- 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
1
Posted on 12/12/17 at 11:58 am to TH03
BTW, I appreciate all of the help. Got it ordered. should be here Thursday.
Posted on 12/12/17 at 12:00 pm to TH03
Not even in the freezer section? I'm in Atlanta and face some of the same challenges being landlocked, but I can still get gumbo crabs from the frozen section of some markets.
Posted on 12/12/17 at 12:04 pm to cj35
No, I said even I can get them. Fish market I get live crawfish from has fresh gumbo crabs. 
They should be available in Baton Rouge.
They should be available in Baton Rouge.
This post was edited on 12/12/17 at 12:05 pm
Posted on 12/12/17 at 12:06 pm to cj35
Yeah, i'm sure the local seafood places will have gumbo crabs. If i make stock with the minor's, do i still add crabs?
Also, is it just lump crab meat or do you use claw meat as well?
Also, is it just lump crab meat or do you use claw meat as well?
Posted on 12/12/17 at 12:09 pm to TH03
quote:My bad. I misread.
TH03
Posted on 12/12/17 at 12:11 pm to MorbidTheClown
quote:
. If i make stock with the minor's, do i still add crabs?
Personal preference really. Just make sure to taste the liquid after adding the minors I had to add more than the recommended amount, but I might try how it is with the recommended amount and then add gumbo crabs.
quote:
Also, is it just lump crab meat or do you use claw meat as well?
I use lump.
Posted on 12/12/17 at 12:12 pm to cj35
No worries
Posted on 12/12/17 at 12:12 pm to MorbidTheClown
quote:I always add gumbo crabs. However I have never used Minor's product, so TH03 may be better able to comment on this.
Yeah, i'm sure the local seafood places will have gumbo crabs. If i make stock with the minor's, do i still add crabs?
I always use jumbo lump, though it can get quite expensive. I know plenty of others who use claw meat. Some actually prefer it. I really think it is personal preference.
Posted on 12/12/17 at 12:18 pm to MorbidTheClown
Morbid, Calandro's on Government had some seafood bases in the seafood dept I noticed when I was there once. There was even a crawfish base.
As far as making the stock, I've never used the base alone. It's very salty. You can buy gumbo crabs in the frozen food section at most grocery stores. Just make sure they are Louisiana products and not the Chinese.
In the past when I didn't have any shrimp shells stocked up in the freezer, I've bought cheap tiny shrimp and used those with gumbo crabs to make the stock. Worked out very well. In fact, I may have liked the flavor even better. It takes a lot of shells to make a good stock.
I recommend making your stock with whatever seafood shells and gumbo crabs you have. Taste it and then add a little base at a time if it needs to be stronger. Taste along the way so you don't over salt and don't add salt until you've finished using the base.
As far as the crabmeat, I don't like shredded crabmeat in gumbo. It looks like white floating hairs to me. If I use crabmeat, I use jumbo lump and/or crab claws. The claw meat is so tasty like dark meat chicken is tastier than white. The claw meat off the claw can have a lot of shells, so if you use that, go through it carefully. It also tends to shred a good bit, but the flavor is great.
Also, don't freeze your gumbo with the seafood in it. It will simply overcook. I tend to make the gumbo base and add seafood only to the amount I'm going to use at the time. I save the rest of the base in the fridge for the next night or for freezing and just add fresh seafood when I'm ready to serve it. I took out some shrimp gumbo the other night, warmed it up and added the shrimp. Just like fresh made.
As far as making the stock, I've never used the base alone. It's very salty. You can buy gumbo crabs in the frozen food section at most grocery stores. Just make sure they are Louisiana products and not the Chinese.
In the past when I didn't have any shrimp shells stocked up in the freezer, I've bought cheap tiny shrimp and used those with gumbo crabs to make the stock. Worked out very well. In fact, I may have liked the flavor even better. It takes a lot of shells to make a good stock.
I recommend making your stock with whatever seafood shells and gumbo crabs you have. Taste it and then add a little base at a time if it needs to be stronger. Taste along the way so you don't over salt and don't add salt until you've finished using the base.
As far as the crabmeat, I don't like shredded crabmeat in gumbo. It looks like white floating hairs to me.
If I use crabmeat, I use jumbo lump and/or crab claws. The claw meat is so tasty like dark meat chicken is tastier than white. The claw meat off the claw can have a lot of shells, so if you use that, go through it carefully. It also tends to shred a good bit, but the flavor is great. Also, don't freeze your gumbo with the seafood in it. It will simply overcook. I tend to make the gumbo base and add seafood only to the amount I'm going to use at the time. I save the rest of the base in the fridge for the next night or for freezing and just add fresh seafood when I'm ready to serve it. I took out some shrimp gumbo the other night, warmed it up and added the shrimp. Just like fresh made.
Posted on 12/12/17 at 12:21 pm to Gris Gris
quote:Great advice.
Also, don't freeze your gumbo with the seafood in it. It will simply overcook. I tend to make the gumbo base and add seafood only to the amount I'm going to use at the time. I save the rest of the base in the fridge for the next night or for freezing and just add fresh seafood when I'm ready to serve it. I took out some shrimp gumbo the other night, warmed it up and added the shrimp. Just like fresh made.
Posted on 12/12/17 at 12:32 pm to Gris Gris
quote:
In the past when I didn't have any shrimp shells stocked up in the freezer, I've bought cheap tiny shrimp and used those with gumbo crabs to make the stock
is this just cooking the crabs and shrimp in water for a period of time?
ETA: I know these are pretty basic questions but, i usually make chicken stock by boiling chicken in seasoned water with onions, celery and what ever other veggies i have around.
Never tried to make seafood stock.
This post was edited on 12/12/17 at 12:39 pm
Posted on 12/12/17 at 12:42 pm to MorbidTheClown
quote:
is this just cooking the crabs and shrimp in water for a period of time?
Yes and then straining the stock. I don't add anything to the water, but you can certainly add onion, celery etc... if you wish. I don't because the gumbo will have all of that in it and I want to taste the just the stock so I know how strong it is. People do it differently.
After you make the gumbo the first time, you'll be able to personalize it more to your own taste. Nothing I'm saying is written in stone by any means. However, I can't stress enough that a good stock is key even if it's just a shrimp stock which I sometimes make when I have a lot of shells.
I've said before that if you have a friendly seafood purveyor, ask them to save shells for you when they peel fresh shrimp and stick them in their freezer. During busy times, they will have a ton in a day or so and you can go pick them up. I used to have a place where they did this for me during the holidays and I picked them up after. I'm trying to establish something like this with another place, but they kind of don't get the point yet. I'm willing to buy the shells, though the other place never charged me. What a gift!
Posted on 12/12/17 at 12:45 pm to LSURussian
Posted on 12/12/17 at 12:51 pm to MorbidTheClown
quote:
i usually make chicken stock by boiling chicken in seasoned water with onions, celery and what ever other veggies i have around.
You can pretty much replace chicken with shrimp heads and shells and have a great stock. Or just the shrimp heads and shells with no veggies like Gris Gris said. That’s what I usually do.
Posted on 12/12/17 at 1:03 pm to MorbidTheClown
quote:
ETA: I know these are pretty basic questions but, i usually make chicken stock by boiling chicken in seasoned water with onions, celery and what ever other veggies i have around.
It's really up to you as to how you want to season the stock. I generally don't add any other flavors because I want to taste the strength of the pure stock. As I said, I will have all the flavors I want in the gumbo simmering in the gumbo anyway.
Another method is that you can roast the shrimp shells a bit in the oven or in the pan on the stove a bit before simmering them in the water. That will yield a rich stock with the roasted flavor. You will need to deglaze a bit with the water to get any fond up from the pot. Sometimes, I roast them, but more often then not, I simply simmer them. Don't outright boil them. Simmer them. It also doesn't take terribly long to get a good stock flavor. This isn't some hours thing. With just shrimp, you pretty much get what you're going to get with a good 30 minute or so simmer. I simmer longer when using gumbo crabs, but not much more than an hour or a little longer depending on what I'm doing.
Posted on 12/12/17 at 6:45 pm to Gris Gris
I made a Dashi and used it for 1/2 of my seafood stock the last gumbo I made. It turned out good but I didn't get any dashi umami. I want to try an all dashi stock but my next gumbo will be the Christmas gumbo so I don't want to experiment on my family. Dashi is dehydrated smoked tuna flakes ( bonito) and seaweed (kombu) that you dehydrate.....super simple to make. I made a pho using dashi as the stock and it turned out great. I buy the ingredients at Whole Foods.
Posted on 1/2/18 at 11:01 am to Gris Gris
Well, i failed miserably at this. I used the Minor's stuff to make the stock and tried to follow the recipe with pics in the other thread. Gumbo had almost no flavor at all.Looked good but,tasted like slightly briny water. No idea what i did wrong.
Question, since the gumbo doesn't get a lot of it's flavor from the seafood added during the cooking process, should i be able to do a taste test before adding the seafood? I'd rather not waste the crab meat,shrimp and oysters again.
Question, since the gumbo doesn't get a lot of it's flavor from the seafood added during the cooking process, should i be able to do a taste test before adding the seafood? I'd rather not waste the crab meat,shrimp and oysters again.
Posted on 1/2/18 at 11:39 am to MorbidTheClown
quote:
Question, since the gumbo doesn't get a lot of it's flavor from the seafood added during the cooking process, should i be able to do a taste test before adding the seafood? I'd rather not waste the crab meat,shrimp and oysters again.
Yes, for seafood gumbo, you should have a good flavor before you add any seafood. You should definitely be tasting it before adding the seafood. The seafood itself doesn't cook very long and doesn't add a lot of flavor. The stock and roux etc... take care of the flavor. I could eat seafood gumbo base without the seafood and it would taste good.
Did you use only the Minor's and which Minor's did you use? I've used it a bit to shore up a stock, but I don't think I've ever used it alone. Did you use in gumbo crabs or shrimp shells at all?
Also, with the Minor's, as far as the chicken or beef bases, I find you have to use more of what they recommend to get a stronger flavor.
Maybe you added too much liquid and it watered down the flavor? I'm guessing here.
Posted on 1/2/18 at 12:38 pm to Gris Gris
i used only the minor's. and i did add just a little bit more than recommended.The recommended was 1bsp per quart of water. I made a very small 2 qt batch and used 2 1/2 tbsp. I tasted it before adding anything and it basically tasted like briny water. much like the finished product. but, i wasn't really sure how it should taste so, i thought that was normal.
i guess i misinterpreted thinking it should be one or the other and not both.
i guess next time i'll add gumbo crabs and throw in the heads/shells from the shrimp i intend to use ?
quote:
Did you use in gumbo crabs or shrimp shells at all?
i guess i misinterpreted thinking it should be one or the other and not both.
i guess next time i'll add gumbo crabs and throw in the heads/shells from the shrimp i intend to use ?
Page 4 of 7
Popular
Back to top
Follow TigerDroppings for LSU Football News