re: What's your gumbo recipe?

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I tasted it before adding anything and it basically tasted like briny water. much like the finished product. but, i wasn't really sure how it should taste so, i thought that was normal.

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As I said in a few posts before, a good strong stock it key in seafood gumbo, much more so than in chicken and sausage gumbo. If the stock tastes as you described, it's not going to be any better in the end. Seafood gumbo it a bit trickier than chicken and sausage. Sausage has a strong flavor and a good sausage can actually carry an otherwise mundane chicken gumbo. Not so with seafood gumbo.

It took me a while to learn that the stock has to be strong to get to that flavor you need. I'm still working to perfect it. I also find that the shells from the shrimp you're going to use for the gumbo aren't necessarily enough to get a good stock. I freeze leftover shells all the time to use for a stock when I'm peeling shrimp. You can, however, use more gumbo crabs if you're short on shells and, of course, you can add oyster liquor.

Don't beat yourself up over this first attempt. It was a good learning experience.

I think I've mentioned that I've never used the dried shrimp or dried shrimp powder to make a stock. Maybe some folks who have will chime in. Experimenting with that is on my list for this year. I figure I can just make a stock and see how it turns out before I decide whether to actually use it in gumbo.

I've also mentioned that when I haven't had enough shells, I've bought some cheap tiny shrimp in shells and used them to make a stock, meat and all. That worked out well.

Yes, but finish it to the desired color on the stove if you want. I usually start it in the oven, prep everything, Brown the meats, then pull the roux out and finish on the stove.

Not in the oven. It doesn’t get hot enough to burn which is the reason for the stirring on the stove.

Made a second attempt at seafood gumbo this weekend. I doubled the recommended amount of Minor's added a/ dz gumbo crabs and the heads and shells from 2lbs of shrimp I got for the gumbo.

simmered this mixture for a few hours. Tasted it and it was EXTREMELY salty. So, I added about 5 more cups of water, let it simmer for a while longer still really salty.Added a little more water and simmered. a little less salty.

made roux with 1 cup of oil 1 1/4 cup flour. Got it good and dark, added the trinity. cooked the trinity in roux for a few minutes. Added that to the stock and simmered for 2 hrs. in the end it just tasted like really salty water. so, i just stopped there and didn't add the seafood.


no idea what i'm doing wrong. Frustrating wasting a whole day with nothing edible to show for it.

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Sorry about your experience.

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definitely not anyone here's fault, but, thanks

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Are you adding any other type of salt product?

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nope, I didn't add any seasoning at all.

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Make the stock without the Minor's.

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i think i will take this approach next. Just glad I didn't waste the seafood. Now I have a pound of lump crab meat, 2 lbs of shrimp and 1 dz oysters. Think i'll have fried shrimp and oysters and crab cakes.

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I doubled the recommended amount of Minor's

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Dont use Minors. Its gumbo. Why are you adding a base? Your have the base in flour and oil.

How are you making the stock? With or without salt?

Also if you are only using a 1 cup of roux, you only need about 4 quarts of water/stock at most. Check the consistency before adding more stock. If you put too much water you will either have to boil it out or add more roux.

Let the roux simmer for as long as you would like and then add your seafood.

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It was a seafood stock base to shore up his seafood stock. It has nothing to do with flour and oil/roux.

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Dont need that shite. The seafood stock is plenty enough. Why complicate it? Its a gumbo.

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gumbo crabs.

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No point in this. Nobody wants to eat some baby crabs. Use lump crab meat and/or crab fingers.

90% of the gumbo I make is with water. Very few I make using a stock and I can promise you would never know it. I tried both and there is no point in going out of my way to make a stock. I can make it taste excellent with tap water.

Only way I like okra I a pan fried fresh out my garden with some corn meal and Tony's.