, and let it all cook til it's thick. Boom. Done.
