Time 3h40m Yield 20 Number Of Ingredients 24 Steps:
Make a roux by whisking the flour and 3/4 cup bacon drippings together in a large, heavy saucepan over medium-low heat to form a smooth mixture. Cook the roux, whisking constantly, until it turns a rich mahogany brown color. This can take 20 to 30 minutes; watch heat carefully and whisk constantly or roux will burn. Remove from heat; continue whisking until mixture stops cooking. Place the celery, onion, green bell pepper, and garlic into the work bowl of a food processor, and pulse until the vegetables are very finely chopped. Stir the vegetables into the roux, and mix in the sausage. Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium-low heat, and cook until vegetables are tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from heat, and set aside. Bring the water and beef bouillon cubes to a boil in a large Dutch oven or soup pot. Stir until the bouillon cubes dissolve, and whisk the roux mixture into the boiling water. Reduce heat to a simmer, and mix in the sugar, salt, hot pepper sauce, Cajun seasoning, bay leaves, thyme, stewed tomatoes, and tomato sauce. Simmer the soup over low heat for 1 hour; mix in 2 teaspoons of file gumbo powder at the 45-minute mark. Meanwhile, melt 2 tablespoons of bacon drippings in a skillet, and cook the okra with vinegar over medium heat for 15 minutes; remove okra with slotted spoon, and stir into the simmering gumbo. Mix in crabmeat, shrimp, and Worcestershire sauce, and simmer until flavors have blended, 45 more minutes. Just before serving, stir in 2 more teaspoons of file gumbo powder.
Time 2h30m Yield 6 to 8 servings Number Of Ingredients 19 Steps:
Peel and devein shrimp. Place heads and shells in stockpot with 12 cups water, and simmer over low heat until needed. In a 6-quart stockpot, combine crabs, sausages, beef or stew meat and gizzards; cook, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching, over low flame for 30 minutes. In a heavy-bottomed saute pan, whisk oil and flour together over low to moderate heat, and cook, whisking constantly until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Add onions, and cook, stirring, until soft. Pour mixture into pot with meats, and stir gently until well combined. Strain shrimp stock. Add to pot with enough water to make 14 cups liquid. Bring to a boil. Add chicken wings, smoked ham, paprika, garlic, thyme, bay leaves and salt, and simmer 30 minutes. Add peeled shrimp, and simmer 10 minutes. Add oysters, and turn off heat. Stir in file. Serve over rice, and garnish with fresh parsley.
Time 2h15m Yield 4 to 6 servings Number Of Ingredients 21 Steps:
Prepare the roux: In a large pot, heat the oil over medium-high until it’s just shy of smoking. Slowly shake the flour into the oil, whisking until smooth. Reduce the heat to medium and continue whisking until the roux is a deep dark brown, 20 to 30 minutes, adjusting the heat as necessary to prevent burning. Using a wooden spoon, stir in the onion, bell pepper, celery and garlic. Cook another 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Stir in the stock. Bring to a boil and add the crabs (if using whole blue crabs), gumbo filé, bay leaves, salt, thyme, Worcestershire sauce and cayenne. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the flavors have melded, skimming off any foam or skin on the surface, about 1 hour. Toss the shrimp and fish with the Creole seasoning and stir into gumbo, along with the oysters and crab meat (if using). Simmer until the shrimp and fish are cooked, about 10 minutes. Add the hot sauce. Taste and season with more salt and hot sauce if necessary. Divide among soup bowls and top with rice and scallions.
Time 1h Yield 6 Number Of Ingredients 16 Steps:
Heat oil in a large skillet over high heat. Stir in flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes or until mixture is the color of a copper penny. Reduce heat to low and stir in bell pepper and onion. Cook 10 to 15 minutes, or until tender, stirring occasionally. Add chicken, tomatoes with green chile peppers, mushrooms, parsley, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, soy sauce, sugar, salt, pepper and hot sauce. Stir together, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Add chicken broth or water if mixture is too thick for your liking.
Time 45m Yield 6 serving(s) Number Of Ingredients 16 Steps:
Cook onion and garlic in butter until onion is tender. Stir in flour. Cook, stirring constantly until flour is browned. Stir in the tomatoes, water, green pepper, bay leaves, oregano, thyme, salt and hot sauce. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes. Remove bay leaves. Stir in the okra. Bring to boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Stir shrimp and crab meat into okra mixture. Cook about 5 minutes longer or until heated through. Serve gumbo over hot rice. (Traditionally, rice is mounded in heated soup plates and the gumbo is spooned around it).
Time 1h45m Yield 6 servings Number Of Ingredients 16 Steps:
Remove legs from crab and smash with back of knife. Remove claws and break in 3 pieces. Remove meat from body and head. Heat 1/8 cup clarified butter in large saucepan on high heat. Add crab parts and meat, then add onion, celery and green pepper. Stir in tomatoes and garlic. Mix fish stock with tomato paste and add to crab saute. Bring to boil and add bay leaves. Simmer gently, stirring and skimming top frequently, for 8 minutes. Stir in oysters and their juices, then add shrimp and okra. Season with pepper. In small bowl, blend file and cold water. Add to soup and stir briskly. On medium-low heat, cook soup for 1 hour; do not let soup boil. Serve piping hot.
Time 3h40m Number Of Ingredients 25 Steps:
Gather the ingredients. Bring beef and chicken to room temperature before beginning the recipe. Make the stock. To a large sauce pan add chicken broth, shrimp shells, and outer crab shells (if using), cover, and set over medium-low heat. When it comes to a boil, adjust the heat to maintain a gentle simmer. Simmer covered for 20 minutes and keep on low until ready for use. Make the roux. Add oil to a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat and sprinkle in flour while whisking. Continue whisking until it turns a milk chocolate color, 16 to 18 minutes. Don’t walk away during this step. When the roux is ready, add the Trinity (the onion, celery, and bell pepper), garlic, and Creole seasoning. Sauté until onions are translucent, 6 to 8 minutes. Strain the chicken-seafood stock. Discard the seafood shells. Deglaze the gumbo pot with with half of the stock. Add the can of whole tomatoes, crushing each by hand over the pot, plus its liquid. Add Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, thyme, and bay leaf. Bring it to a boil and reduce it to a simmer. Meanwhile, heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a cast iron pan over medium-high heat. Sear stew beef, in batches if needed, and move directly into the gumbo pot when done. In the same cast iron pan, sear the seasoned chicken thighs, skin-side down first, until golden on both sides, about 10 minutes total, moving them to the gumbo pot when done. In the same cast iron pan, add the okra to the rendered chicken fat, and season with salt and pepper and/or more Creole seasoning. Sauté okra until verdant and the viscous texture subsides, about 8 minutes. (This is known as “roping.”) Add okra to the gumbo pot. Add remaining chicken-seafood stock to cover the ingredients. If the ingredients are not covered by the stock, add water. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook for 30-45 minutes, giving a good stir and taste every 15 minutes. Season with more Creole seasoning, salt, hot sauce, Worchestershire sauce, black pepper as needed for your taste. Remove thyme stems and bay leaf. Gently remove chicken thighs from the gumbo pot to a cutting board. Remove bones and skin, cut into rough chunks and add the meat back into the gumbo pot. If the thighs have fallen apart, just remove the bones (the same number of thighs you added) and the skins you can easily find. On a cutting board, crack cooked and cleaned blue crabs in half. Then, with a mallet or the back of the blade of a chefs knife, gently crack both joints of the claws. (see RECIPE VARIATION with lump crab meat below) Add crab and shrimp to the gumbo pot, cover, and simmer for 6 to 8 minutes. Prepare a serving over cooked white rice, making sure each serving gets at least half of a crab. Garnish with scallions and hot sauce(s) for diners to spice to their taste.
Time 1h40m Yield 30 cups (15 to 20 bowls) Number Of Ingredients 20 Steps:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place flour in a baking pan and bake, watching and stirring occasionally until flour is a nutty brown color. Sift to remove the lumps of flour. Saute chicken in oil in a large pot. Add sausage and cook until it begins to change color. Add onions, bell pepper and garlic and let cook until onion is clear. Add crabs and let cook until the crabs have changed color. Add thyme, cayenne, celery, bay leaves, green onions and flour and let mixture cook 5 minutes. Add stock and season with salt, pepper and Cajun seasoning. Cook for 45 minutes over medium heat, then stir in parsley. Serve over rice. Add gumbo file to each serving.
Time 1h30m Yield 12 serving(s) Number Of Ingredients 17 Steps:
Season the chicken with salt, pepper and Creole seasoning and brown quickly. Brown the sausage, pour off fat and reserve meats. In a large, heavy pot, heat the oil and cook the flour in the oil over medium to high heat (depending on your roux-making skill), stirring constantly, until the roux reaches a dark reddish-brown color, almost the color of coffee or milk chocolate for a Cajun-style roux. If you want to save time, or prefer a more New Orleans-style roux, cook it to a medium, peanut-butter color, over lower heat if you’re nervous about burning it. Add the vegetables and stir quickly. This cooks the vegetables and also stops the roux from cooking further. Continue to cook, stirring constantly, for about 4 minutes. Add the stock, seasonings, chicken and sausage. Bring to a boil, then cook for about one hour, skimming fat off the top as needed. Add shelled and deveined shrimp, the chopped scallion tops and parsley, and heat for 5 minutes. Serve over rice in large shallow bowls. Accompany with lots of hot, crispy French bread or serve in bread bowls. Make sure to have plenty of Tabasco sauce on hand to give it a kick.
Time 2h50m Yield 4 servings Number Of Ingredients 39 Steps:
Make the seafood gumbo stock: In a heavy-bottomed 5-quart pot, heat the canola oil over medium heat. Once the oil is shimmering, add the crabs and cook until the shells turn bright orange, 2-3 minutes. Add the shrimp shells and heads and cook until the shells turn pink, 2-3 minutes more. Smash the crab and shrimp shells, similar to mashing potatoes, to release any juices. Add the bell pepper, onion, and celery scraps, green onion, parsley, thyme, garlic, bay leaves, black pepper, and water. Bring to a gentle boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 30-35 minutes. Strain the stock through a large fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl. You should have 12 cups. Set aside until ready to use in the gumbo (if not using immediately, the stock can be cooled, then stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 1-3 days). Make the Creole seasoning: In a small bowl, whisk together the salt, white pepper, black pepper, cayenne, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, thyme, and oregano until well combined. Make the gumbo: Heat 6 tablespoons canola oil in a heavy-bottomed 6-quart pot over medium-high heat until faint wisps of white smoke come off the oil (if thicker, darker smoke appears, remove the pot from the heat and let cool for 3 minutes). Add the okra and fry for 2 minutes, until army-green in color. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the okra to a paper towel-lined plate to drain, leaving any remaining oil behind in the pot. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil to the same pot. Heat the oil over medium-high heat until faintly smoking again (do not let it overheat, or the flour will burn). Whisk in the flour to make a roux and cook, whisking constantly, until it turns a dark cocoa brown, 5-6 minutes. (If the roux is browning too quickly, remove the pot from the heat while continuing to stir and reduce the heat to medium-low.) Reduce the heat to medium, then add the onion, bell pepper, celery, and 2 tablespoons of the Creole seasoning. Cook, stirring, for 2-3 minutes, until onions have softened. Add the garlic, bay leaves, and remaining Creole seasoning. Increase the heat to medium-high heat. While whisking or stirring constantly to prevent lumps from forming, add the seafood gumbo stock, 4 cups at a time. Add the okra, smoked sausage, crabs, thyme, and Worcestershire sauce. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer uncovered for 1 hour, skimming off any foamy flour residue that rises to the surface. The gumbo should thicken and reduce by one quarter. Season the gumbo with the salt and pepper to taste, then add the shrimp. Remove the pot from the heat, cover, and let the residual heat cook the shrimp for 10 minutes. Ladle the hot gumbo into bowls. Serve with rice and garnish with parsley, green onions, and filé powder, if using. It’s important to properly cool and store leftover seafood gumbo, otherwise it will spoil. Fill a clean 2-liter bottle or plastic juice jug with water and freeze until solid. Once finished eating, place the ice bottle in the pot of gumbo and let cool, stirring occasionally to release heat. Transfer the gumbo to an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 5 days. 11. The gumbo can also be frozen for up to 3 months. Enjoy!
