Gumbo (again) questions

1. I've only seen tomatoes in gumbos at restaurants. I've never known a home cook to do it. Just say no to tomatoes in gumbo.

2. I prefer a darker roux with chicken/gumbo and a lighter roux with seafood. I find seafood to have a more delicate flavor, so I don't want to overpower that with a very dark roux.

3. Never done the oven roux, but the microwave roux is easy and much less chance to burn than stove top.

4. I don't put peanut butter in gumbo and won't until someone makes me taste it and I like it.

5. Okra is fine in whatever. I prefer to use cut, frozen okra, as it isn'[t slimy and brings the temp of the roux down a touch.

6. No smoked chicken, thanks. Smoked sausage is plenty.

7. She gets her roux dark dark. Go high heat and stir the pants off it. Or play it safe and go microwave/oven method for the roux. If you smell a 'burned' smell, it's too late for that batch of roux. Start over.

8. Haven't seen Rat's spreadsheet as of yet.

9. Dickel is nasty. That shite will ruin your taste buds.

10. Huh?

1. is the creole/red/tomato-ey gumbo typically associated more with seafood?
-leave tomato for spaghetti

2. is the darker roux no-tomato based better with chicken & sausage?
-this is personal preference, but most ppl go a little lighter with seafood

3. is the oven roux really less likely to burn? when y'all talk about toasting the flour/browing it on a cookie sheet..is this just the flour by itself? ..then add the oil later?
-if you want results do it the traditional way. you'll also learn more along the way.

4. whats the verdict on the glob of peanut butter proposed by tigerlee? was this really necessary?
-uhh no

5. okra ok in a big stainless steel pot? what happens to okra in an aluminum pot? does it turn to poison or something?
-can't answer this but i would stick to your heavier metals (cast iron/magnalite). thin pots are made for boiling liquids.

6. i made a gumbo recently with some leftover sausage and chicken thighs i had smoked..the smoked flavor completely overwhelmed the gumbo and while the guests really enjoyed it..i was supremely disappointed that i ruined the gumbo with the heavy smoked flavor.
-oven roasted or rotisserie chicken will give the flavor you want.

7. i like gris gris' sig pic and want my gumbo to look like that. i prefer a 'black' gumbo over a 'red' gumbo..just like that flavor more.
-dont know who that is, but "red" and "gumbo" should never be in the same sentence.

8. did stadium rat ever build a gumbo roux spreadsheet ala the jamabalya calculator?
-trial and error man, trial and error. you learn more through your mistakes

9. will geauxt no longer be my buddy if i dont hand stir the roux while chugging a fifth of dickel?
-can't help you here.

10. what's wrong with just stirring any oil on top back into the gumbo?
-because it will never mix. stock is water based, hence oil cannot mix with it. besides no one likes a greasy gumbo. and on that note, brown your sausage ahead of time and render the fat.

hope this helps. not everyone will agree but this is pretty much how we do it on the bayou.

1. I've seen tomatoes in both, but I don't use them.

2. You would use a dark roux with or without tomatoes. I like dark roux with both poultry and seafood gumbo. If you have a strong seafood stock, dark roux will compliment rather than overtake the seafood flavor. No strong seafood stock, then don't make seafood gumbo.

3. Oven you is nearly impossible to burn. Whisk oil and flour together in a cast iron or heavy pot and put it in the oven. Nothing to it. I do not make flour only roux nor do I brown flour and then mix oil into it. I don't know why anyone would do that.

4. My gumbo need no improvement. I would not use peanut butter.

5. I don't use okra in gumbo as you know, so someone who does will have to comment on that debacle.

6. You can used smoked chicken or smoked sausage, but if the smoke is too heavy, it may overpower. I use smoked all the time. Had smoked turkey gumbo from my freezer last night. It was delicious. Don't use mesquite smoked meats, though. They're awful in gumbo.

7. That's what my gumbo looks like all the time, though that picture isn't mine. Just make a very dark roux and you'll have that result.

8. He has not. Some people use more roux and less liquid than others. I like my gumbo to have body, but not be remotely like a muddy gloppy stew. Paul Prudhomme's measurements in his chicken and andouille gumbo, specifically on the labelle cuisine website are a good guide, though I don't measure. Mine just always comes out the same somehow.

9. He won't give a flying you know what about how you make your roux.

10. GROSS!!!!!

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WUT? You need to read the board more

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that amused me as well

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aul Prudhomme's measurements in his chicken and andouille gumbo, specifically on the labelle cuisine website are a good guide, though I don't measure. Mine just always comes out the same somehow.

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interesting he doesn't mention bay leaves in his recipe. should i work from one of the TD recipe book recipes?

LINK

i trust y'all way more than other random websites (no matter how 'official' they claim to be)

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9. He won't give a flying you know what about how you make your roux.

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but, I do give a flying you know what!
imma roux conny sewer and dickel may not be an ingredient, but it's part of my makin' gumbo routine.

1--no. My theory on tomato in gumbo: if your family tree has any Italians, if your grammaw lived next door to any Italians, or if your cultural references are closer to NOLA than to Houma or Lafayette, you will permit tomatoes in a gumbo. I dislike tomatoes in gumbo, but what the hell, you're gonna eat it, so put in whatever you like.
2--no. i've had delicious, very dark, chicken & oyster gumbo, lovely very light sausage & okra, and every shade and combination in between. This is entirely the realm of personal preference.
3--oven roux is good if you have to multi-task, or you want to warm up the kitchen on a cold day. But I like to make a dark roux rocket fast on the stovetop, then quickly stop the browning/potential burning by adding the chopped onions to the roux.
4--peanut butter is a reference to the light, nutty color of a roux. actual peanut butter has no place in a roux.
5--okra will turn dark in an aluminum pot. it is still edible, just kinda greyish and gross looking.
6--agree w/you on smoke. a little goes a long way. next time, use 1 smoked thigh and the rest fresh. the smoke should be a backbeat, not the first thing you taste/smell.
8--a gumbo spreadsheet is wholly superfluous. Gumbo is elastic and flexible. You can make it as thick or thin as you'd like, containing anything from weenies to split hard shelled crabs to bigorneaux. No calculations necessary.
9--i use roux in a jar all the time, and i promise i'm a helluva lot more cajun (geneaologically, linguistically, culturally, and geographically) than 95% of TD posters. all of the faux-cajun suburbanites from somewhere else can kiss my fat azz regarding the necessity of a homemade roux.
10--oil slick gumbo (aka "a BP bowl") is not my fave, but a few small spots of oil don't bother me. When I get a BP bowl, it makes me think the cook didn't dig down deep with the ladle, so I'm not getting as much good stuff from the bottom of the pot.

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Apparently, without them, he can't seem to make it taste good

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this is CLEARLY where i parked my car today

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interesting he doesn't mention bay leaves in his recipe.

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I don't get the whole 'bay leaf' thing. Bay leaves are bitter. I don't want bitter in anything I cook. I know this goes against southern cooking tradition, but I leave them out of my recipes.

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You're not going to be eating his gumbo, so why give a you know what, Methuselah?

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uh, actually we do occasionally "socialize" and I may eat some of his gumbo.



Betsy, get on back to sewing on the flag, our country may need to use it again someday. But remember, we've added a few things to it since you started sewing on it the 1st time.