Date:  Tue, 2 Jan 1996 08:15:54 -0800

From:  Allen Maberry <maberry[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]U.WASHINGTON.EDU>

Subject: Re: Gumbo file'



I believe I read in a cookbook somewhere that file powder is never added

to gumbo while it is boiling nor is the gumbo returned to the boil after

the file has been added, or else it will become "stringy". Not being

much of a gumbo maker myself, is this in fact true?

Allen

maberry[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]u.washington.edu

On Tue, 2 Jan 1996, Jesse T Sheidlower wrote:



> > The dictionaries I have at home (Webster's Collegiate 1973, OED 1 with

> > supplement, Longman Dict. of Contemporary English) don't list

> > file' (the ingredient of gumbo, made of sassafras root if I'm not

> > mistaken). Nor does the Nouveau Petit Larousse Illustre'. What

> > is its etymology? Is it a French loan in English?

>

> According to the Random House Webster's College Dictionary:

>  < LaF; lit., twisted, ropy, stringy (perh. orig. applied to

>  dishes thickened with the powder, ptp. of F _filer_; see

>  FILE (which is taken back to OF 'to wind or spin thread',

>  with Latin roots appropriately given)

>

> The other current college dictionaries give similar origins.

>

> And it's made from the leaves, not the root, of sassafras, BTW.

>

> Jesse Sheidlower

> Random House Reference

> <jester[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]panix.com>

>