Plate 05 of 10

Seafood and Andouille Gumbo

The bayou pot. A roux of flour and oil stirred without stopping for forty minutes to the colour of dark chocolate, arrested with the holy trinity of onion, celery and green pepper, built up with shell stock, andouille and okra, and finished with Gulf shrimp and blue crab poached for four minutes, with filé dusted at the table.

Prep: 40 min
Cook: 1 hr 30 min
Serves: 8
Difficulty: Hard

Researched · Kitchen testing pending

A deep bowl of dark mahogany gumbo with pink shrimp, slices of andouille, okra rings and a cracked crab claw around a mound of white rice, scattered with scallion.

In the cypress swamps and bayou parishes of south Louisiana, gumbo is three centuries of West African, French, Spanish, Choctaw and German cooking in one pot. The word comes from ki ngombo, the Bantu name for okra.

It begins with the roux: flour and oil stirred over low heat for the better part of an hour until it is the colour of dark chocolate. The holy trinity of onion, celery and green pepper goes in to stop the browning, then shell stock, smoked andouille and okra. Gulf shrimp and blue crab are folded in just before serving, and filé is dusted over each bowl at the table, over a scoop of long-grain rice.

Ingredients

Roux and trinity
120 mlNeutral oil, or rendered lard
120 gPlain flour
2 largeYellow onions, diced fine
2 largeGreen bell peppers, diced fine
3 stalksCelery with leaves, diced fine
6 clovesGarlic, minced to a paste
Pot
400 gSmoked andouille sausage, sliced into 8 mm coins
2 LSeafood stock from the shrimp shells and crab bodies
300 gFresh okra, sliced into 5 mm rings
4 wholeBlue crabs, cleaned, halved, claws crackedoptional, for the simmer
2 wholeBay leaves
4 sprigsFresh thyme
15 gCajun or Creole seasoning
10 gFine sea salt
15 mlWorcestershire sauce
Seafood and finish
900 gGulf white shrimp, 16/20, peeled and deveined, shells kept for stock
450 gBlue crab meat, lump or claw, picked clean
10 mlLouisiana hot sauce
1 bunchScallions, sliced fine
10 gFilé powder, ground sassafrasat the table only, never in the pot
4 cupsCooked long-grain white rice, warm

What a dark roux is

Past 175 °C the wheat starch dextrinises: long chains break into short ones, the thickening power drops by more than half, and nutty pyrazines and dark pigments form. It is flavour, not thickener. Black flecks mean it burnt and must be started again.

The trinity puts out the fire

Dumping the cold onion, celery and pepper into 180 °C roux stops the temperature rise instantly and the steam caramelises the allium sugars in seconds. It is the only way to hold the roux at dark chocolate.

Four minutes for the seafood, filé at the table

Shrimp and crab have heat-fragile proteins. Four minutes at 90 °C sets them tender. Filé boiled in the pot turns its mucilage into stringy gum; dusted into a warm bowl it perfumes and thickens gently.

The five tastes on this plate

Salt is sea salt, andouille brine and the shell stock. Fat is the oil in the roux and the rendered sausage. Acid is hot sauce and Worcestershire. Heat is cayenne, black pepper, garlic and the andouille's smoke. Umami is dextrinised roux, crab liquor, shrimp and cured pork.

Equipment

8-quart enamelled cast-iron Dutch oven
Flat-edged wooden roux paddle
6-quart saucepan and a fine chinois, for the stock
Skillet, for the okra

The heavy base is what keeps the dark roux from catching in a hot spot. The bayou pot is cast aluminium or seasoned iron, with a flat wooden paddle.

Method

Brew the seafood stock40 min
Heat a tablespoon of oil in the saucepan over high heat and cook the shrimp shells and crab bodies 5 minutes until coral-red and fragrant. Add a chopped onion, a celery stalk, thyme, bay and 2.5 litres water. Boil, then simmer on low 30 minutes. Strain and keep 2 litres hot.
Heat 1 tablespoon oil on high; cook shrimp shells and crab bodies 5 minutes until coral and fragrant. Add one chopped onion, one celery stalk, thyme, bay and 2.5 litres water. Boil; simmer low 30 minutes. Strain; keep 2 litres hot.
Brown the andouille6 min
In the Dutch oven, cook the andouille coins over medium heat 6 minutes until browned and rendered. Lift out with a slotted spoon, leaving the fat.
In the Dutch oven, cook the andouille coins over medium heat 6 minutes until browned and rendered. Lift out with a slotted spoon, leaving the fat.
Make the dark chocolate roux30 to 40 min
Add oil to the pot to make 120 ml of fat in total. Whisk in the flour over medium-low, then switch to the wooden paddle and stir in figure-eights across the whole floor without stopping. It goes from blonde to peanut butter to copper to milk chocolate and finally dark chocolate, about 180 °C. Any black flecks and it starts over.
Top up sausage fat with oil to 120 ml total. Whisk in flour over medium-low; stir constantly with a wooden paddle across the entire base for 30–40 minutes to dark chocolate, about 180 °C. Restart if any black flecks appear.
Arrest the roux with the trinity6 min
The instant it reaches dark chocolate, dump in all the onion, pepper and celery. It will hiss and steam furiously and stop browning. Stir 5 minutes until the vegetables soften into the roux, then the garlic for 1 minute.
Immediately add onion, pepper and celery when roux reaches dark chocolate; expect vigorous steam and hissing. Stir 5 minutes until softened, then add garlic and stir 1 minute.
Build and simmer the base45 min
Stream in the hot stock a ladle at a time, stirring hard to emulsify it into the roux. Add the browned andouille, the cracked crabs, bay, thyme, Creole seasoning, black pepper and Worcestershire. Boil, drop to low, and simmer uncovered 45 minutes, skimming any oil.
Stir hot stock into roux one ladle at a time. Add andouille, cracked crabs, bay, thyme, Creole seasoning, black pepper and Worcestershire. Bring to a boil; simmer uncovered on low 45 minutes, skimming oil.
Smother and add the okra21 min
In a skillet, sauté the okra in a tablespoon of oil over medium 6 minutes until the slime cooks off. Stir it into the gumbo and simmer 15 minutes until tender and the pot is rich and velvety.
In a skillet, sauté the okra in a tablespoon of oil over medium 6 minutes until the slime cooks off. Stir it into the gumbo and simmer 15 minutes until tender and the pot is rich and velvety.
Poach the seafood and finish4 min
Add the shrimp and crab meat and cook over gentle heat 3 to 4 minutes until the shrimp are pink and curled into loose C shapes, 60 to 63 °C. Take the pot off the heat at once. Stir in the scallions and hot sauce and discard the bay leaves.
Gently cook shrimp and crab meat 3–4 minutes until shrimp are pink, loosely C-curled and 60–63 °C. Remove from heat immediately; add scallions and hot sauce, then discard bay leaves.
Serve
Mound warm rice in the centre of deep bowls and ladle the gumbo, shrimp, sausage and crab generously around it. Pass filé and hot sauce at the table.
Mound warm rice in deep bowls; ladle gumbo, shrimp, sausage and crab around it. Offer filé and hot sauce at the table; never boil filé in the pot.
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Sensory cues of doneness
- Visual: a deep mahogany, glossy stew loaded with sausage coins, okra rings, cracked claws and pink shrimp over white rice.
- Auditory: rhythmic bubbling, and the furious hiss when the trinity hits the roux.
- Olfactory: dark toasted roux like chocolate and coffee, smoked andouille, sweet crab, garlic and scallion.
Look for glossy mahogany gumbo with sausage, okra, claws and pink shrimp over rice. Expect rhythmic bubbling and aromas of dark toasted roux, smoked andouille, crab, garlic and scallion.

Troubleshooting

Bitter gumbo with black flecks.: The roux burnt. A dark roux is never left alone. Discard it and start again.
Rubbery shrimp and shredded crab.: The seafood cooked more than five minutes. Fold it in for the last three or four and pull the pot off the heat.
Stringy, gluey soup.: Filé went into the boiling pot. It is dusted into warm bowls only.

Substitutions

One-to-one swaps, with the technique change each one needs.

Ingredient substitutions

Ingredient	Replace with	Culinary impact and technique adjustment
Andouille	Smoked kielbasa, Spanish chorizo or Cajun smoked pork sausage	One-to-one. It must be a coarse, garlicky smoked pork sausage
Blue crab	Dungeness, snow crab clusters or king crab legs	One-to-one. Crack the shells before simmering
Okra	Extra filé at the table, or more bell pepper in the pot	Okra supplies the classic texture; filé thickens in its place

Scaling

Half, for 4

Halve everything in a 5-quart pot. The roux takes about 25 minutes.

Double, for 16

Double in a 14 to 16-quart stockpot with a big paddle and no breaks in the stirring.

What to serve it with

Warm long-grain Louisiana rice
Crusty French bread with butter, or a scoop of cold Creole potato salad in the bowl
An Abita Amber, or a Sazerac

Questions

What is the holy trinity?

Equal parts onion, celery and green bell pepper, the Cajun base that swaps French mirepoix's carrot for pepper.

What is filé?

Dried, ground sassafras leaves, a Choctaw seasoning that adds a herbal perfume and a gentle thickening when stirred into a warm bowl.

Can I make a chicken and sausage gumbo?

Yes. Brown seasoned chicken thighs in the pot before the roux, simmer them 45 minutes, and leave out the seafood.