Gumbo?

[Chris_in_SoCal]

Thanks for the advise on the next batch. I had another bowl and it tasted even better. The OKRA is a big no for me. I tried it once. ONCE! never again.

 

[indaswamp]

...only way I really like okra is breaded and deep fried. It is not stringy and has a good flavor.

 

[Dustin Dorsey]

I also prefer a less dark roux. Probably the once circled or the one to the left in HiJack73's
picture. It also seems to get darker in appearance once I add the trinity. There's a lot of ways to make gumbo. I prefer chicken/andouille, but my andouille is pretty far from authentic as I just course grind it all, use regular hog casings and smoke with pecan. Some people cook it first to get the grease out. I usually add mine at the very end to keep all the fat from rendering out. I really like the sausage to pop.

I'm in the roux/file camp. My dad will add a can of Rotel.

One trick I've been using lately is using my Thermopen to keep an eye on how hot the roux is. I generally get the oil between 375 to 400. You can go hotter if you have the skill, I suppose.. If you get too much cooler it just takes for ever.

 

[02ebz06]

How about a little music to accompany the Gumbo...
Rad Gumbo

 

[Cajun Smokes]

First off I have never had gumbo. Even when I was in New Orleans I did not try it but was always interested. A few days ago my favorite YouTube brits Jolly visited New Orleans and among other things they had gumbo and loved it. I decided I had to give it a try.

I watched 10 different gumbo recopies and every one of them was completely different. I put a list together of what I definitely needed and on our next trip to Walmart I got what I could find. Tony's more spice creole seasoning, Old Bay seasoning, Large uncooked shrimp, crawfish tails (they had whole crawfish but this looked easier.

I spent an hour just making the rue. It never got as dark as the pictures I looked at but tasted good. I sliced pre-cooked some sausages I made previously along with the seafood part way. Then I added stalk and water to the rue as well and spiced it until It tasted right then added a big bowl of veggies. Then I added the meats and let it simmer until my tummy could not wait anymore. I had also cooked up some rice on my wife's Japanese rice cooker.

Since I have never tried gumbo before I have no idea of what it is supposed to taste like but what I made sure tasted damn good. I have a lot left over for later as well.

View attachment 681307

The first bowl.

View attachment 681308

Reaux can make such a delicious meal. Glad to see you are experiencing homemade. It's work but worth it in the end. A trick my sisters taught me (we are Cajuns from South of I-10 in La), you can make great reaux in the oven as mentioned here. Dosent need to watched so closely and will still turn out as dark as desired.

I’d take a bowl! Certainly a light rue but thats personal preference. I like smoked chicken thighs in my gumbo (not that i don’t like shrimp and crawfish too) but thats the great thing about it: you can pretty much put in whatever you like. Jambayala next?

Smoked chicken thighs sounds delicious in a gumbo.

If you cooked a roux for an hour and it did not get dark, fairly sure your fire was a bit too low. That's not a bad thing....better than too hot which will burn the roux.

First off, no two gumbos are the same. But there are a few guidelines. Generally, for seafood gumbos the roux will be lighter. meat and seafood (like quail, oyster and andouille) the rouxs will be a bit darker, and the Cajun Dark brown roux, the darkest of all, is used for game gumbo mostly....like duck, nutria and andouille; or rabbit, squirrel and Cajun smoke sausage gumbo.

Usually the onions, bell pepper and garlic are added when the roux has darkened to where you want it...this will drop the temp. as the water in the veggies flashes to steam. This halts the darkening of the roux while the trinity cooks. I personally like to get a little color on the trinity before proceeding...

Frying the meats before adding to the gumbo (with the exception of seafood) is a big controversy...some say it makes the meat tougher and takes longer to cook, others say frying brings depth of flavor. You will find gumbos in both camps all over the internet....

Okra is another controversy...you see it a lot in creole New Orleans gumbos,,,but not much in Cajun Gumbos outside of New Orleans. They used file' powder which is ground dried sassafrass leaves....added at the end of cooking so the file' does not get stringy. You don't want to boil the pot after the file' is added.

Creole Gumbos you will see tomato added, and almost always added when okra is used because the acid in the tomato cuts the stringiness from the okra. I am more familiar with Cajun Gumbos as that is what I grew up on.

Most seafood gumbos use a light brown to medium brown roux...unless oysters are added, then the roux is usually a shade or two darker. When the flour starts to clump, that is when you have made a medium brown roux.

An Authentic recipe for seafood gumbo:
http://www.jfolse.com/recipes/soups/seafood12.htm

One with shrimp and okra:
http://www.jfolse.com/recipes/soups/seafood18.htm

Well said by a fellow Cajun. I grew up several hours from New Orleans, so we didn't do much creole gumbo. Over the years, I started adding 2-3oz of tomato sauce at the start of my gumbo (typical one family size gumbo). Can't see its there but it adds another depth of flavor.

 

[mike243]

Put me in the middle of the on color

 

[Hijack73]

...only way I really like okra is breaded and deep fried. It is not stringy and has a good flavor.

And it has to be small. Like the size of ring finger small. I put ketchup on it when I was a kid to hide it.

 

[hoity toit]

First off I have never had gumbo. Even when I was in New Orleans I did not try it but was always interested. A few days ago my favorite YouTube brits Jolly visited New Orleans and among other things they had gumbo and loved it. I decided I had to give it a try.

I watched 10 different gumbo recopies and every one of them was completely different. I put a list together of what I definitely needed and on our next trip to Walmart I got what I could find. Tony's more spice creole seasoning, Old Bay seasoning, Large uncooked shrimp, crawfish tails (they had whole crawfish but this looked easier.

I spent an hour just making the rue. It never got as dark as the pictures I looked at but tasted good. I sliced pre-cooked some sausages I made previously along with the seafood part way. Then I added stalk and water to the rue as well and spiced it until It tasted right then added a big bowl of veggies. Then I added the meats and let it simmer until my tummy could not wait anymore. I had also cooked up some rice on my wife's Japanese rice cooker.

Since I have never tried gumbo before I have no idea of what it is supposed to taste like but what I made sure tasted damn good. I have a lot left over for later as well.

View attachment 681307

The first bowl.

View attachment 681308

Looks good from here from a TX & southern Louisiana guy....yummy fo da tummy.

HT