Gumbo

Alright guys (and ladies), I'm looking for a good gumbo recipe.
Bring em on!

Here they come. You can speed up the process by using store bought roux. You can mike duck and sausage gumbo in thirty minutes, with boned duck, onions, celery, sausage, and store bought roux.

Gumbo is my all time favorite food..Mom worked in a very large New Orleans Rest. during the depression and learned to cook Seafood Gumbo right..Blue Crab fat for the rue, shrimp, crabs, oysters, and onions and okra, and tomatoes..ect..and Filet..One of the ladys at Medina Lake here used to cook for the Gumbo Cookoff and put a filet or two of catfish in hers and it was fine. I never acquired a taste for what we called "Trash" Gumbo
or N. La. Gumbo w/sausage, squirrels, chicken ect..it's all good,
I just got ruined on Moms. and her Choc. 4 layer cake and Banana
Pudding..DD

My personal gumbo recipe. It has taken me a number of years to get this recipe just the way I want it. This is the best gumbo I have ever eaten, even if I do say so myself.

1C oil & 1C flour. Put in microwave in one minute intervals – whisk in between- until roux at color you want. Put about ½ in big pot. Add:
2 large onions, chopped
5 to 6 ribs celery, chopped
3 to 4 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 large green pepper, chopped

Put all in pot and cook in roux until tender.

Make stock from shrimp shells, heads, etc. Boil with 3 or 4 cups of water. Add stock to pot. If you don't have shrimp shells, heads, etc.., add a couple bottles of clam juice.

Add below to taste – some measurements are estimates depending upon taste.
2 cans rotel tomatoes
1 (14-ounce) can diced or stewed tomatoes
3 or 4 bay leaves
2 tablespoons crab boil seasoning (recommended: Old Bay)
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper or ¼ tsp powdered cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoon dried oregano ( mexican is best)
2 tablespoon dried thyme
2 tablespoon granulated onion
3 or 4 tablespoon granulated garlic
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
5 beef bouillon cubes
2 tablespoons salt I suggest holding until after bouillon cubes added and tasting first.
1/4 bunch flat leaf parsley, stems and leaves, coarsely chopped (if available)

Use additional roux to thicken gumbo. Don't be afraid to make some more roux if you want it even thicker.

Cook all above for about 20 minutes. Then add:
1 pound cut okra, frozen (If you fry the okra first it will cook off the slime)

Cook above about 10 minutes. Then add (seafood is to your choosing):
1 or 2 pounds shrimp
1 pound scallops
1 pound fish of your choice
any other seafood you want to use

Use additio

Cook 10 minutes and serve.

That looks pretty good!

I like mine to look more on the brown side, rather than red.

Two distinct styles of gumbo and cooking in general in Louisiana. Cajun and Creole. Being from the Lafayette/Breaux Bridge area myself, I am partial to cajun. I like creole, but when I cook, I cook Cajun. Anytime you start putting tomatoes in gumbo, you're going Creole style. Good food, I was just never taught to cook that way and I haven't had a need to experiment with it.

Gumbo to me is an event, and you can't make it in 30 minutes or even a couple of hours. To do it my way, you'll invest half a day at least. I've tried writing it all down and giving the recipe to other people, but it never comes out right and tastes like crap when they feed it to me, so I don't even do that anymore. Makes me look like a bad cook even though someone else obviously flubbed up my recipe.

I have basics I use when making gumbo, but when I'm cooking, and am a few beers in, you never know what might make it in the pot. But it's always good.

And by what flash of brilliance did you determine that my recipe "looks" red. Ignorance and know it all must certainly be bliss for you.

Each to their own. I prefer it with tomatoes. They cook down and add lots of subtile flavor. I have personally found that without a fish stock or clam juice in it you loose a lot of the base flavor.

Store bought roux = yuck!!!

Chicken and Sausage Gumbo Recipe

1/2 jar ready-made roux*
64 oz. chicken stock
8 oz. water

• Stir roux into chicken stock and water over low/medium heat until dissolved.

*You can make your own roux with flour and vegetable oil if you have a couple hours to stand around and stir or you can spend a couple of bucks on ready-made. Rajun Cajun, Larry's, Douget's are all pretty good.

2 small/medium onions
2 medium bell peppers
4/5 stalks celery
3 bay leaves
3 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cayenne pepper

• Finely chop onions, bell peppers and celery and add to roux/stock. Bring to boil for 5-10 minutes, reduce heat and add bay leaves, salt and cayenne. Simmer on low for 1/2 hour.

2 sausage links*
4 chicken breast*
Slap Your Momma creole seasoning (salt, pepper, red pepper, garlic powder)

• Brine chicken in salt water for up to 24 hours ahead of time, pat dry and add Slap Your Momma seasoning. I use my deer sausage for the links. BBQ/grill/smoke sausage links and chicken breast. Cut into small pieces.

• Add sausage to gumbo mix. Save chicken on side for later. Cook for one hour.

4 tsp. paprika
3 tsp. garlic powder
1.5 tsp. pepper
1.5 tsp. onion powder
1 heaping tsp.oregano
1 heaping tsp. thyme

• After one hour, add cut up chicken, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, oregano and thyme. Simmer on low/medium for another 30 minutes or longer. The longer the better.

Ladle gumbo onto a bed of white rice in a large bowl… Grab crackers or garlic bread, and a spoon. Add chopped green onions and file powder if desired. Enjoy. Save some for later - it's even better the second day.

And each can have their own without name calling. Have you ever tried store bought roux?

Ours always has squirrel ducks oysters shrimp okra sometimes goose and an occasional dove breast or two has found its way in. We don't use store bought roux but also never tried it. This is my grandma's recipe from north of shreveport

we get a smoked turkey for xmas every year which I use to make turkey and sausage gumbo a couple of times a year.

I just had a bowl of that for lunch, cept it was not smoked. I I buy the five dollar turkey, bone out the breast, freeze the dark meat, and make gumbo with it later. I also, boiled the bones to make my stock, picked off the meat, made soup and turkey salad from that.

I think I ate for a full month off that turkey. The soup was hot and sour, with turnips from my garden.

not a big fan of store bought roux

OR - you can READ MY RECIPE THIS TIME and and find out how to make perfect roux in about 5 to 7 minutes using the microwave.

Store bought roux - for those who don't know how to make real roux - yuck!!!!

Didn't see any name calling. Perhaps you need to get your glasses checked???

Store bought roux - yuck!!!

Real, slow cooked roux is always evident in the taste. Just like store bought spagetti sauce. Some people think prago is fine Italian. The real fat boys know the difference. Can't rush certain things.

As a self professed foodie and general fat man who works and eats a bunch in Louisiana AND makes his own gumbo too, I have the following comments:

1. Bluesman's recipe is more of less what I do with some variations in flavoring choices. As for flavor profiles, I think what he has a great place to start.
2. If you don't make ruoxes often or ever, I would start with a store bought roux. It's not the easiest thing to do and certainly very easy to mess up. Then you've wasted all this time and not to mention oil and flour. Homemade roux is noticeably better and to me once you get everything else to a point where you like it, developing your roux will just take it over the top. But I highly suggest developing the flavor profile that you and your family like first (spice level, amount of herbs, thickness, etc.). Foods like this that take time and a labor love should be personalized to you and yours. Otherwise, just go to a restaurant.
3. I almost always make more roux than I need and set some off to the side. Good insurance policy. Once again, this comes back to how you want your gumbo to be. just like all other good classic dishes of any kind, there are variations and some really good tips to follow.
4. Use a big heavy bottomed pot. It will help your roux not get really hot in certain places and burn. The trick to roux is toasted, not burnt.
5. SAFETY NOTE: not sure if you know this already but adding liquid to a roux can be dangerous. It boils over hard and fast so be cautious. I take it off the heat and ladle slowly and stir with oven mits on.
6. I buy only whole shrimp and peel it myself to use the heads and shells like it was suggested. It will make a difference. It added a seafood depth that most people notice but don’t know who you get it.
7. Barely cook your seafood. Lately, all I do is once I’m ready to add seafood, I bring it to a bard boil, add all the seafood while still on high heat, let it come back up to a boil, and then shut off the heat. The residual heat will cook it thoroughly and the letting it set there will help absorb flavor without over cooking. I usually let it set off the heat for like 30-40 minutes while I clean up. Because of the consistency of the gumbo, setting off heat for 30 minutes will not cool it down. Then again, for me it goes back to using a heavy, cast iron, ceramic coated pot.
9. Being Korean, I’m a huge garlic snob. I put tons of garlic in the initital aromatics phase with all the celery, onions, etc.
10. I like some spicy smoked sausage in mine. I put it in with the seafood because if you put it in too early, the sausage pieces will lose all its flavor into the juice. It’s good for the juice but it makes for some bland sausage bits. Besides, if all is done right then the juice should stand on its own. To me, sausage should be a delicious meaty goodness garnish.
11. It should be ever so slightly on the saltier/spicier side if you plan on serving with rice. While on the topic, use long grain rice. I don’t think you can find much else in American grocery stores, but no short of medium. I would avoid Jasmine too. it’s long grain so it’s the right texture, but Jasmine rice tends to have flavor that to me doesn’t jive with gumbo well.

Good luck.

Thanks guys. I know what we'll be dong this weekend!

If you guys will just try the microwave roux in my recipe one time I guarantee that you will be absolutely amazed. I got the technique from a gentleman who goes by the name "Chef Lefty". Guess where he was from? Hint, hint, hint - somewhere south of lake Pontchartrain. Guess where he worked - can you say 5 star, French Quarter.

Bluesman, I tell you what, I'm defintely going to give it a try. it sounds much less laborour than our method of wooden spoon and patience. But now that I think about it, making the roux is usually my job and it's a great drinking beer activity.

exactly, it's part of the fun. cept last time. splashed some up on my hand and got 2nd degree burns. the stuff is like napalm.

Sounds like a pretty dang good reason to use the microwave to me!!

Haven't tried it yet, but I've been told about browning the flour in the oven to reduce the time it takes to make roux.

Same principle, but with microwave roux you don't even need to brown first. Just microwave the oil and flour in 1 minute intervals and whisk in-between until the roux is the color you want.

So Ben, how did it go? Harder than you thought, easier than you thought?
What roux method did you go with? I still supercurious if someone else can confirm Bluesman's miracle method because I'd like to switch to that.

I sure like gumbo but never cooked it and dont really have a drive to... ill be the judge and taste test yals though

I've been cooking gumbo's for 45 years and I like a dark, thick, gumbo. I make my own roux and have used Savoy's Roux too, It depends on whether I have a deer to skin or not. This recipe has won some trophies, so it should be good if you can cook.

BUBBA'S DUCK & DEER SAUSAGE GUMBO (Camp Size) Serves 12
Ingredients and Pot
Large cast iron pot is the best (I use a 9 quart Dutch oven)
8 small ducks, or 4 big duck, or (chicken and smoked sausage, you can also use rabbits, coots, or squirrels, it’s all about what you have on hand, this is poor people food)
2-3 pounds of venison sausages, cut into 3/8” slices (or whatever kind sausage you like or have on hand, some people aren’t good deer hunters)
4 large onions, chopped
2 large bell peppers, chopped
2 tablespoons garlic, chopped
2 packs of frozen Okra (optional, okra will also thicken the gumbo. Some like it, some don’t, I do.)
Cajun seasoning, season to taste (I use Tony Chacere’s Cajun Seasoning for everything)
Roux, 1 cup oil and 1 cup of flour (make it yourself or use Savoy's Roux)
Large pot of rice (I usually cook 4 cups of rice for our crew, that’s 8 cups of water, 4 cups of long grain rice)
File' (Whole Foods has it in Texas or any store in Louisiana)
Cooking Instructions
1) Cut the ducks in half and cut the sausage into slices. Cook your onions, garlic, bell peppers, and meats all together in your Dutch oven and set aside when it’s ready. I like the meat well browned and the onions, garlic and bell peppers are caramelized.
2) Prepare you roux in the cast iron pot, heat until bubbling. (You can make your own roux in the cast iron by putting in equal parts oil and all-purpose flour. It’s like starting gravy, cook the roux until it's the color of an old penny. I always have several onions, chopped and set aside to add to the roux to cool it down, to stop cooking it. The roux will burn quickly if you don’t watch it closely.)
3) When the roux reaches the right color, remove it from the fire, then add the onions and stir it to cool it off and stop cooking.
4) Put the pot with the meat, onions, garlic, bell pepper that you cooked earlier back on the fire and bring it back to a boil, add the roux, stirring frequently.
5) Add some boiling hot water as need to the mix. Add enough water to thin down the roux. Add as much or as little as you like, but I start with about 2 qts. to start. I like my gumbo thick, so I add more water sparingly, but if you have unexpected guest, add more water and make more rice!
6) Bring the whole thing back to a boil, then lower the fire and let simmer for an hour.
7) Taste the gumbo on occasion to test the seasoning. Add seasoning as you need for your taste.
8) I don't make it too pepper hot, because some people can't take it. You can always add more on your own serving. (Cayenne pepper is tough on old people with gastritis and the kids, be nice)
9) Serve over rice. Some people like a lot of rice, some like just a little.
10) Sprinkle a little of file' on the top. (file' is ground up, dried sassafras leaves, used by Native Americans as a thickener, it’s a unique taste)
We always like to serve the gumbo with baked sweet potatoes with plenty of butter on them and warm French bread, “Live for today, for tomorrow you may diet!”
Bon Appetite!
Ken Ledbetter
AKA BubbaBrown

bubba ... at what point do you add the okra when using it?

Things have become a bit un-stuck lately so I'm hoping to get to it when I'm back in town.

Well??? Has anyone tried the microwave roux yet??

Lotta good looking recipes. Have been using Karey's or Tony C's roux but will try the microwave recipe the next time gumbo is made.

Not a bad post for a redneck. Making a roux from scratch is a labor of love that I wont give up. Having said that, store bought turns out pretty good too. Use your own stock, lots of trinity and garlic, and any kind of critter you like goes in the pot. Dont overcook the shrimp if you use them, add file powder at the very end, and a little Tabasco on top for a tasty meal.