It's finally getting cold here, and time to use the crock pot.

A while back I saw a recipe online for some really awesome sounding/looking gumbo but now I cannot find it. I am not sure if it was 'true' gumbo or what (I know there are probably some gumbo purists here) but it included sausage, shrimp, okra, rice (?), and a bunch of other delicious looking stuff.

So ARFCOM, I humbly come to you seeking your favorite gumbo/gumbo related recipe.

I ain't never heard of anybody cooking gumbo in a crock pot, but I guess its possible.  I do mine in a stock pot, or if I'm cooking for a bunch of people I'll use a big pot we usually boil crawfish in.

Chicken and Sausage Gumbo

1 chicken, cut into 8-10 serving pieces
1 lb smoked sausage, sliced
1 jar of roux
1 onion, diced
1 bunch green onions, diced
water
salt, black pepper, hot sauce, garlic powder to taste
steamed rice

Fill a stock pot about half full with water, and bring to a boil.  Once its boiling, add your roux a little at a time, stirring so it dissolves.  Add roux until you achieve the color you like, stirring constantly.  I like mine a nice brown, kinda caramel looking.  let it boil uncovered for at least an hour.  

Next add your onions, chicken pieces, half the green onions, and sausage.  You can fry down the sausage in a skillet, or add it raw and skim the grease off later.  It doesn't matter.  Season and cook until chicken is tender, almost falling off the bone.  

Check your seasonings, adjust, then add the green onions just before serving over white rice.  

Now I'm sure I'll get flack for using jarred roux, but its consistent and I like the flavor.  Making my own roux just doesn't come out right for a gumbo.  I save that for the etouffee.

Here's a chicken and sausage gumbo:




File and rice are optional IMHO.




I made this recipe a few times.  When we went to Emeril's in New Orleans, the gumbo tasted exactly like this.




This one has ham hocks and cabbage.  I never would have thought of that as gumbo but it's really good.


I haven't tried it with the beer.







You can't make a good roux solely in a crock pot.

A proper roux is equal parts oil or butter and flour.

Use a frying pan or a stock pot to heat the oil first and then add the flour.  Keep stirring and don't splash it.

Have patience, it takes a good 15-20 minutes to get a good dark brown roux.


I don't think you need a crock pot.  After all the ingredients are cooked and combined about 2 hours of simmering will do it.

 

Theres a good recipe w/ pics from Cossa on page 2 of this thread

https://www.ar15.com/forums/t_1_5/1794452_From_Scratch_Recipe_Thread.html&page=2

I remembered b/c I commented on it.

Hardest part is the roux, you just have to stand there and stir for a long time.

Easiest part is that you can make gumbo with whats available at most supermarkets and have it turn out well, I've made it with Italian sausage, kielbasa and chicken and had it turn out fine.

And, as the other have said, its not a crock pot dish, you don't cook it that long at all.

I know, I know. Sometimes you have to make compromises. Crock pot gumbo is a million times better than stopping at McDonalds on the way home for some silly putty french fires.

Thanks for the suggestions, I am going to try some of these out next week.

I'm scared to make gumbo.  It seems like it'd be hard to cook the roux without burning it.  You'd have to be really familiar with your range and how much heat it give out and how rapidly, and I just moved into my place and been too busy to figure that out.

As long as you're careful and patient it isn't that hard. I think a lot of rouxs get burned b/c people get sick of sitting there in front of the stove and crank the heat. Another potential danger is when you get it dark enough, but you just want to get it a little bit darker, and end up with it burned. They aren't really finicky like a Hollandaise sauce or anything.

I generally make mine by using a higher heat at first, and turning it down when it starts getting color. Use something thats a good heatsink, like cast iron, and pull it off the heat if you start to get worried.

That sounds like an abomination.

F^ck. I fail at life

Some things are great in a crock pot. Gumbo just isn't a shortcut oriented food.

Here is my poor mans single pot gumbo recipe.

ingredients:
1 rotisserie chicken
1 bag of frozen vegetables; onion and green peppers
1 can of stewed tomatos (rotel brand is best)
1 smoked sausage (spicy as you like)
rice
seasoning

1 pull meat from bones, toss smaller bones
2 4-6qt of water in pot with remaining chicken bones, boil 30 min.
3 add vegetables and spices, reduce to med heat for 30 min.
4 pull bones from pot, transfer everything remaining to crockpot.
5 add rice, chicken and sausage to crockpot cook on medium for 30 min.
6 enjoy, if not thick enough add a few tablespoons of flour (or gravy mix)

fatkid

What the fuck? That has nothing to do with gumbo!

Well, someone needed to say it.

Alright, you can make gumbo with that, you just need to change some things

Strip chicken, make stock with bones, keep meat
make roux when done with stock, sautee vegetables in roux when its done--vege should be trinity
Add stock to roux
add spices and about half to 3/4 of your cooked sausage
simmer for about 1 to 1.5 hours
add chix and other part of cooked sausage, cook about half hour or fifteen minutes on lower simmer. Youre just heating the chix, cook it too long and you'll get chicken strings, which are gross.

If you add tomatoes youll want to add okra, you have to fry that till its not slimy, then add it to the pot. Frozen is fine.

Crockpot gumbo?  Roux from a jar?



You better hope Zhukov doesn't see this thread.

There is an Alton Brown Good Eats version where he simplifies making the roux by cooking it in his oven at 325 or 350, stirring once every 30 minutes. It still takes some time but makes it nearly foolproof.

i make a roux using a method paul pruhdomme recommended. high heat, get your fat hot, add flour, keep it moving. if you stop, it'll scorch and you'll have to start over. i can make a dark brown roux in less than 10 minutes on a good gas stove, but the secret is to have everything ready and don't quit stirring. turn heat to medium- medium-low, add the trinity, sweat your trinity while still stirring, add stock for liquid, add okra for thickening if desired, add your protein[s],seafood just cooked long enough. i prefer not to use file if there's okra in the pot, but that's me. i usually make white rice and put a small mound in the bowl and pour gumbo over it.

one of the best coonass dishes i ever had was a shrimp stew in a fishcamp near Venice. asked the cook what her secret was and she said 'jarred roux', so there you have it.i think i ate at least a gallon of it one day.

Bon Appetit's chicke , shrimp, andouille recipe is amazing.

http://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/shrimp-chicken-and-andouille-gumbo

Shortcut gumbo?  Don't be a loser.  It takes time and is totally worth it.

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This guy has it right, to cook the trinity in the roux. Roux gumbo, Okra and tomato gumbo, or file gumbo made with fresh file is best. My wife makes gumbo way better then me. I like file gumbos best and roux gumbo the least. however I will not turn my nose up at any. The wife will cook a whole chicken, cut bone in in a gumbo with andouille or garlic pork sausage the roux it or finish w/ file. She says her momo wouldn't skin the chicken either Sticky long grain rice steamed with bay leaves.

I don't care for the dark Cajun Rouxs. You do those with fat or oil and go on until you're close to burning. I prefer the lighter creole rouxs, made with butter and cooked a shorter time.

just like adding beans to chili, it just ain't right.

i rarely go past chestnut with a roux, but it's nice to be able to make them if you need it for a dish.

 

Chili without beans is something that goes on spaghetti.

As others have said, sweat the trinity in the roux once it gets to the desired color.  Gumbo is really easy (technically) to make but in order to make a good one, the effort is what counts.  I remember when Emeril used to be on TV he would often talk about "building layers of flavor".  He was correct on this (but not on that awful seasoning crap he was constantly hocking ).  It's something that I still think about every time I step up to the stove.

 

This thread inspired me.   I normally make a jambalaya or a gumbo.  

tonight it's everything etouffee.  Yeah I chickened out on my roux, I stopped a bit after pb color and not quite chocolate.    I got chicken thighs, smoked sausage in it now with about a half hour to go before I had the shrimp and fresh chopped parsley.   I did remember to take the shrimp shells and cook them to make some stock to add to the pot.  

Tastes good now.  


ETA-  I wish I got to the creek to get a bunch of crayfish.

Follow the Emeril recipe
Make your own Roux. If you're scared of burning just use lower heat and stir longer. When I started it took 45 minutes to make my first Roux but it was perfect now I can do it in 20 minutes or so. The key is to line up however many beers you think you will drink while stirring the Roux. If you stop stirring to get refills you WILL burn it. Have everything pre chopped and ready to go in. It's easy