Gumbo: Cook-Off 3

[Susan in FL]

I haven't had time, or maybe I should say I haven't taken the time, to follow this thread as closely as I would have liked, but I am catching up. It's a great thread, so full of info and great illustrations.

Our next will probably be goose gumbo. From the leftovers of our last goose, I saved out some meat and made a real good stock with the bones.

Good work, everybody! Thanks to all who are contributing.

[Mayhaw Man]

Gorgeous. Wonderful!

I add tomatoes to seafood gumbo almost every time that I make it. In fact, I have found that Rotels work pretty well. I never drain them. What's a little more liquid?

Nice work on the photos, as well.

[fifi]

Beautiful, beautiful gumbo Fifi.  A treat for the eyes and no doubt for the taste buds too .  I doubt you'd get that much shrimp or sausage from a restaurant version.

A couple of question just because I'm still learning what the hell I'm doing.  How much liquid did you lose during the 2 hour simmering?  I.e., was the sauce fairly thick at the end?

Did andouille seem to overpower the flavor of the shrimp and crab?  I'm tempted to try another seafood gumbo pretty soon, and the Jacob's andouille is pretty damned smoky.

Thanks for the help, and thanks for the great post with all those pictures and details.

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The sauce wasn't as thick as I would have liked. That is why I said at the end that I would have reduced the amount of shrimp stock. It wasn't "bad" but I could have done with less liquid.

In the two hours simmering the level of the liquid went down by about 3/4 of an inch. (I know that because I was just cleaning up and saw the lines of crud and noticed.) I don't know how that translates to volume. I was using my 4 1/4 quart Le Creuset soup pot because that seemed to be a good fit for this quantity. I don't think that the boil off was a significant factor.

This andouille did not overpower the shrimp and crab but it was not really all that smoky. It seemed to enhance the shrimp and crab and add a pleasant textural contrast. I can see how a smokier andouille could intrude on the seafood flavor. This one did not. Of course, I prefer the smokier and more highly seasoned varieties for chicken and sausage gumbos.

[snowangel]

That looks absolutely spectacular, fifi. Must gumbo, and soon. I'm tempted to bow out of one day of the braising thing so I can gumbo. Choices, choices, choices. So many meals to cook, so few days in a week.

[fifi]

wow ! That looks beautiful, I am sure it tasted delicious, I have never made seafood gumbo before,  I should try it next time,  The only problem is that it gets  terribly expensive here, we can't get pieces of crab meat here, we have to get a crab to cook and pick, and if I can afford a crayfish, it will be too wasteful to put in gumbo. they normally sell for about  A$45 to 50 a kg or in American terms; about $16 per lb. a couple of quick questions, when adding the tomato with the trinity (or quadity)then cook it for 2 hours, wouldn't the tomato disintergrade into the sauce, and not have any texture left ? and the adding of tomato and worscheshire , I take it you mean tomato ketchup.

I use about the same amount of liguid for the same amount of roux too. about 3/4 cup each of oil and flour for 2 Quarts of stock. did you find much difference in thickening strength when you take the roux to peanut butter colour  then let say dark chocolate ? come to think of it I might post my recipe in this post  and open it to scrutiny . 

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Thanks for the kind words. If you go for seafood gumbo, use whatever is cheap and available. I will say that my crabmeat did not come cheap but I was wanting some. The tomato did not disentigrate into the sauce as you can see. No, no ketchup was added. I only added the Worchestershire after tasting. The peanut butter roux generally has more thickening strength than the really dark. In this case, that didn't work. That is why I said that when I do this again, I won't use as much liquid. Please post your recipe.

[fou de Bassan]

Finally, finally after reading and wiping saliva from my chin for the past week today was gumbo day. I used the recipe from epicurious for comparison to all of the others here. This initially made 6 quarts of gumbo, so I halved the recipe. The recipe says to stir for one hour so I got music lined up,but didn't really believe the hour thing, well I listened to Buckwheat Zydeco, La Bottine Souriante and some Beausoleil! Apart from sore arms I had a beautiful roux but never again. I'll try Cajun Napalm any day.

But the smell... you were all spot on. Amazing.

End result? Delicious gumbo, overflashed unpublishable pics

Maybe I'll try to take some pics of the leftovers tomorrow.

[fifi]

Heh . . . The smell is something to be savored or despised. It is 60 degrees F here and I have the windows open. The smell has dissipated after 24 hours.

[My Confusing Horoscope]

It's the smell of a happy home, as we say around our house! Happy gumbo for you!

[LBNoble]

You guys have inspired me-especially that seafood gumbo, Fifi...I'm making gumbo tonight, based on a recipe for classic seafood gumbo in Emeril's Potluck, checked out from the library. While I don't like to watch him on TV, I do think Emeril is quite a chef & I like his stuff. My only departures are yellow bell pepper instead of green & since I don't have cayenne & couldn't get it at the store this morning, I subbed a pinch of red pepper flakes & a pinch of ancho chile powder-this recipe calls for shrimp, fish (yes, I know this is controversial-I got catfish over snapper) & oysters (not a fan, so I got crabmeat, boy, is this stuff pricey, even backfin, but I love crab). I cooked the roux (3/4 cup canola & 1 cup flour) for 25 minutes, uninterrupted, stirring continously, & the operative word is 'peanut butter'-yes that's what it looked like, light peanut butter, but peanut butter all the same. I made shrimp stock from the shells (no heads, unfortunately) & my cat was going crazy...I'm a half hour into simmering the gumbo base & it smells so good, I'd eat it without the seafood (well, not really)-I can't wait-got rice going in the rice cooker & we'll have poundcake & clementines for dessert-yum!

[patti]

Seafood gumbo with shrimp, crab fingers, and oysters. No pictures of the mis en place or roux making as this gumbo came from the freezer, except for freshly added seafood. There were six measly oysters in the whole pot of gumbo because that's all that was available in the store!

(Edited to change crab claws to crab fingers. I wasn't thinking.)

Edited February 14, 2005 by patti (log)

[highchef]

Seafood gumbo with shrimp, crab claws, and oysters. No pictures of the mis en place or roux making as this gumbo came from the freezer, except for freshly added seafood. There were six measly oysters in the whole pot of gumbo because that's all that was available in the store!

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That's a Southern Living shot if I've ever seen one! Good weather for it!

[edsel]

I credit this thread with overcoming my fear of roux. I always chickened out at the "peanut butter beige" stage. Thanks to all who've contributed here (especially Fifi, who's recipe works like a charm), I've learned to love the seriously dark roux. Do not fear the roux!

[fou de Bassan]

Patti,

That's just mouthwateringly beautiful!

fou

[Smithy]

Ooh, oh! Mymymy. Me-oh-my-oh! I made my first gumbo Friday night, ate on it Saturday and Sunday. Here's the report, so y'all can comment, suggest, correct where necessary. I know it tasted great, and that's what counts most. Now those of you in the know can critique!

Ingredients: Chunks of venison thigh meat, bacon (for the smoky flavor), and what passes for Andouille sausage up this way. The local stuff is a little spicy (no doubt passes for 'hot' up here), certainly flavorful, probably not smoked. Hence the bacon. Many thanks to the person upthread who chops the trinity into identical bowls (one of onion, the other the pepper and celery) to get the proportions right. That's downright ingenious. Here are the ingredients, except the venison (which I remembered to chop after the photo), ready to go:

I browned the meat in canola oil:

After the meat was browned I removed it, surveyed the mess in my new LC French oven, and thought "I sure hope those LC enthusiasts were telling the truth about cleanup..."

I did the roux using half lard, half peanut oil - 1/2 cup worth total - with 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour. Here's the roux at the beginning stages:

After a while it went oh, around peanut-butter brown, maybe a touch darker. I certainly wasn't going for any dark records my first time out. Here it is just before I added the trinity:

Quenching the trinity in the roux was a real eye-opener, nose-opener, wonderful sensation! I have to say, I don't usually like green bell peppers; they're too, well, green for me somehow. These went to a delicious, delicate smell that reminded me for some reason of my favorite Chinese or Vietnamese restaurants. (Sorry to be so vague, but it's a vague memory, barely identified.)

I may not have cooked the trinity long enough - the pieces kept some character in the finished product - but I began to run out of steam and willpower. The smell in the house was amazing. I don't know whether the smell that lingered through the next day was indeed that distinctive roux smell, or the smell of the lard itself. Next time I'll try a roux with straight oil and see what difference it makes. I added broth, simmered until I couldn't stand it any more, and dug in. The finished product, barely with any time for the flavors to marry, was darned good:

The next day it did indeed taste better. Two days later (that would be last night) I got around to making rice. That was the final, crowning glory. Man, oh man, what a delight!

The pot, by the way, cleaned up pretty easily. I did use a spot of bleach to eliminate the last bit of brown.

Thanks, one and all, for the encouragement and instructions! Now, do y'all think I got it right? Could this be called Cajun cooking, or is it just a really good stew?

Edited to add broth, just for completeness' sake.

Edited February 14, 2005 by Smithy (log)

[FistFullaRoux]

I'd say it could be called Cajun style. I haven't seen venison used like that in gumbo before, but I have used deer sausage.

[patti]

Smithy, it looks like mighty good gumbo to me, and I'd bet that something like this can be found at a few hunting camps around south Louisiana.

[fifi]

I have made venison and sausage gumbo several times. Sometimes that is the only thing to do with that hunk-o-bambi. My nephew did a "game gumbo" one time for the big game cookery get together for CCA. I think it had duck, venison and maybe goose. I am pretty sure he used goose stock. Smithy, yours looks just fine to me. Like I said, sometimes I like the veggies still being in evidence. Your impatience is certainly understandable. In my mind, the smell of gumbo making is one of those things that you can't get out of your mind. (Or house, either. )

This topic has to go down in history as one of the great ones. It is so cool that folks are making their first gumbo and getting such spectacular results. There are lots of styles represented here and lots of innovation. Great stuff.

Next, a disclaimer . . . Any good information in any of my recipes or techniques described have to be credited to my Gumbo Goddess, not me. As she stirs the pot for St. Peter (in more ways than one, I am sure) I hope she is smiling down at seeing the magic of gumbo spread across the world.

[patti]

I've heard of guinea (hen, not pig) gumbo, blackbird (!), rabbit, dove, quail, duck, venison, and almost anything but cow and pig, except as smoked sausage. My husband and son are not adventurous, so my gumbos are pretty tame.

Edited February 14, 2005 by patti (log)

[fifi]

Seafood gumbo with shrimp, crab fingers, and oysters. No pictures of the mis en place or roux making as this gumbo came from the freezer, except for freshly added seafood.

. . . . .

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I have always thought about this but have never done it. How extremely wise to make up the gumbo base and freeze it so you have it ready for whatever seafood might come your way. Wisdom. True wisdom.

[laniloa]

You have all inspired me. I stumbled across this thread today thinking I'd get ideas for the weekend. Nope. After reading this I had to make it tonight. Never mind that I didn't get home from work until 8. What's a little lost sleep when gumbo that sounds this wonderful can be had?

Since I got home late, I went with the spirit of gumbo and used on hand ingredients (luckily I went shopping yesterday and had more then usual on hand). I went with smoked turkey sausage because of this. I started with the Gumbo Goddesses recipe. I braved the Cajun Napalm threat and got to a light Hershey bar color. Not enough time to risk burning and restarting. Threw in my trinity. Added the sausage and a little zucchini since I had it. Some thyme, cause why not?

Its simmering now. The place smells great. Luckily I was finally able to pry open my kitchen window so it isn't saturated with eau de roux. I'll probably cut the first simmer short since its late. For my first gumbo experience, cooking one anyway, its looking pretty good so far. Thanks!

[Eden]

So Bill wants to know, since our Gumbo is about 20 minutes away from the table, what one traditionally drinks with Gumbo?

And if the answer is beer, Eden wants to know what type of wine to drink instead

Pics & notes to be posted later...

edited for typo

Edited February 15, 2005 by Eden (log)

[fifi]

Laniloa . . . Now that is in the true spirit of gumbo. Zucchini? Outrageous! Inspired! And a darned good idea. Next summer, when my zucchini growing friends dump the latest truckload on my doorstep, I know one thing I am going to make.

Hmmm . . . What if you made the dark roux base including the cooked down trinity, then added in chunked vegetables: squash, eggplant, tomato, onion. A summer gumbo maybe?

[snowangel]

I gumbo tomorrow. I have had trouble sourcing local andouille. So, on a whim, I called my new local meat market -- Anoka Meat and Sausage. "Yes, we make andouille." So, as soon as Heidi is on the bus tomorrow, I am up to Anoka Meat and Sausage. I will also order my Easter ham, and probably buy a mess of other stuff.

But, back to Anoka. I have never had andouille before. I don't know what their's will be like. I will slice and take photos. But, remember that Anoka was the home of Garrison Keillor. Before he was big. So, we'll see what Anoka Meat and Sausage thinks that andouille is.

Me does think that the original spirit of gumbo did not involve ordering sausage over the internet, via Fed Ex, but I could be wrong.

[Eden]

OK here goes: The Gumbo Report

Using the Gumbo Goddess' recipe as a base I made my gumbo this afternoon/evening.

Yumm! I have totally been missing out!

Took about 6 hours total, so I won't be making it on a regular basis, but what a wonderful rich, warm-you-up, spicy, absolutely uniquely flavored dish!

Recipe variations/notes:

1) used a combo of duck/pork fat left over from making cassoulet for the roux

2) used a pork/chicken/bean stock (well filtered) left over from making cassoulet

3) used the spice recipe hwilson41 provided above for my Cajun seasoning

4) used Aidell's andouille, which is sold in packets just under 1 lb for some reason

5) chix meat was a leg&thigh combo as the butcher at Whole Foods was out of regular boneless/skinless thighs, and I didn't feel like deboning, but I have to recommend against this, as the leg meat was very tendony. (Yes this is the same guy who sold me the "smoked" andouille that needed to be cooked )

I took Fifi's advice re not leaving the stove to heart, so I had my phone, digital camera & a glass of tonic water near to hand along with my trinity, and set my "kitchen mix" playlist to run music continuously so I would not get bored...

Note to future gumbo-ers: Do not stir your roux to Mettalica's cover of "Whiskey in the Jar" or you will get too enthusiastic & splatter some of your roux. Nat King Cole's "Girl from Ipenema" is much better

And more seriously, when doing a long long stirring operation like this, I try to rotate the actual pot every once in a while so that if there's a corner I'm missing in my stirring pattern it gets moved around.

Also, if, like me, you have wrist problems it's WAY important to switch off stirring from hand to hand, especially in the early stages so your dominant hand is still available when you get to the fussier final stages.

Also if you grind your Cajun powder yourself, clean it out of the spice grinder ASAP. If you let it sit for 3 hours while you cook, it will stain any white plasticky bits orange!

Filé powder is not optional. It adds a wonderful top note to the flavor of the gumbo, which surprised us immensely since when you sniff/taste the sassafras powder on it's own you think "dried grass: why would you want this in food?"

Thank you all for the tons of advice & giving me the confidence to cook that roux nice & dark!

Roux at 20 minutes, beginning to wonder if it will ever even reach the darkness of peanut butter...

T minus 3 minutes! i.e. roux at 40 mins, slightly before adding trinity: the color of cocoa. It did darken slightly from here, but I was too busy to take another photo...

I can't tell you how scared I was when after adding the trinity it got even darker, I thought I'd ruined it somehow!

Final gumbo. There was a slight sheen on top of the gumbo as it simmered, but no fat separation occurred. Yay!

More pics in the Gumbo album

And one last thing: For some strange reason I've had this song running through my head all week, so I'm gonna share the joy...

Jambalay' crawfish pie, filé gumbo,

'Cause tonight I'm gonna see my cher amio.

Pick guitar, fill fruit jar and be gay-o

Son of a gun, gonna have big fun on the bayou

[laniloa]

Laniloa . . . Now that is in the true spirit of gumbo. Zucchini? Outrageous! Inspired! And a darned good idea. Next summer, when my zucchini growing friends dump the latest truckload on my doorstep, I know one thing I am going to make.

Hmmm . . . What if you made the dark roux base including the cooked down trinity, then added in chunked vegetables: squash, eggplant, tomato, onion. A summer gumbo maybe?

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Summer gumbo sounds fabulous. How soon until summer? I had a zucchini sitting on the counter. Its green. Kinda looks like okra if you squint, right? I would've served a veg on the side if I didn't throw it in the pot.

I halved the recipe because I don't have pots that big and I'm cooking for one. Next time, I'll probably quarter it. And I think I'll use less roux as it is mighty thick. It smells heavenly and I can't wait until lunch tomorrow. I'm just sorry I don't have a digital camera because it looks pretty spiffy too!