Gumbo!

Monday, 8 December 2008 18:49
merlyn_4401: (brothers)
[personal profile] merlyn_4401

Here are the ingredients.

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So the first thing you do is take a pound of polish sausage and boil it for 15 minutes. I have no idea why this step is here, but it is, so I do it. :)

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Then you take your pound of Jimmy Dean pork sausage and roll it into little meatballs.

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Bake those in a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes as well. While all that is cooking, prep your veggies. You need 2-3 onions, 2 green peppers, 5 stalks of celery, and 2 large tomatoes, peeled. Peeling tomatoes in a pain, unless you boil them first. So my super seekrit trick is to plop the tomatoes in the sausage water once the sausage is all done. Roll them around in there for 15-20 seconds.

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Then the skin peels right off. See?

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Now that you have all your stuff prepped...

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the work starts. Now we make a roux. A roux is what gives a gumbo its rich flavor. It's the most important step, so you want to be sure to do it right and not burn it. The recipe I have is OLD (my grandmother's), so the measurements are a bit odd. Her roux calls for "2 kitchen spoons of oil and 2 kitchen spoons of flour". When I eyeball it, it looks like about...1/3 cup of each. Maybe 1/2. It doesn't particularly matter, but you want your oil and flour proportions to be relatively equal. I use kitchen spoons. :)

Flour

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Oil (I use olive oil)

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Mix it together until it is smooth.

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Cook it until it turns a caramel brown. DO NOT LET IT BURN. How long it takes really depends on how high you are brave enough to crank the heat. I had mine one bump over medium and it took about 20 minutes. The first time I did it, I kept it one bump below medium and it took 40 minutes. You HAVE to stir it the whole time.

Not there yet.

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There we go. :)

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Dump in your trinity and cook it way down. About 20 minutes on this, too.

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The thing about real southern gumbo (as opposed to what you find in restaurants) is that nothing should be particularly recognizable. Watch. By the end, you won't be able to tell which veggie in which. I don't like the southern way of cooking things to mush unless it is stuffing, red beans, or gumbo. For that, it works. ANWAY. After that is good and cooked down, add your okra.

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This is where it gets evil. If you are frying down okra, it gets slimy. Super seriously slimy. I couldn't get a good picture of it, but you have to cook it down until all the slime is gone. For the 2 lbs of okra I added, that took me about 90 minutes. And you can't leave it. You have to stir it every minute or two.

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While the slime is cooking out, make your spice mix. You need: 1 TBSP paprika, 1 TBSP dry mustard, 1 1/4 tsp basil, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp onion powder, 1 tsp garlic powder, 3/4 tsp thyme, 3/4 tsp oregano, 1/2 tsp black pepper, 1/4 tsp white pepper, 1/4 tsp cayenne. At this point, you can also clean your 4-5 lb whole chicken.

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Once you are all cooked down

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Add your tomatoes and spices.

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Cook for about 15 minutes, stirring frequently. See how now all it is is veggie mush?

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This is seriously good stuff.

OK, at this point, add your whole chicken, your sliced sausage, and your meatballs.

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Then add enough chicken broth to cover everything 2-3 inches. I ended up using about 8 cans.

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Let that cook all by itself for about 90 minutes. I was so happy to sit down at this point, I can't even tell you! I actually snuck away and took a nap. Hey, that was THREE HOURS of stirring. Talk about slaving over a hot stove....Where was I? Oh yeah, after ninety minutes, remove the chicken and get all the nummy meat off of it. Throw away the skin and keep the carcass for some other soup if you want. I didn't get pictures because I was sleeping and Gord did this step. :) Add all the chopped/shredded chicken meat back to the pot and heat through.

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Serve over rice, add hot sauce as needed. NOM NOM NOM.

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I have 3 quarts in the freezer and 2 quarts in the fridge as leftovers, so I'm saying it makes about 6 quarts.

9/12/08 02:05 (UTC)
[identity profile] rdolivaw.livejournal.com
1. That soup LOOKS AMAZING. I am dying of jelis.

2. that meatball/sausage picture looks like a 3-D trick if you roll the mousewheel back and forth.

9/12/08 02:07 (UTC)
[identity profile] photogfrog.livejournal.com
OMG! I want to try that.

9/12/08 02:14 (UTC)

9/12/08 02:39 (UTC)
[identity profile] gothayesd51708.livejournal.com
OMG that looks so good!!!!!

9/12/08 02:42 (UTC)
[identity profile] bajingo.livejournal.com
Oh man, if either of my kids, or my husband liked gumbo I would be making that this weekend. I love a good home-made gumbo.

And now I'm hungry. If I didn't like you so much I'd hate you for that!

9/12/08 02:47 (UTC)
[identity profile] paksenarrion2.livejournal.com
*licks the screen*

That looks so amazing.

I am going to have to try and make this.

And roux can be a real pain in the butt. I make a roux when I make homemade mac-n-cheese.

9/12/08 02:54 (UTC)
[identity profile] velvetpage.livejournal.com
Yanno, I'm thinking I've never had proper gumbo? I wouldn't have had the foggiest idea how to do this.

On the other hand, I can't quite picture myself slaving over a hot stove anywhere near that long.

I know what I'll do! One of these March breaks, I'll descend on Denver (in a hotel) and get you to make some (or pull it out of the freezer for me, I really don't care which.) That way I get to try real gumbo with someone I want to visit who lives in a place I want to visit, and I don't have to cook it myself! Problem solved!

(BTW, I'm only half kidding - Denver is on my "eventual destinations" list.)

9/12/08 03:00 (UTC)
[identity profile] figmaniac.livejournal.com
SO good! So damn good! NOM does not begin to describe this...

9/12/08 03:03 (UTC)
[identity profile] mouseears2007.livejournal.com
I wish I liked tomatoes and okra! I love everything else that's in there!

Also... I miss Kroger SO BAD ;-;

9/12/08 03:07 (UTC)
[identity profile] babity.livejournal.com
I say it looks good, both boys are freaking out and saying it looks "yucky for me!" Sucks that I will be stealing this recipe and making them eat it soon!

9/12/08 03:40 (UTC)
[identity profile] heytherenatalie.livejournal.com
I'm not going to lie... all that meat is making me ill. But my husband is sitting next to me salivating, so we may try this. :)

9/12/08 05:15 (UTC)

9/12/08 05:17 (UTC)
[identity profile] sparklingrapes.livejournal.com
Is your family from the south? I'm from south Louisiana and the end product looks pretty similar to my family's gumbo :) We don't use the Jimmy Dean balls though. It's usually chicken, sliced sausage, and shrimp. It makes me want some!

9/12/08 13:01 (UTC)
[identity profile] merlyn4401.livejournal.com
My mom grew up in New Orleans. :)

Yummy!

9/12/08 14:25 (UTC)
[identity profile] 4boyzmom.livejournal.com
I like my roux to be ditchwater brown :) And I use Andouille sausage. But that looks great! I'm now craving gumbo, so I guess it's time to break out the turkey frying pot and make some this week.

~Laura

9/12/08 17:15 (UTC)
[identity profile] tintaglia30.livejournal.com
Wow, that makes Jambalaya seem easy to make!
What does okra taste like? I had no idea it was part of the dish and I am pretty certain you cannot get it over here, I wonder what would make a good substitute?

9/12/08 17:28 (UTC)
[identity profile] merlyn4401.livejournal.com
Couldn't tell you. I've never been tempted to try it outside of gumbo, and as you can see, it loses all semblence of itself in the vegetable mush.

You can use file powder (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fil%C3%A9_powder) as a thickener instead of okra. I'm pretty sure you can order it off the net somewhere.
Edited 9/12/08 17:29 (UTC)

9/12/08 17:36 (UTC)
[identity profile] tintaglia30.livejournal.com
Oh wow I take it back, I just found a UK distributor that sells both okra and plantain. I foresee a new recipe frenzy coming on! :)

4/11/10 01:27 (UTC)
[identity profile] az-starshine.livejournal.com
That looks SO GOOD. *adding to memories*