Need Ideas for creating the best Gumbo!

[Jenlyn9483]

I chose to make Gumbo for my Thankgiving soup this year. Last year I did the most awesome Crock pot clam Chowder. (I will have to post that recipe in the holiday recipe thread). Now this year I want to make a spectacular Gumbo,,I Have a list of ingredients that i want to throw in give me your ideas, I want it to be spectacular!

 

[BettyR]

My family is Creole...This is our family recipe. It's different from the New Orleans style gumbo...New Orleans style gumbo has more Spanish and African influence to it. This has more of a French influence.

Grandma’s Chicken Gumbo

Make a dark roux with 2 cups of flour and some oil.
(You can buy ready made roux but homemade is the best)

1-1/2 gallons water
1 large hen (I usually use a rooster for this I think they make the best gumbo)
6 chicken bullion cubes
2 pounds of good smoked sausage (Cut into bite size pieces)
1 large onion (Chopped)
1 bell pepper
2 tablespoons liquid smoke (leave this out if using smoked meat)
4 cloves of garlic
1/2 bunch parsley (chopped)
1 bunch green onions (chopped)
Salt and pepper to taste

Cut the chicken in half and place it in a large stockpot with the water and the rest of the ingredients. Simmer uncovered for 3 hours (if your using a rooster...a hen will take less time) or until chicken is tender and falling off the bone, remove the chicken from the pot place it in a bowl and put it in the refrigerator to cool. Turn the fire off under the pot, allow to sit while chicken is cooling, all the fat will rise to the top.

With a large spoon skim fat off the top of the gumbo.

Pick the chicken off the bone and add it back to the pot and heat it through; season with salt and pepper to taste.

You can substitute just about anything for the chicken. Wild game works very well, squirrels, ducks, geese, rabbits, turkey, quail, pheasant. Just make sure to simmer it long enough to get it tender.

Serve over rice in soup bowls.

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Seafood Gumbo

1 cup flour and enough oil to make a dark roux
8 cloves garlic (minced)
2 large onions (chopped)
1 large bell pepper (chopped)
4 large ribs celery (chopped)
2-14oz cans diced tomatoes
1-8oz can tomato sauce
2-10oz packages frozen okra
1 bunch parsley ~leaves only~ (chopped)
1 bunch green onions (chopped)
2 tablespoons chicken bullion
2 tablespoons liquid crab boil (more if you like it spicy)
1 gallon water
2 lb. Shrimp ~peeled & de-veined
1 lb. Large scallops
2 lb. Frozen ~meat only~ craw fish tails
2 lb. Mild flavored white fish ~ such as Pollock or Talipa
(chopped into 1 in. cubes)

In a large gumbo pot bring 1 gallon of water to a boil.

In a large skillet make your roux; when the roux is as dark as you like it add the onion, bell pepper, and celery until they are tender. Add the garlic and saute until you start to smell it; add this mixture to the water in the gumbo pot and whisk to blend.

Add the tomatoes, parsley, green onions, tomato sauce, water, crab boil, and chicken bullion. Bring back to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer, cook for 45 minutes.

Add the okra and bring back to a boil, simmer for 30 minutes.

Add seafood bring back to a boil; simmer for 1 minute then turn the fire off under the pot, cover with a lid and allow to stand for 15 to 20 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings.

 

[kinnip]

I know some will scoff, but I like to make my seafood gumbo with real butter in the roux and I like to use fresh okra and file. Don't add the file until you get to the table. It's also quite pretty with a couple of crab claws sticking out of the bowl.

 

[BettyR]

Quote:
I've never tried butter in a roux...I always assumed it would burn before you could get the roux dark enough for a proper gumbo. For gumbo we make a very dark roux...almost as dark as Hershey's Cocoa.

 

[Lunachick]

So, what exactly is a roux? I would also like to make a killer gumbo.

 

[BettyR]

A roux is when you cook flour in oil to brown the flour. Roux is not an easy thing to make...it takes some practice to perfect the art of a good roux.... Alton Brown says he has trouble with roux so he came up with a way of making it in the oven. If you will go to foodtv.com and the show "Good Eats" and look for the show title "A Bowl of Bayou" you will find instructions on how to make a roux in the oven.

He also gives instructions on how to make gumbo but I wouldn't follow them. He makes this huge mess just putting a simple pot of gumbo together. The best gumbo is a simple gumbo...take a few good ingredients and put them together and you have a killer gumbo....he complicates it way too much.

You can buy roux in the grocery store in jars on the Ethnic Food Isles. I got really lazy one time and purchased a jar of roux and I'll never do that again. Roux is like everything else...what you make at home is so much better than what you can buy at the grocery store. The roux in a the jar smelled like stale cooking oil...I ended up throwing it away and making my own roux after all.

 

[Lunachick]

Thanks for that info Betty!

 

[CarolMinnesota]

I make roux in the microwave. Just use equal parts fat (oil, rendered poultry or pork fat) and flour and keep cooking on high till it gets to the color I want. I usually stir every three minutes or so to make sure it is not burning on the inside.

When it is the color I want, I add the veges and seasonings, stir, and cook a bit more.

It is too easy. And I have never burned it this way--unlike when I was trying to do it on the stovetop.

Got this idea from Louisiana cook Jean Durkee's book "Tout de Suite a la Microwave."

Carol in Minnesota

 

[BettyR]

Quote:
I've never heard of that but it makes since; if it would work in the oven it should work in the microwave. How large of a roux have you been able to make in the microwave. Do you think 2 cups of flour would be too much?

 

[SterlingAcres]

My Dad makes a gumbo/jumbalya type dish. It's VERY good, pretty spicy though. It's got breaded fried chicken and kielbasa in it.