Gumbo: Cook-Off 3

[laniloa]

I've eaten my gumbo with regular white rice, brown rice, and jasmine rice in attempts to use up leftovers. All worked well but different. I'd repeat any of those in future servings.

[little ms foodie]

one thing about rice, at least for us, make less than you normally would as the gumbo is so filling! we still have rice left over....guess fried rice is on the menu this weekend!

[suzilightning]

just browned the chicken then took it out of the pot. put it back in with the already cooked andouille(and with the current batch the emeril's spicy sausage) to finish cooking the last half hour of gumbo making.

i did lemon rice the last time and tonight will do organic brown rice.

percyn - i added my file powder at the same time i did the chicken and andouille back to the pot. i prefer the taste. who knows....

[torakris]

Ok I am planning on making it tomorrow!

One quick question, for the trinity can I use red or yellow bell peppers for the green ones? They don't have green bell peppers in Japan, the ones they have are very small and extremely thin skinned (walled?) and I also have a couple red and yellow peppers I need to do something with......

[FistFullaRoux]

Any color bell pepper will do. Green is usually the cheapest in the states, and the most prevalent in the garden, which makes them the most popular. But the only real difference is color.

And I have issues with the Uncle Ben's Perverted Rice. Plain old long (or short) grain white rice is so easy to make, why mess around with something that will not absorb anything properly? You'll pay more and get less. Get some (my personal favorite) Mahatama, or any other long grain rice, and try a couple of batches. Even if you screw it up, it's only cost you 59 cents.

Edited because I've eevidently forgotten how to type.

Edited February 26, 2005 by FistFullaRoux (log)

[laniloa]

Ok I am planning on making it tomorrow!

One quick question, for the trinity can I use red or yellow bell peppers for the green ones?  They don't have green bell peppers in Japan, the ones they have are very small and extremely thin skinned (walled?) and I also have a couple red and yellow peppers I need to do something with......

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I used red pepper in mine because it was what I had on hand. I like how it blended colorwise. I'd think green bell peppers would look pretty pale, almost like the color difference with canned veggies.

[torakris]

I did it!

First we started by making the sausages, almost 4 lbs of Spicy Louisiana Poultry Sausage from Bruce Aidell's "Complete Sausage Book". This was our first attempt at a chicken sausage and at a casing stuffed sausage and I think it went quite well. I just wish I had taken pictures... It took a lot longer than I thought and I really needed to get started on the gumbo. I snapped this picture this morning of one I had saved out for my husband's lunch tomorrow, it was one of the first ones and is slightly anorexic looking.....

I discovered that the sausage book also had a recipe for gumbo in it and it called for red bell peppers as well as okra (which I really wanted to use) so I decided to give it a try.

Daughter Julia stirred the roux will I did the prep, I took over after 30 minutes-- the book said 20 minutes over med heat for dark brown but I was scared of doing it too quickly so I turned the heat to low and even though I did turn it up when I took over and it took 50 minutes to reach somewhere in between a medium and a dark brown.

the prep

this recipe called for the vegetables to be added in stages, first the celery and onions and then 5 minutes later the peppers and some chopped sausages (I used what was left in the machine after stuffing), then the herbs/garlic.

All the vegetables and sausage added to the roux

I then added the stock and simmered for 15 minutes, added the okra and simmered for about 30 minutes, then finally the sliced sausage (cooked first) and simmered a bit more. At the very end I added some sliced scallions and then plated it with the rice (American long grain) in the middle, this got some oohs and aahs. Served with tabasco.

The kids weren't really impressed (though they did eat it), my husband loved it, he had 3 large servings! He had never even heard of gumbo before....

Thanks everybody! I couldn't have done it with out you guys!!

[Chris Amirault]

Looks amazing, Kristin! And making your own sausages, that's damned impressive!

[patti]

I'm amazed that for your first time to make gumbo, you even made the sausage to go with it! It looks perfectly delicious. How much sausage do you make in one batch?

Congrats on a great looking finished product!

[torakris]

well if I wanted a sausage gumbo I didn't have much of a choice but to make it myself....

Sausage making is the new hobby my husband and I are enjoying together, we are slowly working our way through Bruce Aidell's "Complete Sausage Book" and now that we have found a local source for hog casings we can make anything our heart desires, we had been sticking to the bulk sausages.

We made about 4 lbs of chicken sausage and use 1 1/4 lbs in the gumbo, the rest went straight into the freezer.

[suzilightning]

well, chicken and andouille gumbo is on the fire for next tuesdays "soup part deuxday" at work. being the evil bitch that i am i'm actually going to make it at work BWAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH

[fifi]

well, chicken and andouille gumbo is on the fire for next tuesdays "soup part deuxday" at work.  being the evil bitch that i am   i'm actually going to make it at work BWAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH

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The aroma of that roux will fix those microwave popcorn poppers!

Kristin,

That is just amazing gumbo. It is beautiful. I have lost track of all of the places around the world there has been a gumbo event because of this thread. It brings a tear to my eye.

[Mistinguett]

I gathered the courage to finally post my attempt to fifi's recipe. This happened over a month ago and I my first try was for half the recipe. The second time I did the full recipe but I didn't take any more pictures.

I did not upload the picture of the roux because I had to use the flash with the macro setting (whenever I use the macro without the flash the pictures come out blurry and especially so when done with one hand ) - so the picture I took came out too light and did not reflect the real beautiful color that I got in reality. It was for real that perfect Hershey's bar chocolate brown.

So the first picture is of the vegetables added to the roux.

the sausages added to the pot

part of the stock added

right before it came to simmer, all the stock added

and the end result - my small portion as it was late at night. My husband finished off the rest in one sitting.

I followed fifi's recipe to the letter (except I used red pepper instead of green) and I was delighted about the perfect balance of flavors and heat, the recipe is printed and filed and it will be repeated anytime I'll have 4 hours + for cooking.

My gratitude to fifi and all of you who keep inspire me every day.

[patti]

Looks like an excellent gumbo, and we can see the color of the roux on the sides of your pan and mixed in with your vegetables, so all was not lost (photo-wise). It does look like just the perfect color! Congrats!

Edited March 13, 2005 by patti (log)

[Chris Amirault]

Just a note to those of you who are coming to this cook-off later than others. Thanks to the internet, remember that you're never too late for an eGullet cook-off. While all have a specific starting time, none have a end time, and there are many of us eager to see what you will do with the cook-off recipes. So don't hesitate to contribute if you're finding this thread weeks or months after its start: your posting your own ideas, questions, or results can bump activity back up on this thread in no time!

Edited March 19, 2005 by chrisamirault (log)

[Chris Amirault]

Just had to ask: given the recent devastating events in the southeast, has anyone had a gumbo ritual in honor of NOLA? I've been thinking that I need to do this in the coming week....

[Smithy]

Just had to ask: given the recent devastating events in the southeast, has anyone had a gumbo ritual in honor of NOLA? I've been thinking that I need to do this in the coming week....

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Too hot yet, although that's a poor excuse given just how hot it is down there. We did red beans and rice, though.

[tejon]

I'm making my first gumbo tomorrow night, in part as a tribute to New Orleans before the hurricane hit.

[Susan in FL]

Just had to ask: given the recent devastating events in the southeast, has anyone had a gumbo ritual in honor of NOLA? I've been thinking that I need to do this in the coming week....

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Good Thought.

I didn't read this Cook-off thread because I wasn't tuning in to Cook-offs back at this time -- why the hell not I don't know. However, I have followed this thread, and recently Russ made gumbo, and we have leftovers of this one in the freezer. I think this week would be a good time to pull it out and eat it.

[fifi]

You guys beat me to it. I have been helping a friend of mine. She has access to a commercial kitchen and has asked for help in scaling up some favorite "home cooking" recipes. They are doing some cooking for some of the smaller shelters here. Red Beans and Rice and Jambalaya are pretty easy. Gumbo, I dunno. I have successfully doubled the basic "teaching recipe" but I am not at all sure about going further than that. What my friend finally did was to make several double batches of different styles. For our purposes, we didn't try for the "how dark can you go" routine. We were after volume. They were all very good and well received. For some of us, it is never too hot for gumbo.

But the question remains . . . Is gumbo one of those things that doesn't scale up very well?

[Malawry]

Gumbo scales up great! Plus it usually freezes well, so leftovers aren't an issue. I normally make pretty huge batches. I made it at the sorority a couple times when I was working there as a chef and the girls loved it--both as part of a New Orleans-themed dinner, and then later as a soup of the day.

I have been craving gumbo, in part because of the recent events, but I'm reluctant to make it because my digestion is so strange these days. I can eat something once with great enthusiasm but then I'm done with it completely these days--not good with something like gumbo that I normally make in huge batches.

[My Confusing Horoscope]

If you go to the okra thread at http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=37077&st=210 and scroll to post 240, I posted a play by play pictorial of cooking a shrimp and okra gumbo Cajun style that I am sure could be doubled.

[fifi]

MCH . . . You will be glad to know that we did just that, double batch with okra from a guy's garden. It was a big hit.

Malawry . . . How far were you able to go with scaling up? For my basic recipe, the ratios are:

1 cup oil/1 cup flour

2 cups onion/1 cup celery/1 cup bell pepper trinity

6 cups liquid

2 pounds "meat"

This is the type of quantity that I have doubled before.

Also, how dark did you go with the roux? I wouldn't think getting it really dark is very practical for a large batch. The "teaching recipe" was designed to help folks get that ultra dark version like the Upperline version that Jason pictured. What we did for our multiple double batches was more like what I did for the seafood here.

Any help will be appreciated because we are likely to do this again. Multiple batches were kind of fun but not very efficient and if we don't have as much volunteer labor around won't be as practical.

From what I hear, there wasn't anything left over to freeze. The folks were really appreciative of getting a favorite comfort food from home. I also understand that there was some amount of surprise that Texans could do so well. ( overheard . . . "Of course, this isn't as good as Aunt Sadie's but it is pretty darn good.")

[snowangel]

Gumbo scales up great! Plus it usually freezes well, so leftovers aren't an issue. I normally make pretty huge batches. I made it at the sorority a couple times when I was working there as a chef and the girls loved it--both as part of a New Orleans-themed dinner, and then later as a soup of the day.

I have been craving gumbo, in part because of the recent events, but I'm reluctant to make it because my digestion is so strange these days. I can eat something once with great enthusiasm but then I'm done with it completely these days--not good with something like gumbo that I normally make in huge batches.

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So, make it, eat what you want, and freeze the rest in appropriately sized containers for when baby arrives!

[Smithy]

Fifi, how big CAN you scale it up? I'm assuming the pot as the limiting factor, so I'm really probing into the equipment: type, size, that sort of thing.

Glad you could Texans could hold up your end of the show.