What are GUMBO must have INGREDIENTS?

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I think the sausage is what makes it. I prefer my sausage to be a little more spicy than some others may prefer.

Unfortunately no one around here makes good gumbo
 
arjay said:
What goes into the roux?
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Flour and oil. White flour is blended, (wisked) into cooking oil, (hog lard in the old days), at a high temperature to create a dark thick gravy-like base for the gumbo. Care must be taken to prevent burning, and the preferred darkness color range falls into a rather narrow band. After the roux is done, the onions, celery, bell peppers, etc. are wilted in the roux prior to adding water and the meat.
"First, you make a roux" is the name of several cook books by Louisiana authors. It comes from the old cliche', " How does a cajun make love?" Answer - "First you make a roux",
indicating that most every cajun style dish is roux based, which used to be pretty close to true.
teesur.
 
Look in any dictionary and the word okra will be included due to the Creole/African connection. But sadly okra has disappeared in just about all the gumbos around here including my own. We used to have a little side pot of okra to add but that just didn't work, you got to cook it in the gumbo. I need to poll my friends and maybe there are still enough to share a big pot.
P.S.-Had chicken and sausage gumbo for supper Sunday and today.
 
Gentlemen...gentlemen...gentlemen. you all have made very good suggestions for a good gumbo but to make a truly Great gumbo you must include File. The dried leaves of the sassafras tree,it imparts a spicy,smoky background and is absolutely necessary for real Cajun gumbo.
Carry on.....
 
Boy, I haven't had a good gumbo in way too long! I wonder if I can find my mother's recipe.

Yeah, okra first and foremost. As others have suggested, it also needs shrimp, sausage, peppers, onion. Use your hot sauce of preference to the level desired.

Soak the okra for a bit in lemon juice before you throw it in, and that helps control the slime factor, or glue, or whatever you want to call it.

Yum! Got this on my mind now.
 
Got my gumbo cravings stirred up, too. This is as bad or worse than wanting wassle sliders aka White Castle hamburgers. :D

Are there any pre-made frozen varieties that are worth carrying home?
 
duppie said:
Gentlemen...gentlemen...gentlemen. you all have made very good suggestions for a good gumbo but to make a truly Great gumbo you must include File. The dried leaves of the sassafras tree,it imparts a spicy,smoky background and is absolutely necessary for real Cajun gumbo.
Carry on.....
Click to expand...
A few observations.
First regarding the file you must never cook it in the gumbo-you add it to your bowl at tableside otherwise it gets bitter and stringy.
Regarding the okra-this is the creole style that I grew up with in New Orleans. Down here on the Bayou in the country it isn't creole any more but cajun where it is thickened by roux and file. Me-I like my okra in my seafood gumbo and the roux based in the heavier chicken/sausage gumbo. Don't get me wrong-I like them both but it is really two different dishes. My secret for my chicken gumbo is to use chicken stock instead of water and then add the already cooked chicken pieces to it just to warm and serve. I make my stock from chicken pieces cooked on the pit to give a smoky flavor. Now, if you really want to have fin, for your chicken parts get a pack of chicken feet instead of necks. Smoke them on the pit and three things happen. First you get a great smoky chicken flavor when you boil them-they really make a great stock. More importantly, when they are smoked, the skin around the toe nails kinda pulls back and the whole foot constricts into a claw-kinda like a talon getting ready to grab a rabbit. Instead of removing them from the stock when finished, leave them in-it makes for a great presentation especially when you are serving some debutaunte from the city (or your mother in law). Watching their face when you put down a nice bowl of great smelling gumbo with that knarly looking claw sticking out is absolutely worth the price of admission :D
 
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