Dav: Pics of your gumbo

Seconded. Like I said on the other thread, I only noticed today that the pictures are gone.

I don't make my gumbo exactly that way anymore, but I have no shame in saying that thread is what laid the foundation for the last several years of gumbo cooking for me.

Incase Dav doesn’t have em, they were picked up on the way back machine:
LINK /

It's not anywhere near as difficult/daunting as you might think. I would encourage anyone and everyone to give gumbo a try. Hell, I managed to coach up a friend of mine that lives in upstate New York. He's even branched out into other cajun/creole dishes once that turned out so well

Because Dav's recipe on page 2 of that thread was my starting point, I'll lightly touch on what I do the same and then explain what I personally do differently:

First, I've started making my roux the night before. I find that, being the most stressful/time consuming/easy to frick up part of the process, it's just all around better for my quality of life to knock it out separate and apart from the rest. Plus, if you do manage to frick it up, you get another shot at it the next day

Anyway, I do a cup of canola oil and a cup and a half of standard flour (poured into the measuring cup, not scooped. You start running into measurement issues because the flour will pack differently). So a little more of both than Dav because I bring my roux pretty dark, and slightly more oil in the ratio because I like it a bit more liquid.

After much trial and error, I find it easier for me to mix the oil and flour at room temperature, really making sure it's completely incorporated before turning on the heat. I'm sure someone might tell me this is dead wrong, but I find the flour has a tendency to clump and getting it incorporated before it burns was a struggle for me. Once I get it all whisked together, I turn on the heat to medium (electric stovetop) and start stirring/scraping constantly, making sure to get every inch of the pot, with particular attention given to the rounded corners. Once I get it to milk chocolate, I take it off the heat and continue scraping just as before until it's cooled off enough that it's no longer cooking. At that point, I put it in a container and into the fridge overnight.

Next day, I start off browning the sausage after slicing it about half an inch thick. Depending on the exact sausage I'm using, I might stop at more of a medium brown. I don't like my sausage to dry out. While my sausage is browning, I chop my trinity and season the chicken with sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper. I usually use three celery stalks instead of the one Dav calls for.

Once my sausage is browned, I remove it to drain. In that same pan, I add my trinity and cook it down on medium heat or just above. I cook it by eye, but I'll cook it down a solid thirty minutes plus. I really want it cooked down so it will pretty much melt into the finished product. I also chop my trinity a bit finer than Dav does for the same reason. While my trinity is cooking down, I take out my roux from the night before and scoop it out into a small saucepan and heat it on the lowest setting I have. I'm not looking to cook it anymore (you'll already be several shades darker than when you first cut the heat due to the time to cool down), just warm it and let the oil and flour really reconstitute. I stir/whisk it every five minutes or so while the trinity cooks.

Once my trinity is cooked down enough, I lower the heat to more medium/low and add the roux to it. While that's simmering, I start my stock. Feel free to make your own (which is a whole other post), but I use Better than Bullion roasted chicken base. I probably make closer to 12 cups than the 9 Dav calls for.

With the stock just below a boil on the stove, I add to my roux/trinity minced garlic, let that mix in, then add my sausage. Once that's all nice and mixed together, I very slowly add my stock to the pot, repeat: liquid into solid, maybe half a cup at a time to start, folding it into the semi-solid roux/trinity/sausage mixture. Be patient, because you can ruin everything you've done thus far by mixing your stock in too quickly and breaking your roux. Also, again, do not try to move your solids into your liquids. You will have a bad time. Anyway, as long as the temperatures are similar and you move slowly, you should be fine. Once the stock is fully incorporated (you now should have a much easier to work with liquid concoction in your pot at this point), I bring it to a boil just like Dav then lower the heat back down to medium/low.

While that's working, now I pull out my seasoned chicken. I take a pan with a little oil and brown my chicken thighs nicely but making a point not to cook them all the way through. I find they will dry out in the gumbo if you cook them through now. I do them two or three at a time because I don't have a particularly huge pan, and I've learned from the rookie mistake of overcrowding the pan when you brown chicken (or really anything). The chicken will release so much water that, if you don't give it enough space, the water won't evaporate and it will just start steaming your chicken instead of browning it. So, I take my time and cook them a few at a time. My gumbo in progress is going to cook without the chicken for an hour or two anyway, so no hurry. I brown the chicken and set them aside to drain on a plate.

After said hour or two, I chop the thighs into pieces with the longest sides being about an inch. I find that's a nice compromise between visual presence in the bowl and functionality when eating. Once they are chopped, they go into the pot. At this point, I'll bring my heat to the lower side of medium/low, loosely cover the pot with the lid (leave a gap, don't go air tight), and go sit down for a well deserved break.

I'll let it cook like that until it's time to eat, adding more liquid as needed if the gumbo cooks down, giving it a good stir every 15 minutes or so. If I have more than a few hours, I'll drop the heat down to low so it doesn't overcook the chicken.

As far as complications with extra seasonings and garnish, the world is your oyster. What you have above is a basic gumbo recipe that you can use as a canvass for whatever you like

ETA: Anyone who downvotes, I'd like to hear what you do differently. Don't be shy

Damn, thank you

Six downvotes and not a single reply in counter. Some of you are so bashful

Many congratulations!!!

You puttin a deviled egg in there?

What’s your low carb replacement for roux?

That's a fine looking roux and gumbo, Darla. I made a big roux in the oven last night. I went with 375 to speed things up. I experimented using a big Dansk pot which is a lighter weight cast iron and enamel pot. The roux cooked a little faster in it which was great. I had about 7 cups of oil and 9-10 cups of flour. At 350, that's taken a pretty long time previously, but it was done in a bit over 3 hours, same color as yours.

While it cooked, I stripped the bones and skin from a bunch of smoked chickens, made the stock and got all the meat and sausage cut, along with some of the vegetables. Putting it all together today.

Damn, Gris, you are making a big pot of gumbo! Let us know how it turns out.