Posted on 12/30/2015 1:40:50 PM PST by iowamark
Everybody in Louisiana has a gumbo recipe. I was deeply offended when Bon Appetit magazine did a profile on college tailgating using the LSU v. Ole Miss game from last year. Their gumbo recipe used carrots and oregano. That is horrifying.
The trinity is simple: onion, bell pepper, and celery. Carrots do not play a part in it. Neither does oregano.
Below is my recipe. I make it when the weather turns cool and keep making it through Mardi Gras. If you want a seafood gumbo, leave out the chicken and sausage. Do everything else in the recipe. Before adding the okra, add your uncooked seafood. It will cook in the gumbo and add a greater depth of flavor. When I make it with seafood, I use crab, shrimp, and crawfish.
I don't add raw chicken and let it cook because it has a tendency to make foam.
This recipe is spicy, but you may want to add more cayenne (I usually do) after the gumbo has rested a few hours. The taste and heat will change. That is one reason I recommend never using a hot andouille. It will impact the heat over a few hours.
One final note: most gumbo recipes call for adding the raw trinity to the roux and cooking. I will do that often, but I find I can control both the darkness of the roux and the sweetness of the trinity if I do them separately and then add them together. The one downside is that you risk your gumbo having more oil than you’d like. You will have to skim it off the top after the gumbo has rested.
Erick Erickson's Basic Gumbo Prep Time: 0 hr 0 min | Cook Time: 0 minutes | Servings: 12 Servings
Ingredients:
1 pk Andouille Sausage; Don't use spicy andouille 2 tb Vegetable oil 1 md yellow onion; finely chopped 3 st Celery; finely chopped 1 lg Bell Pepper; finely chopped 4 Chicken Breasts 2 ts Minced Garlic; heaping 3 bottles Beer 1 1/2 c Vegetable Oil 1 1/2 c All-purpose flour 3 Bay Leaves 1 tb Cayenne Pepper 1 tb Black Pepper 1 tb Thyme 1 tb Salt 1 tb Tony Chachere’s Cajun seasoning 64 oz Chicken Stock; Heat 32 oz in microwave to boiling 2 tb Vegetable Oil 2 c Frozen Okra; chopped 1 c Rice 2 c Water
Directions:
1. Add chicken breasts to a pot of water and boil. Cut sausage into small slices and, working in batches lightly brown in large skillet, removing to drain on a paper towel.
2. Add two tablespoons of vegetable oil to sausage drippings. Then add onions. Stir till translucent. Add celery and bell pepper. Stir till tender.
3. Remove chicken from water after it is cooked and let cool.
4. Open first beer. Clean out the dutch oven the chicken boiled in. Dry well. Put chicken stock in microwave, heat it, then set beside the dutch oven. Set on medium heat and add 1 1/2 cup of oil. Coat the bottom of the dutch oven. Sprinkle in the flour. Begin drinking the beer.
Stir constantly with a whisk for 20 minutes. Continue throughout drinking beer. After second beer is consumed, check to see that the roux is the color of a copper penny. If not, proceed to third beer and keep whisking.
5. When roux is the color of a used copper penny, quickly whisk in garlic first, then the onion, celery, and bell pepper. Add seasonings, bay leaves, and sausage. Pour in 32 ounces of heated chicken stock stirring constantly. The roux may ball up, but it will dissolve if you keep stirring. Add in the remainder of the chicken stock and turn heat to high.
6. Remove chicken from its bones and chop to fine pieces. Add to gumbo. Once boiling, reduce heat to simmer on low, stirring occasionally.
7. Heat skillet with 2 tablespoons of oil. Add okra. Heat until edges begin to brown, the stickiness is reduced, and seeds pop. Add to gumbo. Continue to simmer for one to two hours. Gumbo is tastier if cooled overnight in the fridge and reheated the next day.
8. Bring 2 cups of water to a boil. Once boiling, add 1 cup of rice, lightly salt, and cover for 20 minutes on low heat. Pour gumbo on top to eat.
9. Don't eat the bay leaves.
1 pk Andouille Sausage; Don't use spicy andouille
2 tb Vegetable oil
1 md yellow onion; finely chopped
3 st Celery; finely chopped
1 lg Bell Pepper; finely chopped
4 Chicken Breasts
2 ts Minced Garlic; heaping
3 bottles Beer
1 1/2 c Vegetable Oil
1 1/2 c All-purpose flour
3 Bay Leaves
1 tb Cayenne Pepper
1 tb Black Pepper
1 tb Thyme
1 tb Salt
1 tb Tony Chachere's Cajun seasoning
64 oz Chicken Stock; Heat 32 oz in microwave to boiling
2 tb Vegetable Oil
2 c Frozen Okra, chopped
1 c Rice
2 c Water
Sounds good.
Andouille, god I love that stuff!
CC
Erickson can choke on it for all I care.
Mmmmmm.
That’s easy? lol Also, he’s using way too much roux for the amount of gumbo being made. It will hide the other flavors and taste more like brown gravy. 1/3 - 1/2 the amount for this amount of gumbo would be better.
A slow painful choking would be preferred.
KMA EE
Erickson can choke on it for all I care.
Erick Erickson hosted Rush today?
That ticks me off.
Rush himself went down a notch if that’s true, and I’ve always held him in highest regards.
DAMN.
Hey Erick jam that gumbo up your azz and maybe it will restart a couple of brain cells you moronic troll.
I make the sausage and chicken gumbo from www.gumbopages.com.
I use Butterball smoked turkey sausage and it has always turned out amazing.
And I was born in Lake Charles, LA and loooovvvve my gumbo!!!! Don’t forget the potato salad! !!!
“The trinity is simple: onion, bell pepper, and celery.”
French Mirepoix is similar, but different: onions, carrots, and celery (or celeriac).
Italian Soffritto is another variation, a bit more flexible.
Lard (or olive oil or butter) and finely chopped parsley and onion, with optional garlic, celery, or carrot.
Other combinations are so varied that they don’t really have a standard.
Try baking a couple cornish hens or a roasting hen instead , also it's not gumbo unless it has okra ,no okra it's just a soup.
So, 2 cups of oil and grease. No, thanks.
I’m a file gumbo fan, myself. Mainly because I can’t stand okra unless it’s fried, and sometimes not then.
Rest of it sounds great, though :)
I like the beer part best. That’s the only way to survive stirring the roux.
Use chicken thighs, not breasts.
And what does he have against spicy Andouille?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.