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Gumbo


1978horn

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On 1/5/2025 at 8:25 PM, Cousin Strawberry said:

I do a gumbo with wild turkey legs/thighs, sausage and shrimp. I use stock I make from Greenberg smoked turkey carcasses which is super fatty and smokey. After the turkey legs finally loosen up, I shred and put back in the pot.  I am sure this is sacrilege but about an hour  before I want to serve I add 6oz of crab claw meat.  It disintegrates but gives it a crazy depth of flavor. Is this bush league?

I'm betting it takes a while to loosen up the meat on a Greenberg Turkey.

 

On the crab claws, it sounds a bit like @Brisketexan's putting shrimp shells in his stock for a little sumthin-sumthin.

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On 1/5/2025 at 10:02 PM, 956 Worldwide said:

@Brisketexan would say that real gumbo is to make a roux…then put whatever the hell you want in there. 
 

I nearly always have a jar of decent anchovies on hand. There are very few sauces or stews or other dishes that aren’t improved by adding a few of them at the beginning when you’re browning the vegetables and garlic.  I absolutely add them to gumbo, as the trinity is getting mixed in with the roux. You will not taste the strong fishiness, it just deepens the savoriness. 

I saw the last post re crab claws, came back to reply about anchovies then found you beat me to it. Great secret ingredient. I don’t really see crab as a flavor that adds something but you can’t quite tell what it is. Anchovy is definitely that. Crab should just be crab. If you like what crab meat adds, try just adding a little bit of anchovy instead. Maybe just 1 oz. or so. 

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I can see anchovies as a thing, because (as I may have mentioned several pages back) my Cajun friend in Breaux Bridge taught me to put soy sauce in gumbo to give it a nice but subtle unami kick.  Anchovies might do the same thing if used judiciously.

These days I'm also not so restrictive on my view of what you put in gumbo, as long as it has a solid roux base.  When I first read on this thread the notion of putting potato salad on gumbo, I thought to myself, "what the ever-living fuck?"  But once I tried it, I recognized its genius.  

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3 hours ago, South Austin said:

I can see anchovies as a thing, because (as I may have mentioned several pages back) my Cajun friend in Breaux Bridge taught me to put soy sauce in gumbo to give it a nice but subtle unami kick.  Anchovies might do the same thing if used judiciously.

These days I'm also not so restrictive on my view of what you put in gumbo, as long as it has a solid roux base.  When I first read on this thread the notion of putting potato salad on gumbo, I thought to myself, "what the ever-living fuck?"  But once I tried it, I recognized its genius.  

I adopted your soy sauce addition in addition to a Worcestershire sauce addition.  I even drop a tsp of Red Boat fish sauce in at the end if I have some handy.  Lots of layers of flavor.

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3 hours ago, WhatTheBuck said:

I saw the last post re crab claws, came back to reply about anchovies then found you beat me to it. Great secret ingredient. I don’t really see crab as a flavor that adds something but you can’t quite tell what it is. Anchovy is definitely that. Crab should just be crab. If you like what crab meat adds, try just adding a little bit of anchovy instead. Maybe just 1 oz. or so. 

I do the same thing with two cans of canned crab. It dissolves but gives the gumbo some weight and a little extra punch. 

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3 hours ago, South Austin said:

I can see anchovies as a thing, because (as I may have mentioned several pages back) my Cajun friend in Breaux Bridge taught me to put soy sauce in gumbo to give it a nice but subtle unami kick.  Anchovies might do the same thing if used judiciously.

These days I'm also not so restrictive on my view of what you put in gumbo, as long as it has a solid roux base.  When I first read on this thread the notion of putting potato salad on gumbo, I thought to myself, "what the ever-living fuck?"  But once I tried it, I recognized its genius.  

It’s a lot like adding soy sauce, and I bet fish sauce would work too although I haven’t tried it. I add 3-4 anchovies with the trinity and they break down and dissolve and leave the kick you are talking about. 
 

I am a traditionalist but stuff like this is different than adding a bunch of tomato to gumbo or putting beans in chili.  With the former you’re trying to make the best version of a dish.  With the latter, you may have made something really good but it’s not chili or gumbo anymore. 

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3 hours ago, dcbc said:

I'm betting it takes a while to loosen up the meat on a Greenberg Turkey.

 

On the crab claws, it sounds a bit like @Brisketexan's putting shrimp shells in his stock for a little sumthin-sumthin.

What else would you make seafood stock out of? I freeze shrimp shells in ziplocks and use them to make stocks for gumbo and for soup.  And if I am making a seafood pasta, I’ll let the pasta water boil with salt and some shrimp shells for a bit, then fish the shells out and do the pasta.  Give it a try, it will take what you are making up a level. 

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4 minutes ago, 956 Worldwide said:

What else would you make seafood stock out of? I freeze shrimp shells in ziplocks and use them to make stocks for gumbo and for soup.  And if I am making a seafood pasta, I’ll let the pasta water boil with salt and some shrimp shells for a bit, then fish the shells out and do the pasta.  Give it a try, it will take what you are making up a level. 

I may be misremembering, but I think he adds them to non-seafood stocks for some "extra."

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