Gumbo
Gumbo begins and ends with the roux. Flour and fat are cooked here not for five minutes but for forty, until they reach the colour of dark chocolate. Along the way the flour loses most of its thickening power and gains a deep, toasted flavour nothing else can imitate. It is the one stage you cannot walk away from — a burnt roux is bitter and beyond saving.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Dark roux 40 min
- The holy trinity 12 min
- Simmering 45 min
- Prawns 8 min
- Serving 5 min
Step by step
0 / 7 doneCook the roux to chocolate brown
Heat the oil in a large heavy-based pot, add the flour and stir constantly for 40 minutes over medium-low heat. The roux moves through sand, hazelnut and copper to the colour of dark chocolate. Do not leave the pan and do not raise the heat — a burnt roux has black specks and a bitter taste, and then you start again.
Ingredients: 120 g plain flour · 120 ml oil
The colour of dark chocolate — that is the target.Add the holy trinity
Tip the diced onion, pepper and celery into the hot roux — in Louisiana they are called the holy trinity. It will hiss violently and the roux stops darkening instantly; that, besides flavour, is precisely the vegetables' job. Cook 10 minutes.
Ingredients: 2 pcs onions · 1 pcs green pepper · 3 pcs celery sticks · 4 cloves garlic · 300 g smoked sausage · 500 g chicken thighs · 200 g okra · 1500 ml chicken stock · 200 g tomatoes
The vegetables stop the roux darkening.Add garlic, spices and sausage
Add the garlic and all the spices, fry for a minute, then add the sliced sausage and the chicken in pieces. Cook for 5 minutes — spices bloomed in fat give up aroma they never release in stock.
Ingredients: 2 pcs onions · 1 pcs green pepper · 3 pcs celery sticks · 4 cloves garlic · 300 g smoked sausage · 500 g chicken thighs · 200 g okra · 1500 ml chicken stock · 200 g tomatoes
Add the stock a ladle at a time
Pour in hot stock one ladle at a time, whisking hard after each. Stock added all at once makes the roux seize into lumps. Add the tomatoes and bay leaves.
Ingredients: 2 pcs onions · 1 pcs green pepper · 3 pcs celery sticks · 4 cloves garlic · 300 g smoked sausage · 500 g chicken thighs · 200 g okra · 1500 ml chicken stock · 200 g tomatoes
Simmer 45 minutes, adding okra
Simmer gently for 30 minutes, then add the okra and cook another 15. Okra releases a mucilage that thickens the gumbo further — that is its real purpose, so do not rinse or drain it. Meanwhile cook the rice in salted water according to the packet.
Ingredients: 2 pcs onions · 1 pcs green pepper · 3 pcs celery sticks · 4 cloves garlic · 300 g smoked sausage · 500 g chicken thighs · 200 g okra · 1500 ml chicken stock · 200 g tomatoes
Thick, dark, studded with sausage and okra.Add the prawns for three minutes
Drop in the prawns and cook 3 minutes, until pink and curled into a C. They go in at the very end — a few minutes more and they turn rubbery. Turn off the heat, fish out the bay leaves, taste and season with salt — the sausage and stock can be salty, so add it gradually.
Ingredients: 2 tsp smoked paprika · 1 tsp thyme · 1 tsp oregano · 2 pcs bay leaves · 1 tsp chilli flakes · 1 tsp salt · 400 g prawns · 300 g rice · 4 pcs spring onions
A C, not a full circle — then they are done.Serve with rice in the middle
Put a mound of cooked rice in the centre of the bowl and ladle the gumbo around it — that way round, not the reverse. The rice is not meant to soak through the whole meal, but to be eaten with the sauce. Scatter with spring onion.
Ingredients: 2 tsp smoked paprika · 1 tsp thyme · 1 tsp oregano · 2 pcs bay leaves · 1 tsp chilli flakes · 1 tsp salt · 400 g prawns · 300 g rice · 4 pcs spring onions
Before you start
Roux in advance
Make a triple batch and keep it in a jar in the fridge for up to a month. The roux is the only laborious part of gumbo — with it ready, the dish is on the table in little more than an hour instead of two.
Without okra
The alternative is filé powder, ground sassafras leaf, stirred in off the heat — boiled it turns stringy. With neither, gumbo is still good, just thinner.
The next day
Gumbo improves markedly overnight as the roux and smoke flavours marry. Add the prawns only when reheating though, since twice-cooked they go tough.
