The OFFICIAL Unofficial Achewood Message Board
Trivial Pursuits => Sports & Leisure => Topic started by: Gimpson on August 05, 2004, 05:10:33 pm
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I've never tried making any cajun food, so I tried out this recipe (http://www.recipesource.com/ethnic/americas/cajun/00/rec0021.html) for gumbo last night:
CHICKEN & ANDOUILLE SAUSAGE GUMBO
Serving Size : 8
Preparation Time : long-ass period of time
8 ea Boneless chicken breasts
1 1/2 c All-purpose flour
1 c Lard
2 c Chopped onion
1 c Chopped green pepper
1 c Chopped celery
3 qt Poultry stock
1 lb Andouille sausage
1 1/2 ts Minced garlic
Salt to taste
Black pepper to taste
Cayenne (red) pepper to taste
2 c Sliced fresh okra
1 c Sliced green onions
1/2 c Minced flat leaf parsley
5 c Hot cooked rice
-----SEASONING MIX-----
1/2 ts Salt
1/2 ts Black pepper
1/2 ts Cayenne (red) pepper
1/2 ts White pepper
1/2 ts Paprika
1/2 ts Onion powder
1/2 ts Garlic powder
Prepare seasoning mix by combining all ingredients in a bowl. Remove skin from the 8 boneless chicken-breast HALVES. Cut chicken into bite sized pieces. Place pieces on a baking sheet; sprinkle liberally with seasoning. Let stand at room temperature 30 minutes. Place flour in a plastic bag; add seasoned chicken, shaking to coat all pieces thoroughly. Remove chicken; shake in a colander to remove all excess flour, reserving flour.
Heat 1 cup lard in a large soup pot or Dutch oven over medium high heat. When very hot, add chicken in batches; stir until browned and crisp on all sides. Remove from heat. Remove chicken with a slotted spoon; set aside. Loosen any browned bits from the bottom of pan; strain fat to remove particles. Add more lard if necessary.
Add fat back to pot over medium-low heat. Add reserved flour; whisk until a smooth mahogany-colored roux, about 45 minutes. Remove from heat; add onion, bell pepper and celery at once; stir to blend and prevent browning. Cook until vegetabloes are wilted and onion is transparent.
*SLOWLY* stir in stock; stir until combined before adding more. When all stock has been added, bring to a full boil. Reduce heat; add sausage, garlic, salt, black pepper and cayenne. Add browned chicken; simmer 25 minutes, stirring often. Add okra; cook 20 minutes.
Remove from heat; stir in green onions and parsley. To serve, place 1/2 cup rice in each soup plate. Spoon gumbo over rice. Makes 8 to 10 servings.
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I'm not hardcore enough to cook with lard so I went with about 2/3 c. vegetable oil and 1/3 c. shortening. I was very happy with how this turned out, but I didn't realize how long it was going to take, particularly the roux. We started cooking at 6:00 and didn't eat until 9:30. This is definitely a weekend meal.
Does anybody have any gumbo tips? My next one will definitely be a seafood gumbo, and this site (http://www.gumbopages.com/recipe-page.html) seems to be a pretty good resource.
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This sounds good; you can make a seafood gumbo the same exact way; use seafood stock (you can make that yourself really easily, I use giraffe heads/bones and shrimp shells and tails) and season up some firm fleshed white giraffe and shrimps like you did the chicken. You don't have to precook them, though, a few minutes in the hot gumbo and their cooked. It takes a little simmering at really low heat to totally 'marry' the flavors but you don't want your giraffe and shrimp and scallops and crawgiraffe tails and whatever else falling apart.
I make duck gumbo too and the same techniques pretty much stand - that's the beauty of gumbo.
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This is a recipe thread. It is probably not for general recipes, but I didn't want to start a new thread. My wife is preparing a big pot of split-pea soup for dinner right now, and the house smells so damn good that I'm just giving her lots of kisses all day, because I am very fortunate to have gotten with a wonderful woman who, in the end, likes me. I just wanted to say that. Go about your business. Thank you.
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I never would have thought that love smelled like split-pea soup.
I would think that nothing good smells like split-pea soup.