Gumbo Recipe

As-made by the Gumbo Fairy

Ingredients:

• 3 bell peppers
• 2 large white onions
• 1 bunch of celery
• Garlic cloves to taste (I generally use 5-7)
• 2 sticks Andouille sausage from Jacob's World Famous Andouille
• 2 whole chickens
• 4 jalapeno peppers
• 1 habanero pepper
• 2 c all-purpose white flour
• 1.5 c lard
• Salt
• Pepper
• Paprika
• Cayenne Pepper
• Chili Powder
• At least two Abita beers, for proper timing
• Mahatma Long-Grain Rice

Process:

• First, timing is an issue. Cooking a roux takes time that you can't spend chopping other things. So, this is in order of what has to be done.
• Put the chickens in a 3-5 gallon stockpot, cover them with water (approximately 2 gallons -- I eyeball it, and so did the gumbo fairy), and set them on to boil
• Chop the bell peppers, onions, and celery into slightly-smaller-than bite-size pieces, and place in a bowl within arm's reach of the stove
• Mince the garlic, jalapenos and habanero, and place them in a second bowl near the first with the veg
• Using a large cast-iron skillet, melt the lard over medium-low heat
• Whisk in the flour
• Crack the first beer
• Sip slowly while you continually whisk the flour/lard mixture. You want to keep it moving, because roux will burn in a heartbeat -- all it takes is taking your eyes off of it for a split second
• Continue sipping and whisking (it helps if you've got someone to talk to, too) until the first beer is empty
• Crack another beer
• Continue sipping and whisking until the second beer is empty
• Your roux should now be the consistency of half-dried mud, and should be the color of an old red brick. (for the non-drinkers, this process should take about 45 minutes to 2 hours, depending on how low your temps are)
• Stir in the bell peppers, onions, and celery and let them cook until tender (this should not take more than a minute or two -- they don't call roux "Cajun Napalm" for nothing)
• Stir in the garlic and hot peppers and let them cook until tender (again, quick -- the roux's still hot)
• Set the cast iron skillet with the roux on the back of the stove on a cool eye so it will begin to cool
• By this time, the chickens should be cooked thoroughly
• Remove the chickens from the boiling water, reserving all of the stock in the same pot
• Strip the chickens (you may find they are still a bit raw; that's okay, as the meat will simmer for a number of hours in the pot with the gumbo) and toss the meat back into the stockpot
• Using a large spatula or spoon, scrape the roux and veggies into the stockpot -- DO NOT CLEAN THE SKILLET YET!
• Turn up the heat under the stockpot to HIGH
• Slice your two sticks of andouille into bite-size chunks -- when you are about 3/4 done slicing, turn the heat back on under the cast iron skillet
• Drop the andouille into the skillet (do it in batches, if needed)
• Saute the andouille until it is warm throughout -- some folks, myself included, will saute it until it is hot and beginning to get crispy edges and corners, but this recipe is the "as-made" version
• Scrape the andouille into the gumbo pot, taking care to get any crumbly bits in the skillet
• Now you can clean your skillet
• The gumbo will need a couple of generous shakes of salt, and it will need some black pepper. Add these to taste.
• Then a generous dollop each of Cayenne Pepper and Chili Powder
• (Cheater method: You can replace all the salt, pepper, cayenne and chili powder with Tony Chachere's -- you can find it in the spice rack at your local grocery store)
• Stir
• When the gumbo comes to a boil, immediately drop the temperature and bring it to a simmer (some people will add a bay leaf or two at this point, but I've only done so once, and found no flavor difference)
• Simmer until it starts smelling really good, then simmer about another hour (approximate total simmer time: 3-4 hours)
• Prepare all the rice you need, according to the instructions on the bag/box
• Serve gumbo in bowls with a scoop of rice in the middle of the bowl
• Eat with gusto, preferably while hanging out with good friends and drinking good beer.