re: Help the idiot make a great Cajun style gumbo

One major tip ill give you is to use stock, not water for your liquid base. Stock/broth is liquid flavor. Preferably make your own stock using the protein you're making the gumbo with.

If chicken, I usually butterfly/spatchcock and roast/smoke a whole bird, let it cool then debone and make a stock with the bones and some saved up veggie trimmings including the trimmings from what I plan to Cook in the gumbo. Pressure cooker speeds this process up.

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One major tip ill give you is to use stock, not water for your liquid base. Stock/broth is liquid flavor. Preferably make your own stock using the protein you're making the gumbo with. If chicken, I usually butterfly/spatchcock and roast/smoke a whole bird, let it cool then debone and make a stock with the bones and some saved up veggie trimmings including the trimmings from what I plan to Cook in the gumbo. Pressure cooker speeds this process up.

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This is great if you’ve got the time. Emerils makes a great chicken stock if you don’t.

If I do make my own chicken stock I try to make enough to freeze some

PS: Karys makes the best jarred roux if you don’t have time.

It’s the darkest one

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It’s the darkest one

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Savoies is dark enough. No jarred roux is better than the other. You can't get flour and vegetable oil to taste any different. The only thing that changes is color.

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So I put the chicken and the sausage in the water raw?

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You could. You could also brown before adding. I generally smoke my chicken before hand, pull off bone, add to gumbo after so it's already cooked through by the time I add it.

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So I put the chicken and the sausage in the water raw?

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No, brown both of them.

Your steps should be

1 brown meats (I do them separately as sausage and chicken cook differently) and remove from pot
2 cook down trinity in the pot
3 add roux to trinity
4 add stock
5 add meats back in
6 season to taste and simmer til it's done

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I am shocked by the amount of people on here that used jarred roux.

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I was giving OP steps for his cook, not mine

Jar roux is fine. Smoke the chicken, then make the stock from the bones. Brown the sausage first, remove it, deglaze with the trinity and bay leaves. Add the jar roux and heat everything up, then add the hot stock and simmer. If you want okra add it with the stock and simmer that until it's no longer foamy. I add the chicken and sausage about halfway through to keep it from breaking down too much.

Damn, I guess I'm cooking gumbo today.

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You can't get flour and vegetable oil to taste any different. The only thing that changes is color.

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while maybe true for shitty mazola, i would never use any vegetable oil in my roux. i used to be able to get duck fat at a local butcher for like $3 but even at $10 for a jar at the grocery store its worth it to me because the roux is delicious.

if i don't have access to any, i'll use bacon grease or lard.

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while maybe true for shitty mazola, i would never use any vegetable oil in my roux. i used to be able to get duck fat at a local butcher for like $3 but even at $10 for a jar at the grocery store its worth it to me because the roux is delicious.

if i don't have access to any, i'll use bacon grease or lard.

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I'm with you. If I'm making a decent sized gumbo I don't mind spending a little bit more on the cooking fat for the roux. I've tried clarified butter and it worked out well.