Recent Kitchen Experiments

[Dannyalcatraz]

I've been doing more experiments in the kitchen. Two of the better results have been:

1) Pan-fried cherry tomatoes. (Well, any small tomatoes will do.) What I did was cooked a bunch of just-rinsed small tomatoes- whole- in the oil, drippings & seasonings left in the pan after frying up some steaks. I turned the heat down to about medium, and just let them sizzle a bit, moving them around from time to time. By the time the steaks had rested and the other veggies had been plated, the tomatoes were done- mostly still round, but just a little bit of browning, splitting, and shriveling. I added a little bit of garlic pepper for additional pop.

The end result was a nice tasty side that partnered well with the main course. I'll probably try this again in the future, sans steak drippings, to go with other dishes.

2) Modified Louisiana hot sausage. I can't give the recipe because it is actually a commercial recipe used by my family, so I'm under an honor-system NDA for the next few decades. However, I modified it in a key fashion. The original recipe called for a certain amount of water to be added to the meat in order to give it the texture & consistency to let it be stuffed into the sausage casings. I HATE STUFFING SAUSAGE CASINGS! But I needed this sausage to make gumbo according to the way we've been doing it since...well...before I was born.

So I cut the amount of water in the recipe by 50%. This did 2 things: it concentrated the flavors just a bit- thankfully not too much, since this was a hot sausage to start off with- and it changed the consistency to a firmer end product. It was still malleable, but it was far too firm to get into a casing. However, it was now firm enough to cook WITHOUT the casing. Now, I can store it rolled into cylinders in the freezer, and when I take it out to use, I have all kinds of options. We used to fry the sausage, cut it in half lengthwise, and make sandwiches with it. Now I can make a burger-like party with it instead.

And for the gumbo, the all-important gumbo? As the cylinders thaw, I cut them into medallions and fry them before adding them to the gumbo., and they don't fall apart during the cooking process. All the flavor, half the fuss.

 

[CleverNickName]

Rib-a-Thon 2025 let's goooooooooooooooooooo

 

[Pale Violet Light]

And for the gumbo, the all-important gumbo?

Are you able to give us the gumbo recipe, at the very least? Though it may be a shallow imitation without the required sausage (or improved versions thereof).

 

[Jahydin]

Rib-a-Thon 2025 let's goooooooooooooooooooo

View attachment 415917

Looks good! Do you smoke, bake, grill, or Instant Pot them?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Are you able to give us the gumbo recipe, at the very least? Though it may be a shallow imitation without the required sausage (or improved versions thereof).

Can do! I just have to find the copy I wrote up a while back. It will be up soon.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

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 at a time, stirring it in thoroughly as you do. Between the parseley, thyme and filé, the gumbo will probably 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 Lebanese sujuk, would work, as long as they don’t have strongly flavored exotic seasonings not usually found in creole cuisine, 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.

BONUS: Roux tutorial

 

[Aeson]

I started to ask where was the okra. Proof you should read until the end before asking dumb questions. I had heard okra was where gumbo got its name. If I'm reading correctly, you seem to have your doubts. Personally I don't like boiled okra. Too slimy. I like it fried.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I started to ask where was the okra. Proof you should read until the end before asking dumb questions. I had heard okra was where gumbo got its name. If I'm reading correctly, you seem to have your doubts. Personally I don't like boiled okra. Too slimy. I like it fried.

Oh no, I’m not doubting that, but I know enough do. So I don’t want to come across as authoritative on that point.

As someone who generally doesn’t like okra, I usually avoid it. There’s a Filipino restaurant near me that makes a grilled okra dish that was surprisingly good, and I’ve learned that the small African okra is much less slimy, which makes it better for non-gumbo applications. (The slime is a thickener in gumbo.)

That said, I have had a few gumbos with okra that I’ve enjoyed, but 2 of the people who made them have passed away.

I will say, though, that I occasionally make what I call “Bachelor Gumbo”, which is an okra-based chicken & sausage gumbo. It got its name because I streamlined & simplified the process for people who don’t cook often. Essentially, it’s a “dump” dish, in which you’re throwing cans of stuff in a pot:

Canned chicken stock
Canned stewed okra (has okra, tomatoes & onions)
Canned chicken
Smoked or Country style sausage
Seasonings (as mentioned above)
Cooked rice

Basically, start cooking your rice in one pot. Then slice your sausage, brown it in your gumbo pot, then deglaze with the chicken stock. After that, just start dumping stuff in and season it.

The hard part is getting your preferred seasoning right. Everything else- besides slicing sausage- is open a can of ______ and dumping it in a pot over medium heat, no special skills required.

It’s something even an unskilled cook could make any day of the week. Anyone should be able to get a presentable basic gumbo in under half an hour.

And of course, you can use things like leftover fried/roasted chicken if you have it.

 

[Aeson]

This is slightly off topic but related to what you just said. I had a bag of frozen meatballs with a recipe for a sauce on the bag. It sounded good so I tried making it once. It was good but a little too spicy. I ended up cooking some rice to mellow it out. The recipe had three ingredients; grape jelly, chili sauce and red pepper flakes. The grape jelly had a measurement of 6 oz. The other two were to taste. I but about two tbsp of the chili sauce and some red pepper flakes. I hadn't used chili sauce before. I probably should have tasted it before using it. Next time I might use half of what I used and pinch of red pepper. I will use it again because I think it would be good as a dipping sauce for other things like chicken nuggets or tenders. So, yeah getting the "to taste" part is often the hard part. I like spicy, but if it's too hot to enjoy or dominates the taste of what you're eating, it's too much. The art is in the balance.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Unless they mention a particular brand or style, chili sauces can vary in spiciness almost as much as pepper sauces.

Personally, I need to lean how to make a good Chinese hot oil. There was a restaurant near me that made a superb one, but they closed a few months ago. Instead of it just being a blend of oil and peppers, they added pan seared fresh grated ginger to the mix.

The result- when added to other sauces- was head and shoulders above most Chinese hot oils I’ve tried. I used to go buy jars of it and add it to things like honey for dipping. Simply brilliant!