First, the bonafides

It goes without saying that there are lots and lots (and lots) of recipes for gumbo, derived from the intermingling over time of Cajun and Creole traditions. This particular gumbo has its roots in the Louisiana Sunday suppers served to my pops in his youth by the Sisters of St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church.  

I will submit that, whatever your preconceived notions, if this gumbo was good enough for my dad, those Nuns, and the baby Jesus it is good enough for you.

I have eaten this recipe my whole life and never known my father to deviate from it.

The Ingredients

• 6 to 8 pieces of chicken (I am partial to thighs).

• 2 and ½ cups of flour.

• 2 cups of vegetable oil or the equivalent (butter, bacon grease, etc).

• 64 oz / 2 containers of chicken broth.

• 1 teaspoon or so of salt.

• 1 absurdly large onion (for the gumbo).

• 1 medium sized onion (for the stock).

• 1 package of celery - five or six stalks

• 7 or 8 bunches of green onions - as many as you can hold in your hands.

• 1 green bell pepper of which you will promise to not use more than ½.

• 1 to 2 pounds of large shrimp, shelled.  Fresh or frozen, your choice.

• Additional salt and pepper to taste.

Ready? Let’s Get Started!

Find a pot, put it on the stove.

No, no, no…  A bigger pot.  

Kick that li’l pot off to the side for making your rice and get out a REALLY BIG POT. It should hold more water than your toilet tank and/or possibly a small child.  We are not Yankees making clam chowder, here.  THIS… IS… GUMBO!

Yes… That’s the one!  

In this pot you will make the gumbo.  

Now put the pot away.  It is not time for the pot.  But find courage in the knowledge that you have such a pot as this at hand for your time of need.

The Roux is the Thing

If you’re not already familiar, a roux is simply flour browned slowly in fat. Depending on the level of browning and proportion of flour to fat, a roux serves as a thickener for soups or a base for gravy and sauces like bechamel.

A dark, rich roux takes time and care and it will be the heart of our gumbo.

So clear your calendar, silence your cell phone and let’s get to business.

(FWIW, Making your roux the day before can be a very good strategy.)

Now, Go Get a Skillet

There is only one kind of skillet you want.  It is cast iron and it belonged to your parent’s parents.  In this skillet you will make the roux that makes the gumbo.

Throw that skillet on some LOW to MEDIUM LOW heat and add your fat.  I’m using a cup of bacon fat (because don’t judge me) and a cup of vegetable oil.  

Pretty much any light oil, or even butter, will do (no, not olive oil, you hippie).

Once your oil is warm, slowly add your flour.  

I generally put my flour in a sifter of some sort and slowly work it into the fat a bit at a time. We want a smooth, even consistency - no lumps - AND NO RUSHING. We are going to LOVE on this flour.  We are going to brown it up low and slow.  

The roux will start off blonde and bland. Just keep stirring.  

Don’t wander off or get distracted.  

Worship this roux.  Meditate on it.  Reach out through the compression of space, time, and tradition that is embodied in this ritual and hug your ancestors.  

But most of all, keep stirring, carefully scraping the bottom of your pan to make sure the roux browns evenly.  

That’s the key.

After about half an hour you should be getting to a caramel color. It will go faster now, but you’ve got another 30-45 minutes of stirring ahead, at least.

This (below) is about as dark as most restaurant gumbo ever gets, which is one major reason why restaurant gumbo almost invariably stinks…

We will not settle for mere restaurant quality gumbo.  More stirring, you! 

Now this is more like it.  We’re getting pretty close.  We don’t want to stop at milk chocolate.  We’re aiming for that Hershey’s Special Dark.

If you want to take it a bit darker, I’ll respect that too.  Just remember that your roux is lava hot and it will continue to cook for a while once it is off the heat.  

Once you’re gotten at least this much color on it, you can turn off your flame and let the roux begin to cool down.

Congratulations, You’ve Made a Roux!

Now that you’ve spent probably an hour or more making roux via the sacred and traditional way I’ll fess up about how to make it the easy, space-age way.  

In the microwave.  Even the nuns of St. Thomas wouldn’t know the difference.  

Just combine your same (cold) oil and flour proportions in a ceramic or pyrex dish and heat in the microwave for a few minutes at a time, stirring between.  I usually go four and four, then follow up in 2 minute increments till perfection.  

By about 10 minutes in you should be getting close to magic time.  Once your roux is done, set it aside in a safe place to cool, which will take a while.  

Be extremely careful taking the pot out of the microwave - it is HOT!

Prepping Your Protein

If you looked at the ingredient list up top, you’ve already noted that we’re making chicken and shrimp gumbo.  The combo of some kind of meat with shellfish is typical. In this case, we’re not relying on the shrimp for much in the way of flavoring the dish.  They just add a little bit of luxury.

The Shrimp

I typically use large or extra large shrimp but you can do as your budget allows.  However you roll, the shrimp should be cleaned and shelled - you can leave the tail on if you like for a little extra flavor.  The shrimp can be fresh or frozen / raw or cooked depending on how fancy you want to be. 

The shrimp will go in last and cook up quick.  So prep as appropriate based on what you purchased and set them aside in the fridge.

That Chicken

Cooking up the chicken for our gumbo serves two purposes:  our stock and our protein.  To start, fill that big gumbo pot with homemade or store bought chicken stock.  I typically begin with about 64 ounces / two containers worth.

When it comes to your choice of chicken, white meat will work but I am partial to chicken thighs, which are cheap, delicious, cook up tender and never dry out.  Any mix will serve but plan for 6 to 8 pieces in the pot depending on size.

In this particular case, as the photo shows, I went the extra mile and first roasted a whole chicken that I then added to my stock along with celery, a whole medium white onion and one bunch of whole green onions.  

If you have shrimp shells left over, toss them in too.  Just use a cheese cloth to keep them contained or plan to strain your stock well when done.

Nothing fancy to the cooking here,  You’re going to simmer the chicken low and slow.  We want to end up with tasty stock and some very, very tender chicken.

After approximately a while, check your chicken.  If you can poke a fork in and twist and the meat comes loose easy, you’re in good shape.

Pull the chicken out of the pot and set aside until it is cool enough to shred.  If you’ve used those delicious chicken thighs instead of the whole bird you see here, you’ll most likely be doing some chopping as well.  And that is just fine.  

Get rid of whatever else (celery, onion, etc.) that you had in there for flavor.

Hang tight with that stock.  We’ll use it in a second.

The Cajun Trinity

Now, that you have successfully made your roux, prepped your protein and simmered up an acceptable stock, it’s time to go and gather your vegetables.

Celery, Onion and Bell Pepper are the holy trinity of cajun cooking.  

All of those Louisiana dishes that you can name off the top of your head - gumbo, jambalaya, étouffée - they all start with these three ingredients - our own sacred, southern mirepoix.

Roughly chop all of this garden goodness down into quarter to half-inch pieces and dump it in your largest mixing bowl.  This should look like a ridiculous amount of vegetables…

Add the combined vegetables to the stock that you reserved from your chicken-making and get those vegetables slowly simmering.

Once your stock is back up to a simmering temperature, add your roux — provided that it has had adequate time to cool down a bit.  

Please be cautious with hot roux!

If the roux is still hotter than the boiling point of water you’ll have some serious spitting and a huge mess.  So, seriously, give the roux sufficient time to cool.

NOTE:  Some people swear by (and many recipes call for) adding the hot roux to your cook pot and then tossing the vegetables in the roux before adding the stock.  In my experience I have only ended up burning things this way.

For my money the best results come from making your roux a day ahead so that it goes into the pot at room temperature. 

The Home Stretch (But Still, Patience)

Don’t worry if the roux separates once you’ve mixed it with your stock and vegetables.  It will come back together after a while. 

Once your roux and stock are nicely combined, which will likely take a bit of determined stirring at first, add the chopped/shredded chicken into the mix and let it all simmer, covered. 

Add your teaspoon of salt here.  

You may want more salt later.  Depends on your broth and how much you seasoned your chicken. But hold off on adding any more salt yet because…

…a this point your gumbo is NOT ready to taste.  In fact, if you do you’ll find it to be extremely gross.  Give at least an hour of simmering to all come together. 

You’ve been working hard.  Take a break.  Maybe crack a beer.

This would be a good time to make your rice…

…in that other pot.  Done with that?  

Good.  Check the gumbo again.

The vegetables should be getting nice and soft, the texture of the liquid should be unctuous and the surface glassy.  If you grab a spoonful and it still has notably separate patches of roux and water, give it more time to mingle.

Maybe finish your beer.  Maybe have another.

Give the gumbo another try.  Should be starting to head towards tasty.

Add maybe a little salt and sample again (it has to hold up over rice, after all).

Once you’re feeling the flavor, you can think about adding your shrimp, which you should only do at the very last minute.  I typically only do so after turning OFF the heat.  The shrimp will cook almost instantly and the last thing you want this close to the finish line is to criminally overcook them.

Ready to sample the final product?

Grab a receptacle, drop in some rice, maybe half a cup, then slather it with a ladle-full of your hard-won labors.  Or, for a fancier photo, put the rice on top:

Congratulations, You Have Successfully Made Gumbo

I am proud of you and so too are the nuns of St. Thomas Aquinas.  

Now, if you can stand it, after your delicious sample, put the gumbo away and serve it for real, tomorrow.  It will be that much better for having had a chance to enjoy being with itself overnight. It will warm up just fine over low heat.

Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoy the gumbo!

— MDT