Whether you’re well versed in the kitchen or you’re looking to make strides in your cooking game, being able to make a good gumbo will improve your quality of life.
- Looking to mix up your routine by bringing flavor spices into your kitchen? Make a gumbo.
- Looking to fill your freezer for meal prep? Make a gumbo.
- Looking to impress a date and fill your home with aromatic flavors? You got it.
If you’re looking for a recipe to follow, you can scroll to “CORE RECIPE”. If you prefer getting some ideas and cooking by the seat of your pants, you can continue here.
If you’re still with me, we’re probably alike. When I started cooking and as I’ve become more experienced, creating delicious food has been a hobby. I’m also not very good at following directions and find it to be much more enjoyable being more creative in the kitchen. You can still find a recommended recipe towards the bottom of the post, but directly below I’ll run through the main pieces that makeup the dish and I encourage you to take some liberty to write your own path.
GUIDE TO GUMBO
Protein
Ingredients- One of many characteristics that separate traditional gumbo from other stews is that they typically contain several types of meat. Traditionally this includes sliced smoked andouille sausage, diced chicken thighs, and peeled raw shrimp (peeled, deveined, and tail-off) however options here are nearly unlimited to fancy your tastes and preferences. Bite sized pieces of nearly any forms of poultry, pork, beef, seafood, or even tofu can be substituted here. Gumbo is more than just a multi-meat stew, don’t worry how nontraditional you choose to go here, there will be plenty of dish defining pieces remaining. Pickup up to 4 pounds total of your chosen protein above, and we can move on to the procedure.
Procedure- Add ¼ cup of any vegetable-based oil to the largest pot you own or a dutch oven and set to medium heat. You’ll eventually use this oil to make your roux, but before making the roux, I recommend flavoring the oil by frying some of your protein it. This also helps give your protein a crispy edge. With exception to seafood and tofu (keep those aside for now), toss your protein into the oil just for a few minutes until browned. Remove the protein from the pan but keep the oil in the pot.
Roux
Ingredients- You can be as creative as you want with the protein, but not the roux. This will be the base of your gumbo and will separate your gumbo from a burgoo or meat stew. All you will need here is all-purpose flour, and the vegetable oil you used in the previous step.
Procedure- Lightly sprinkle 3/8 cup of all-purpose flour in the oil on medium heat and stir continuously until you’ve achieved the roux you are looking for. How long you cook your roux will determine what type of roux you will have—white, blond, light brown, dark brown, or burnt. The darker the color, the deeper the flavor. For a gumbo, I strongly recommend aiming for a blond or light brown color. Go for a dark brown color if you are brave, however there is a fine line between dark brown and burnt. Regardless of target color, I stress the continuous stirring here. Insufficient stirring can turn a white roux into a burnt roux in less than a minute. If you burn your roux (don’t worry, it happens), just toss out the roux and start over with new oil and flour.
Vegetables
Ingredients- Ok, time to loosen up and get creative again. Here is where you add diced aromatic vegetables which will freshen up the flavors of your dish and your kitchen. Traditionally this includes yellow onions, green bell peppers, celery, jalapenos, tomatoes, and minced garlic. Here you have the freedom to substitute or add any vegetables with exception to vegetables that are susceptible disintegrating when cooked for hours. These may include okra, asparagus, broccoli, and any bean vegetables. If you would like to include any of these vegetables, I recommend adding those later in the cooking process.
Procedure- The process part of the vegetables is much more cut and dry than the ingredients. Toss a few minced cloves of garlic and 1-2 handfuls of your selected vegetables into your roux and sauté for 5 minutes.
Liquid
Ingredients- Some recipes recommend using water as a base liquid, but I prefer adding more flavor and using about 4 cups of low-sodium chicken broth. If you like cooking with beer, some of an amber beer would be a good depth of flavor addition. All you’ll need is one 12-oz amber beer (or a 2nd for the hard working chef), and use about 3 cups of broth instead of 4. For those skipping the beer, I recommend using about 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire to give the dish more depth of flavor. Besides these, I have not seen a lot of deviation from this in other good recipes.
Procedure- Pour these liquids into the pot in any order.
Herbs, Spices, and Simmering
Ingredients- If you do not (yet) have a full spice pantry, I recommend using about a couple teaspoons of a pre-mixed Creole or Cajun seasoning and a few bay leaves. If you’d rather have individual control of the herbs and spices, I recommend dabbling with paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, basil, oregano, thyme, and cayenne pepper (to taste!). I did not include salt here because the broth you already added should contain enough salt for the whole dish, but obviously you can still salt to taste. If you prefer going N’awlins spicy, add more cayenne to taste.
Procedure- Add herbs and spices into the pot in any order and stir. Lower heat form medium to low, add all proteins with exception to poultry, seafood, and tofu, and simmer for about 2 hours. With 1 hour of simmering remaining, add any poultry. With 20 minutes remaining, add seafood, tofu, and any additional vegetables you opted not to add earlier.
Presentation and Garnish
Layer the bottom of a large bowl or rimmed plate with cooked white rice, ladle your delicious gumbo over the rice, and top the dish with filé powder and chopped green onions.
CORE RECIPE
Ingredients-
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 pound smoked andouille sausage, sliced
- 1 pound boneless chicken thighs, diced
- 1 pound raw, peeled, deveined, and tail-off shrimp
- 3/8 cup of all-purpose flour
- 2 yellow onions
- 1 green bell pepper
- 5 jalapeno peppers
- 3 celery ribs
- 1 can diced tomatoes, strained
- 3 garlic cloves
- 3 cups of low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 12-oz amber beer
- 2 teaspoons Creole seasoning
- 3 dried bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon filé powder
- 1/4 cup green onions
- 2 cups cooked white rice
Procedure-
Add vegetable oil to large pot and put on medium heat. Add sausage and chicken to hot oil and cook for about 5 minutes or until browned, then remove sausage and chicken from pot.
To create roux, sprinkle flour into oil and stir continuously until roux turns light brown. Add chopped onions, bell pepper, jalapenos, celery, tomatoes, and garlic. Sauté for 5 minutes.
Add broth, beer, Creole seasoning, and bay leaves. Reduce heat to low, add sausage, and simmer for 1 hour. Add chicken and simmer 40 minutes more. Add shrimp and simmer 20 minutes more.
Prepare cooked rice and place in bowls. Ladle gumbo over rice and top with a pinch of file powder and green onions.
Now I hope anyone can enjoy Cajun flavors without having grown up in the bayou. If you have any other tips and recommendations, please let me know share the comments or PM.
Bon Appétit.
bon appetit
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