Alabama, LSU fans unite to aid Tuscaloosa tornado recovery efforts at LouisiBama Gumbo Bowl
Published: Friday, October 28, 2011, 8:05 AM Updated: Friday, October 28, 2011, 12:19 PM
Getting fired up for the first LouisiBama Gumbo Bowl are, clockwise from bottom left, Bob Baumhower and Steve Zucker from the Baumhower's Restaurant chain and Rick Tramonto and John Folse of Restaurant R'evolution in New Orleans. BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- Kickoff for the historic showdown between the No. 1 LSU Tigers and the second-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide is still eight days away, but cooks from both sides of the rivalry are already stirring the pot for the inaugural LouisiBama Gumbo Bowl. Representing the great state of Alabama is Tide football hero, restaurateur and king of wings Bob Baumhower.
Representing the fine folks from Louisiana is LSU fan, celebrity chef and authority on all things Creole John Folse.
And while they won't square off against each other, buddies Baumhower and Folse will be among the judges who will decide which state makes the best gumbo.
"I've had some folks say, 'Don't you think you are a little disadvantaged -- doesn't Louisiana have a corner on the gumbo market?'," Baumhower says. "If you live down in LA -- Lower Alabama -- you know that we've got great gumbo down here, too.
"So I feel like we're going to have some pretty good competitors. I think we can go head-to-head with them."
The LouisiBama Gumbo Bowl will take place outside the Ferguson Center on the UA campus throughout the morning and afternoon hours leading up to the 7 p.m. kickoff of the Alabama-LSU game on Nov. 5.
Four Alabama gumbo cooks and four from Louisiana will compete in a preliminary round to determine who will represent each state in the final round.
The Lodge Cast Iron foundry in South Pittsburg, Tenn., has cast these trophies for the winners of the first LouisiBama Gumbo Bowl. The overall winner will take home the Gumbo Bowl Tailgate Cook-off Grand Champion trophy, a heavy-duty piece of hardware that features a well-seasoned cast-iron pot from the Lodge Cast Iron foundry in South Pittsburg, Tenn. Each state winner will receive a cast-iron kettle, too.
Meanwhile, Baumhower and Steve Zucker, the corporate chef for the Baumhower's Restaurant chain, will combine their cooking skills with Folse and chef Rick Tramonto, Folse's partner in the soon-to-open Restaurant R'evolution in New Orleans -- to make what they say will be the world's largest pot of gumbo, a 4,000-pound serving of soup that's enough to feed 10,000 hungry fans. They
They'll prepare the gumbo in a 300-year-old, 1,700-pound cast iron kettle that in its previous life was used to boil sugar cane into crystallized sugar, Folse says.
For the Gumbo Bowl, it will require six propane-fired burners to heat the kettle and keep it simmering.
"When we fire that kettle up, it's almost like watching the Space Shuttle take off," Folse says. "It's got about that much fire and smoke under it."
Among the celebrity guests who will help stir the pot, Baumhower says, are "CSI: NY" star and former Alabama cheerleader Sela Ward, former Crimson Tide and Oakland Raiders quarterback Kenny "Snake" Stabler, and former LSU All-American A.J. Duhe, who was Baumhower's teammate and best friend from their NFL days with the Miami Dolphins.
"CSI: NY" star and former UA cheerleader Sela Ward will be one of the celebrity pot stirrers. (AP photo)Folse, who is the keeper of the kettle, says the recipe for the monster pot of gumbo calls for 750 pounds of shrimp, 450 pounds of catfish filets, 200 pounds of alligator meat, 150 pounds of crab meat, 100 pounds of oysters and 25 pounds of crawfish tails.
Throw in another 200 pounds of onions, 150 pounds of okra, 100 pounds of bell pepper, 75 pounds of celery, 50 pounds of garlic and 20 pounds of butter, and Folse has the makings of what he has been assured will be a new Guinness World Record.
He's already contacted the authorities at Guinness, and once the pot is full, they'll weigh it with a digital scale to make it official.
"They didn't have a (gumbo) category, so they agreed and created a category just for this game," Folse says. "We are going to set the world record, rather than break the world record."
But the LouisiBama Gumbo Bowl is not about setting records as much as it is about raising money for victims of the April 27 tornado that devastated Tuscaloosa and other parts of the state.
Folse contacted Baumhower soon after the tornadoes swept through Alabama and offered to do something to help. The idea for the gumbo cook-off grew from there.
"It became apparent that we (Louisianans) should be reciprocating with the good folks from Alabama who had helped us out during all of the tragedies we had in Louisiana," Folse says.
The Gumbo Bowl organizers hope to raise $50,000, which will be divided between the Nick's Kids Fund established by Alabama coach Nick Saban and his wife, Terry, and Caring Days Adult Day Care, which helps those suffering from Alzheimer's and dementia enhance their quality of life.
Alabama football coach Nick Saban is shown here talking to Teddy Rowe, left, and his daughter, Helen Sims, in the Holt community back in May. The Nick's Kids Fund, one of the charities that will benefit from the LouisiBama Gumbo Bowl, is helping rebuild 13 homes in the Holt area. (AP photo/Tuscaloosa News/Dusty Compton)The Nick's Kids Fund is in the process of rebuilding 13 homes that were destroyed in the Holt area during the tornado outbreak, and Caring Days has seen a significant increase in the demand for its services as a result of the April 27 storm.
The seafood industries in Alabama and Louisiana are donating all of the seafood for the event, Baumhower says.
"The world record pot of gumbo we're doing is going to be made with all Louisiana seafood, and then the competition is being done with all Alabama seafood," he says.
"The other thing we're doing is promoting Gulf Coast seafood, which needs all the help it can get right now since the oil spill."
Baumhower and Folse hope to make their gumbo cook-off an annual event that would move between Tuscaloosa and Baton Rouge depending on which school has the home game. The charities might change from year to year, as well.
But Gumbo Bowl II will have to wait until next year.
Meanwhile, tickets to the inaugural LouisiBama Gumbo Bowl are $5 and are available online at gumbobowl2011.ticketbud.com and beginning Monday at Baumhower's Restaurant locations Birmingham and Tuscaloosa, as well as Wings U in Tuscaloosa.
Each ticket-holder receives a serving of gumbo. Serving hours will between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. on game day.
To enter the gumbo cooking competition, email your recipe and contact information to info@tourism.alabama.gov. The deadline for submissions is midnight Sunday.
For more information on the event, go to the Alabama Tourism Department's website at www.alabama.travel.
With a mammoth pot of gumbo in the afternoon and an epic football game that night, Nov. 5 is shaping up to be a spectacular day, Folse says.
"We're coming in to have a great time, and we hope to feed 10,000 people, with $50,000 being spilt between two fabulous charities," he says.
"I can't think of a better event on a better day anywhere in America."
Representing the fine folks from Louisiana is LSU fan, celebrity chef and authority on all things Creole John Folse.
And while they won't square off against each other, buddies Baumhower and Folse will be among the judges who will decide which state makes the best gumbo.
"I've had some folks say, 'Don't you think you are a little disadvantaged -- doesn't Louisiana have a corner on the gumbo market?'," Baumhower says. "If you live down in LA -- Lower Alabama -- you know that we've got great gumbo down here, too.
"So I feel like we're going to have some pretty good competitors. I think we can go head-to-head with them."
The LouisiBama Gumbo Bowl will take place outside the Ferguson Center on the UA campus throughout the morning and afternoon hours leading up to the 7 p.m. kickoff of the Alabama-LSU game on Nov. 5.
Four Alabama gumbo cooks and four from Louisiana will compete in a preliminary round to determine who will represent each state in the final round.
The Lodge Cast Iron foundry in South Pittsburg, Tenn., has cast these trophies for the winners of the first LouisiBama Gumbo Bowl. Meanwhile, Baumhower and Steve Zucker, the corporate chef for the Baumhower's Restaurant chain, will combine their cooking skills with Folse and chef Rick Tramonto, Folse's partner in the soon-to-open Restaurant R'evolution in New Orleans -- to make what they say will be the world's largest pot of gumbo, a 4,000-pound serving of soup that's enough to feed 10,000 hungry fans. They
They'll prepare the gumbo in a 300-year-old, 1,700-pound cast iron kettle that in its previous life was used to boil sugar cane into crystallized sugar, Folse says.
For the Gumbo Bowl, it will require six propane-fired burners to heat the kettle and keep it simmering.
"When we fire that kettle up, it's almost like watching the Space Shuttle take off," Folse says. "It's got about that much fire and smoke under it."
Among the celebrity guests who will help stir the pot, Baumhower says, are "CSI: NY" star and former Alabama cheerleader Sela Ward, former Crimson Tide and Oakland Raiders quarterback Kenny "Snake" Stabler, and former LSU All-American A.J. Duhe, who was Baumhower's teammate and best friend from their NFL days with the Miami Dolphins.
"CSI: NY" star and former UA cheerleader Sela Ward will be one of the celebrity pot stirrers. (AP photo)Throw in another 200 pounds of onions, 150 pounds of okra, 100 pounds of bell pepper, 75 pounds of celery, 50 pounds of garlic and 20 pounds of butter, and Folse has the makings of what he has been assured will be a new Guinness World Record.
He's already contacted the authorities at Guinness, and once the pot is full, they'll weigh it with a digital scale to make it official.
"They didn't have a (gumbo) category, so they agreed and created a category just for this game," Folse says. "We are going to set the world record, rather than break the world record."
But the LouisiBama Gumbo Bowl is not about setting records as much as it is about raising money for victims of the April 27 tornado that devastated Tuscaloosa and other parts of the state.
Folse contacted Baumhower soon after the tornadoes swept through Alabama and offered to do something to help. The idea for the gumbo cook-off grew from there.
"It became apparent that we (Louisianans) should be reciprocating with the good folks from Alabama who had helped us out during all of the tragedies we had in Louisiana," Folse says.
The Gumbo Bowl organizers hope to raise $50,000, which will be divided between the Nick's Kids Fund established by Alabama coach Nick Saban and his wife, Terry, and Caring Days Adult Day Care, which helps those suffering from Alzheimer's and dementia enhance their quality of life.
Alabama football coach Nick Saban is shown here talking to Teddy Rowe, left, and his daughter, Helen Sims, in the Holt community back in May. The Nick's Kids Fund, one of the charities that will benefit from the LouisiBama Gumbo Bowl, is helping rebuild 13 homes in the Holt area. (AP photo/Tuscaloosa News/Dusty Compton)The seafood industries in Alabama and Louisiana are donating all of the seafood for the event, Baumhower says.
"The world record pot of gumbo we're doing is going to be made with all Louisiana seafood, and then the competition is being done with all Alabama seafood," he says.
"The other thing we're doing is promoting Gulf Coast seafood, which needs all the help it can get right now since the oil spill."
Baumhower and Folse hope to make their gumbo cook-off an annual event that would move between Tuscaloosa and Baton Rouge depending on which school has the home game. The charities might change from year to year, as well.
But Gumbo Bowl II will have to wait until next year.
Meanwhile, tickets to the inaugural LouisiBama Gumbo Bowl are $5 and are available online at gumbobowl2011.ticketbud.com and beginning Monday at Baumhower's Restaurant locations Birmingham and Tuscaloosa, as well as Wings U in Tuscaloosa.
Each ticket-holder receives a serving of gumbo. Serving hours will between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. on game day.
To enter the gumbo cooking competition, email your recipe and contact information to info@tourism.alabama.gov. The deadline for submissions is midnight Sunday.
For more information on the event, go to the Alabama Tourism Department's website at www.alabama.travel.
With a mammoth pot of gumbo in the afternoon and an epic football game that night, Nov. 5 is shaping up to be a spectacular day, Folse says.
"We're coming in to have a great time, and we hope to feed 10,000 people, with $50,000 being spilt between two fabulous charities," he says.
"I can't think of a better event on a better day anywhere in America."
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