¼ cup flour
¼ cup butter, or any cooking oil (not olive)
1 or 2 large yellow onions
1 cup chopped bell pepper
¾ cup chopped celery with tops
2 lbs smoked sausage
1-1/2 or more cups cooked or raw turkey or chicken
1 quart chicken or beef broth
Seasonings: Garlic powder Tony’s Seasoning Onion powder Chopped green onions (1/2 cup or more) Black pepper Salt TBSP of Kitchen Bouquet to enhance the color (Optional), Gumbo File
Additional info on ingredients: Serve in bowls over rice. Folks in New Orleans serve gumbo with potato salad as a side dish.
First you make a roux. A roux is the combination of oil and flour that gives gumbo it’s unique consistency and color. Add to a heavy duty pot (Preferably a well seasoned black iron pot, if you don’t have one a flat bottomed large soup pot will do.) ¼ cup flour (self-rising or regular flour will is ok…not Bisquick or any other mix since they contain oil, dried milk etc.) ¼ cup butter, or any cooking oil (not olive) Brown stirring constantly on a medium high heat until the mixture looks like a melted milk chocolate bar. Do not burn. If it burns throw it out and start over.
Cut up prior to starting your roux: Finely chopped 1 or 2 large yellow onion 1 cup chopped bell pepper ¾ cup chopped celery with tops The more seasonings the better you can play with the quantity that suits your taste.
2 lbs smoked sausage – can be any brand. Smoked venison is great in gumbo. If you can find andouille sausage which has a great taste, use it. It is expensive but good. Made from the ham portion of the hog. Inexpensive sausage works fine also. Cut the sausage into bite sized pieces.
1-1/2 or more cups cooked or raw turkey or chicken.
Here is the fun part. You can add other things as your taste dictates. I have added pork chops, ham, seafood, any kind of meat. The very idea of a gumbo is to use leftovers. Kind of like vegetable soup.
Seasonings: (I don’t measure these just add as the spirit moves me.) Garlic powder Tony’s Seasoning (contains red pepper so go easy if people have sensitive palates) Onion powder Chopped green onions (1/2 cup or more) Black pepper and salt… don’t add salt until it is almost cooked. (Sausage and ham, etc will make it too salty sometimes. Better to add at the end to suit your taste.) When the roux is ready and a nice chocolate color, add the chopped vegetables and turn down the heat. It will steam up and make a fuss, but you just keep stirring. The browning will stop when you add the veggies. Sautee in the roux until the onions are transparent, appx 10 minutes. Add the meat, and about 1 quart chicken or beef broth.
Simmer on medium or low so it bubbles nicely. Add water as needed. It should be fairly thick and have a nice color. You can also add a tablespoon of Kitchen Bouquet (a southern cooking secret to make gravy and soups a lovely color) to enhance the color. Gumbo is done when the meat is cooked. About 45 minutes. Serve in bowls over rice.
Gumbo file is a key ingredient but hard to find in some parts of the country. (Adding that I have been able to find this on Amazon.) It is the dried leaf of the sassafras tree (the very same tree from whose root people make root beer). Just a pinch is needed to give gumbo the authentic taste. P.S. Real gumbo does not have tomatoes
Thanks for this amazing recipe, Sierra Smith!
