re: How did I mess up this gumbo?

Best way I can say you messed it up is that you haven't skimmed the oil off yet and made a bowl. You just had a bunch of roux with a bunch of oil and a bunch of grease from chicken and sausage. Skim it off and eat.

And for the love of God, can we stop making roux so complicated? I've never seen so many different ways of how roux is "supposed" to be added to a gravy or gumbo as I have here. Put it in all at once. Put it in a little at a time. Put it in the trinity. Put the trinity in it. Whisk it. Boil it. Put it in hot. Put it in cold. I think I've done it every way possible, and I've never one time had a roux that didn't incorporate or that "broke". Put it in the pot with some liquid and cook it. It'll be fine.

By complicating it.

Eta. Fratigerguy is right.

Meat and sausage emit grease. You have to remove that before serving. It’s hard to tell if you have more grease/oil that is from the meats.

You're saying that everyone is making it so unneccesarily complicated. We're just saying one way to do it. One that is in the most popular recipe this board gives for first time gumbo makers.

I've done it every which way too, and the one time i had a roux separate was when I used a carton of stock out of the fridge, so I don't use that anymore just to avoid the possibility.

I had a gumbo come out like that last winter when I used Iverstine's andouille. I assumed I didn't drain it well enough after browning, so I'll pay special attention to that next time. But their andouille is so good.

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Is roux separation really an issue?

I have added cold stock from the fridge, hot stock from the micro wave, or just tap water and made the stock with bones while cooking and i have never had a roux "separate"

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Me either. By the time the seasoning is cooked down you are good to go.

That said I don't always use oil. Sometimes I use an oven roux, put it into the pot, add just enough stock to give it the consistence of an oil based roux, mix that to my liking and add the seasoning.

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I think I've done it every way possible, and I've never one time had a roux that didn't incorporate or that "broke". Put it in the pot with some liquid and cook it. It'll be fine

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This was my thinking until I made a seafood gumbo and the roux separated. Seafood gumbos cost a lot of time and $$ and I was pissed about how it turned out. I had little specs of roux throughout the gumbo and it looked gross. It turns out I added very hot roux to a rapidly boiling stock. This board helped me identify the issue. Since then, I've always cool the roux by adding trinity and removing from heat, then add to stock. I've never had an issue since.

I'm not sure what happened with the OP. I wouldn't add a whole cup of flour to the oil when starting a roux, but that probably didn't cause the problem here, because that may cause the roux to burn some. Maybe he added a ton of incredibly greasy sausage and that oil on top is a product of oil from the sausage and oil from other things in the gumbo? It still seems like a bit much because I see over an inch of oil...

gotdamn you made mess!

I mean, I guess it happens because you guys say it does. But I've added smoking hot roux to a pot that was boiling many times. But regardless of that...maybe I'm finding the issue here. Whether I'm making a gumbo or gravy, most times my roux and stock has been cooking along with my vegetables for hours before I put my meat or seafood in...unless it is a meat that also needs to cook for hours. Sounds like you put your seafood in before your roux...maybe I've just never noticed separation because it cooks for hours normally and eventually reincorporates?