Our Best Louisiana-Style Gumbo Recipes - MyRecipes (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to good gumbo? ›

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.

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.

For the most flavor, use stock or broth in your gumbo instead of water. Whether you use chicken or vegetable stock, homemade or boxed, the stock will give your gumbo more depth and complexity.

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.

Most cooks agree that gumbos must have the vegetable trinity of chopped bell pepper, onion and celery, and that they should be highly seasoned. Some gumbos do contain sausage, shrimp and chicken, but there are humbler ones that are made with only salt pork, onions and greens.

Butter adds great flavor, but since it has a lower smoke point than other fat sources (like vegetable or canola oil), it's more likely to burn when used in a darker roux. “In a dark roux,” says New Orleans–based chef Justin Devillier, “I'll mix butter with a high-heat oil” to keep the fat from scorching.

Gumbo is much denser than a simple soup; the broth has a thick, almost viscous consistency. And that characteristic is most commonly created by making a roux, cooking flour and oil together until they thicken and darken. Otherwise, gumbo can be thickened with file, which is just powdered dried sassafras leaves.

Cooking the gumbo for a good three to four hours on simmer is imperative. "The long cooking time adds time for flavors to develop and ensures a burst of flavor," says Biffar. Make sure to give it time to let everything mesh together, this is not a dish to be rushed!

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.

Putting veggies in gumbo makes it more of a stew. I mean just add roast, and bam you've got a good ole' bowl of stew. I've never heard of potatoes, carrots, etc. going into gumbo.

Why do you not put tomatoes in gumbo? ›

With Louisiana-born chefs, I've been told time and time again that tomatoes don't belong in gumbo. I agree wholeheartedly. I often find that recipes that include stewed or diced tomatoes do not allow the roux to develop long enough, and the tomatoes feel like a coverup for the misstep.

For purposes of this discussion, we will limit our focus to plain old polished white rice. Even then, it comes in different sizes — short, long and medium grain. I prefer medium grain rice in a gumbo, because the grains puff up, the perfect medium for a gumbo. The thick gumbo juice sticks to the grains just right.

Filé can provide thickening when okra is not in season, in types of gumbo that use okra or a roux as a thickener for gumbo instead of filé. Sprinkled sparingly over gumbo as a seasoning and a thickening agent, filé powder adds a distinctive, earthy flavor and texture.

Finishing the gumbo with vinegar rather than the usual hot sauce gives the rich dish some much-needed acidity.

In the end, you want lots of flavor, which is a blend of sweet-salty-sour in a juicy broth slightly thickened by your roux and gumbo. In your gumbo pot, add tomatoes, chicken breasts, diced fish, salt, pepper, chicken broth, garlic, parsley, thyme, oregano, sugar, lemon cut in halves, 1/4 cup vinegar.