Name: Okra Gumbo
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients: 1 Tbsp. paprika; 2 tsp. kosher salt; ½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper; ½ tsp. cayenne pepper; 2 lb. bone-in beef short ribs or shanks; 1 lb. beef stew meat, cut into 1" chunks; 2 bay leaves; 2 Tbsp. bacon drippings; 1 lb. fresh okra, trimmed, cut into ¼" slices; 1 cup chopped onion; ⅔ cup chopped green bell pepper; ⅓ cup chopped celery; 1½ cups diced canned tomatoes, undrained; 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped; 1½ tsp. finely chopped Scotch bonnet pepper; ½ tsp. dried thyme; ½ lb. crabmeat, picked over (optional); 1 lb. shrimp, peeled, deveined, tails on (optional); Cooked rice (for serving)

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Photo by Emma Fishman, food styling by Pearl Jones

This recipe is one of our favorites from Toni Tipton-Martin’s Jubilee, our November 2019 Cookbook Club pick. The author describes her approach to this deeply flavorful stew as a diasporic gumbo influenced by recipes from West Africa, island, Lowcountry, and Louisiana. The result is a rich, warming broth punctuated by succulent shrimp, juicy hunks of beef, and crisp-tender okra you’ll want to cozy up with all winter long. Tipton-Martin recommends sautéing the okra over high heat to that the pods ooze less.

Reprinted with permission from Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking by Toni Tipton-Martin, copyright © 2019. Photographs by Jerrelle Guy. Published by Clarkson Potter, a division of Penguin Random House, Inc.

Recipe notes