re: Gumbo Cookoff - What makes a world champion?

I generally make my own stock. And the last 2 years I've added 5 or 6 dried chipotle peppers to the stock ingredients. It adds a subtle smoky flavor and a pretty good amount of heat. So much so that I usually don't add any cayenne to the roux now.

I kinda want to try the duck with the duck fat making the roux.. Still way too hot though.

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Turn on the AC.

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Don't forget the black jeans.

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I like those in my gumbo. You don't have to eat it, though.

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TIA

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I need 60 degrees before I consider Gumbo.

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Me too. Luckily that weather hits up here sooner. Thinking of trying my first gumbo of the season in the next couple of weeks.

I like nothing better than smoking a couple of ducks for use in gumbo. Once I have stripped the meat from them, I use skin, bones and other bits from the carcasses to make a stock that starts with the water and drippings from the bowl in my smoker. I use the rendered duck fat from the top of the stock pot to make my roux.

The duck stock is where I apply my seasoning. I use a 10qt. stock pot add onion, garlic, celery, carrot, peppercorns and bay leaf to the duck remains. I generally let my stock cook until the connective tissue holding the bones together has dissolved. Then I strain the stock and let it simmer while I prepare the roux in my gumbo pot.

Once the roux is the appropriate dark brown I cook onions, bell pepper (usually both red and green) and celery in the roux. When the vegetables have released their liquid into the roux and added the desired sugar content I start adding stock to my gumbo pot. I add stock until I get the gumbo to the right consistency. Then I add the duck meat and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and let it simmer until about 45 minutes before I want to serve. It is then I add the andouille. After about 30 minutes I remove the andouille fat from the top of the gumbo and remove the pot from heat.

Serve over rice with some green onion and parsley.

Preparing it is either an all day affair, or spread over two days, so it's kind of impractical for a cookoff. The results though are worth the effort.