re: Chicken in Gumbo - What do you use?

Do make real gumbo use a hen. Just throw it in raw,short on time making generic gumbo use cooked chicken.

Thighs. Boiled in water with vegetables to make the stock, then pulled off the bone and added to gumbo halfway through cooking.

My shits not stringy. I just think it's more better for a crowd not having to pick bones out. However, I want that flavor.

quote:

---

Do most of you just buy a rotisserie chicken and shred up all the meat and toss it in?

---

I've done that, but I'm not crazy about how it comes out. We season the chicken (boneless breast and thigh meat - ain't nobody got time to debone a hen) and cook it down with the roux. I bring the roux to a boil, we add bell pepper, onion and celery and the seasoned chicken and cook that for hours and hours. I would prefer to cook it until the chicken falls apart to shreds on its own. Mrs. Midnight likes it just short of that, when the chicken is breaking up on its own, but not shreds yet.

Between 30 minutes and an hour before serving we add the sausage, green onion and parsley.

quote:

---

roux with stock.

---

Certainly.

quote:

---

Constructive criticism youre adding your trinity late.

---

To tell a family secret we cheat with store bought roux about half the time. When we make a scratch roux, we do it in the oven - I never thought to try to add the veggies before we get the stock going.

Bone in, skin on chicken theighs.

I prefer to grill them or smoke them, but also you can put in a cast iron skillet and brown them good.

Tske them out the cast iron skillet, shred the meat off the bones, save the bones for the stock.

Use the fat and bits left in the cast iron to help make the roux.