Good Ol' Gumbo

"This is a great recipe for anyone who wants to try out their hand making authentic gumbo for the first time. It may seem like a lot, but don't let it scare you. It's easier than it looks. I like using chicken and shrimp in mine but you can use just about any kind of meat(s) you want. For those of you who don't realy like okra, good news, you can leave out that part if you want. It'll still taste great. Well, have fun cooking and enjoy! P.S. Cooking this goes great with a beer!;)"
 
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Ready In:
1hr 20mins
Ingredients:
18
Serves:
6-8
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ingredients

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directions

  • You'll need a large cooking pot and 1 frying pan (iron skillets always work best for this).
  • Cut up chicken into cubes and start boiling it in the large cooking pot. Let chicken cook until step # 13. May need to keep adding water as it boils down.
  • Dice onions, bell pepper, and celery then set aside (a.k.a. the ‘trinity’).
  • Heat the ½ cup cooking oil in pan then add okra and cook for 15-18 minutes (browned a little bit) then set the okra aside.
  • Put the 3 tablespoons of butter in the 2nd large cooking pot, heat it up and start sautéing the onions, bell pepper, and celery (trinity) for 10 minutes. You’ll want to burn it a bit to help add flavor to the gumbo.
  • Add the large can of tomatoes along with it’s juices and smash up the tomatoes as you stir.
  • Add the 2 cups of chicken stock, 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, ½ tspn. oregano, ½ tspn. Garlic powder, and okra, excluding the okra oil.
  • Cover and cook for 30 minutes.
  • *While that’s cooking make your roux:

  • In frying pan heat 3 tablespoons oil up on med high.
  • Add 3 tablespoons of flour, and brown till you get a dark chocolate color , stirring constantly (this is the stinky part of making gumbo, but necessary).
  • Once brown, add the 1 ½ cup of chicken stock to make a gravy. Stir out all the lumps with whisk and set aside.
  • After the 30 minutes cooking time is up, add the roux and meat(s) to the pot.
  • Add salt and pepper (and Tony Chachere’s Seasoning & Louisiana Hot Sauce).
  • Cover again and cook for additional 30 minutes.
  • Serve over rice or eat as a soup.

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Reviews

  1. I grew up 100 miles north of New Orleans and love my family recipe for okra gumbo. I've also read many gumbo recipes, including several from a book called New Orleans Recipes published in 1932 by Mary Moore Bremer of Waveland, Mississippi, about 60 miles eat of New Orleans. This book explains that both okra and file powder (made from dried sassafras leaves) are thickening agents, so typcially you use one or the other. It says that the word gumbo is derived from the Choctaw Indian word "kombo," which means "sassafras." I have noticed on The Food Network Web site that famed chef Emeril Lagasse has a "Decontructed Gumbo" recipe that uses both okra and file powder.
     
  2. The "Cajun" way is not the only way to make a good gumbo 'OldFrenchCajun'. I think that you are forgetting the other Southern states here that have other ways of doing it. My wife made this up for us and we love it. It's easy enough to make and has great flavor. Thanks for posting.
     
  3. The person must have been a FAKE Cajun if he told you file means cooking with okra. File gumbo is never cooker with okra and Okra gumbo never has file added to it while cooking or at the table. One other thing, tomatoes are never used in REAL CAJUN FILE GUMBO. Now it is used in Okra gumbo since some tomatoes are smothered down with okra for 2 hours to make the base for the okra gumbo. Okra is never just sliced and added to gumbo.
     
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

Hello Y'all! I live in Kentucky near the "gateway to the mountains" where my husband was born and raised. I myself am from Mississippi. Growing up we had great times going to New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Gulfport, Biloxi, and various places in the Southern part of Alabama. I have family in all these places. So, it's no wonder that I am a sucker for cajun/creole dishes. Here in KY, not many of my husbands relitives and friends have ever had cajun/creole fare. But now they make sure that I let them know when I'm gonna cook up some good ol'gumbo, jambalaya, dirty rice, or such. But they still won't eat a crawfish. My husband said that he used to play with those things (he calls them crawdads) when he was a boy and never concidered ever eating them. He still kinda gets grossed out when I "pinch de tail and suck de head" (the proper way to eat a crawfish at a crawfish boil). Gosh I miss those. You won't find anybody throwin a crawfish boil here in this part of Ken-tuck. Anyway, I really miss my South...but I love my Kentucky, too. I am learning how to cook the foods my hubby grew up on from his mother, but bless his heart, he'll eat anything I throw together. He's a brave man. Anyway, I'm a mother of 2, a 13 year old and a 3 year old. We have 2 dogs (Mastiffs) named Bozak (Beaux Zachary Bleu Tear) and Mercedez (Pain's Little Maugui)who both refuse to give us puppies. We also have 2 cats, Thunder and her son Spooky. And 2 rabbits named Peanut and Cinnamon. Welp, that's about it. Bye Y'all!
 
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