- My Forums
- Tiger Rant
- LSU Recruiting
- SEC Rant
- Saints Talk
- Pelicans Talk
- More Sports Board
- Fantasy Sports
- Golf Board
- Soccer Board
- O-T Lounge
- Tech Board
- Home/Garden Board
- Outdoor Board
- Health/Fitness Board
- Movie/TV Board
- Book Board
- Music Board
- Political Talk
- Money Talk
- Fark Board
- Gaming Board
- Travel Board
- Food/Drink Board
- Ticket Exchange
- TD Help Board
Customize My Forums- View All Forums
- Show Left Links
- Topic Sort Options
- Trending Topics
- Recent Topics
- Active Topics
Started By
Message
Thoughts on Lucy Buffett's Gumbo recipe?
Posted on 7/28/21 at 10:10 am
Posted on 7/28/21 at 10:10 am
Stubbled upon this in Garden & Gun
3 lb. medium wild-caught Gulf shrimp, heads on
2 lb. cooked blue crab claw meat, picked through for shells, handled carefully to keep the meat in big chunks
4 large ripe tomatoes, or 1 (28-ounce) can whole tomatoes with their juices
3/4 cup vegetable oil or bacon grease
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 large onion, coarsely chopped
1 bunch celery, coarsely chopped, including leaves
2 green bell peppers, coarsely chopped
8 cups shrimp or seafood stock, heated
2 to 3 tsp. sea salt, or to taste
1 tbsp. freshly ground black pepper
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
2 tbsp. dried thyme
4 bay leaves
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. dried basil
2 tbsp. LuLu’s Crazy Creola Seasoning (recipe follows), or other Creole seasoning
1/4 cup hot sauce
2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
4 blue crab bodies, if available (optional)
2 1/2 lb. fresh okra, chopped into 1/4-inch pieces, or thawed frozen cut okra
2 cups finely chopped green onions
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
For Lucy’s Signature Summer Seafood Gumbo: Peel and devein the shrimp. (If you’re making your own stock, reserve the heads and shells to make the stock.) Refrigerate the shrimp and crabmeat until ready to use.
Fill a medium saucepan with water. Bring to a boil. Carefully drop the tomatoes into the boiling water and cook for 1 minute. Remove with a slotted spoon and let them cool. The skins will slip off easily. Remove the cores and coarsely chop the tomatoes over a bowl to retain as much juice as possible. Set aside. (If using canned tomatoes, chop each tomato into eighths and return them to the juice in the can.)
To make the roux, in a large stockpot (about 10 quarts), heat the vegetable oil over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, gradually add the flour, whisking continuously, and cook, stirring and adjusting the heat as necessary to keep it from burning, until the roux is a dark mahogany color, 25 to 35 minutes. Be careful: if the roux burns, you will have to start all over again.
Add the onion to the roux and stir for 2 to 3 minutes. (The onion will sizzle and steam when it hits the hot roux, so caution is advised. All seasoned gumbo cooks have roux battle scars on one or both arms.) Add the celery and cook, stirring continuously, for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the bell pepper and cook, stirring continuously, for 2 to 3 minutes more. Add the heated stock and the tomatoes with their juices. Stir in the salt, black pepper, cayenne, thyme, bay leaves, oregano, basil, Creole seasoning, hot sauce, and Worcestershire sauce. Bring the gumbo to a boil and cook for 5 minutes, then reduce the heat to maintain a slow simmer. Add the crab bodies (if using) and simmer, uncovered, for about 1 hour. Add the okra and bring the gumbo to a boil. Cook for 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to maintain a slow simmer and cook, uncovered, for 30 minutes, or until the okra has lost its bright green color and cooked down like the other vegetables. If the gumbo gets too thick, add a little water. If it is too thin, continue to simmer it, uncovered.
Add the green onion, parsley, and lemon juice. Cover and cook for 15 minutes. Add the shrimp and crabmeat, mix well, and cook for 2 minutes. Cover and turn off the heat. Let it sit for at least 15 minutes more to cook the seafood. The gumbo will stay hot for a long time. Remove and discard the bay leaves. Taste and adjust the seasonings; serve over cooked white rice with French bread and butter.
My thoughts: I'd eat it. I would not however step another toe in LuLu's in Gulf Shores. One time was enough.
3 lb. medium wild-caught Gulf shrimp, heads on
2 lb. cooked blue crab claw meat, picked through for shells, handled carefully to keep the meat in big chunks
4 large ripe tomatoes, or 1 (28-ounce) can whole tomatoes with their juices
3/4 cup vegetable oil or bacon grease
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 large onion, coarsely chopped
1 bunch celery, coarsely chopped, including leaves
2 green bell peppers, coarsely chopped
8 cups shrimp or seafood stock, heated
2 to 3 tsp. sea salt, or to taste
1 tbsp. freshly ground black pepper
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
2 tbsp. dried thyme
4 bay leaves
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. dried basil
2 tbsp. LuLu’s Crazy Creola Seasoning (recipe follows), or other Creole seasoning
1/4 cup hot sauce
2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
4 blue crab bodies, if available (optional)
2 1/2 lb. fresh okra, chopped into 1/4-inch pieces, or thawed frozen cut okra
2 cups finely chopped green onions
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
For Lucy’s Signature Summer Seafood Gumbo: Peel and devein the shrimp. (If you’re making your own stock, reserve the heads and shells to make the stock.) Refrigerate the shrimp and crabmeat until ready to use.
Fill a medium saucepan with water. Bring to a boil. Carefully drop the tomatoes into the boiling water and cook for 1 minute. Remove with a slotted spoon and let them cool. The skins will slip off easily. Remove the cores and coarsely chop the tomatoes over a bowl to retain as much juice as possible. Set aside. (If using canned tomatoes, chop each tomato into eighths and return them to the juice in the can.)
To make the roux, in a large stockpot (about 10 quarts), heat the vegetable oil over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, gradually add the flour, whisking continuously, and cook, stirring and adjusting the heat as necessary to keep it from burning, until the roux is a dark mahogany color, 25 to 35 minutes. Be careful: if the roux burns, you will have to start all over again.
Add the onion to the roux and stir for 2 to 3 minutes. (The onion will sizzle and steam when it hits the hot roux, so caution is advised. All seasoned gumbo cooks have roux battle scars on one or both arms.) Add the celery and cook, stirring continuously, for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the bell pepper and cook, stirring continuously, for 2 to 3 minutes more. Add the heated stock and the tomatoes with their juices. Stir in the salt, black pepper, cayenne, thyme, bay leaves, oregano, basil, Creole seasoning, hot sauce, and Worcestershire sauce. Bring the gumbo to a boil and cook for 5 minutes, then reduce the heat to maintain a slow simmer. Add the crab bodies (if using) and simmer, uncovered, for about 1 hour. Add the okra and bring the gumbo to a boil. Cook for 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to maintain a slow simmer and cook, uncovered, for 30 minutes, or until the okra has lost its bright green color and cooked down like the other vegetables. If the gumbo gets too thick, add a little water. If it is too thin, continue to simmer it, uncovered.
Add the green onion, parsley, and lemon juice. Cover and cook for 15 minutes. Add the shrimp and crabmeat, mix well, and cook for 2 minutes. Cover and turn off the heat. Let it sit for at least 15 minutes more to cook the seafood. The gumbo will stay hot for a long time. Remove and discard the bay leaves. Taste and adjust the seasonings; serve over cooked white rice with French bread and butter.
My thoughts: I'd eat it. I would not however step another toe in LuLu's in Gulf Shores. One time was enough.
Posted on 7/28/21 at 10:21 am to LSUballs
quote:
Thoughts on Lucy Buffett's Gumbo recipe?
quote:
4 large ripe tomatoes, or 1 (28-ounce) can whole tomatoes with their juices
Its shite
Posted on 7/28/21 at 10:49 am to LSUballs
I'd replace the tomatoes with seafood stock. Everything else looks great to me though
Posted on 7/28/21 at 11:01 am to thatoneguy
I could deal with the tomatoes. But her amount of stock/ liquid seems off. 8 cups of stock aint much for all the rest of that....
Posted on 7/28/21 at 11:06 am to LSUballs
CSB moment: my dad was neighbors with the buffet family. He dated Lucy in high school. Jimmy borrowed $100 from my uncle then never spoke to him again.
Posted on 7/28/21 at 11:11 am to Loup
quote:
Jimmy borrowed $100 from my uncle then never spoke to him again.
He probably pissed it away. Like when he had enough money to buy Miami..
Posted on 7/28/21 at 11:26 am to LSUballs
I dont want basil or oregano anywhere near my gumbo.
Posted on 7/28/21 at 12:30 pm to tigerfoot
quote:
I dont want basil or oregano anywhere near my gumbo.
Posted on 7/28/21 at 12:34 pm to tigerfoot
quote:
I dont want basil or oregano anywhere near my gumbo.
I agree. Think the rest of it is fine (even the tomatoes). If crabmeat is outside of the shell then I'd wait to add as a topper if it's already cooked. Crabmeat would break apart and get lost if cooked into the gumbo and not in the shell.
Shell and stock is where all the flavor is for seafood.
Posted on 7/28/21 at 1:13 pm to Gris Gris
Oregano is a very common ingredient used by most people who know how to make seafood gumbo.
Posted on 7/28/21 at 1:25 pm to LSUballs
Because of the tomatoes, I'd call it a courtbouillon, not a gumbo.
Posted on 7/28/21 at 1:28 pm to MobileJosh
quote:
Oregano is a very common ingredient used by most people who know how to make seafood gumbo.
Oregano seems to be one of those herbs/flavorings for which there is a very fine line between the optimal amount and badly-overpowering a dish. You never want to taste a dish with that being the first thing that hits you and I find too often when people use it in one, that turns out to be the case.
Posted on 7/28/21 at 1:34 pm to MobileJosh
quote:It is, yes. I despise it. And basil is dead out. Thyme, yes.
Oregano is a very common ingredient used by most people who know how to make seafood gumbo.
Posted on 7/28/21 at 1:48 pm to tigerfoot
quote:
It is, yes. I despise it. And basil is dead out. Thyme, yes
Fair enough. If you don’t like something that’s one thing. But to say it doesn’t belong just out of some sort of rule or principle, like the people clamoring about tomatoes, is crazy. Especially in something like gumbo. Donald Link has a fantastic seafood gumbo recipe that calls for tomatoes. Should we tell Don he’s a dumbass who’s really making courtbouillion?
Posted on 7/28/21 at 1:55 pm to LSUballs
quote:
I could deal with the tomatoes. But her amount of stock/ liquid seems off. 8 cups of stock aint much for all the rest of that....
A 28 oz can of tomatoes will add a lot of water. I don't have a problem with a bit of tomatoes in a seafood gumbo. That amount seems a bit much, though.
Posted on 7/28/21 at 1:58 pm to MobileJosh
quote:Which is why I said 'my' gumbo.
If you don’t like something that’s one thing.
I like tomatoes in my seafood gumbo. Hell, I dont even mind a little tablespoon of browned tomato paste in my chicken or duck gumbos.
Posted on 7/28/21 at 6:00 pm to MobileJosh
quote:
Oregano is a very common ingredient used by most people who know how to make seafood gumbo.
That's so interesting. As many times as I've eaten seafood gumbo in a variety of places as well as made by other folks, I've not once tasted oregano or basil in it. I've had thyme which I think is fine in seafood gumbo if used judiciously, but never oregano or basil. I've had chicken gumbo with both in it and I didn't like it at all. I don't use either in any of my gumbos that I make. To each his or her own. I don't want it in "my" gumbo. Thanks for the info, though.
ETA: I don't want bay leave flavoring in my gumbo either and while I prefer not tomatoes, this one has just too many for the recipe.
Here's a picture of said gumbo. Not enough juice for my taste/texture, but lots of folks probably like it that way.

This post was edited on 7/28/21 at 6:07 pm
Posted on 7/28/21 at 6:26 pm to Gris Gris
Yes, Gris, that needs more juice. Otherwise, gimme some!
ETA: I would not be a fan of those herbs in my gumbo, either.
ETA: I would not be a fan of those herbs in my gumbo, either.
This post was edited on 7/28/21 at 6:31 pm
Posted on 7/29/21 at 6:35 am to LSUballs
Lost me on the third ingredient —4 large tomatoes. Gumbo and sauce piquant are two different dishes.
Popular
Back to top
6












