Need good Gumbo recipe

INGREDIENTS
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 large onion, chopped
1 large green bell pepper, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 pound andouille or smoked sausage, sliced 1/4 inch thick(use good quality smoked sausage and/or andouille-this makes a difference)
4 cloves garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste
Creole seasoning to taste
6 cups chicken stock (from boiling your chicken)
1 bay leaf
1 chicken, cut,boiled and deboned



DIRECTIONS
Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. When hot, whisk in flour. Continue whisking until the roux has cooked to the color of chocolate milk, 8 to 10 minutes. Be careful not to burn the roux. If you see black specks in the mixture, start over.
Stir onion, bell pepper, celery, and sausage into the roux; cook 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook another 5 minutes. Season with salt, pepper, and Creole seasoning; blend thoroughly. Pour in the chicken stock and add the bay leaf. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer, uncovered, for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Stir in the chicken, and simmer 1 hour more. Skim off any foam that floats to the top during the last hour.

I boil a whole chicken with celery,onion,garlic bay leaf and peppercorns and salt to make my stock. The remove the chicken and remove the meat from the bones. Add that meat to your gumbo.

for about 20...this is for seafood...
for chicken and sausage..
brown meat before vegetables, set aside.
After you saute the vegetables you can put the meat in.* a personal like...I sprinkle a very small amount of sugar onto the meat and it kinda candies it...great flavor.

Start with about 2.5 cup flour / 16 oz. of oil in heavy pan to prevent burning.

On a LOW / med fire, stir both constantly until dark brown…DO NOT LET IT BURN.

You can add a little more or less of each as consistency demands.

Then take out of the pan and put aside.

You’ll use around 3 /4 cup of it, the rest you can keep for later.

Put about ½ cup of oil in the pan and cook all vegetables on low/med until onions are translucent.

Then put in roux and allow to blend well with all ingredients before adding the water.(if you need to- you can add a liittle water only to help mix)

Water = about 5 quarts, you ‘ll let it boil away to your choice of thickness (about 1 ½ hrs-2 hours)

Use 12 Quart pot to cook gumbo. After gumbo cook, turn off and let sit for 10 minutes before serving.

Ingredients and method for about 20 people:

For lighter taste, you can use a little less roux, or do a med to dark brown roux” in the color of the roux when browing

5 lb of to med shrimp with out heads.
1 Quart oysters
2 lb crabmeat
2 1/2cups onions (chopped)
1 cup bell pepper green red or yellow—you can mix if you want for a great presentation
1 stalk of celery (chopped)
1/2 Cup of green onions (chopped) add 10 minutes before turning gumbo off.
3 Table spoons of parsely chopped fine. Add 10 minutes before turning gumbo off.

Spices:
1 tablespoon of salt
1 tablespoon of red pepper
If using a Cajun Shaker type of seasoning, use about 1 tablespoon and go from there to taste
1 teaspoon of black pepper

Here is some other seafood you can use:
Canned clams, canned oysters, small frozen crabs in their shells (also called gumbo crabs)—
I use a lot of them for flavor and I add them early-not with the regular seafood

For seafood:
Don’t put the seafood in until around 15 minutes from finishing / eating time.
(you should be arriving at the consistency and taste level of the liquid at this point.
Put the shrimp in last and as soon as they are pink, it should be ready, do not overcook seafood,
so make sure the consistency of the gumbo and taste is sorta where you like it. Before doing the seafood.

If you ever use FILE, DO NOT add to the cooking mix.
It will “string” on you..]
better to add to individual portion, or after it is all cooked / stirred.

Cook white rice separately, 1.5 cups water to 1 cup of rice, add 1.5 teaspoon of salt and table spoon of oil for 5 cups of rice.
About 1/3 cup per person.
Garlic French bread is a good touch also and maybe a green salad or cajun potato salad great...