In the aftermath of that dinner, I got a lot of requests for recipes. So I took the time to write up my side of the dishes prepared, and sent them out. Now, nobody here asked, but why the hell shouldn’t I do so anyway?
Filé Seafood Gumbo
Gumbo is one of those non-recipe recipes. You’re creating a flavor YOU like, so it’s never precisely the same. What follows is an approximation, a target to aim for. I don’t measure most of my seasonings, preferring to go by taste, because some of the ingredients like sausage are already pre-seasoned, so you’ll need to adapt on the fly.
A general note on ingredients: little here is set in stone. My Mom’s version included diced ham, and when crab was unavailable, she substituted lobster tails. Turkey could be used in place of chicken. The late Leah Chase (owner/operator/chef of Dooky Chase restaurant in New Orleans) included venison in the stock she made for her gumbo.
Parenthetical numbers after a line refers to the Notes section at the end.
Yellow onions, 3-5, depending on size, chopped fine (1)
Garlic, 2-3 heads worth of cloves, crushed, chopped or minced
Celery 1-1.5 clusters worth of stalks, cleaned and chopped. I mix the sizes of my chopped celery- some chunky, some fine.
Chicken thighs, 3-6lbs
Smoked sausage (beef or beef/pork) 2-4lbs, sliced into medallions (2)
Hot sausage (beef) 2-3lbs, diced as finely as you can (3)
Shrimp (16-20 size), 2lbs, cleaned and peeled (or tail on)
Cleaned crab in shell, broken into clusters (4)
Lump crab meat 16oz
Chicken stock, 96oz
Chicken bullion (optional: 1-2 cubes, to taste)
Dried Bay Leaf, 3-6, depending on size
Salt
Black pepper
Cayenne pepper
Parsley
Thyme
Ground Filé (sassafras), @.75oz+ (5)
Oil
Roux (6):
All purpose Flour (7)
Oil (8)
White rice
In a stock pot, begin by sautéing your onions, garlic and celery over low to medium heat. After they’ve clarified, remove them from the pot and begin browning your sausage medallions. When your medallions gave some good color, remove from the pot and deglaze the pan if necessary. Repeat the process with your diced hot sausage. Once it is cooked, remove it and begin browning your chicken.
While you are doing the sautéing and browning of the meat, start your roux using approximately equal amounts of oil and flour. In a large non-stick frying pan over low heat, brown the flour in the oil, stirring frequently. (9)
Also, begin cooking your rice.
After the chicken has browned, deglaze your pot, then return all your meat & veggies into the stock pot. Add most of your chicken stock and bay leaf, as well as some of your salt, black pepper and red pepper. Cook over medium to medium-high heat, covered, stirring occasionally. You want a steady slow boil. When the chicken is thoroughly cooked, you will be able to break it apart with your spoon. At that point, reduce your heat to low, and begin your final seasoning with everything except the filé. When you have the flavor you want, add the filé by sprinkling it in a little bit art a time, stirring it in thoroughly as you do. Between the parseley, thyme and filé, the gumbo will provably take on a green/brown hue.
Add your roux, stirring it in thoroughly.
At this point, you could serve this as a chicken and sausage gumbo. Turn off your pot and begin to serve. To make this a seafood gumbo, continue as directed below.
For seafood gumbo, this is when you add your crab and shrimp. (10) Immediately after adding the seafood and stirring it in, turn your gumbo off and cover. After about 10-15 minutes, the seafood will be thoroughly cooked. Check your seasoning one more time, adjusting it if needed.
Serve over rice.
NOTES:
1. Make sure you don’t use sweet onions like 1015s, Walla Wallas, Mauis or Vidalias. Green onions, however, could be used as a substitute, or as a garnish/topper.
2. I usually use just one kind of smoked sausage, but the last time I made gumbo, I had to use two different ones because of limited availability.
3. I make my own hot sausage, but any good creole hot sausage will do. In a pinch, hot sausages from other cuisines, like sujuk, would work, as long as they don’t have strongly flavored exotic seasonings not usually , like fennel
4. Blue crab is traditional, at least in most USA versions of gumbo, but others work as well. These days, we usually use snow crab.
5. If you can’t find filé, look for okra, which was actually the original thickening agent. (“Gumbo” supposedly comes from an African word for okra.). Also, some cooks use both filè and okra.
6. Roux is just flour browned in oil, and serves as a thickener and flavor enhancer. The lighter it is, the more it will thicken the gumbo, but it won’t add as much flavor. A darker roux will add more flavor, but will not thicken as much. Roux can also be made ahead of time and frozen.
7. If someone has problems with gluten, a rice flour is a good substitute for regular flour
8. Something neutral- vegetable, canola, etc.- works best, but I’ve used butter or bacon grease with good results
9. Many people actually make their roux in the stock pot used for the gumbo as a whole. But I have found that using a separate pan for making roux saves time. AND if you burn your roux in the stock pot, you have to clean out that pot and start over- not an issue if your roux is made in a different pan.
10. I have added my seafood directly from the refrigerator or even the freezer with no problems.