Gumbo Cooking 101

cj iwakura

Hey all, so I plan to put these to use:

I also picked up a half pound of salad shrimp and some mild Italian sausage. Any thoughts on spicing, or do I have what's necessary already?

I plan on sauteing the meat while the gumbo mix cooks, then adding the cooked meat, unless that's the wrong way to go about it.


Thorough advice appreciated, as well as spicing recommendations. Offhand, I have Garlic Salt, Garlic/Herb(personal favorite) Oregano, the aforementioned Creole stuff, Sazonado, etc.

knitdan

Where's the okra?

cj iwakura

I don't have any.

zerzhul

I feel like I remember @stale being a person that does gumbo but I may be remembering wrong... He is usually in my top 2 go to here for food though.

bsjezz

i'd ditch that "gumbo mix," whatever it is, and i suppose use those others though it's hard to build a recipe around pre-prepared ingredients without knowing how they taste. gumbo's pretty easy: make a roux with roasted flour and lard, add your holy trinity plus plenty of garlic, then when that's cooked down add your spices, stock, i suppose your beans if you're using them, and any browned meat.

okra's delicious and makes for a rich and thick gumbo but i don't think it's totally necessary. you can also use filé powder as a thickener, but if you do, add it late.

cj iwakura

Well, I'm using the mix, a bit late for that. I was gifted it, so I'm making use of it. I'll take the recipe into account for future reference, though.
(And I can apply the spices now at least.)

Stale

If you are dead set on a box mix and salad shrimp, I cant really offer much help.

However after you choke that down I can offer assistance in the future.

TychoCelchuuu

Well if we're going to be in this trainwreck we might as well make the best of it: does the mix (or the powder) have filé in it? If not, you'll want that or a roux to thicken up your gumbo.

Mego Thor

[cajun]If it don't got the filé, it ain't no gumbo.[/cajun]

Djeet

Well gumbo does mean okra ...

Okra, file and roux all are thickeners, and that's the purpose they serve in gumbo. Which you use is largely informed by where the recipe originated (who taught your grandma's grandma or whatnot). Okra came from Africa. File is from an indigenous root. And roux comes from french cooking. My gumbo starts with cooking down okra and doesn't need a roux or file for additional thickening, but I'll still happily eat others and they're all gumbo.

From the pictures on the box you'll want a thickener of some kind. You probably already have the ingredients to make a roux so do that to avoid having to go to the store.

spool32

Gumbo does not mean okra, that is a travesty.

here is my gumbo recipe!

http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/25623752#Comment_25623752

Also I don't recommend mixing meat and seafood in a gumbo - traditional would be chicken & sausage, or seafood, but not both.

Djeet

Not to start an argument ...

spool32

Serves me right for not taking you literally.

I still believe okra has no place in Louisiana gumbo. But I recognize that there are poor benighted souls who disagree, and do not begin with a roux.

I pray for them, I do... but I despair.

azith28

okra is not a gumbo requirement.

Jasconius

I've had a lot of gumbo and not once have I seen a red bean in it

ceres

Be helpful or go away.

Also okra is disgusting.

Djeet

I don't usually like okra, probably for the same reasons a lot of people don't: it can be slimy. Personally I don't like the gumbo where okra is thrown in half-way cause of that. I was taught to cook down the okra and trinity slow and for a long time. Adding some water if anything starts to stick. Keep stirring and eventually you lose most of the water and all the veggies have basically disintegrated and and you're left with brown stuff that's pretty thick. There isn't really anything recognizable as okra left even after you add the stock and meats except maybe some seeds. Yeah I know that description doesn't sound too appetizing, but it's good.

It's kinda like how mom taught me curries, the gravy is largely cooked down onion. While it's still onion-y there is none of the sharpness of of raw or semi-cooked onions.

Giggles_Funsworth

Okra is fucking delicious this thread is full of fools.

@Stale How do you gumbo? I need to know for reasons.

cj iwakura

Well, everyone at work who tried it happily 'choked down' what I made, so thanks for the advice all.

I'll try the real thing one day, but making stuff from scratch isn't my specialty. That's the next tier.

Stale

A good gumbo stas wit a roux. Den you cook dat long and low til it look like brick, don you stahp stirrin now ya heah? You gon be stirn an stirn an stirn til it run fast an dark culla like brick. Den you add 4 onions chop up, 4 green peppas chop up, 1 pound okra slice up, an 6 rib celery chop up, now you keep stirn and stirn til dem onions get all kind of shine and see trou. Den you add in all da garlic, da thyme, da bay leef, da cayenne, and da crack bla peppa you wan. I won say how much because dats all up ta you, its you gumbo.

Now you add good chicken stock and dat worchestershire, and sweet sauterne wine yes lord. You stir dat up and let it boil. Now taste and add dat hot sauce. Now you open up 2 gigantimous cans of crush tomato an pour in, juice an all. Brin dat back to a simma and cova it back tight.

Nows time fo dat meat. I use chicken thighs an andouille. You use whateva yous wants to use. Is you gumbo. If it walks, swims, flys, or crawls it go in gumbo. You chop dat up an add it in and you simma for an hour.

Dats how I gumbo.

cj iwakura

I hate to ask, but what is a 'roux'? That's the only part I don't understand.

Stale

literally the only word I didn't misspell.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roux

MentalExercise

Stale wrote: »

A good gumbo stas wit a roux. Den you cook dat long and low til it look like brick, don you stahp stirrin now ya heah? You gon be stirn an stirn an stirn til it run fast an dark culla like brick. Den you add 4 onions chop up, 4 green peppas chop up, 1 pound okra slice up, an 6 rib celery chop up, now you keep stirn and stirn til dem onions get all kind of shine and see trou. Den you add in all da garlic, da thyme, da bay leef, da cayenne, and da crack bla peppa you wan. I won say how much because dats all up ta you, its you gumbo.

Now you add good chicken stock and dat worchestershire, and sweet sauterne wine yes lord. You stir dat up and let it boil. Now taste and add dat hot sauce. Now you open up 2 gigantimous cans of crush tomato an pour in, juice an all. Brin dat back to a simma and cova it back tight.

Nows time fo dat meat. I use chicken thighs an andouille. You use whateva yous wants to use. Is you gumbo. If it walks, swims, flys, or crawls it go in gumbo. You chop dat up an add it in and you simma for an hour.

Dats how I gumbo.

This made me all warm and fuzzy inside...



and hungry.

cj iwakura

Stale wrote: »

literally the only word I didn't misspell.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roux

Preparing that looks a little beyond my cooking level.

Stale

it's two ingredients. heated until they change color.

the end

TychoCelchuuu

Internet nerds who figure out complicated video games and so forth but who profess to be unable to master cooking techniques that people have been doing for hundreds of years without much trouble always depress me. You can figure out how to conquer the world as Polynesia in Civ V but a roux is beyond you? You've beaten Half-Life 2 three times but you can't feed yourself anything that isn't microwaved? Come onnnnnnnnnnn.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGS89KtrBnM

cj iwakura

To be fair, I only beat Half-Life 2 once. I know how to cook above microwave level, but using raw ingredients is still a little daunting to me.

TychoCelchuuu

If you're not using raw ingredients... then you aren't cooking... "Cook" is what you do to raw ingredients in order to turn them into cooked ingredients.