Creole Style Gumbo Food

GOOD NEW ORLEANS CREOLE GUMBO

Steps:

• Make a roux by whisking the flour and 3/4 cup bacon drippings together in a large, heavy saucepan over medium-low heat to form a smooth mixture. Cook the roux, whisking constantly, until it turns a rich mahogany brown color. This can take 20 to 30 minutes; watch heat carefully and whisk constantly or roux will burn. Remove from heat; continue whisking until mixture stops cooking.
• Place the celery, onion, green bell pepper, and garlic into the work bowl of a food processor, and pulse until the vegetables are very finely chopped. Stir the vegetables into the roux, and mix in the sausage. Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium-low heat, and cook until vegetables are tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from heat, and set aside.
• Bring the water and beef bouillon cubes to a boil in a large Dutch oven or soup pot. Stir until the bouillon cubes dissolve, and whisk the roux mixture into the boiling water. Reduce heat to a simmer, and mix in the sugar, salt, hot pepper sauce, Cajun seasoning, bay leaves, thyme, stewed tomatoes, and tomato sauce. Simmer the soup over low heat for 1 hour; mix in 2 teaspoons of file gumbo powder at the 45-minute mark.
• Meanwhile, melt 2 tablespoons of bacon drippings in a skillet, and cook the okra with vinegar over medium heat for 15 minutes; remove okra with slotted spoon, and stir into the simmering gumbo. Mix in crabmeat, shrimp, and Worcestershire sauce, and simmer until flavors have blended, 45 more minutes. Just before serving, stir in 2 more teaspoons of file gumbo powder.

GUMBO STYLE CHICKEN CREOLE

Steps:

• Heat oil in a large skillet over high heat. Stir in flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes or until mixture is the color of a copper penny. Reduce heat to low and stir in bell pepper and onion. Cook 10 to 15 minutes, or until tender, stirring occasionally.
• Add chicken, tomatoes with green chile peppers, mushrooms, parsley, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, soy sauce, sugar, salt, pepper and hot sauce. Stir together, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Add chicken broth or water if mixture is too thick for your liking.

CREOLE GUMBO

Steps:

• Cook onion and garlic in butter until onion is tender.
• Stir in flour.
• Cook, stirring constantly until flour is browned.
• Stir in the tomatoes, water, green pepper, bay leaves, oregano, thyme, salt and hot sauce.
• Bring to boil.
• Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes.
• Remove bay leaves.
• Stir in the okra.
• Bring to boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
• Stir shrimp and crab meat into okra mixture.
• Cook about 5 minutes longer or until heated through.
• Serve gumbo over hot rice.
• (Traditionally, rice is mounded in heated soup plates and the gumbo is spooned around it).

CREOLE GUMBO

Steps:

• Remove legs from crab and smash with back of knife. Remove claws and break in 3 pieces. Remove meat from body and head.
• Heat 1/8 cup clarified butter in large saucepan on high heat. Add crab parts and meat, then add onion, celery and green pepper. Stir in tomatoes and garlic. Mix fish stock with tomato paste and add to crab saute. Bring to boil and add bay leaves. Simmer gently, stirring and skimming top frequently, for 8 minutes. Stir in oysters and their juices, then add shrimp and okra. Season with pepper.
• In small bowl, blend file and cold water. Add to soup and stir briskly. On medium-low heat, cook soup for 1 hour; do not let soup boil. Serve piping hot.

MA HARPER'S CREOLE GUMBO

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place flour in a baking pan and bake, watching and stirring occasionally until flour is a nutty brown color. Sift to remove the lumps of flour.
• Saute chicken in oil in a large pot. Add sausage and cook until it begins to change color. Add onions, bell pepper and garlic and let cook until onion is clear. Add crabs and let cook until the crabs have changed color. Add thyme, cayenne, celery, bay leaves, green onions and flour and let mixture cook 5 minutes. Add stock and season with salt, pepper and Cajun seasoning. Cook for 45 minutes over medium heat, then stir in parsley. Serve over rice. Add gumbo file to each serving.

LOUISIANA CREOLE GUMBO RECIPE

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients. Bring beef and chicken to room temperature before beginning the recipe.
• Make the stock. To a large sauce pan add chicken broth, shrimp shells, and outer crab shells (if using), cover, and set over medium-low heat. When it comes to a boil, adjust the heat to maintain a gentle simmer. Simmer covered for 20 minutes and keep on low until ready for use.
• Make the roux. Add oil to a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat and sprinkle in flour while whisking. Continue whisking until it turns a milk chocolate color, 16 to 18 minutes. Don't walk away during this step.
• When the roux is ready, add the Trinity (the onion, celery, and bell pepper), garlic, and Creole seasoning. Sauté until onions are translucent, 6 to 8 minutes.
• Strain the chicken-seafood stock. Discard the seafood shells.
• Deglaze the gumbo pot with with half of the stock. Add the can of whole tomatoes, crushing each by hand over the pot, plus its liquid.
• Add Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, thyme, and bay leaf. Bring it to a boil and reduce it to a simmer.
• Meanwhile, heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a cast iron pan over medium-high heat. Sear stew beef, in batches if needed, and move directly into the gumbo pot when done.
• In the same cast iron pan, sear the seasoned chicken thighs, skin-side down first, until golden on both sides, about 10 minutes total, moving them to the gumbo pot when done.
• In the same cast iron pan, add the okra to the rendered chicken fat, and season with salt and pepper and/or more Creole seasoning.
• Sauté okra until verdant and the viscous texture subsides, about 8 minutes. (This is known as "roping.") Add okra to the gumbo pot.
• Add remaining chicken-seafood stock to cover the ingredients. If the ingredients are not covered by the stock, add water.
• Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook for 30-45 minutes, giving a good stir and taste every 15 minutes. Season with more Creole seasoning, salt, hot sauce, Worchestershire sauce, black pepper as needed for your taste.
• Remove thyme stems and bay leaf. Gently remove chicken thighs from the gumbo pot to a cutting board. Remove bones and skin, cut into rough chunks and add the meat back into the gumbo pot. If the thighs have fallen apart, just remove the bones (the same number of thighs you added) and the skins you can easily find.
• On a cutting board, crack cooked and cleaned blue crabs in half. Then, with a mallet or the back of the blade of a chefs knife, gently crack both joints of the claws. (see RECIPE VARIATION with lump crab meat below)
• Add crab and shrimp to the gumbo pot, cover, and simmer for 6 to 8 minutes.
• Prepare a serving over cooked white rice, making sure each serving gets at least half of a crab. Garnish with scallions and hot sauce(s) for diners to spice to their taste.

CREOLE-STYLE SHRIMP AND SAUSAGE GUMBO

Steps:

• Bring the reserved shrimp shells and 4 1/2 cups water to a boil in a stockpot or large saucepan over med-high heat.
• Decrease heat to med-low and simmer for 20 minutes.
• Strain the stock and add the clam juice and ice water (you should have about 2 quarts of tepid stock, 100 to 110 degrees); discard the shells; set the stock aside.
• Heat the oil in a Dutch oven or large heavy-bottomed saucepan over med-high heat until it registers 200 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes.
• Decrease the heat to medium and gradually stir in the flour with a wooden spatula or spoon, working out any lumps that form.
• Continue stirring constantly, reaching into the edges of the pan, until the mixture has a toasty aroma and is deep reddish brown, about the color of an old copper penny or between the colors of milk chocolate and dark chocolate, about 20 minutes (the roux will become thinner as it cooks; if it begins to smoke, remove the pan from the heat and stir the roux constantly, to cool slightly).
• Add the onions, bell pepper, celery, garlic, thyme, salt, and cayenne to the roux and cook, stirring frequently, until the vegetables soften, 8-10 minutes.
• Add 1 quart reserved stock in a slow, steady stream while stirring vigorously.
• Stir in the remaining stock.
• Increase the heat to high and bring to a boil.
• Decrease heat to medium-low, skim the foam off the surface, add the bay leaves, and simmer, uncovered, skimming any foam that rises to the surface, about 30 minutes.
• Stir in the sausage and continue simmering to blend the flavors, about 30 minutes.
• Stir in the shrimp and simmer until cooked through, about 5 minutes.
• Off the heat, stir in the parsley and scallions and adjust the seasonings with salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste.
• Remove the bay leaves and serve immediately.

CREOLE GUMBO

Steps:

• In dutch oven, combine chicken, water and salt; simmer until tender, about 2 hours. Cool. Cut meat in cubes. Skim fat from broth; strain broth and return to dutch oven. Drain oysters, reserving liquid; set oysters aside. Add cubed chicken, ham onion, tomato sauce, oyster liquid, okra, cayenne and hot pepper sauce to dutch oven. Bring to boiling, reduce heat and simmer 1 hour. Add oysters and chopped tomatoes; simmer 10 minutes more. Beat a moderate amount of the broth into file; return to gumbo. Do not cook further after adding file. Serve over hot cooked rice.

GUMBO STYLE CHICKEN CREOLE

Steps:

• Heat oil in a large skillet over high heat.
• Stir in flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes or until mixture is the color of a copper penny.
• Reduce heat to low and stir in bell pepper and onion.
• Cook 10 to 15 minutes, or until tender, stirring occasionally.
• Add chicken, tomatoes with green chile peppers, mushrooms, parsley, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, soy sauce, sugar, salt, pepper and hot sauce.
• Stir together, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

QUICK & EASY CREOLE GUMBO

Steps:

• Season the chicken with salt, pepper and Creole seasoning and brown quickly. Brown the sausage, pour off fat and reserve meats.
• In a large, heavy pot, heat the oil and cook the flour in the oil over medium to high heat (depending on your roux-making skill), stirring constantly, until the roux reaches a dark reddish-brown color, almost the color of coffee or milk chocolate for a Cajun-style roux. If you want to save time, or prefer a more New Orleans-style roux, cook it to a medium, peanut-butter color, over lower heat if you're nervous about burning it.
• Add the vegetables and stir quickly. This cooks the vegetables and also stops the roux from cooking further. Continue to cook, stirring constantly, for about 4 minutes.
• Add the stock, seasonings, chicken and sausage. Bring to a boil, then cook for about one hour, skimming fat off the top as needed.
• Add shelled and deveined shrimp, the chopped scallion tops and parsley, and heat for 5 minutes. Serve over rice in large shallow bowls.
• Accompany with lots of hot, crispy French bread or serve in bread bowls.
• Make sure to have plenty of Tabasco sauce on hand to give it a kick.