- In today's video, we're going to make gumbo.
I live outside of New Orleans,
I've been here for over 20 years,
and married to a southern man,
and I can tell you that today's recipe for gumbo
is the real deal.
It's what we eat at Christmas time,
on the weekends, on Sunday suppers.
Let's get started.
So the first thing we're going to do is make our roux.
The roux is the base to any gumbo
and it's practically a requirement
if you want to marry a southern man
to know how to make a roux.
So, I've been making one for 20 years.
I'm going to show you the easy method.
A roux is this secret to great gumbo.
I have a big cast iron pot here,
which I really enjoy making roux in cast iron
because it really distributes the heat evenly.
And the first thing I'm going to do over medium-high heat
is warm up my oil.
Gumbo is traditionally made with oil,
vegetable oil typically, or butter or lard.
It really depends what you want to start it with.
And once it's nice and warm,
we're going to slowly add our flour.
So over medium-high heat,
I'm going to combine my oil and my flour
and I'm gonna slowly toast it for about 20 to 25 minutes,
making sure that I stir constantly with a rubberized whisk
until we get about a of dark brown color.
Check it out.
We first are toasting it and it's going to look whitish.
In a few minutes, five minutes down the road,
it turns into a golden color.
Then it starts to toast
into a really light peanut butter color.
And about 12 to 15 minutes later,
you're going to get an almond butter darker brown color.
What you really want to get it to is a dark brown,
almost like a copper penny color.
That is a great base for your gumbo, right here,
and once this roux is done,
now we really get started with the rest of our ingredients.
Okay, I gave you the play-by-play of the colors of the roux
but rest assured that if you don't want to stir
for 20, 25 minutes
and you're good with a lighter-colored gumbo, it's great.
Just on a light peanut butter color type of roux,
that's good too.
Now that our roux is ready, we're gonna add our vegetables.
So I've pre-chopped some onions, bell, peppers, and celery,
and I'm going to add those to my roux
and stirring, I'm going to cook these for about five minutes
until they're soft.
Now that my vegetables are ready,
I'm going to add my andouille sausage.
Now, if you don't have andouille sausage,
you can also use a smoked sausage.
And here I have about a pound of shredded chicken,
but you can also save some time
and get a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store,
take the meat apart, shred it, and add it to your pot.
Now to that, I'm going to top it with my creole seasoning.
I'm going to have in the description box below for you
how to make your own creole seasoning
if you don't have that around you.
It's very basic spices.
You can also find it at a grocery store.
And then some bay leaves.
Let's mix this around
and once everything has toasted and combined,
the spices are all around the chicken
and the sausage with the veggies,
we are going to add our liquid stock.
This is a chicken andouille gumbo,
so today I'm just adding chicken stock
or broth, both work here.
Now we're going to keep stirring
so our chicken, our sausage, our veggies,
and our roux that's stuck to all of that
really blends well with our stock.
Now, once our gumbo comes to a boil,
I'm going to reduce my heat to medium to low,
and I'm gonna let it simmer for a long time,
low and slow for about two hours.
Guys, I'm telling you,
gumbo is an all-day thing here in the south,
so it is definitely a labor of love.
So now that it's simmering,
I'm going to put on my lid and I'll be back.
So now that gumbo is ready.
I'm going to simply skim the fat off the top,
grabbing a large spoon, going around the pot,
taking that fat layer off of the top,
putting into another pot so I can discard it after.
Now, this final step is to add file.
File is ground sassafras leaves.
They add a lot of flavor,
so I like to add the file once I turn off my heat
and my gumbo is not boiling.
So I take my file powder and I put it right over my gumbo,
I take a spoon, and I simply add it right into my gumbo,
making sure that it gets incorporated really well.
Now, sometimes we also pass around the gumbo file jar
around the table here locally.
So if you want to make your gumbo extra thick,
you sprinkle some right into your bowl and that works too.
So gumbo is traditionally served over rice.
I'm gonna simply put a scoop of rice
that I've been cooking on the side into my bowl
and then I want to take some awesome big ladles
of this amazing looking gumbo.
Check it out.
Thick, delicious, so much flavor right in there.
And now it's time, guys, to take my spoon and dig in.
I'm so excited.
This is my family's favorite meal.
Mm.
So good.
So good, I'm dripping.
Guys, make sure you grab the recipe and ingredients
right below this video
so you can make your gumbo incredible at home.
And while you're down there, hit that red subscribe button.
You and I get to cook together a few times a week.
See you next time.
(cheerful music)