Gumbo

I know what I think is good Cajun Gumbo when I taste it, but my attempts to make it have had poor results. I ran across the article below and will be trying again to make my own. One of my earliest comfort foods from childhood when my mother and father both worked was opening a can of Campbell’s Chicken Gumbo soup. I still eat a can often, but that is not what we are talking about here. Canned soup is hardly true gumbo. My idea of “good gumbo” is far beyond that though. My idea of the dish is a seafood one with shrimp, fish and crab — no sausage or chicken and no oysters or crawfish. I know the key is proper dark and rich roux, and I have been lacking on the right timing and flip of the wrist here. The article may have given me a clue why. I have used butter instead of oil and my roux has turned out too light or burned. I also favor okra over file’ but not so much that the final result is thick. I’m thinking good gumbo is an art, not a science.

http://dish.allrecipes.com/gumbo-bas...ferringId=1426

I know we have experienced gumbo lovers here from when I ventured a quick recipe using an H.E.B. prepared mix that got Mike’s 👎. Any thoughts would be nice.

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Originally Posted by wacojoe

I know what I think is good Cajun Gumbo when I taste it, but my attempts to make it have had poor results. I ran across the article below and will be trying again to make my own. One of my earliest comfort foods from childhood when my mother and father both worked was opening a can of Campbell’s Chicken Gumbo soup. I still eat a can often, but that is not what we are talking about here. Canned soup is hardly true gumbo. My idea of “good gumbo” is far beyond that though. My idea of the dish is a seafood one with shrimp, fish and crab — no sausage or chicken and no oysters or crawfish. I know the key is proper dark and rich roux, and I have been lacking on the right timing and flip of the wrist here. The article may have given me a clue why. I have used butter instead of oil and my roux has turned out too light or burned. I also favor okra over file’ but not so much that the final result is thick. I’m thinking good gumbo is an art, not a science.

http://dish.allrecipes.com/gumbo-bas...ferringId=1426

I know we have experienced gumbo lovers here from when I ventured a quick recipe using an H.E.B. prepared mix that got Mike’s . Any thoughts would be nice.

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I don't dislike the H.E.B. frozen base, I sometimes use it for a starter and it is better than Kroger's gumbo base. But most of the time when I get ready to make gumbo I just start from scratch because I don't have a frozen base in the freezer, but I do have most, or all of the ingredients I need.

Kroger has what they call a Cajun Style Mirepoix Blend in 12 oz frozen bags. It contains chopped onions, chopped celery and chopped bell peppers. That's the holy trinity without the work. I always have some in the freezer. They have cut Okra in the same sized bag and I keep it all of the time as well.

For Roux, I use Tony Chachere's Instant Roux mix if I don't want to spend an hour or more making a proper Roux.

All of that goes out the window if I want to impress someone. Then, I do it all from scratch. Very time consuming, but worth it.

Sometimes I will make a seafood gumbo with shrimp, crab and oysters. No fish, I save that for Court-Bouillon. Other times I might make a chicken or sausage gumbo. I use authentic Cajun sausage I get from Chadeaux's in Kinder Louisiana. If you get there at the right time you can watch them making it from over the counter. I always buy about 30 lbs of it and 20 lbs of boudin when I'm there.

When I do a seafood gumbo, the second day I add the Cajun sausage to supplement the depleted seafood.

It's funny you should bring this up today. A day or so ago I read an interesting article called How 4 Iconic American Dishes Evolved From Foreign Roots. One of the foods explored is Gumbo. It is an interesting read.

Joe, did you read the article in the WAPO Iink above?

Yes, I read it. It looks like some of the article I quoted shared much of its language with the WaPo one. You might know that chili con queso is one of my favorite dishes as well, so your article covered that too. Btw, Torchy’s Tacos has a really good chili con queso although their tacos leave me cold.

Incidentally, I looked for the H.E.B. gumbo base from Central Market at my local H.E.B. and was told it has been discontinued, but it has been replaced with a frozen gumbo base from locally famous Houston fried chicken restaurant, Frenchy’s. I bought some and will report back when I deal it up.

When I get back to town I will try the new base too and we can compare notes

I tried the Frenchy’s base, Mike, with some shrimp, crab & cod along with a mirepoix to start and okra to finish. I found the base to not have a strong enough roux to my liking, and thus not something I will buy again. Disappointed.

I take it you like a darker roux.

That is what I look for.