Gobber Noodles

By Guy Perkins

I bolted from the cold and through the door and was greeted with the rush of warm air and the smell of my Dad's home made noodles that I dubbed…..Gobbers. In my youth I looked forward to the days when we'd have them. Dad would find the oldest stewing hen he could find, for reasons only known to our family food budget, and after a boiling process of most the day would flesh the carcass and add the Gobbers.

Like many things my parents prepared, I overlooked getting the recipe, so I had to figure it out. And in the fashion of our family cooking…I didn't write down the exact measurement of ingredients as I figured it out. I failed the first time when the noodles broke up to resemble pop corn shrimp, but the taste was there. I just didn't have them quite thick enough and didn't drop them into a boil.

Here is the recipe, as close as I can recall how I do it. Really, I just kind of feel my way through it and that is some of the fun.

Ingredients:

• 2 wild turkey legs, simmered six hours and remove meat from bones and tendons

• 1 onion, diced
• 4 stalks celery, chopped
• Seasonings to taste
• 8 eggs or one cup of egg substitute
• 1 cup milk, approximately
• 2 cups flour, approximately
• 1 tablespoon baking powder

Directions:

Simmer the wild turkey legs for six hours in a heavy cast iron pot until the meat falls off the bone. Remove the thin white tendons from the leg bones. They are abundant and the bird knows how to use all of them in his mobility. I think they could outrun a good saddle horse. I know they can out walk me.










The stock is very clear and void of any fat. In the stock, boil the onion diced and celery for thirty minutes. I leave out the salt and allow folks to season how they wish when the noodles are finished. I like sprinkling Creole seasoning on mine.

In a separate bowl mix eggs, milk and flour until you have a consistency of sticky, not-quite-bread dough. (If you scoop it with a big spoon it needs the help of another spoon to drop it into the boiling stock.) While it resembles a dumpling to many observers, it really is more of a noodle consistency. Drop the "tablespoon gobs" of noodles in the boiling stock and let them cook for about thirty minutes on a simmer, stirring once about half way through. Add the turkey meat back in to heat it through and serve.

The verdict: Well they don't last long and it takes about two to fill you up. Some folks liked the real egg version better. I can't tell the difference. This can be built with the poultry of your choice.

While summer has been late coming and we made them in the cool spring. You'll really appreciate them on a cold winter day.

Good Cooking,
Guy

Louis Boutet writes: This recipe looks very much like an Acadian (Gaspé Peninsula, New Brunswick, Canadian French speaking residents) called fricot. They make a fricot out of just about anything, chicken, fish, rabbit, you name it. Whatever they can get their hands on. The basic recipe is water, onion, potatoes and savory (all things that are easily conserved through a winter). The method is to let it all simmer a long time over low heat (it was usually put on a back burner of a wood stove). The ancient Acadians were generally poor people, fishermen many of them, with small plots of poor agricultural land where things like onions, potatoes, savory could be grown. The "noodles" were called "grands pères" (grandfathers). It is still a tradition today to throw a chicken into a pot for Sunday visitors. I have Acadian friends who look forward to a Sunday visit home to have their mother's fricot.

Acadians BTW are ancestors to American Cajuns.