How to make gumbo – recipe
Gumbo, “New Orleans’ most famous Creole creation”, is a word of Angolan origin that describes a dish that brings together West African, Native American, Spanish and French influences in one gloriously savoury pot of stew. City Creole or country Cajun, everyone in Louisiana has an opinion on the best way to make it, be that with fish and meat, fish or meat, or indeed no meat at all, especially during Lent. This is my version.
Prep 15 min
Cook 3 hr
Serves 4
4 chicken legs – see step 1
Salt and black pepper
Cayenne pepper
1 onion
1 celery stalk
1 green pepper
100ml oil
100g flour
1 litre chicken stock, at room temperature
1 bay leaf
200g okra (frozen is fine)
200g smoked sausage (eg, kielbasa or morteau) – see step 1
½ tsp Tabasco, or other hot sauce, to taste
Long-grain rice, to serve
Filé powder, to serve (optional)
1 A note on the protein
Gumbo is very adaptable: to speed things up, swap the chicken for 400g large raw prawns or white fish (cut the latter into chunks). Start with the roux, then, once you have a smooth sauce, add the sausage (if you don’t eat pork, use smoked beef or chicken ones instead) and okra, and go from there. Add the seafood for the last five minutes of the cooking time.
2 Alternative options
If you’d prefer to keep things pescatarian and/or skip the sausage, add a teaspoon of smoked paprika and half a teaspoon of cayenne pepper to the finished roux, and fry for 30 seconds more before adding fish or vegetable stock. For a vegetarian gumbo, I’d recommend looking online for a tomato and okra gumbo recipe.
3 Season the chicken and prep the veg
Remove the skin from the chicken, if necessary, then dust the legs with salt, black pepper and cayenne.
Leave to sit for at least half an hour while you peel and finely chop the onion and trim and finely chop the celery and pepper (green is traditional in gumbo, but if you dislike it, you could use a red pepper instead).
4 Sear the chicken
Put the oil (yes, that amount seems a lot, but remember it will also form the base of the roux later) in a large, heavy-based pot (not nonstick and preferably light coloured) over a medium-high heat, then brown the chicken, in batches, if necessary – there’s no need to cook it through at this point. Scoop out with a slotted spoon and set aside.
5 Make the roux
Put the flour, onion, pepper, celery and stock beside the stove. Turn down the heat under the pot a little, then scrape and loosen any chickeny bits stuck to the bottom of the pan.
Add the flour to the hot oil, then stir constantly over a medium-low heat until it reaches a deep, rich, brown colour, almost milk chocolate (if you’re brave and like bitter flavours, aim for the colour of dark chocolate).
6 Add the chopped veg
Tip the onion, pepper and celery into the roux and cook, stirring to ensure nothing burns, for a few minutes, until softened.
Gradually stir in the stock little by little, until you have a smooth sauce, again scraping the bottom of the pot as you go to disperse any lumps.
7 Simmer very gently
Return the chicken to the pot along with the bay leaf, and bring to a simmer. Turn down the heat, cover and simmer very gently for 90 minutes, checking occasionally towards the end of the cooking time.
Trim the okra, then cut it and the sausage into chunky slices. Stir these into the mix, then cover again and simmer for a further 45 minutes.
8 Add hot sauce to taste
If you’d prefer to serve your gumbo without the bones, lift out the cooked chicken legs (keep the pot on a low heat) and, when they’re cool enough to handle, strip off the meat and return it to the pot. Either way, season with hot sauce and salt and pepper to taste. The gumbo can be made up to this step a few days ahead, then refrigerated and reheated.
9 Finishing touches
Serve with long-grain rice and filé powder, if using, to taste – these powdered dried sassafras leaves have an earthy, slightly herbal flavour, and are sometimes added to gumbo as a thickener in place of the okra, but they’re not essential (in the UK, you can buy them online from Seasoned Pioneers).
