Holy Thursday

Holy Thursday

By Poppy Tooker

There is one day every year when a different type of gumbo reigns supreme at Dooky Chase's Restaurant – that is gumbo z'herbes. The traditional Holy Thursday meal of meaty green gumbo has been a ritual of New Orleanians for generations, and a tradition of Leah Chase's for decades. With roots in the Catholic Creole community, gumbo z'herbes was intended as the last meal before the Easter vigil fasting began.

Gumbo z’herbes comes with much ritual and superstition. A minimum of seven different greens must go into the gumbo, but that number must always be odd — increasing to nine or 11. An even number would bring bad luck. The good news? “You’ll make a new friend for every green you put in your Holy Thursday gumbo z’herbes, and you have to hope one of them will be rich,” Leah would laugh.

Collards, mustard, kale, cabbage, turnip greens, spinach and Swiss chard usually made an appearance in Leah’s gumbo z’herbes. For many years her secret ingredient was pepper grass, a weed gathered from New Orleans’ levees and neutral grounds, that often made an appearance at her kitchen door just in time to be included in the pot. In recent years, Leah replaced that obscure ingredient with watercress and

arugula, giving it a taste she described as “lemony.”

Once those greens simmered together, the grinding began. “It takes some doing because I don’t like it chopped. I grind it so it’s smooth.” Smoked sausage, ham, fresh chaurice sausage and stew meat were all added to the gumbo. “Creoles like to see the meat in their gumbo z’herbes,” Leah advised. Filé powder provides thickening at the end of the cooking and, at Dooky Chase, fried chicken always accompanies the annual feast, along with bread pudding for dessert.

Unlike red beans & rice (which Leah bemoaned was supposed to be just for Mondays but in recent times was expected on her menu every day), gumbo z’herbes remains reserved for Holy Thursday alone at the restaurant. In her later years, over 1,500 people came to Dooky Chase on Holy Thursday for Leah’s gumbo z’herbes; it was a day she loved and a tradition that her family continues today. “When you see people enjoying their food and they’re so happy — it makes you happy,” Leah said.

At Dooky Chase’s Restaurant, Leah’s gumbo still makes people happy every day. The oft-proclaimed “Queen of Creole Cuisine” passed away in 2019, but Leah’s legacy lives on in every bowl of gumbo served.