Need help with ingredients for seafood gumbo

The one we had yesterday had 10 lbs of shrimp and 5 lbs of crab meat…nothing else.

Let's begin with how much volume you will need.

20 people at 12-ounce servings will equal just about 2 gallons of gumbo needed.

(I know there are young kids in that count but there are also adults who will eat more than 12 ounces, so figuring 20 people for a buffer)

quote:

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I want everyone to have at minimum seconds.

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So you should cook a 5 gallon pot (which would be about 4 gallons of gumbo). What size pot will you cook? That will help answer the question on how much seafood you need.



For each gallon of gumbo, I would figure at minimum 3 pounds shrimp
and 1 pound crab meat. Then however many oysters and cracked crab you want to add.

That will work perfect.

I would go with:

12-15 pounds shrimp
4 pounds crab meat (or more if you want to pay for it)
2-4 pounds claws
1 gallon oysters

I believe that will be plenty, but see what others think as well.

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Places like Rouse's sell froze "Gumbo Crabs" that are perfect for throwing in

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I use those and shrimp shells to make the stock. I don't like gumbo crabs in my gumbo. The frozen meat tends to be sort of tough to me and there's not a lot of it. They're also messy.

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Dude - do you know what these ingredients would actually cost? LOL

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Yes, I do. He is asking for a recipe for at least 40 bowls of seafood gumbo. He didn't ask for a cheap way to make gumbo. I definitely wouldn't use all lump crab meat.

I never use lump crab meat in a seafood gumbo simply due to the price of the stuff and the fact it will break apart before long and you'd likely not know it was in there, especially when the gumbo is heated and stirred.

My go-to for seafood gumbo is lots of shrimp, gumbo crabs, oysters, crawfish tails and bay scallops when available. The bay scallops are smaller than sea scallops and will not fall apart like lump crab meat will. They cook up similar to the abductor muscle of the oysters.

12-15 pounds shrimp @6.50/lb $97.50
4 pounds crab meat (or more if you want to pay for it) @ $30/lb $120
2-4 pounds claws @$25/lb $100
1 gallon oysters. @$180 for P&J

That’s a $500 gumbo before you make the roux.

Yep. Seafood gumbo isn’t cheap if you do it right. He said he wants a meal for a New Year’s party where everyone can have at least 2 bowls. You absolutely can make it cheaper, but that wasn’t in the OP parameters.