Hot To Make Gumbo

How to Make Gumbo

So you think you know what gumbo is don’t you? Well let me break it to you, you probably don’t. You can say oh well I have eaten it before, but unless it was in Louisiana, you were probably lied to. It does not have vegetables and it definitely is not red. So please if you are cooking gumbo, please put your cans of tomato sauce back in the cabinet.

Here is how you really make gumbo! First you make your roux unless you buy a jar already made. I have not been able to find any while living in Chicago so here is how you make it. Roux is a mixture of fat and flour, about the same amount of each, cooked together till it is very thick. It will need to be stirred constantly because it only takes about 15 minutes to cook. We prefer to use pure butter instead of fat and all-purpose flour. The butter and flour must be cooked enough to get rid of the raw starchy taste of the flour. There are three colors of roux but for gumbo you cook it till the color is dark brown. You will know when it starts almost turning black that it is done and it also has a strong nutty smell.

Take a really large pot and put about a gallon of water in it. You will put about five over full tablespoons of the roux into the water. This will need to be stirred every couple of minutes or so because the roux will stick to the bottom of the pot. While waiting on your water to boil you will need to finely chop two medium onions and two large bell peppers. Once you have your water boiling you will also want to add salt, seasoning, the chopped onions, and the bell peppers. The seasoning is usually Tony Chachere’s but you can also use All Purpose Season All. Now you’re probably wondering how much salt and seasoning right? Well that’s the great thing about it, there is no certain amount. All Cajun families never really measure anything, I am just guessing for you. We just put however much we want, which is usually a ton!

Once you have done this you keep stirring about every 10 or 15 minutes. You let this cook together for about 1 Ð'Ð... hours and a half. Once you have done that you add in about 2 packs of boneless skinless chicken breast that are cut up because