re: Serious Eats Tackles "What Makes Gumbo Gumbo?"

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While I like seafood gumbo (my grandmother makes it from scratch for X-mas eve every year), chicken and sausage is always my go to comfort food. I could eat it everyday and be perfectly happy.

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I grew up on chicken and sausage gumbo and make it rather often. But i've grown to love my seafood gumbo more and will make some Sunday just in time for the cool front. However, my best gumbo is made around Christmas. Smoked duck, andouille, and oyster gumbo.

I've made Gumbo Z'Herbes 2 or 3 times. It was pretty good, but i also add meat to it. Last time i made it, i swore it off, just do to cleaning all those damn greens and having to cook all of that shite down, then having to puree' it. The immersion blender helped, but it became to big of a pain in the arse.

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I grew up on chicken and sausage gumbo and make it rather often. But i've grown to love my seafood gumbo more and will make some Sunday just in time for the cool front. However, my best gumbo is made around Christmas. Smoked duck, andouille, and oyster gumbo.

I've made Gumbo Z'Herbes 2 or 3 times. It was pretty good, but i also add meat to it. Last time i made it, i swore it off, just do to cleaning all those damn greens and having to cook all of that shite down, then having to puree' it. The immersion blender helped, but it became to big of a pain in the arse.

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My favorite gumbo is after right after the new year. As soon as the first deer sausage comes in, I make a duck, rabbit and deer sausage gumbo.

FOUR HOURS for oven roux?

they're smoking crack.

i can get a dark roux inside of 10 minutes in the microwave using gris gris technique.

always turns out perfect. always.

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Add remaining 1 cup (235ml) oil to Dutch oven along with flour, stirring to form a paste. Lower heat to medium-low and cook, stirring and scraping frequently, until roux is a chestnut or chocolate-brown color but not scorched, about 1 hour.

Alternatively, you can combine the flour and 1 cup oil in a separate ovenproof vessel and cook, uncovered, in a 350°F (180°C) oven, stirring occasionally, until roux is chestnut or chocolate-brown, about 4 hours

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I too like to put the aromatics into the roux, onions first, cooking until they're colored a bit, then adding the rest.

RE: rouxless gumbos, my grandmere would make one from time to time....she used double the usual amount of onions, and smothered the onions down into almost a paste. That onion stuff acted as the thickening agent.

Generally speaking, I prefer thinner, soupier "homestyle" gumbos to the overly reduced, concentrated stock NOLA restaurant style gumbos.

Hell yes, you can have a gumbo w/o file or okra. And file should be added to your bowl, not to the entire pot. Sprinkle it over your rice, then ladle on the gumbo. Too much in the pot makes the texture weird, and it doesn't improve with reheating.

Article wasn't too bad, considering.

Cool front next week! Time to make some gumbo. Think I'm gonna make chicken/andouille/oyster.

Add just enough oysters for the amount you're serving at that time. You'll only cook them 10 minutes or so.

Don't add too much because they won't reheat that well.

On that same line of thinking, I think I might do that smoke duck, andouille, and oyster AC mentioned.

The best thing I've ever done for my gumbo though is using bacon grease for my roux. I don't think I'll ever not do that again.

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I'm sorry, but you can't have gumbo without a roux, IMO. You can have a gumbo without file or okra, but not without a roux.

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I always have roux in my gumbo. I can just see that the other styles are also authentic.

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i can get a dark roux inside of 10 minutes in the microwave using gris gris technique.

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I’ve never made roux in the microwave. I make it in large quantities in the oven.

It's always gumbo weather.

Just sometimes it's extra gumbo-y outside.