Brad Ford
01-24-2010, 03:33 PM
In recognition of the frozen ponds in hell and the pigs landing at the airport, and the Saints in the NFC title game, I've made a big pot of gumbo for a gang of Saints fans who will be gathering shortly.
In case anybody else wants to make gumbo here's how:
Chicken Stock
Ingredients:
1 whole chicken, cut into pieces
1 onion
2 carrots
1-2 stalks celery
small handful parsley stalks (reserve leaves)
1 cup white wine (if you have it)
Salt
Black Pepper (whole pepper corns if you have them)
Tabasco/Louisiana Hot Sauce/Texas Pete/ground cayenne pepper (your preference)
Rough chop onion, carrots, celery. Put chicken back neck and giblets, vegetables, salt and black pepper in a big pot. Cover with about 1-1 ½ gallon of water and wine. Slow boil for about 1 hour. Add pepper sauce/cayenne and salt to taste. Boil about another 30 minutes. While the stock is boiling sprinkle Tony's on the legs/thighs/breasts and roast. Strip the meat and reserve, throw the bones/skins in the stock.
As the stock boils (slowly) a scum will form on top. Skim it off.
When done, remove the chicken remnants. Strain the stock and throw vegetables away. Give the bones to the dog.
Let stock cool. Then, either skim grease off or use a gravy pitcher (spout from bottom) to separate grease.
You can make more than you need and freeze what you don’t use for the gumbo. I freeze it in little Glad containers, about 2 cups each.
Gumbo
Ingredients
1 cup flour
½ - ¾ cups oil
1 cups onions, chopped (I usually put in 2 cups because I like onions)
1 cup green onions, chopped
½ cup bell pepper, chopped
1/4 cup celery, chopped
½ cup chopped parsley
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp dried mint flakes
1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
Salt
Black pepper, ground
3 cups chopped okra (I usually get a frozen bag and use the whole thing). Okra is used as a thickener. If you don’t like okra, don’t put it in. Buy a little jar of file` (fee-lay, ground sassafras). Put file` in your bowl when you serve the gumbo, not the pot. Cooking file turns it bitter.
2 Lbs Andouille sausage (smoked sausage if you can’t get andouille)
Get all the ingredients together and chopped before you start. I usually do them while making the stock the night before and put them in Ziploc bags.
Slice sausage links in half length-wise. Place on a cookie sheet (on a wire rack is better) cut-side down and bake in 350 oven until most of grease is rendered. Let cool. Cut into bite size pieces. Reserve. Rendering the sausage is optional – I just don’t like a real greasy gumbo. But, some people do…
Make a 2-beer roux. Heat oil on med hi heat in a pot big enough to hold about 1-2 gallons. Add flour and cook until the mix is the color of a penny, about 45 minutes. STIR CONSTANTLY. If you burn it – little black specks appear, throw it out, wash your pot and start over. Don’t try to get by with it. Keep stirring, drink the beers, be patient. It really doesn’t matter how dark you get it. It is an appearance thing – darker is better. If you get nervous or tired just use it however you have it. But, no raw flour should be left.
If you want to, use 1 cup of oil and 1 cup of flour. It is easier to cook and less likely to burn, just takes a little longer than using less oil, and doesn’t make any difference in the finished product.
Add the onions to the hot roux. Stir.
Add the green onions, bell pepper, celery. Stir after each addition. Let the mix cook a few minutes until onions are clear.
Add about 2 cups of stock. Stir. Let it come back up to temp.
Add the rest of the stock (as much as you want). Stir. It will be a fairly thin mix.
Add Garlic, mint, Worcestershire, parsley, reserved chicken and sausage, okra. Return to boil.
Salt and pepper to taste. Remember, you can add more but it is hard to take it out.
Cover and SIMMER for as long as you can stand it – 1 hour minimum – longer is better.
Keep tasting as it simmers and adjust salt and pepper. Add Tabasco or LA Hot sauce if you like.
Make a big pot of rice. Put a little rice in a bowl, put gumbo on top.
In case you haven’t noticed, there is no tomato in gumbo. If you find tomato in gumbo you’ll know that whoever made it ain’t from south of I-10 (or they had some tomatoes lying around). Those who use tomato as part of the base are just trying to get the color of dark roux without spending the time to make one. Of course, you can put tomato in if you like tomato.
If you want to make more, just multiply the ingredients. The only ratio that really matters is 2:1, onions to bell pepper and 4:1, onion to celery. Don’t increase the bell pepper and celery, that is, don’t use 1 cup onions and 1 cup celery. If you do you’ll wind up with celery and bell pepper soup. Any of the other ingredients can be increased or decreased to your taste.
who dat!! who dat talkin' bout beat dem saints??
In case anybody else wants to make gumbo here's how:
Chicken Stock
Ingredients:
1 whole chicken, cut into pieces
1 onion
2 carrots
1-2 stalks celery
small handful parsley stalks (reserve leaves)
1 cup white wine (if you have it)
Salt
Black Pepper (whole pepper corns if you have them)
Tabasco/Louisiana Hot Sauce/Texas Pete/ground cayenne pepper (your preference)
Rough chop onion, carrots, celery. Put chicken back neck and giblets, vegetables, salt and black pepper in a big pot. Cover with about 1-1 ½ gallon of water and wine. Slow boil for about 1 hour. Add pepper sauce/cayenne and salt to taste. Boil about another 30 minutes. While the stock is boiling sprinkle Tony's on the legs/thighs/breasts and roast. Strip the meat and reserve, throw the bones/skins in the stock.
As the stock boils (slowly) a scum will form on top. Skim it off.
When done, remove the chicken remnants. Strain the stock and throw vegetables away. Give the bones to the dog.
Let stock cool. Then, either skim grease off or use a gravy pitcher (spout from bottom) to separate grease.
You can make more than you need and freeze what you don’t use for the gumbo. I freeze it in little Glad containers, about 2 cups each.
Gumbo
Ingredients
1 cup flour
½ - ¾ cups oil
1 cups onions, chopped (I usually put in 2 cups because I like onions)
1 cup green onions, chopped
½ cup bell pepper, chopped
1/4 cup celery, chopped
½ cup chopped parsley
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp dried mint flakes
1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
Salt
Black pepper, ground
3 cups chopped okra (I usually get a frozen bag and use the whole thing). Okra is used as a thickener. If you don’t like okra, don’t put it in. Buy a little jar of file` (fee-lay, ground sassafras). Put file` in your bowl when you serve the gumbo, not the pot. Cooking file turns it bitter.
2 Lbs Andouille sausage (smoked sausage if you can’t get andouille)
Get all the ingredients together and chopped before you start. I usually do them while making the stock the night before and put them in Ziploc bags.
Slice sausage links in half length-wise. Place on a cookie sheet (on a wire rack is better) cut-side down and bake in 350 oven until most of grease is rendered. Let cool. Cut into bite size pieces. Reserve. Rendering the sausage is optional – I just don’t like a real greasy gumbo. But, some people do…
Make a 2-beer roux. Heat oil on med hi heat in a pot big enough to hold about 1-2 gallons. Add flour and cook until the mix is the color of a penny, about 45 minutes. STIR CONSTANTLY. If you burn it – little black specks appear, throw it out, wash your pot and start over. Don’t try to get by with it. Keep stirring, drink the beers, be patient. It really doesn’t matter how dark you get it. It is an appearance thing – darker is better. If you get nervous or tired just use it however you have it. But, no raw flour should be left.
If you want to, use 1 cup of oil and 1 cup of flour. It is easier to cook and less likely to burn, just takes a little longer than using less oil, and doesn’t make any difference in the finished product.
Add the onions to the hot roux. Stir.
Add the green onions, bell pepper, celery. Stir after each addition. Let the mix cook a few minutes until onions are clear.
Add about 2 cups of stock. Stir. Let it come back up to temp.
Add the rest of the stock (as much as you want). Stir. It will be a fairly thin mix.
Add Garlic, mint, Worcestershire, parsley, reserved chicken and sausage, okra. Return to boil.
Salt and pepper to taste. Remember, you can add more but it is hard to take it out.
Cover and SIMMER for as long as you can stand it – 1 hour minimum – longer is better.
Keep tasting as it simmers and adjust salt and pepper. Add Tabasco or LA Hot sauce if you like.
Make a big pot of rice. Put a little rice in a bowl, put gumbo on top.
In case you haven’t noticed, there is no tomato in gumbo. If you find tomato in gumbo you’ll know that whoever made it ain’t from south of I-10 (or they had some tomatoes lying around). Those who use tomato as part of the base are just trying to get the color of dark roux without spending the time to make one. Of course, you can put tomato in if you like tomato.
If you want to make more, just multiply the ingredients. The only ratio that really matters is 2:1, onions to bell pepper and 4:1, onion to celery. Don’t increase the bell pepper and celery, that is, don’t use 1 cup onions and 1 cup celery. If you do you’ll wind up with celery and bell pepper soup. Any of the other ingredients can be increased or decreased to your taste.
who dat!! who dat talkin' bout beat dem saints??