I come from “down the bayou,” where there are as many recipes for seafood gumbo as there are cooks. Everyone has their own version and everyone’s grandma makes it better than yours does. Okra, crabs, oysters, file and other ingredients occasionally find their way into the gumbo pot, but if there was a constant to seafood gumbo, it would be the presence of shrimp.
From the larger butterflied versions to the smallish “gumbo shrimp,” they are the mainstay of this dish. It was not until I moved to Acadiana though, that I first heard of using dried shrimp to give that salty briny flavor that was once only found most time consuming stocks.
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