Gumbo is not just a dish to serve for Sunday dinner, or to guests on special occasions. Gumbo is a tradition. Gumbo recipes are passed generation to generation in families from Louisiana. Just as Kentucky has its Burgoo and Georgia its Brunswick stew, gumbo is all about the melting pot that is Louisiana.

On the website of the Southern Foodways Alliance, a group which documents, studies, and celebrates the diverse food cultures of the changing American South, is an in depth study of the origins of gumbo.

 Gumbo is often cited as an example of the melting-pot nature of Louisiana cooking, but trying to sort out the origins and evolution of the dish is highly speculative. The name derives from a West African word for okra, suggesting that gumbo was originally made with okra. The use of filé (dried and ground sassafras leaves) was a contribution of the Choctaws and, possibly, other local tribes. Roux has its origin in French cuisine, although the roux used in gumbos is much darker than its Gallic cousins.

Gumbo was always an experience I looked forward to as a child. It was an experience just because of the number of steps and ingredients needed to properly make gumbo. And it had better have been made properly, or my grandmother Thelma, from Shreveport, LA would let my mother know what was wrong.

As a child I was able to help with the preparation somewhat. I remember helping my mother cut the okra (and getting all slimy from it) and vegetables for the trinity, measuring the rice to serve along with the gumbo. The house would smell so wonderful as the gumbo was cooked. The roux, chicken, shrimp, sausage, crab legs and file powder made a magical aromatic cloud so thick you could almost taste it.

My mother and grandmother are both gone now, and I haven’t found a written recipe for their gumbo yet. But I was able to re-create it from my memories, with a few minor changes. I don’t always add okra to my gumbo, although it is used not only as a flavor enhancer but also as a thickener for the gumbo. I am still traumatized by all that slime I had to endure as a child, so I usually forgo the okra.

Although gumbo is a labor-intensive dish, it is worth the effort.

Gumbo

Prep: 30 minutes

Cook time: 1 1/2 hours

Makes 12 cups

Ingredients

• 1 cup rendered bacon fat
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 large onion, diced
• 1 green bell pepper, seeded and diced
• 2 celery stalks, diced
• 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
• 1 tablespoon Creole seasoning
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1 inch chunks
• 64 ounces chicken broth
• 1 package (15 oz) smoked sausage, sliced on the diagonal
• 1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1 teaspoon gumbo file powder

Gumbo

Finished Gumbo

Adding file powder to gumbo

Add the shrimp and file powder, stir to combine, cook 3 – 4 minutes, just until the shrimp are cooked through.

Adding sausage to gumbo

Add the sliced sausage to the gumbo and cook for 15 minutes.

Simmering the gumbo

Reduce the heat to low, simmer the gumbo for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Adding stock to gumbo

Add the broth to the pot, stir to mix, raise the heat to high and bring to a boil.

Adding chicken pieces to gumbo

Add the chicken pieces to the pot. Stir to combine well.

Add Creole seasoning to gumbo

Add the Creole seasoning to the pot. Stir to combine well, cook for 2 – 3 minutes.

Simmering the trinity in roux

Stir the trinity into the roux, making sure all the vegetables are coated with the roux.

Stirring the trinity in roux

Stir the trinity into the roux, making sure all the vegetables are coated with the roux.

Adding the trinity to roux

Add the trinity (onion, celery, green pepper) to the roux.

Dark roux

Once the roux becomes a dark caramel color it is ready.

Medium roux

The roux will become a light caramel color and smell nutty after 5 – 10 minutes. Cooking a roux is not a precise science, so patience and attention are the keys to a successful roux. Keep stirring the roux once or twice a minute.

Stirring roux

The large bubbles will subside as the roux cooks. Stir once or twice a minute, being sure to keep an eye on it.

Bubbly roux

The roux will be very bubbly at first. Stir constantly so the flour does not burn.

Stirring fat and flour

Stir in the flour, being sure to eliminate any lumps.

Adding flour to fat

Melt the bacon fat over medium low heat. Add the flour to the melted fat.

Bacon fat

Roux is simple a mixture of equal parts fat and flour. Any kind of fat can be used, from butter to bacon fat.

The trinity

The Trinity is possibly the most important ingredient when it comes to cooking Louisiana cuisine. Onion, green bell pepper and celery are to Louisiana cooking what Mirepoix is to classical French cuisine.

Gumbo

Chicken, Shrimp and Sausage Gumbo