*Courtbouillon served with rice and potato salad*

My mom has two clear memories of her first visit to Catahoula. The first was how long it took her to get there. She grew up in Parks, mind you, only eight miles away from Catahoula as the crow flies, which just goes to show you how the distance between two places can be measured in more than country miles. Catahoula, perched on the western edge of the Atchafalaya Basin, has always been a world apart.

The second clear memory was when she walked into St. Rita Church and was surprised to see that everyone inside was green, which only added to the Alice in Wonderland feeling of the day. This was before the stained glass windows had been installed, and the sunlight shining through the original green window panes cast a tint over the worshippers inside.

She didn’t know it at the time, but two years later she would go on a blind date with a young man from Catahoula, fall in love, get married, and make a home just down the street from St. Rita Church, across the street from Catahoula Lake, not far from Mamom and Papop, who had lived in Catahoula since the early 1920s.

With the change in address came a change in what she ate and what she learned how to cook. Parks was in Bayou Teche country, and so my mom grew up eating beef, pork and chicken. Every now and then, Gampy would go to Talley’s Fish Market in St. Martinville for fish, or their neighbor, Mr. Moon, who was related to the Vicknairs of Catahoula, would bring Gammy catfish pulled from Catahoula Lake, but fish and seafood were never staples. The move to Catahoula offered an abundant supply of crawfish, turtle, alligator, crabs, sac-a-lait, catfish, garfish and freshwater drum, also known as gaspergou.

Catahoula Lake has long been known for its abundant supply of gaspergou. The July 22, 1882 issue of The Opelousas Courier describes this “prettiest and most fish-filled of lakes”

This lake, located about seven miles from town in the middle of the woods, is the most charming place you can imagine. Its steep and rugged edges are shaded by immense clumps of oaks, and its crystal clear water allows you to see fish up to a certain depth. This lake is three miles long by about a mile wide, and its depth averages eighty feet. There is a fortune there for the landscape painter, and we are surprised that this lake in all its details has not already been reproduced on canvas. Every day, our amateurs catch miraculous gaspergou in the open water.

*Hayes Fresh Atchafalaya Seafood in Henderson*

You won’t find gaspergou in supermarkets, but it remains plentiful in Catahoula Lake and the Atchafalaya Basin. My dad bought the goo for this recipe from Hayes Fresh Atchafalaya Seafood in Henderson, a place that any chef interested in preparing locally sourced fish and seafood should want to know about. He bought whole goo—so-called rough—for $1.25 per pound and filleted them himself.

The flesh of gaspergou—shortened to “goo” around here—is firm and meaty, and it won’t fall apart when cooked. This texture lends itself to some methods of preparation and not others. It’s not the kind of fish that you fry, for example. You can bake it, but mostly it’s prepared as a courtbouillon. And that is one recipe my mom learned from Mamom after moving to Catahoula. I say recipe, but courtbouillon is more of a technique.

The word courtbouillon comes from the French words for “short” and “broth”, and it was given this name because much more time is spent preparing the broth than cooking the fish. The broth of a courtbouillon might take an hour to build up, but only 20 minutes to poach the fish in the broth. Traditionally served over rice, courtbouillon is somewhere between a stew and a gumbo. Some like to eat it more on the soupy side, with a spoon, while others prefer less broth and a fork. Potato salad is the perfect accompaniment.

The heart of a good fish court bouillon is the rich broth you build up from a base of roux and tomatoes, and beware of any recipe that rushes this process. It isn’t something you can speed through. Attention is paid to the roux-and-tomato mixture as it proceeds through a series of stages, bringing it to the edge of burning to enhance the savory qualities and deepening the flavor along the way.

Often recipes will compensate for the lack of technique by multiplying ingredients, and you can confirm this with a quick search of recipes for courtbouillon out there today with lists of over 20 ingredients—things like thyme, honey, paprika, et cetera. Mamom’s recipe keeps the ingredients as spare and as simple as a Catahoula cupboard: fresh goo, roux, onion, bell pepper, celery, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, salt, black pepper and cayenne. The sophistication is in the patience that produces a complex and well-earned broth.

*Roux with bell pepper, onion and celery*

Mamom’s Fish Courtbouillon

2 pounds gaspergou fillet seasoned with salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper

1/2 cup roux

1/2 cup finely diced onion

1/2 cup finely diced bell pepper

1/2 cup finely diced celery

8 oz. can of tomato sauce

1/2 cup diced tomatoes

4-5 cups water

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

1 tablespoon chopped green onion

—Add onion, bell pepper and celery to the hot roux and cook at medium-high heat until the onions are clear, about 10 to 12 minutes. You don’t have to constantly stir, but it can burn if you’re not careful.

—When the onions are clear—per Mamom’s instructions—add the tomato sauce and half of your diced tomatoes. Lower heat to medium and stir occasionally until most of the liquid has been reduced, and the roux-tomato mixture has become a dark, thick paste. This may take another 10 to 12 minutes.

—Continue to cook over medium heat until the mixture begins to release the oil. (You will see oil begin to bubble out of the mixture.) Only then do you add the water and the other half of your diced tomatoes.

—Cook broth for thirty minutes.

—Add goo filets to the broth and leave them undisturbed while they cook until they are tender, about 30 to 40 minutes.

—Stir in parsley and green onion and serve over rice.

Mamom’s Fish Courtbouillon

It Has a Nice Ring to It

Catahoula Elementary Handbook

Jude Theriot MD