Chicken and Andouille Gumbo
Gumbo is one of the only foods I can think of that equally belongs at a fine dining restaurant, school cafeteria, hunting camp, tailgate party, Christmas parties, concession stands, and weeknight meals. Perhaps gumbo fits so many occasions because of its ease of cooking, forgiving nature, bold flavor, and soul-warming capabilities.
Louisiana gumbo (as opposed to African gumbo) can be broken into 4 main categories:
Chicken and Andouille Gumbo (chicken can be substituted ie turkey, duck, rabbit)
Seafood Gumbo (shrimp, crab, and okra) – my preference is no meat although smoked sausage or andouille is acceptable by some people
Red Bean Gumbo (similar to red beans and rice but with a roux and more water is added and you poach eggs in the gumbo at the last minute – found mostly in St. James Parish)
Gumbo des Herbes, made with multiple greens and commonly eaten on Holy Thursday
Gumbo is fluid and recipes were mostly given to family members or close friends. Each person changes it a little. I’ll give a few examples so you can see some of the changes that have happened. If you look at really old gumbo recipes, people used cloves and allspice (typically small amounts) which are common in African cooking, but I don’t know anyone who uses it in today’s gumbo.
While I admit a roux made with oil is more traditional, I am a child of the low fat craze of the 90s and grew up on a “dry roux” (no oil). That’s the roux I learned to make and have never made an oil based brown roux.
Despite being my dad’s designated sous chef for Christmas Eve gumbo for as long as I can remember and using his recipe to make gumbo, My Armo swears my dad’s is better. I was in denial for a long time because so much of the flavor of chicken and andouille gumbo comes from the meat and we use the same meat from the same smokehouse. Last year at Christmas I realized he uses far more roux in his gumbo than I did. My point is even if you learn from the source, you can still make an unknowing change.
We have a friend who pays close attention to cooking techniques and hones in on details to create perfection. His repertoire in food is probably the most globally diverse I’ve seen and pays close attention to traditional methods. A few years ago while he was on a trip in Ghana, he went to someone’s house to learn to cook a few dishes. He noted that they handle the basic aromatic flavors differently than in any other cuisine he knows – they never fry them. There’s a few ways they add them to the cooking but one way they do it is to add the aromatics directly to the soup, which also happens in Cajun/Creole dishes such as gumbo and beans. The reason I’m noting this method is because there are a few people who will saute the trinity before putting it in the gumbo pot. You remember those small changes I mentioned people make, I’m assuming that’s another example of them. If you’re wondering, I have NEVER sauteed my trinity for gumbo or beans, but I have eaten gumbo that the person making it did. The only thing it adds is an extra pot to clean.
Like I said in a recent post, one of my professors said “It’s ok to break the rules if you know the rules first.” With that in mind, here are my gumbo rules. If you aren’t familiar with this type of gumbo made from a legit source, please follow the recipe as closely as you can. Things like the balance of flavor and consistency of the broth make the difference between good gumbo and “What is that?!” I don’t mix okra and meat or seafood and meat. Tomatoes have no place in gumbo. While gumbo takes hours to make, it’s mostly hands off and one of the easiest dishes you’ll ever make.
Chicken and Andouille Gumbo Ingredients
1 chicken
water
1 ½ c flour
water
3 c chopped onions (about 1 onion)
1 ½ c chopped bell pepper (about 1 large bell pepper)
1 ½ c chopped celery (about 3 stalks)
1 c sliced shallots (green onion)
1 Tbl salt
2 tsp coarse ground black pepper
1 tsp red pepper (cayenne)
1 Tbl basil (dried)
1 Tbl thyme (dried)
½ c parsley (dried)
2 tsp worcestershire sauce
½ lb tasso
2 lbs smoked sausage
1 lb andouille
¼ c minced garlic
Fresh parsley or shallots (green onions) for parsley
Cooked rice
Chicken and Andouille Gumbo Directions
In an 8 quart pot, add 1 chicken and fill the pot with enough water to submerge the chicken. Boil the water until the meat easily separates from the bone when you stick it with a fork.
Remove the chicken from the pot. When it’s cool enough to handle, remove the meat from the bone. I pull it with my fingers in strips. It should be about 2-3 bites per chicken piece. If the chicken pieces are too small, you risk the chicken shredding.
Add the chicken bones and skin to the pot and simmer for 90 minutes. Remove the skin and bones. Turn the heat off and allow the fat to rise to the top of the pot. Skim off the fat.
In a frying pan, add 1 ½ c of flour. Turn the fire to medium high heat. When you smell the flour toasting, stir the flour frequently and reduce the heat to medium low. Most people cook the roux to the color of peanut butter. I like to go a few shades darker. If you burn the roux, don’t sweat it. Toss it out and start over. A burned roux will ruin your gumbo.
After the skin and bones are removed from the pot, add 1 ½ c roux, 3 c chopped onions, 1 ½ c chopped bell peppers, 1 ½ c chopped celery, 1 c chopped shallots, 1 Tbl salt, 2 tsp coarse ground black pepper, 1 tsp cayenne, 1 Tbl basil, 1 Tbl thyme, 2 tsp worcestershire sauce, and ½ c parsley. Stir. Taste. It will be grainy and bland. Simmer for 2 hours and taste. It still won’t taste good, but it’s slowly getting better.
Slice ½ lb of tasso into ¼” strips, rotate it 90 degrees and slice again in ½” rectangles. Slice 2 lbs of smoked sausage and 1 lb of andouille into ⅓” thick rounds. Add them to the pot and simmer 1 hour. Taste. Add the chicken and ¼ c minced garlic to the pot and add enough water for the liquid to be about 1” below the rim. Simmer for 30 min. Taste. Add salt if needed. If there is a harsh garlic flavor, cook longer. Gumbo gets better as it sits.
To serve. Add about 3 Tbl of rice to a bowl and fill the remaining space with gumbo.
Garnish with chopped parsley or sliced shallots (green onions).
Notes
If you’re really going all out, roast your chicken bones until they get a little color before simmering them in the water. You can always save a carcass of a previous chicken in the freezer and roast it while the chicken is boiling and use both sets of bones.
A darker roux will intensify the flavor, but also loses some of its thickening power so there’s a balance. Do not us a roux that is lighter in color.
Potato salad is a classic side dish with gumbo. There’s a cohort of people including me who like potato salad in their gumbo. My mom is appalled at the idea, but I love it.
Tasso is nearly impossible to find outside of parts of Louisiana, so you can use a different heavily seasoned smoked meat.
If your smoked sausage and andouille don’t have a really smoky flavor, you can add a smoked turkey neck, smoked ham hocks, etc to give your gumbo more smoke flavor.
If you don’t want to make your chicken stock, just use boneless chicken parts and Better than Chicken bouillon. Don’t add any salt until after you add the meats.
