Need advice for cooking gumbo in large quantites

if you're gonna cook gumbo for a bunch of people, just go buy the jar roux.

Jambalaya kettle will do great.

Use the crawfish boiling pot after you have made the roux.

quote:

---

if you're gonna cook gumbo for a bunch of people, just go buy the jar roux

---

or a gumbo base. This is my go to when I want gumbo quick: savoie's instant roux

Scratch roux for a really big gumbo isn't worth the effort, imo.

5 quarts sans rice will give you about 40 12 oz servings. That's generous with rice.

Recently, I made a large quantity of oven roux which worked great. Takes a long time, but there's nothing to it as far as stirring etc... Better than a jarred roux in my opinion. Just mix the oil and flour in the cast iron, put it in the oven at 350 and let it go stirring and checking every 30 minutes or so when it starts to brown.

If you're doing seafood, I'd definitely make the base and only add the seafood just before serving. Even just sitting on warm for too long can obliterate shrimp into mush. I think it's a bit risky unless you're going to serve it all pretty quickly.

We had a discussion about vegetarian gumbo over the weekend and talked about gumbo z'herbes which could be done without the ham flavor.

A 60 quart tall aluminum stock pot will yield around 200 servings (over rice, of course)....but I don't make the roux in that pot! Make the roux on the side...easy enough to do in a large, oval Magnalite pot. Smooth bottom, no crevices or scratches, and you can sit on a stool while stirring since the pot isn't too deep. Once the roux is as dark as you'd like, you can transfer it to a large metal bowl to cool, or directly into the gumbo pot if you're ready for it immediately.

Sure, you can buy jarred roux, but if the point is to raise money for a cause, it is WAY cheaper to make it yourself.

quote:

---

and I was always able to tell the difference

---

From the Recipe Thread...it works well. Extrapolated for a Prudhomme recipe for the measurments.


Large Chicken and Andouille Gumbo Recipe for a crowd
Ingredients: 30 qts chicken stock(we made our own) Dark roux made from 12 cups each of flour and Canola oil 10 lbs onions, fine diced 6 bell peppers, fine diced 3 bunches of celery, fine diced 6 bunches green onions, fine chopped 2 bunches flat leaf parsley, minced 5 lbs orka, fine diced garlic, didn't measure @20 bay leaves Black pepper, salt, and red pepper to taste 2 small jars of file' 13 lbs Andoullie and smoked sausage(we had 10lbs smoked and 3 lbs. of Jacobs)sliced and then cut into 1/4's 40 lbs of chicken, cooked and deboned, then sliced into 1/4 inch chunks(I roasted 30 lbs of hips and floured and fried 10 more lbs. Took the skin off of all beforehand.) Method: We made the roux in 2 batches and sautéed all vegetables in the roux. The rouxs were dark chocolate and turned black as we hit them with the veg. mixture (trinity plus okra, garlic came a bit later)...made for a pretty gumbo. We browned the sausage beforehand (I used an oven) to render the fat, then set it aside. Added the roux and veggies to the stock and brought to a boil, then reduced to a simmer. Added the sausage and went 30 minutes. Added the chicken and went another 30 minutes. After this, we added the green onions and parsley and cut the fire. Added the file' at this time. We began to add seasonings when we added the sausage...I didn't measure but just seasoned to taste. The product sat for about two hours before we reheated and served. Worked very well.