Gumbo

[DetlefK]

This is my variation of a recipe of chef Isaac Toups.



"Gumbo"
serves about 4 people
the meat:
* 1.5 pounds chicken legs, with skin and bones, cut in half by the joint (I've seen someone substitute chicken for duck)
* 1 pound smoked sausage, cut into small slices (I substituted with smoked pork-belly, cut into 1-inch-pieces)
the roux:
* a generous shot of cooking-oil
* 3 heaping tablespoons of flour
the vegetables:
* 1 onion
* 1 paprika
* 1 bunch of celery-stalks
* 2 fresh chilis
* a whole lotta garlic
the spices:
* 2 bay-leaves
* a pinch of thyme
* 1 bottle of dark beer
* cold broth or water



1.
In a large pot, fry the chicken until crunchy from the outside. (No need to fry it through.)
While the chicken fries, dice the onion, paprika and celery and finely mince the chili and garlic. (Toups has this trick of crushing garlic with the flat side of a heavy knife and I love it.)

2.
Remove the chicken from the pot, but don't start the roux until all of the vegetables have been chopped.

3.
For the dark roux, add some oil to the pot, then add the flour. Whisk. Adjust oil until the mixture runs like a thin sauce. Increase the heat to medium-to-high and start whisking. A dark roux burns easily, so don't stop whisking for the next 15 minutes. Don't you DARE walking away from the pot and doing anything else. Stay at the pot, check the color of the roux and whisk.

4.
After 15 minutes or so, when the roux is medium-brown, add the vegetables and a generous pinch of salt. (Toups suggests to add the chili and garlic later because they burn easily, but I didn't see a difference.) Stir and fry the vegetables.

5.
Add half a bottle of dark beer (enjoy the other half), the bay-leaves, the thyme, the chicken, the smoked sausage and stir. Add broth or water until barely covered. Bring to boil and cook for about 1.5 hours. Adjust seasoning with salt&pepper: Gumbo is hot.

Serve with boiled rice. (75-100g per adult)

[Saviolo]

1. That's simpler than our recipe, for sure!

[Major Nikon]

2. Like Hank Williams says, it's file gumbo

Cajuns were actually the Choctaw Native Americans who co-existed with the French in what is now the Southeastern US. This is where gumbo comes from and was originally thickened with filé which came from those Native Americans from which the recipe originates and adds a distinctive flavor along with the thickening agents. Later on Creole influences to the recipe added okra which was also used as a thickening agent.

I realize lots of chefs use neither of those things and that doesn't mean the recipe isn't going to be good, but to me there always seems to be something missing. I use both okra and filé in my gumbo, one because I like what they add to the dish and two because it's my way of paying homage to the influences from which it came.

[trof]

3. Whoa! Where did you get the idea the Cajuns (Acadians) were Choctaws?

"The Cajuns (/ˈkeɪdʒən/; Louisiana French: les Cadiens), also known as Acadians (Louisiana French: les Acadiens),[2] are an ethnic group mainly living in the U.S. state of Louisiana, and in the Canadian maritimes provinces as well as Québec consisting in part of the descendants of the original Acadian exiles—French-speakers from Acadia (L'Acadie) in what are now the Maritimes of Eastern Canada. In Louisiana, Acadian and Cajun are often used as broad cultural terms without reference to actual descent from the deported Acadians."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cajuns

My wife is 100% Cajun on both side for many generations.

[Major Nikon]

5. Because Native Americans pre-dated Europeans by well over a millennium

I should have been more clear in that by were, I meant before they were anything else, they were indigenous. Like many other uniquely American dishes there’s a heavy influence from the native people of the area.

[trof]

4. Sorry, but according to Miz t. (Cajun to the bone)...

If it doesn't have either file' or okra it ain't gumbo.
And gumbo does not have chili peppers in it.
It has the 'holy trinity', celery, onions, and bell peppers.
It may be pot hot, but not spice hot.
That's optional, after it's served.
(Tabasco)

I don't mean to start a fight here, but what you posted may be a really good soup or stew, but it ain't gumbo.
Not according to my Cajun wife.

[DetlefK]

6. Thanks. The original recipe I saw didn't mention okra or fil.

And I used chili because I prefer chili-hotness over black-pepper-hotness.