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1978horn

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9 hours ago, Braff Zacklin said:

Seems like you complemented your scrimps and sausage with crab meat, which makes you a great American in my book, sir.

I did indeed. I know you’re not supposed to put sausage in a seafood gumbo, but I did it any way.  It turned out just fine, but it wasn’t cheap. The shrimp and crab meat alone was about $30. 

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Gumbo has a thousand mothers so for every old wives tale that says you're not supposed to put sausage in seafood gumbo there are a few thousand households in Acadiana that wouldn't have it any other way. We go to a big gumbo party in Lafayette every spring and the seafood gumbo pot always has a health dose of andouille from Best Stop.

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It's like sausage will overwhelm the seafood, but a heavy reddish-brown to black roux doesn't?  During Emeril's Emeril Live show many years ago every time he would quote one of these so-called rules he would look at the camera and say, "Who made up these rules?"  

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Sausage is fine and totally acceptable in all gumbo. 

That being said, my preference is seafood only for seafood gumbo. Shrimp, oysters, crab at minimum...maybe some crawfish or half a small lobster tail if you are really feeling it.  

Edited by Anastasis
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Sausage is fine and totally acceptable in all gumbo. 
That being said, my preference is seafood only for seafood gumbo. Shrimp, oysters, crab at minimum...maybe some crawfish or half a small lobster tail if you are really feeling it.  

Agree. Chicken or duck or gator and andouille - fine. But I like seafood gumbo to be seafood.
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Seafood gumbo is seafood gumbo, and non seafood gumbo is non seafood gumbo and way less expensive, at least in this house. When I'm making seafood gumbo for a big family dinner the shrimp and crab bill can approach $100, but of course that's cause I only buy from Stevie at seafood lover.

I'll never be able to make a gumbo as good as the Schooner, though.

So now I've got a new smoker, thinking about smoking chicken and using it in gumbo. Anyone done that?

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Seafood gumbo is seafood gumbo, and non seafood gumbo is non seafood gumbo and way less expensive, at least in this house. When I'm making seafood gumbo for a big family dinner the shrimp and crab bill can approach $100, but of course that's cause I only buy from Stevie at seafood lover.

I'll never be able to make a gumbo as good as the Schooner, though.

So now I've got a new smoker, thinking about smoking chicken and using it in gumbo. Anyone done that?

Absolutely. It’s maybe my best gumbo.

Smoke 6-8 chicken quarters. Then, let them cool. Pick the meat, put it in a ziplock. Use the skin, bones, etc, to make your stock. Smoked chicken stock. Chunks of smoked chicken. It’s fantastic.
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1 minute ago, Brisketexan said:


Absolutely. It’s maybe my best gumbo.

Smoke 6-8 chicken quarters. Then, let them cool. Pick the meat, put it in a ziplock. Use the skin, bones, etc, to make your stock. Smoked chicken stock. Chunks of smoked chicken. It’s fantastic.

I did a gumbo with smoked turkey leg quarters and andouillie sausage (and some loose hot pork sausage to make some good grease for the roux) for New Years partying.  The big question for me was "do you involve okra and/or tomato in that gumbo?"  I chose not to and the results were glorious.  

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 months later...

I got a hankerin' and made some gumbo. Not without covid difficulties, of course. I had a pickup order for the local Kroger last Sunday for our regular groceries and my gumbo ingredients. They were not able to fulfill my garlic bulbs, my tomatoes, my file, and most importantly my scrimps. I was able to place an order for H-Mart via Instacart for the scrimps a few days later and get the file via Amazon. Got the good scrimps with the heads, too (Kroger only had the headless ones). I used Alton Brown's recipe. It was damn fine. Probably one serving left. 

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That is a bowl! It's kind of a hybrid bowl/plate that's part of whatever set my wife and her mom requested infinity years ago when we registered. I think actually it's the perfect presentation for gumbo. But then again, what the hell do I know, I'm a Union Man. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
21 minutes ago, austingirl said:

Here's how I make a gumbo.

Brown all the andouille. I use 4 12 oz packs of Cajun Holler since it's the easiest to get a hold of in Austin. Damn I miss Nick's in PA

 

that looks amazing !

i agree about nick's. im also a fan of the roux at the schooner, no rice and no meat 

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12 hours ago, tx 3 putt said:

 

that looks amazing !

i agree about nick's. im also a fan of the roux at the schooner, no rice and no meat 

See I always get the stuffed crabs or catfish pontchartrain there. With some of those au gratin potatoes as a side. But everything there is amazing.

11 hours ago, ERhine said:

Jarred roux? Really?

🙄 Yes, really. 

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20 hours ago, austingirl said:

Here's how I make a gumbo.

Brown all the andouille. I use 4 12 oz packs of Cajun Holler since it's the easiest to get a hold of in Austin. Damn I miss Nick's in PA, though.

84bf1ecc90980840aed1ef88b6be1eb0.jpg

Make a roux. I use 1 cup flour to 1 cup vegetable oil. Back home though I save myself some work and use a jar of Douget's or Savoie's roux. I actually never made roux till I moved to Austin and couldn't find it anywhere but Sambet's on 183. Takes me about 30 minutes to make it these days, now that I have a lot of practice under my belt. If you're worried about messing it up, just keep the flame low and be patient. Here it is about ready:

a313b3c7cf7e203dde036179c289cf49.jpg

Add trinity plus a handful of garlic. I use about 2 green peppers, 2 big onions, and 4-5 celery stalks. Season with a shitload of Tony's and cook about 10 minutes, till the veggies get soft.

7076a481ac02b5d7c802eb4c45744ceb.jpg

f955c69fffe37ed7bebdad05e52904f4.jpg

Add about 3 quarts water or chicken broth, the sausage, and more Tony's. Cook about 30 minutes.

408c8c37106c2ac51308849a4154daea.jpg

Add 3 lbs chicken thighs, seasoned with Tony's. Cook at least an hour.

a12999eff17cebfef2e74cc2a847fb7a.jpg

Add 1 bunch each of green onions and Italian parsley. Cook another 15 minutes.

d03d8908185929781c2131bd4989236d.jpg


Plated with a side of garlic bread. Happy Saturday, y'all!

f4c779c981a624cb0192b5f3e47efbae.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I love this post 

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20 hours ago, austingirl said:

Here's how I make a gumbo.

Brown all the andouille. I use 4 12 oz packs of Cajun Holler since it's the easiest to get a hold of in Austin. Damn I miss Nick's in PA, though.

84bf1ecc90980840aed1ef88b6be1eb0.jpg

Make a roux. I use 1 cup flour to 1 cup vegetable oil. Back home though I save myself some work and use a jar of Douget's or Savoie's roux. I actually never made roux till I moved to Austin and couldn't find it anywhere but Sambet's on 183. Takes me about 30 minutes to make it these days, now that I have a lot of practice under my belt. If you're worried about messing it up, just keep the flame low and be patient. Here it is about ready:

a313b3c7cf7e203dde036179c289cf49.jpg

Add trinity plus a handful of garlic. I use about 2 green peppers, 2 big onions, and 4-5 celery stalks. Season with a shitload of Tony's and cook about 10 minutes, till the veggies get soft.

7076a481ac02b5d7c802eb4c45744ceb.jpg

f955c69fffe37ed7bebdad05e52904f4.jpg

Add about 3 quarts water or chicken broth, the sausage, and more Tony's. Cook about 30 minutes.

408c8c37106c2ac51308849a4154daea.jpg

Add 3 lbs chicken thighs, seasoned with Tony's. Cook at least an hour.

a12999eff17cebfef2e74cc2a847fb7a.jpg

Add 1 bunch each of green onions and Italian parsley. Cook another 15 minutes.

d03d8908185929781c2131bd4989236d.jpg


Plated with a side of garlic bread. Happy Saturday, y'all!

f4c779c981a624cb0192b5f3e47efbae.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Nothing better than the smell of the Trinity hitting that hot roux!  Great post.

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On 1/15/2020 at 10:23 PM, BearSchlong said:

Seafood gumbo is seafood gumbo, and non seafood gumbo is non seafood gumbo and way less expensive, at least in this house. When I'm making seafood gumbo for a big family dinner the shrimp and crab bill can approach $100, but of course that's cause I only buy from Stevie at seafood lover.

I'll never be able to make a gumbo as good as the Schooner, though.

So now I've got a new smoker, thinking about smoking chicken and using it in gumbo. Anyone done that?

Yes, it's awesome. After you've done that, smoke a duck and make a gumbo with it, if you haven't already. My uncle always makes a ton of smoked duck gumbo after the first weekend of hunting season.

On 1/15/2020 at 1:59 PM, Anastasis said:

Sausage is fine and totally acceptable in all gumbo. 

That being said, my preference is seafood only for seafood gumbo. Shrimp, oysters, crab at minimum...maybe some crawfish or half a small lobster tail if you are really feeling it.  

 

On 1/15/2020 at 2:58 PM, Gatorubet said:


Agree. Chicken or duck or gator and andouille - fine. But I like seafood gumbo to be seafood.

Same - I grew up eating poultry/sausage or seafood gumbo. I also like file in my seafood gumbo. My uncle is deathly allergic to shellfish so we didn't eat seafood gumbo often, because we always made enough gumbo for big family gatherings. And it's so damn expensive to get enough seafood to make a big enough pot. ALTHOUGH a few years back, in what is possibly the most southeast TX thing that's ever happened, my dad was riding his bike down Gulf (the street) behind a shrimp truck and a 75-lb bag of flash-frozen shrimp fell out. The driver didn't notice, so he waited a few minutes and when the truck didn't come back around, he went home, got his truck, went back to the bag (it was about a block from home), loaded it up and brought it home. The shrimp was still frozen so he and my mom spent the evening bagging it all into 5-gallon ziplocks and putting them in the deep freeze. They brought us several bags the next time they came to town. So that's one way to make affordable seafood gumbo. 

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On 5/24/2020 at 8:58 AM, South Austin said:

I know a woman who lives in Breaux Bridge whose family uses jarred roux every one in a while. Seems sacrilege, but a lot of Cajuns do this.

 

On 5/24/2020 at 1:25 AM, tx 3 putt said:

one of my customers over there is a vegetarian and that's how he always ordered it. so i tried it and liked it 

The thing about roux is that while it's certainly a measure of pride (and the mark of a lot of practice) to be able to make a good one from scratch, it's only two basic ingredients - white flour and a neutral oil. Without the rest of the gumbo ingredients, there's not a big flavor difference between two rouxs cooked to the same color of doneness, whether it's made fresh or from a jar.

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28 minutes ago, austingirl said:

 

The thing about roux is that while it's certainly a measure of pride (and the mark of a lot of practice) to be able to make a good one from scratch, it's only two basic ingredients - white flour and a neutral oil. Without the rest of the gumbo ingredients, there's not a big flavor difference between two rouxs cooked to the same color of doneness, whether it's made fresh or from a jar.

She's not wrong.  I've used a jarred roux a coupla times.  I really couldn't tell a difference in the end product.

Oh, and if you're making a smoked chicken gumbo, pro tip: let the chicken cool.  Pick the meat off the bones, put the meat in the fridge for later.  Take the bones/scraps/carcass and boil down to make smoked chicken stock.  Use that as the base of your liquid when making your gumbo.  Winning.

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On 5/23/2020 at 10:22 PM, austingirl said:

Here's how I make a gumbo.

Brown all the andouille. I use 4 12 oz packs of Cajun Holler since it's the easiest to get a hold of in Austin. Damn I miss Nick's in PA, though.

84bf1ecc90980840aed1ef88b6be1eb0.jpg

Make a roux. I use 1 cup flour to 1 cup vegetable oil. Back home though I save myself some work and use a jar of Douget's or Savoie's roux. I actually never made roux till I moved to Austin and couldn't find it anywhere but Sambet's on 183. Takes me about 30 minutes to make it these days, now that I have a lot of practice under my belt. If you're worried about messing it up, just keep the flame low and be patient. Here it is about ready:

a313b3c7cf7e203dde036179c289cf49.jpg

Add trinity plus a handful of garlic. I use about 2 green peppers, 2 big onions, and 4-5 celery stalks. Season with a shitload of Tony's and cook about 10 minutes, till the veggies get soft.

7076a481ac02b5d7c802eb4c45744ceb.jpg

f955c69fffe37ed7bebdad05e52904f4.jpg

Add about 3 quarts water or chicken broth, the sausage, and more Tony's. Cook about 30 minutes.

408c8c37106c2ac51308849a4154daea.jpg

Add 3 lbs chicken thighs, seasoned with Tony's. Cook at least an hour.

a12999eff17cebfef2e74cc2a847fb7a.jpg

Add 1 bunch each of green onions and Italian parsley. Cook another 15 minutes.

d03d8908185929781c2131bd4989236d.jpg


Plated with a side of garlic bread. Happy Saturday, y'all!

f4c779c981a624cb0192b5f3e47efbae.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Appreciate it. I want to take a crack at this and needed Gumbo for dummies.

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