Chris in Louisiana
TVWBB All-Star
Gumbo is the one thing I cook that I don't have a recipe for. I eyeball the amounts, and it somehow always ends up with a full cast iron pot.
I don't make my own roux any more. Can't tell the difference between it (which can be a tedious chore to make) and the jarred roux.
Some of the key ingredients are in this pic. The clear plastic bottle contains salt taken from the top of a Tabasco sauce barrel. A relative got some from a tour of the Tabasco plant in Avery Island, LA. The salt is soaked with pepper sauce that came up from the barrel during the aging process. That little bottle is a lifetime supply, which is good, because you can't buy the stuff.
Down Home sausage is made near me in Stonewall, LA. Most Louisiana folks, especially in south Louisiana (I'm up north) have a favorite local sausage.
Chicken thighs and some wings were simmered with veg to make chicken stock and provide meat. I added three more boneless thighs during the cook.
The roux is getting heated up to saute' the onions, bell pepper, and celery (the Louisiana "holy trinity").
I add a diced onion or two first. The smell of onions in roux is one of my favorite things. Diced bell pepper (one medium; too much BP can make gumbo bitter) and three or four stalks of diced celery are added a few minutes later. John Besh says letting the onions saute' longer makes them sweet and improves the flavor. I don't know if it really does, but I like to do it that way. Garlic and lots of sliced green onions are added at the end of the saute' stage.
The next pic is near the end. I add chicken stock to the roux/veg mix and whisk it all together. Then add seasonings and a few chunks of sausage and simmer for a couple of hours. Every cook has a different approach to gumbo, and many don't simmer so long, but I find it improves the flavor. Then I add the rest of the sausage (which many brown in a separate skillet before adding; I sometimes do but usually don't), simmer an hour or so (which adds lots of flavor from the sausage), add okra and simmer it until the okra's about done, then slip the cooked chicken in at the end and heat it through. Dark meat works best. It doesn't dry out like white meat can. Adjust the seasonings to taste.
Some folks, like the late chef Paul Prudhomme and my mother, simmer the veg and meat in stock and then whisk the roux into the stock later in the cook. Prudhomme was famous for his Cajun food, so it works, but I take the approach of roux/veg first and then whisk in stock later. My mother's gumbo tastes similar to mine, but we get there by different methods.
Finished product in the next pic. The green powder on the rice is file', which is dried and ground sassafras leaves. The Choctaw Indians used it as a thickener in their stews/gumbos, and many in Louisiana still use it. A few people still make file' gumbo, where the file' is the main thickener, but most use file' more like a seasoning, as I've done here. It's getting harder to find homemade file'. My last provider, an old Creole man, passed away, so I'm on a search for a new file' connection. There are commercial versions, but they are not as good.
We love okra, so I use more than most. Some folks leave it out altogether.
Some folks serve their gumbo with a dollop of potato salad on the side or even in the bowl. It's funny that some Louisiana folks will say they have never heard of that, and others say everyone in their family does it that way. Some around Opelousas, where sweet potatoes are farmed, will serve with baked sweet potato. Some families add whole boiled and peeled eggs, which was a way to stretch the dish in poor times.
My parents picked up the potato salad habit while living in the Abbeville and Ville Platte areas in south Louisiana when I was young. Our family tradition is to serve gumbo with "hot crackers" (recipe below). My mother started that for us. I'm not sure where she got the idea, but we all love them and always make them to go with gumbo or jambalaya.
Hot Crackers
2 sleeves saltine crackers
3/4 cup grapeseed oil (or other neutral oil)
1 package dry ranch dressing mix
1.5 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp ground cayenne
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
Preheat oven to 250
Combine all ingredients except crackers. Spread crackers on a cookie sheet and drizzle the mixture over them. Toss lightly (spatulas help here) to coat evenly.
Spread crackers evenly on the cookie sheet and bake in oven 15 minutes.
Remove and use spatula to gently rotate and flip crackers. Bake 10 more minutes.
Remove from oven and let crackers cool on baking racks.
I don't make my own roux any more. Can't tell the difference between it (which can be a tedious chore to make) and the jarred roux.
Some of the key ingredients are in this pic. The clear plastic bottle contains salt taken from the top of a Tabasco sauce barrel. A relative got some from a tour of the Tabasco plant in Avery Island, LA. The salt is soaked with pepper sauce that came up from the barrel during the aging process. That little bottle is a lifetime supply, which is good, because you can't buy the stuff.
Down Home sausage is made near me in Stonewall, LA. Most Louisiana folks, especially in south Louisiana (I'm up north) have a favorite local sausage.
Chicken thighs and some wings were simmered with veg to make chicken stock and provide meat. I added three more boneless thighs during the cook.
The roux is getting heated up to saute' the onions, bell pepper, and celery (the Louisiana "holy trinity").
I add a diced onion or two first. The smell of onions in roux is one of my favorite things. Diced bell pepper (one medium; too much BP can make gumbo bitter) and three or four stalks of diced celery are added a few minutes later. John Besh says letting the onions saute' longer makes them sweet and improves the flavor. I don't know if it really does, but I like to do it that way. Garlic and lots of sliced green onions are added at the end of the saute' stage.
The next pic is near the end. I add chicken stock to the roux/veg mix and whisk it all together. Then add seasonings and a few chunks of sausage and simmer for a couple of hours. Every cook has a different approach to gumbo, and many don't simmer so long, but I find it improves the flavor. Then I add the rest of the sausage (which many brown in a separate skillet before adding; I sometimes do but usually don't), simmer an hour or so (which adds lots of flavor from the sausage), add okra and simmer it until the okra's about done, then slip the cooked chicken in at the end and heat it through. Dark meat works best. It doesn't dry out like white meat can. Adjust the seasonings to taste.
Some folks, like the late chef Paul Prudhomme and my mother, simmer the veg and meat in stock and then whisk the roux into the stock later in the cook. Prudhomme was famous for his Cajun food, so it works, but I take the approach of roux/veg first and then whisk in stock later. My mother's gumbo tastes similar to mine, but we get there by different methods.
Finished product in the next pic. The green powder on the rice is file', which is dried and ground sassafras leaves. The Choctaw Indians used it as a thickener in their stews/gumbos, and many in Louisiana still use it. A few people still make file' gumbo, where the file' is the main thickener, but most use file' more like a seasoning, as I've done here. It's getting harder to find homemade file'. My last provider, an old Creole man, passed away, so I'm on a search for a new file' connection. There are commercial versions, but they are not as good.
We love okra, so I use more than most. Some folks leave it out altogether.
Some folks serve their gumbo with a dollop of potato salad on the side or even in the bowl. It's funny that some Louisiana folks will say they have never heard of that, and others say everyone in their family does it that way. Some around Opelousas, where sweet potatoes are farmed, will serve with baked sweet potato. Some families add whole boiled and peeled eggs, which was a way to stretch the dish in poor times.
My parents picked up the potato salad habit while living in the Abbeville and Ville Platte areas in south Louisiana when I was young. Our family tradition is to serve gumbo with "hot crackers" (recipe below). My mother started that for us. I'm not sure where she got the idea, but we all love them and always make them to go with gumbo or jambalaya.
Hot Crackers
2 sleeves saltine crackers
3/4 cup grapeseed oil (or other neutral oil)
1 package dry ranch dressing mix
1.5 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp ground cayenne
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
Preheat oven to 250
Combine all ingredients except crackers. Spread crackers on a cookie sheet and drizzle the mixture over them. Toss lightly (spatulas help here) to coat evenly.
Spread crackers evenly on the cookie sheet and bake in oven 15 minutes.
Remove and use spatula to gently rotate and flip crackers. Bake 10 more minutes.
Remove from oven and let crackers cool on baking racks.
