After a recent trip to the French quarter my wife has decided she kind of likes a little Creole. Now I have been making Gumbo for years, but she has never really eats it. I prefer my Gumbo to be thick with tomatoes and normally use chicken and shrimp. For her tastes I add green beans and broccoli. I know this is way off the traditional Gumbo recipes, but everyone is happy. Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas?

Thick but without okra. Okra is meant to be fried.

A bit thin or "brothy" is my preference.

Gumbo is meant to be thick, not thin like a soup.

It's not a soup.

If you use a heavily browned roux as the traditional recipes call for, keep in mind you will need more than a regular blonde roux as the cooking it out cuts the thickening power down significantly.

I like almost any kind of gumbo, but I think I'd skip the brocolli and green beans.

I do like the roux very dark for gumbo, and the gumbo to be moderately think. Not gravy thick, but it certainly needs some body.

Yours sounds more like a creole than a true Cajun gumbo, especially with all those tomatoes. There is nothing wrong with that.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
Gumbo is meant to be thick, not thin like a soup.

It's not a soup.

If you use a heavily browned roux as the traditional recipes call for, keep in mind you will need more than a regular blonde roux as the cooking it out cuts the thickening power down significantly.

Listen to the Yankee. You want soup, eat soup. Gumbo ought to have some body to it. Not stand up yer spoon, but slow down it's fall to the side, anyhow. Dark roux.

As for okra, I'm good with it in or out, doesn't matter. Just don't forget the sausage and shrimps. Also, Crystal hot sauce is preferred, if not I guess Louisiana Hot Sauce is a backup plan. Tabasco is required as well. And bread, which I prefer to have toasted with butter, but will eat torn off the loaf where necessary.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
Gumbo is meant to be thick, not thin like a soup.

It's not a soup.

If you use a heavily browned roux as the traditional recipes call for, keep in mind you will need more than a regular blonde roux as the cooking it out cuts the thickening power down significantly.

True, dark rouxs thicken less and flavor more.

File (said "fee-LAY") powder also helps thicken gumbo. It is also a seasoning - it is powdered sassafrass leaves. If you thicken it with file, add it later in the cooking and do not boil the gumbo after the file is added - it will become stringy.

Or you can use okra to further thicken the gumbo.

Most cooks would not use okra and file. One or the other.

There is a place here in Houston (actually League City) that has AMAZING Gumbo!

Little Daddy's Gumbo Bar

Mine is thick probably too thick.

I make the roux really dark, sautee the okra first to reduce how much it thickens, then add filé just before serving to add flavor and reach desired thickness.

My standard is to cook the roux until it's milk chocolate colored then turn off the heat. Residual heat in the cast iron skillet will darken it even more. Just short of burned is the goal. For a ~4qt pot I'll do 1/2c flour with 1/2c canola or peanut oil. I stir the whole time with a metal spatula to make sure every bit is mixed like squeegeeing the skillet.

Have had problems with roux separating on occasion. Finally learned to heat the roux back up and add onions/garlic to saute before adding the whole thing to the soup pot. That seems to fix it.

Okra
Andouille
Tomatoes
Stock
Bay leaves from the yard
Thyme
Oregano
Shrimp at the end so not rubbery

Sometimes file' (made some so it's a good reason to use it)

Serve with rice and hot sauce

So coming from someone that grew up in New Orleans, do not put tomatoes in gumbo. Save them for your BLT or po-boy.

As far as answering your question, when I make a gumbo, my roux is basically a paste before putting it in the pot with water and other ingredients.

quote:

Originally posted by Oz_Shadow:
Thick but without okra. Okra is meant to be fried.

Agree 100% on both.

quote:

Originally posted by Oz_Shadow:
Thick but without okra. Okra is meant to be fried.

Without okra it's not gumbo. It's just a soup or stew. Gumbo MUST have okra to be gumbo. The name itself means okra.

Thick, thick, thick!!!!

Duke's seafood. This is his seafood Louisiana style

quote:

Originally posted by sphill:
So coming from someone that grew up in New Orleans, do not put tomatoes in gumbo. Save them for your BLT or po-boy.

As far as answering your question, when I make a gumbo, my roux is basically a paste before putting it in the pot with water and other ingredients.

Yep I don't think I've seen tomatoes in real gumbo.

quote:

Originally posted by charlie12:

quote:

Originally posted by sphill:
So coming from someone that grew up in New Orleans, do not put tomatoes in gumbo. Save them for your BLT or po-boy.

As far as answering your question, when I make a gumbo, my roux is basically a paste before putting it in the pot with water and other ingredients.

Yep I don't think I've seen tomatoes in real gumbo.

Depends on where you are. Gumbo in the southeast has tomatoes in a lot of recipes.

quote:

Originally posted by houndawg:

quote:

Originally posted by charlie12:

quote:

Originally posted by sphill:
So coming from someone that grew up in New Orleans, do not put tomatoes in gumbo. Save them for your BLT or po-boy.

As far as answering your question, when I make a gumbo, my roux is basically a paste before putting it in the pot with water and other ingredients.

Yep I don't think I've seen tomatoes in real gumbo.

Depends on where you are. Gumbo in the southeast has tomatoes in a lot of recipes.

I'm in south Louisiana

quote:

Originally posted by Oz_Shadow:
Thick but without okra. Okra is meant to be fried.

Yes.

And, of course, you can't make roux in anything other than a heavy cast Dutch oven. Paste, like others have said and you damn well better have some onions and such ready to drop in to stop browning at the end or it will end in a smoking heap.