13.7.14

tchoc gumbo and ecureuil gravy

Blackbird gumbo and squirrel gravy.  In L'Anse Grise, when we would visit Memere, Mon Mon (spelling for Maw Maw ? because it doesn't sound like Paw Paw) and Paw Paw, they would have sometimes this to eat. I didn't like that and always ate sausage and rice or whatever else was available. 

Paw Paw and others liked to hunt tchoc at Miller's Lake. The tchoc would eat all day in the fields and then fly at sunset across the Platin towards Miller's Lake to sleep. They would then ride out in boats and shoot a bunch of them. Come back and cook a sauce or gumbo. I don't think they ever fried them.  It looked drole to me, seeing miniature "chickens" in the pot. 

As for squirrel, in Evangeline Parish, it's a delicacy. Brain and all that in a gravy. Going out, camping and shooting them in the woods. Many cut the tail off and tie them to their truck antennas. 

Tchoc, I've read, is a Native American word. Gumbo is African. Ecureuil is French. Cocodrie is Native American? I can't remember right now. Anyway, Paw Paw Elbay, a Fontenot from Ville Platte, hunted cocodrie at Miller's Lake with his padnas (spell check wanted pandas hee hee) Manuel and others. 

Paw Paw, "Mon Mon," and Memere spoke French better than English. Dad's Mom couldn't speak English. Both parents couldn't read English. They died in the early 60s in Ville Platte. They lived all their life in Evangeline Parish. 

Evangeline Parish French Creole Heritage

That's it for me. It's been real. I used to talk about this subject on forums and with people and several found it annoying. Evangel...