Seafood Gumbo • Louisiana Woman Blog % (2024)

FAQs

What are the two rules of gumbo? ›

Thou Shalt Always Use a Bowl. If you use a plate, it is not gumbo it is rice and gravy! Thou Shalt Only Use a Wooden Spoon. There is only one kind of spoon that can enter a gumbo pot and that is a wooden one.

Great gumbo starts with roux, a flavorful thickening agent made from equal parts fat and flour. Once the roux is a deep golden color, add diced veggies and sausage to the mix. Then, incorporate beef bouillon, hot sauce, tomatoes, and seasonings to intensify the flavor.

The other two methods of thickening gumbo stock are using filé (dried sassafras leaves) or simply letting okra and the vegetable trifecta of onions, bell pepper, and celery cook down.

Roux (pronounced "roo") is the foundation for many Cajun and Creole recipes, from gravies to sauces and soups to gumbos. Roux, though simple in nature, brings incredible flavor to so many recipes. Roux is a cooked mixture of flour and fat (oil, butter or lard) used as a thickening agent.

Gumbo is almost always served with rice, but it was at the winery that I learned that some Cajuns serve potato salad with it. Some even put the potato salad in the bowl WITH the gumbo. Sounds weird but trust me it is DELISH!! The potato salad is not a normal Southern style one.

Turns out, your preference for tomatoes in gumbo comes down to whether you learned your skills from a Cajun cook or a Creole cook. (Learn about the difference here.) Cajun gumbo does not include tomatoes in the base, but Creole gumbo (typically shellfish or seafood gumbo) does call for tomatoes.

Creole gumbo is usually made with okra, tomato, and often a combination of meat and seafood, while the Cajun version contains meat or seafood, and is typically okra-free and made with a darker roux.

Love it or hate it, there's no denying that okra can get slimy. The so-called slime is mucilage, which comes from sugar residue and is great for, say, thickening gumbo, but not great when you're biting into a piece of sautéed okra and averse to that viscous texture.

Yes, you could increase the quantity of roux even more to thicken the gumbo further, but the toasted flavor and fat can really start to weigh the gumbo down if you get too roux-heavy. So you still need a way to push the liquid in the gumbo to a more spoon-coating texture. Enter okra and filé powder.

Bring the gumbo to a boil over medium-high heat, then cover and reduce the heat to low. Cook for one hour. Add the shrimp and okra to the pot, then cover and cook for an additional 30 minutes, until the okra is softened and no longer stringy.

Why is my gumbo foaming? ›

That means the foam will typically appear when making meat-based broths and, to a lesser degree, soups made from high-protein vegetables such as chickpeas and lentils. When those coagulated proteins cluster together, they can create air pockets, which is what causes the “sudsy bubbles,” says Trout.

There's no right or wrong to which fat you use; it just depends on what flavor you want. In a dairy-heavy sauce, like milky béchamel, butter is the common choice (and is also the more common fat in most French roux), while oil is often preferred in Creole and Cajun cooking.

Grapeseed oil: This is the best for making a dark roux because it has a high smoke point, meaning you can cook it hotter and for longer without burning the oil. Most roux's are equal parts flour and a fat. Whatever you do not use butter to make this roux because it will burn, taste butter and ruin your gumbo!

Gumbo consists primarily of a strongly flavored stock, meat or shellfish (or sometimes both), a thickener, and the Creole "holy trinity" – celery, bell peppers, and onions. Gumbo is often categorized by the type of thickener used, whether okra or filé powder (dried and ground sassafras leaves).

The "holy trinity" in Cajun cuisine and Louisiana Creole cuisine is the base for several dishes in the regional cuisines of Louisiana and consists of onions, bell peppers and celery. The preparation of Cajun/Creole dishes such as crawfish étouffée, gumbo, and jambalaya all start from this base.

The Influence of Cultures

The melding of diverse cultures is evident in gumbo's ingredients. The French introduced roux, a mixture of fat and flour used to thicken the stew. The Spanish contributed spices and peppers, while African cooks brought okra and a rich array of flavors.