How to Make the Perfect Gumbo

Gumbo is a staple in Louisiana cuisine. It is made with a roux (flour and oil mixture) and various meats, seafood, and vegetables. Gumbo can be made with chicken, sausage, shrimp, crab, or any combination of meats and seafood. It is typically served over rice, but the real Cajuns will say to serve it over potato salad. We will go with the classic chicken and sausage for our gumbo!

Ingredients:

> One cup of vegetable oil

> One cup of all-purpose flour

> Two onions, chopped (I like onions.)

> One green bell pepper, chopped

> 4 celery stalks, chopped

> 6 (large) cloves garlic, minced

> One teaspoon of dried thyme (If you go for fresh thyme, drop this to 1/3 teaspoon.)

> 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (If you want extra spice.)

> Three bay leaves

> Three 32oz containers of Chicken Stock

> One Tablespoon of Cajun or Creole

Seasoning

> One Teaspoon of Salt

> One Teaspoon of Garlic Powder

> Two whole rotisserie chickens This is the easiest route, but if you want to WOW your guests, Go with 4 lbs. of bone-in chicken thighs (don’t toss the bones, as we will use those too). To cook the chicken, I prefer smoking them, but grilling or baking also does the job.

> 2 Lbs. of smoked sausage (I have found a 1lb of Mild DD sausage and 1lb of Hot DD sausage is PERFECT.)

> 4 cups of water

> One ICE COLD bottle of water (This is for the VERY end and helps lock all the flavors together.)

Before You Start

Chop the Onion, Bell Pepper, Celery, and Garlic. Slice the sausage and pull apart the chicken. Save the remaining skin and bone in a bowl off to the side. Put all prepped ingredients in the refrigerator.

In a pot off to the side, add the three containers of chicken stock, the skin and bone from the chicken thighs, bring the stock to a boil, then cover and drop to a simmer. Just let this simmer until needed.

You may also want to brown the sausage at this point. Once browned, remove, cover, and set in the fridge. Take some of the hot stock and deglaze your pan and add this to your chicken stock pot. We will be straining the stock before adding it to our gumbo.

Instructions:

1. Heat the oil in a large pot (I use a 14-quart Magnalite pot) over medium heat. Add the flour. This step can take anywhere from an hour to TWO hours. Depending on your heat. If this is your first gumbo, I suggest lowering the heat to avoid burning. Keep stirring the roux until you get a dark chocolate color. (The darker the roux, the richer the gumbo will be)

2. Add the onion, bell pepper, celery, and garlic to the roux and cook, and cook for 15 minutes or until vegetables are SOFT. (If you could contain this smell and make a candle, you be a millionaire!)

4. Add your Cajun seasoning, salt, garlic powder, thyme, bay leaves, sausage, and FOUR cups of water.

5. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce to a simmer, and cook for ONE hour.

6. Once your first hour of cooking is done, stir in the chicken. (We add the chicken here because if you add it earlier, your chicken will shred to nasty little pieces)

7. Bring back to a boil, cover, and reduce heat to low for ONE MORE hour.

8. After this last hour of cooking, add one bottle of Ice-cold water. This is a trick I learned, and maybe it’s in my head, but it locks ALL the flavors in!

9. Serve hot over rice (or potato salad) and ENJOY!

3. Add your stock (a little at a time) until you get a creamy peanut buttery texture. Then add the remaining stock. (Make sure you sift your stock through a small sifter before adding to the roux, this removes all the bones and little pieces of sausage scraps we added previously)

BY SEBASTIAN PASTOR