re: Share Your Gumbo Tips?

Try using chicken fat as an oil to make your roux.

add sweet potatoes to your chicken & sausage gumbo

Chicken and Sausage Gumbo

I made this last year on election day. I add tomatoes and okra but it's optional based on your preference.

I think it is wonderful...but so does everyone else think of their gumbo.

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You don't have to make the stock before hand. You make it right in the pot as you go. I do agree that roasting the bones before they go into the pool might be better, but I just don't find the juice is worth the squeeze on that.

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Most professional chefs would tell you a great stock could take up to 6 hours. You're not cooking gumbo that long.

I don't do the whole thing from scratch every time and put all the love into it that I'd like to but when I do it tends to turn out just a hair better.

Andouille is shite meat. substitute with teet's smoked pork sausage.

and...........my tip: bake sweet potatoes. peel one and place in the bowl after you serve. c'est bien bon

I use file' in my gumbos as I don't care for okra. I add it about 30 minutes before I turn off the heat and stir it in good so it doesn't lump. It thickens and adds flavor.

And anyone who tells you it makes it bitter is wrong. That's an old wives tail. The key is to cook it for a few minutes.

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pretty sure i read on this board that you're not supposed use file' if you use roux. Is that correct?

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Never have heard that. I use both. Supposedly the file will also help thicken the gumbo so I suppose that's the confusion, but you always use roux for gumbo and file is optional. It's not even gumbo without roux is it?

Interesting. I've cooked a lot of gumbos and been around a lot of gumbo cooks. Never seen one cooked without roux. I have seen them without File and okra although I use both. I do not consider myself a gumbo expert though . Just know how it's always been done around my family. I'm much more of a jambalaya cook.

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