Creole Gumbo

[Syzygies]

Gumbo is an improvisational dish which never comes out the same twice, and is traditionally made without a fixed recipe. Adapted to modern technique it bears an uncanny resemblance to Bouillabaisse, one of its ancestor dishes. For either, one

1. Makes the best stock one can.

2. Turns this stock into a rich soup.

3. Adds the featured ingredients, precooked or timed so they each cook exactly as needed before serving.

It's pretty hard to miss if one respects these rules, making any stew.

To make gumbo in a six quart pot, think two quarts of stock, three pounds of vegetables, and three or more pounds of meat and seafood. The chopped vegetables will disappear into the soup, while the quantity of meat and seafood will determine the "generosity" of the gumbo, without significantly affecting the thickness of the soup.

A gumbo features two distinctive ingredients: a deeply browned flour and butter roux, and okra. Not everyone thinks they like okra, or for that matter the quantity of butter needed for the easily burned roux, so both require special attention.

These directions are optimized for making a gumbo in a Komodo Kamado, in either a dutch oven or a soapstone pot. There are several advantages to making gumbo this way: The gumbo can collect meat drippings (it will need later degreasing) and take on a smoky flavor. Smoked meats can be added to the gumbo a short time before serving, with a better taste and texture than meats cooked directly in the gumbo. One needs careful smoke control, to avoid overwhelming the gumbo. I recommend using a smoke pot.

1. Stock

Ideally, a meat and seafood gumbo is based on a meat and seafood stock. A shellfish stock in particular adds a rich sweetness to gumbo. One should think of making the stock as the critical but easy half of the work. A gumbo is only as good as its stock.

The techniques for making meat and seafood stocks are different; meats and bones need many hours to release their flavors, while a seafood stock can simmer for at most half an hour before taking on odd flavors. One thinly slices the vegetables for a seafood stock, worrying less for a meat stock.

Stocks should only briefly ever come to a boil; the widespread culinary practice of reducing a completed stock by boiling is an expedient mistake. Think how distilling fine liquor works: a tremendous amount of flavor passes through the still before the boiling point of water. The same happens while reducing a stock; the result is unquestionably rich, but much has been lost. It is far better to make one stock on top of another, as was routinely done centuries ago in French court cooking. This technique is ideally suited to the different requirements of our meat and seafood stocks.

To make a poultry stock, cut up a duck and a chicken, setting aside boneless duck breasts with fat intact to barbecue later for the gumbo. Cover with water, bring just to a boil, strain or lift out the meat, and discard the water. Clean the pot, and return the meat to the pot. Add a similar quantity of chopped onions, carrots, tomatoes, fennel or celery, and parsley, and other ingredients as you see fit. Cover again with water, and bring to a simmer for several hours to overnight. Do not salt. Strain through a course sieve. The chicken adds a roundness to the duck stock, and the vegetables add a sweetness.

The poultry stock will need degreasing, as it simmers and after straining. It is easiest to use a pint beer glass or similar mug, and a gravy spoon or similar ladle. Ladle liquid from the surface of the stock to fill the the beer glass, and let it sit for a moment. The fat will rise to the top; ladle it off and return the stock to the pot. (This also works for the gumbo itself, if needed.)

To make a shellfish stock, briefly blanch one's shellfish of choice, such as lobster, blue crabs, head-on shrimp, or crayfish, to the point where the meat can be shelled in a nearly raw state. Setting aside the meat, take the shellfish remains and cover them with two quarts of the poultry stock made earlier. Bring to a simmer, cooking at most half an hour, and strain through course and fine sieves. Do not degrease; refrigerate until needed.

It is a nice idea to "quote" the stock ingredients by featuring the same ingredients in the gumbo, e.g. duck meat with duck stock, crawfish tails with crawfish stock. Moreover, some people have severe shellfish allergies. If using a shellfish stock, it is imperative that shellfish also be visible in the gumbo.

2. Soup

Have ready two or more pounds of chopped vegetables: Onions, fennel or celery, red peppers, a seeded chile pepper or two. Reserve for later addition chopped green onions and garlic, and some cubed tasso, capicola, proscuito or other intense ham.

Melt a stick or more of butter in a nonstick pot or the final gumbo pot, and add flour until the mixture forms a thick but liquid slurry. Stirring with a heatproof spatula over a medium heat, cook until the roux reaches a deep caramel color. Depending on the pot, one doesn't need to give this constant attention at first, but the color change takes place rapidly at the end. Traditionally, one prepares a darker roux for seafood, a lighter roux for poultry or pork, splitting the difference for a mixed gumbo. In any case, the thickening power of a roux decreases as it browns, which is a good thing because we're using so much. When the roux reaches the desired color, but before it burns or turns bitter, add the first batch of chopped vegetables. Add more butter or oil at this point, if needed. Saute at a fairly high heat to soften with a hint of browning, then add the second batch of chopped ham and vegetables.

When this is most intensely aromatic, transfer to a six quart gumbo pot if a different pot was used to make the roux. Add peeled, seeded, coarsely chopped tomatoes. Add two quarts of stock, and bring to a simmer. Season with garden herbs, two bay leaves, freshly ground black pepper, and a tablespoon or more each of tabasco and Worcestershire sauce. One could add a smoked ham hock now. Set the uncovered pot on the main grill of Komodo Kamado set up for indirect slow cooking at 210 F to 225 F; with luck, an upper grill or rib rack fits over the gumbo pot, making room to barbeque various meats. Cook for many hours, monitoring the gumbo temperature and consistency. Add a bit of water as needed; the gumbo should never actually come to a boil. In practice, if the gumbo goes into a 220 F Komodo Kamado at a temperature of 180 F, it will take many hours to reach 200 F.

To cook an open stew in a Komodo Kamado requires careful smoke control. Taste regularly, adjusting the seasoning as desired, and cover the gumbo if it risks becoming too smoky.

If various meats are cooked directly over the gumbo pot, they should be simply prepared, without the use of rubs that would compete with the gumbo seasonings. The gumbo will then need careful degreasing, but may have benefitted from the flavorful meat juices it collects. Add salt as needed, taste for seasonings, and serve.

3. Featured ingredients

A typical gumbo could feature okra, ham, pork loin, duck, andouille sausage, shrimp and crayfish, each in bite-sized portions. While each of these ingredients can be added directly to the gumbo at an appropriate stage, many can be improved by preparing separately and adding near the end. For example, many meats benefit from light brining, followed by traditional slow cooking in a Komodo Kamado. One wants to give each ingredient some time to mingle flavors with the gumbo, without stewing it long enough to lose the special qualities obtained by cooking separately.

Meats that require long braises, such as ham hocks, can be added to a gumbo with the stock. Fish them out later, to clean up and dice back into the gumbo. Otherwise, most meats suffer if added too soon to a gumbo, and are generally tastier if barbecued low and slow separately, and added shortly before serving. Nearly all seafood requires a short cooking time, and should be added shortly before serving.

The shellfish meat reserved from making the stock can be handled in one of two ways. Either add it directly to the gumbo, or poach it until just cooked in butter with a bit of water added, serving it over the gumbo. This poaching could take place on a burner, or in the Komodo Kamado, where the butter could take on smoke. Butter-poached lobster is a signature dish at the French Laundry; if you can score a pile of "cull" lobsters (sold cheap because they're missing claws), they beg to be made into a gumbo this way. Restaurants that use this technique routinely face returns from customers who believe the seafood is undercooked, so perhaps err on the side of fully cooked. This technique is a particularly good way to precook shellfish, if preparing the stock in advance; raw shellfish is notoriously perishable.

Sliced okra is traditionally added directly to the gumbo pot, early in cooking, and helps to thicken the soup. However, many people don't like okra for exactly this property. Some cooks pan roast the okra before adding it to the gumbo. One actually doesn't want too thick a gumbo; thick stews are never as good as the sum of their parts. In contrast, thin soups carry flavors with much greater clarity, but are somehow psychologically less satisfying. The trick is to navigate between these two extremes, making a very generous soup that seems to be a stew. If there seems to be too much liquid just before serving, ladle some out and drink it.

Edited May 27, 2017 by Syzygies
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[Amphoran]

Thank you! Great dissertation; I hope to apply it soon.

[Majestik]

Thank you!

I hope can find some time this weekend to pull this off. Very nice writeup, thanks!

[Saucier]

Nice

Syzygies, nice detailed writeup & well presented.

I used to have the time to do lots of stocks & demis, and hope to have more in the future!

Not many folks will take the time or trouble to do it right!

Thanks

[Syzygies]

The Three Stooges: Larry vs the Lobster Gumbo

[CeramicChef]

 

That is one of the classics in comedy!  Great skit!  Larry, Curley, and Moe were masters of physical comedy!

 

Thanks.

[wilburpan]

That was a fantastic write up on gumbo. I’m filing this away for future reference.

I don’t suppose you would care to do a similar take on étouffée, would you?