Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Chicken and Sausage Gumbo

Video 1 of  "How to make a chicken and sausage gumbo"


Video 2 of "How to make a chicken and sausage gumbo"




Video 3 of "How to make a chicken and sausage gumbo"



Ingredients

5 lbs bone-in skinless chicken. I like to use dark meat, but I know a lot of people use white meat. 
1 large coarsely chopped onion
1 tbsp of freshly chopped parsley or dried parsley flakes
1 to 2 lbs fresh pork sausage
1 to 2 lbs Hillshire Farm Smoked Sausage or smoked sausage of choice
1 cup (maybe a little less) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup *maybe less!!!!** Cooking oil (preferably any kind of olive oil or vegetable oil)
salt
black pepper or white pepper
1 cup of oyster juice or small container of fresh or frozen fresh oysters (don't use the canned ones)
large pot
1 lb - 3/4 to 1 inch of lunchmeat or chopped ham *optional*
1 lb - 3/4 to 1 inch of bologna *optional*


Directions:

1. Cut your fresh sausage into 1 1/2 inch pieces and put in a pot of water to boil while making your roux. By the time your roux is finished your sausage will be boiled enough so that you can drain the fat and grease out of the water. 

2. To make your roux mix flour and oil together in pot on a medium low heat. You want to make approximately 3/4 of a cup of roux for a 12 quart stock pot. The uncooked roux will be the consistency of Elmer's school glue, and it will not be watery or see through. I like to cook a roux with a whisk to stir because it's just easier to make sure it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot with a whisk. 

FYI... don't try to use a roux as glue. It doesn't work. My children may or may not have tried this. :-| Imagine my surprise when I saw brown stuff on my wall. At least it was just roux, eh?

Cook the roux stirring almost constantly until it turns the color of dark chocolate. **see video for reference** Yep! While your roux is cooking you will realize it smells like a pot of  "da stink." Roux smells almost as bad as rotten compost (ask me how I know about this!), but it's bearable since you're gonna get the smell of yummy goodness right after your roux is cooked. 

3. Once roux is dark brown add onions and parsley. Cook the seasonings until the onions turn clear. 

4. Once your onions are clear you get to the fun part! Time to add the yummy goodness and for you to get ready to start the drool and fending off the neighbors because they're gonna show up at your door wanting to know what you're cooking!

Your sausage should be finished boiling. Drain into a colander, and set aside because you'll be tossing that into the yumminess in a few minutes. 

Still with your stove on a medium-low heat add in your chicken. Stir your chicken and coat it in the roux mixture and let cook for about 5 to 10 minutes until the chicken begins to cook slightly on the outside. **see video for reference** Add in your deli meats (believe it or not adding the deli meats is sure to please the man and squirts) if you opted for them. Stir and coat in the roux mixture. Then add your boiled fresh sausage and stir and coat that in the roux mixture. 

If you had to do like I did in the video and start off in a small pot this is where you transfer your gumbo starter to your 12 quart or larger stock pot.

5. Add as much water as you want, but you need to at least add enough to cover all of your ingredients and make a nice broth. I used approximately 24 cups of water on this particular day. As you add the water it is perfectly normal for the roux to come off of the meat in the pot! Don't leave me comments saying, "ZOMG! THE ROUX IS COMING OFF THE CHICKENSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!" I will just point and laugh at you if you do this and tell you that you should have paid better attention to the video. Ok... so I won't point and laugh, but I will pat your back gently and say it's ok and normal for that to happen (then I'll snicker a little later in private). 

6. Add your oyster juice or oysters (if you opt for the oysters do NOT drain the juice off of them... just toss it all in there). Keep in mind... you do NOT have to add oysters or oyster juice. I make gumbo without it all the time. I just happen to loooove the flavor of fresh oysters in my gumbo. Oysters do NOT give gumbo a "fishy" taste or an "oystery" taste. It just gives it a yumminess that I really can't explain so will just leave it alone.

7. Bring to a boil and let simmer for about 30 minutes. After thirty minutes add in your smoked sausage and let cook for an additional 20 to 30 minutes. 

8. Now... this is kinda icky, but there will be grease on the top of your gumbo from all the fatty meats. Once again... IT'S OKAAAAAAAAAAAY! Just skim the grease off of the top of the gumbo using a spoon and paper towels **see video for reference**

9. Make you up a good ol' pot of rice. Once rice is cooked serve yourself up a bowl of gumbo served over rice. 

10. Invite the neighbors over for a card game of Pedro, an Abita beer, and a bowl of gumbo with a side of potato salad and amaze them all with your Cajun cooking skills!

1 comment:

  1. yum!!! made this tonite and it was yummy.. It took really patience to get the roux brown. First time Ive made a roux brown.. I was really scared that it was going burn or taste burnt but it was really good :)

    ReplyDelete