Best Gumbo With A Dark Roux

This Gumbo with a dark roux is an awesome meal!

I served this gumbo in my restaurant and it was a customer favorite. It received a positive review in the Washington Post.

The restaurant up the street had a very famous chef that served a lighter gumbo and people were split on which gumbo was better.

Yes I know DC isn’t New Orleans but these were two great gumbos. Two styles, but mine was the favorite of people from N.O. I liked the other gumbo but it wasn’t authentic. It used a peanut butter roux which I will discuss later.

Gumbo

Gumbo, Gumbo, I love Gumbo but I always forget about it until Mardi Gras.

There are many kinds of gumbo and you can read about them here. I try to keep my posts on the recipe.

This gumbo is loaded with sausage, shrimp, crawfish, and chicken. Making the dark roux is easy if you follow the steps but be careful not to burn it or yourself. Ouch!!! I have hundreds (seriously) of little spat burns from making probably 1000 plus batches.

Use any combo of the meat and seafood but the sausage is necessary.

Gather Your Ingredient, It moves fast

Once you start the roux it moves so fast everything has to be ready so you don’t burn the rue or yourself. Ouch!!

Let’s Get It Together….

Gather…

• 2 cups chopped onion
• 1.5 cups chopped bell pepper, green, red, combo
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 tbs minced garlic
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 tsp white pepper
• 1/2 tsp cayenne
• 3/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup flour
• 8 cups stock or water and bouillon**
• 1 pound smoked sausage cut 1.2 inch pieces*
• 1 pound peeled medium shrimp
• Whole crawfish (optional) nice for presentation for a special occasion
• 1 pound skinless boneless chicken breast cut in small pieces (1/2 inch)

Make some rice and chop green onion for service

*I made smoked sausage because I love making sausage but Hillshire farms works great. You can buy any smoked sausage and andouille is perfect.

**you can make a quick stock with the shells from your peeled shrimp. Just boil in water and add a few aromatics, onion, celery, garlic.

You Ready?? Here We Go!!

Heat your stock in a stock pot.

In a skillet or frying pan heat the 3/4 cup of oil until you see a little puff of smoke.

Stir in the flour and keep stirring making sure nothing sticks to the bottom of the pan. Keep stirring!! Almost done!!

Keep stirring and it will quickly reach the color above, called blonde.

Stir, stir, stir! It will soon turn this color called peanut butter!

Keep stirring, no interruptions!!! It will soon turn this color red and tighten up. You can make a nice gumbo here if you want just jump to the next steps.

Stir faster. It will loosen up and turn brown. My picture is blurry cause it is getting intense. You can try to get it to the next phase which is black but it is very hard and I don’t recommend it.

Be Fast… Getting Hungry Just Writing. So Good…

• As soon as the color is right add the vegetables and keep stirring. The sugar in the veggies will darken the roux. Stir about a minute
• add the garlic and spices and STIR
• OK start adding the roux a little at a time to the boiling broth until dissolved.
• add the sausage and boil 5 minutes
• add the chicken and boil 5 minutes
• then the shrimp and crawfish and boil a couple minutes until the shrimp is done
• adjust the salt with salt or bouillon.
• if oil gathers on the top skim it off.

Eat!!

Serve with a scoop of rice in the bowl and garnish with green onions.

Check out this great Cajun Recipe. Cajun BBQ Shrimp, the best shrimp dish ever!!!