re: Old faithful: Chicken and Sausage Gumbo (pics included and updated with recipe!)

Ingredients:

1lb andouille sausage
2 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs or breast (i prefer thighs)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup flour
2 med onions
1 bell pepper
1 celery stalk (not a big fan of celery so didn't do a lot)
3 cloves of garlic
4 bay leaves
9 cups chicken stock
1 bunch green onions
salt, pepper, cayenne, parsley, and file powder to taste

Directions:

Start with browning your chopped andouille in a heavy duty (or cast iron) skillet. No need for oil cause the sausage will render tons of fat. Cook until well browned and set on paper towels to drain.

Season chicken with salt and pepper (i added some garlic powder and cayenne) and brown in the same pan you cooked the andouille using some of the rendered fat. I'd say 4 mins per side. Remove chicken onto plate to rest.

In same pan, add 1/2 cup oil and 1 cup flour. Stir consistently until well combined and roux begins to turn color. This is the time consuming part. You want it as dark as possible without burning it. Think the color of chocolate. I did mine on low heat so it took me about 45 mins but if you're risky, crank the heat up a bit and it'll take less time. Once your roux is the color of chocolate, you're done. (Be sure to have onions, bell pepper, and celery chopped prior to finishing the roux.)

Add veggies to the hot roux, sauteeing for about 5 mins. Then throw in your garlic, bay leaves, cayenne, and sausage and stir for another minute. Transfer what's in your pan to a stock pot and turn heat up. Slowly, begin to pour in the chicken stock, whisking/stirring constantly. Be sure to also splash some stock in the pan you used to deglaze what's left in the pan and pour into pot. Once all 9 cups are added, bring mixture to a boil then lower heat and simmer for an hour.

After an hour, chop your thighs and add to pot. Cook for another 2 hours, again on low heat. Really wanna melt all these flavors together. As the 2 hour mark nears, chop your green onion and add to pot, along with file and parsley. Taste for seasoning, may need more salt, cayenne, etc.

Turn off heat and serve over rice. My pic was taken as soon as I turned off heat so was a tad thin. If you wait 30 mins or so it'll thicken as it stands (even more so the longer you wait). As good as it was when I first ate it, it was even better at 11pm as a late night snack.

Hope this helps the gumbo newbs out there. Send pics of your attempts!