Ok. So this is a recipe that my mother has used as long as I can tell. It's pretty simple, but incredibly delicious....I just made it!
Ingredient List:
1.25 C of fat
1.25 C of AP flour
4 onions
2 bell peppers
3 stalks of celery
5 lbs of chicken (I used a 5 lb package of chicken thighs)
.5 lbs of Andouille (I used 1lb of my homemade stuff)
16 cups of water (Mom didn't have a quart measuring vessel on hand)
1 good sized bunch of green onions
1 cup of fresh chopped parsley
Salt and Pepper to taste
The first thing you'll need to do is have a nice heavy/large pot and salt and pepper and brown off the chicken thighs. You can use whichever whatever type of fat you like. They all can produce different flavor profiles.
Pull the browned chicken and put it to the side. At this time, you need to pour off the oil from the pot into a measuring glass to confirm your 1.25 C and return it to the pot and add in your flour. I run it through the sifter into the pot to make sure there are no clumps. At this point, your making your Roux. It's simply the combination of flour and fat. On a low heat, continually mix the roux until it achieve the color you like. The darker it goes the more complex flavor you'll get from the flour as it browns.
Beginning of the Roux
After about 10 minutes.
Holy Trinity
I make a nice dark roux. Once it's at the color you like, mix in your chopped veggies, the onion, celery, and bell peppers (Holy Trinity). Give this a cook for about 5 minutes. You're really not trying to draw any liquid out or anything of that sort. I feel that a few minutes with the veggies actually darkens up the roux a bit more and I like that.
Notice the color of the roux that is mixed in the veggies.
After the 5 or so minutes, mix all of your water in. The water needs to be cold. As I've actually learned from Bearcarver, the liquid being added to a roux needs to be the opposite temperature or it'll break....thanks!
Now you'll bring your pot up to a boil, add your chicken back in, and simmer for 1 hour. Once the hour is up, kill the heat and remove the chicken. Let the chicken and pot liquid cool for 30 minutes and then pull the chicken into chunks (not shredded). Take a ladle and scoop out some of the fat that has now gathered on the top of the liquid in the pot. Trust me, I no it's fat and that means good, but it's more like it cooking oil that your scooping out than fat from a piggie that delicious. It tastes like your eating the oil you fry your chicken in. Not good.
At this point, add the chicken back along with the chopped parsley and green onion and Andoiulle and keep the heat on low. We aren't cooking everything, but rather we are allowing the flavors to meld together. Andouille is a sausage that leaches amazing flavor into whatever meal it's used in.
Done! Typically served over white rice, but to be honest I leave the rice and just eat the gumbo. It leaves more room for seconds and thirds!
Any questions please feel free to ask. Thanks for checking it and don't be afraid to give it a try.
Ingredient List:
1.25 C of fat
1.25 C of AP flour
4 onions
2 bell peppers
3 stalks of celery
5 lbs of chicken (I used a 5 lb package of chicken thighs)
.5 lbs of Andouille (I used 1lb of my homemade stuff)
16 cups of water (Mom didn't have a quart measuring vessel on hand)
1 good sized bunch of green onions
1 cup of fresh chopped parsley
Salt and Pepper to taste
The first thing you'll need to do is have a nice heavy/large pot and salt and pepper and brown off the chicken thighs. You can use whichever whatever type of fat you like. They all can produce different flavor profiles.
Pull the browned chicken and put it to the side. At this time, you need to pour off the oil from the pot into a measuring glass to confirm your 1.25 C and return it to the pot and add in your flour. I run it through the sifter into the pot to make sure there are no clumps. At this point, your making your Roux. It's simply the combination of flour and fat. On a low heat, continually mix the roux until it achieve the color you like. The darker it goes the more complex flavor you'll get from the flour as it browns.
Beginning of the Roux
After about 10 minutes.
Holy Trinity
I make a nice dark roux. Once it's at the color you like, mix in your chopped veggies, the onion, celery, and bell peppers (Holy Trinity). Give this a cook for about 5 minutes. You're really not trying to draw any liquid out or anything of that sort. I feel that a few minutes with the veggies actually darkens up the roux a bit more and I like that.
Notice the color of the roux that is mixed in the veggies.
After the 5 or so minutes, mix all of your water in. The water needs to be cold. As I've actually learned from Bearcarver, the liquid being added to a roux needs to be the opposite temperature or it'll break....thanks!
Now you'll bring your pot up to a boil, add your chicken back in, and simmer for 1 hour. Once the hour is up, kill the heat and remove the chicken. Let the chicken and pot liquid cool for 30 minutes and then pull the chicken into chunks (not shredded). Take a ladle and scoop out some of the fat that has now gathered on the top of the liquid in the pot. Trust me, I no it's fat and that means good, but it's more like it cooking oil that your scooping out than fat from a piggie that delicious. It tastes like your eating the oil you fry your chicken in. Not good.
At this point, add the chicken back along with the chopped parsley and green onion and Andoiulle and keep the heat on low. We aren't cooking everything, but rather we are allowing the flavors to meld together. Andouille is a sausage that leaches amazing flavor into whatever meal it's used in.
Done! Typically served over white rice, but to be honest I leave the rice and just eat the gumbo. It leaves more room for seconds and thirds!
Any questions please feel free to ask. Thanks for checking it and don't be afraid to give it a try.