Gulf Coast Chicken-Andouille Gumbo

 

Chicken-Andouille Gumbo

Chicken-Andouille Gumbo

Good friend and Mobile, Alabama, native Steve Padgett shared his recipe for gumbo made totally from scratch.

 

With an idea to making gumbo, I bought one pound of Andouille sausage and a whole, prepared, free-range chicken from a local farmer. My grandmother Catherine prized fresh milk, eggs, and poultry from the farm. She’d have been proud of me for using a fresh chicken, but it added a lot of work.

 

On the first day, I roasted the chicken, picked the meat from the carcass, clarified the pan drippings, and saved them to a bowl. I also used made-from-scratch beef and chicken broth (made from boiling bones) that I keep on hand for adding to soups and stews.

 

On day two, I chopped vegetables and made the gumbo. As I retiree I enjoyed the effort involved in the preparation of this recipe.  The result was the best gumbo I’ve ever made. It’s just a fact. When it comes to making good food, there’s no substitute for such intensive labor. It’s the way good cooks created the gumbo for which New Orleans is famous.

 

INGREDIENTS:

 

1 pound Andouille sausage

2-3 tablespoons clarified chicken fat

¾ cup all-purpose flour

1 cup chopped organic yellow onion

½ cup chopped organic green pepper

½ cup sliced organic celery

3 pints hot water

1 pint beef or chicken broth

3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 bay leaves

2 teaspoons Creole seasoning

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

½ teaspoon hot sauce

4 cups cooked chicken

4 organic scallions, sliced

 

STEP-BY-STEP:

 

  1. In a Dutch oven over medium heat brown one-inch slices of Andouille sausage, stirring well. After five minutes, remove the sausage to a plate.
  2. Heat 2 to 3 tablespoons of chicken fat in the Dutch oven and begin to make a roux with ¾ cup all-purpose flour [See elsewhere on site for directions on making a roux]. After 20 to 30 minutes of purposeful stirring, the roux should look like dark chocolate.
  3. Add the chopped onion, pepper, and celery, stirring constantly for five minutes until the vegetables are tender.
  4. Add the hot water and broth a cup at a time, stirring constantly, until the mixture simmers.
  5. Add all the remaining ingredients—except the scallions—to the simmering gumbo and cook over low-medium heat for one hour.
  6. Add the scallions and simmer another 30 minutes.
  7. Remove the bay leaves, salt to taste, and serve over hot cooked brown or wild rice. Serves eight.