Gumbo Time

Look out, John Folse; attorney C. Arlen Braud II is coming!

The legendary Louisiana chef, cookbook author, restaurant owner and namesake of Nicholls State University’s culinary institute is the Guinness Book of World Records’ current titleholder. Folse whipped up a 3,710-pound pot of gumbo in 2010, topping that figure in 2013 with 4,000 pounds … in Alabama… both times.

Braud and his law partner Michelle Gallagher, with the help of a few friends, intend to bring the title home to Louisiana. They’re cooking a record-setting 5,000 pounds of seafood gumbo Nov. 7 at the Larose Civic Center and everyone is invited.

Initially, Braud intended to throw a get-together for his Lafourche maritime clients and visitors to Storage Depot, his side business. Then he read somewhere that Alabama held the Guinness record for the largest pot of gumbo.

“I just couldn’t believe the world record for gumbo was in Alabama,” Braud says. “That just didn’t seem right. I believe it really needs to come back down to Louisiana.”

An application was filed with Guinness Book of World Records; one of more than 1,000 received weekly from around the world. With a little greasing, the application was fast-tracked, and arrangements were made to have Guinness representatives onsite in Larose Nov. 7 to authenticate the weight of the gumbo.

And that’s when the real fun began.

Encore Custom Fabshop in Houma fabricated the gumbo pot that is 4 feet deep and 4 feet wide. It operates on six burners, each of which is outfitted with 33 jets.

“We had an engineer check to make sure it will hold 5,000 pounds of gumbo,” event director Cynthia Caronna chimes.

Guinness requires that the gumbo must be cooked at one time, which required the gumbo gang to seek the help of a cook to calculate the recipe.

“There’s a whole little science here,” Caronna says. “I cook and I know it’s not a multiplication thing. You can’t just multiply what you normally do and 5,000 times it up and think it will work.”

Mike Maenza, of MMI Culinary, was called in to help. Maenza got his start as Mr. Mudbug, a catering company that conducted Cajun-styled seafood boils. Today, his Kenner food manufacturing site readies soups for Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, products in grocery stores and more than 500,000 school meals daily in seven different states.

“They make 2,500 pounds of gumbo at a time, so nailing a recipe for 5,000 pounds was no problem,” Caronna says, smiling.

On gumbo day, MMI Culinary will make the roux onsite. It will be transported to Larose via refrigerated trucks.

The rice will also be made at MMI Culinary and shipped to the site. “The rice is not considered in the weight of the gumbo,” Caronna says.

Cooking will begin that morning and

gumbo will be weighed and certified at noon. Organizers intend to use a portable truck scale to weigh the steaming pot.

Afterward, it’s gumbo for everyone, Caronna says.

And in true “one-for-the-record-books” style, the title of World Record Gumbo-Eating Champion will be decided at 1 p.m.

Baton Rouge-native Adrian Morgan, Louisiana’s top-ranked eater, is expected to compete. Also facing the 8-minute time to slurp the most gumbo are Crazy Legs Conti, the lumberjack breakfast and French cut string bean-eating champ; Nathan Biller, four-time Coney Island hot dog-eating finalist, and Matthew Raibll, a Major League Eating veteran.

“We have established competitions featuring Louisiana seafood, including oysters and crawfish, but gumbo is an outlier in our sport,” MLE president Richard Shea says. “There is no predicting who will be slowed by the richness of the gumbo. Morgan could take this, but to be honest, a rookie could come out of the bayou and surprise us all.”

The prize purse is $5,000, and the contest is open to locals. “Maybe we’ll have a sleeper in the crowd who can beat these professionals,” Braud muses. “I would love to see that.”

Hamburgers, hot dogs and smoked sausage will also be available, as well as beverages and daiquiris. And an ice cream sundae bar will satisfy everyone.

The World Record Gumbo organizers expect to feed 8,000 to 12,000 people Nov. 7 – rain or shine.

“We’re doing this on calculations that have never been tried before,” Braud says. “Who knows if it is going to work or not.

“There’s something about it that captures people’s imagination,” he adds. “Everyone who hears about being part of breaking a world’s record really seems to gravitate toward the idea and want to be a part of it. We’re looking forward to meeting them all out there.”

Gumbo Time

A 5,000-pound of gumbo is expected to feed somewhere between 8,000 and 12,000 people. It is expected to be the world record for largest gumbo ever made.

FILE PHOTO