How to Make Chicken Gumbo with Sausage
Gumbo is a dish that is all about layering flavors. There's the roux, which helps to thicken and flavor.
There's "The Trinity", the Cajun mire poix of onions, celery and green pepper. There are the meats, and there is the filé powder which imparts flavor and thickening.
One of the cooking techniques employed with this recipe is sweating the vegetables. Sweating vegetables is similar to saute but over lower heat and without the browning.
You can learn all about this cooking technique on my web site at How to Sweat Vegetables.
One of the great things about gumbo is that there are probably as many variations of the dish as there are people cooking it. This can be intimidating or liberating, depending on how comfortable you are in the kitchen.
Here is a basic recipe that will yield a very good, flavorful gumbo. For those of you who are comfortable with improvising in the kitchen, use this as a template. Either way, if you've never tried gumbo, you really should.
Chicken Gumbo with Sausage Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 ounces flour scant ½ cup
- 2 ounces neutral cooking oil
- 5 slices thick-cut bacon diced
- ½ pound Andouille sausage diced
- 1 large sweet onion diced
- 2 bell peppers diced
- 3 ribs celery diced
- ½ teaspoon pepper flake or to taste
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 bottle beer
- 6 cups chicken broth low sodium canned or homemade
- 2 cups cooked dark meat chicken diced
- 28 ounces whole tomatoes
- ½ pound fresh okra or frozen cut into ½ slices
- salt and pepper to taste
- 4 teaspoons filé powder divided
Instructions
- Heat a small, cast iron skillet over medium heat.
- Add the oil and then stir in the flour, a little at a time. Cook, stirring constantly, until the roux is the color of a penny. Do not rush, and do this over medium to medium-low heat.
- In a Dutch oven, cook the bacon and sausage until the bacon is crisp and the fat has rendered out. Spoon out all but about 1 tablespoon of the fat.
- Add the onion, peppers and celery, and sweat over medium-low heat until the vegetables are softened but not browned. Regulate the heat so you hear a gentle sizzle, not an angry sizzle or sputtering/popping.
- Add salt and pepper, to taste, the pepper flake, thyme and bay leaves.
- Once the vegetables are translucent, add the roux, and stir until well combined.
- Pour in the beer and bring to a boil. Reduce by about half, turn down the heat and add 2 teaspoons filé powder, the tomatoes and chicken broth.
- Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for about an hour. Taste, and adjust seasonings.
- Add the chicken and okra and simmer for an additional thirty minutes.
- Stir in the remaining 2 teaspoons of filé powder and serve over cooked rice.
Notes
margaret cole
It would be nice to show how the calories, sugar, carbs etc in your recipes for those that have food restrictions.
RG
Hi Margaret, I agree and I wish I had time to research all my recipes and add those numbers. I know there are software programs available that allow you to add your recipes and the software will figure out the percentages. I have thought about using one of these programs but it takes a lot of time to enter the information and if you are using a product that is not in their data base, your numbers are all off. Also, what if I make an entry mistake and the numbers are off. I may accidentally give someone with food restrictions bad info, something I would not like to do. Lastly, I usually recommend home cooks to alter my recipes based on their own likes and what they "have on hand".
I might suggest you try one of these commercial programs and when you find a recipe you like, plug it into your software and see if it fits your diet. If not, maybe you can make some adjustments to the recipe to work for you.
Darr AZ
As always so glad to receive mail from "The Reluctant Gourmet" enjoy it so much.
I have always seen cooking shows and Chefs making Gumbo and they always pull out the different forms of fish to make it. I didn't want to make it with things I would not eat and just make it and toss it out.
This is the first time I have heard of making Gumbo and told it was a base to put in whatever you would like. Why hasn't anyone else ever said this and just automatically bring out all the fish and crayfish when they start to make Gumbo?
Leave it to The Reluctant Gourmet to tell me this. Thank you so much. Now I can make and taste Gumbo for the first time. Love this..Thanks.
RG
Darr, you are very welcome and thanks for the kind words.
Luby
I don't know how I got on your emailing list but it looks good and I will definetely give the recipes a try. Keep it coming and good luck!