Southlouisianachickenandsausagegumbonookra Recipes

Steps:

• The most important thing is to use the right equipment and I would suggest the following: a 2-gallon cast iron Dutch oven, a high BTU gas stove, and a large stainless steel chef's spoon.
• Use high heat to preheat the Dutch oven and add the sausage. Using a chef's spoon or large spoon, constantly move the sausage from the bottom of the pot. Be careful not to burn the meat. (Normally I use Manda's sausage because it has little fat, however at this point you may want to drain off all of the excess grease to reduce the fat content from the dish.)
• Add the thigh meat and brown the chicken on all sides. Again use the spoon to scrape the meat from sticking and burning to the bottom of the pot. Browning the sausage and chicken meats should take 20 minutes. Be careful not to over cook the thigh meat to the point that it shreds.
• Lower the heat to medium and add the onions and garlic; saute for about 15 minutes or until the onions are very limp and "clear". Scrape the bottom of the pot to remove all the "graton". This is where the jambalaya gets its distinct brown color and taste.
• Add the tasso, thyme, basil and black and white pepper. Simmer over low heat for 10 minutes. This will give the seasonings time to release their oils and flavors.
• At this point the jambalaya concentrate can be transferred to smaller containers, cooled to room temperature, covered and refrigerated for future use. (This is what we do commercially; it allows the seasonings to marry.)
• When you are ready to cook the jambalaya, add the stock to the concentrate and bring to a rolling boil. Add the rice, reduce the heat to medium and gently break up the rice. Using the stainless steel paddle, continue to insure that the rice is not sticking to the bottom of the pot; this is very important!
• After about 5 minutes, fold in the parsley. Continue to scrape the pot to insure that no rice sticks to the bottom. When the jambalaya returns to a boil, reduce heat to the lowest possible setting and simmer, covered, for at least 25 minutes. Do not remove the cover while the rice is steaming.
• If Manda's brand sausage is not available, any lean smoked sausage can be substituted. You may have to remove any excess grease from the pot after frying down an unknown sausage.
• For a richer jambalaya substitute turkey stock for the chicken stock called for above.
• If no stocks are available, then chicken soup base can be used. Be careful with your seasoning, as bases are usually full of salt.
• Alternate Method:
• The jambalaya is best when served directly out of the cast iron pot. While the rice is steaming, the sausage and meat will have a tendency to float to the surface of the jambalaya. Therefore, after the rice has steamed for 25 minutes, use the paddle to gently fold in the meat and seasonings into the cooked rice. This should only be done once or twice, the rice will loose a lot of heat and the rice will break apart.
• Also note, I do not add salt to my jambalaya. This is because I like to use herbs, tasso and seasonings to satisfy the need for salt. I would suggest having the table set with salt shakers and a selection of hot pepper sauces.
• Plate Presentation:

Steps:

• Fill a large pot partially with lightly salted water, and place the chicken in the pot. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer, and cook the chicken until the meat is no longer pink and the juices run clear, about 1 hour. Remove the chicken from the broth, and crack open the carcass to allow the chicken to cool. Reserve the chicken broth. After the chicken has cooled enough to handle, pick the meat from the bones, and set aside.
• While the chicken is simmering, make a roux by whisking together the flour and vegetable oil in a large, heavy saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook and stir the mixture, watching constantly to avoid burning, until the roux is a rich chocolate brown color, 20 to 30 minutes.
• As soon as the roux has reached the desired color, stir in the onions, bell peppers, celery, Cajun seasoning, and bay leaves, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender, about 45 minutes. Pour in the reserved chicken broth, diced tomatoes, and beef sausage, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the mixture has thickened, about 1 hour.
• Mix in the reserved chicken meat and okra, bring back to a simmer, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the okra is tender and the flavors have blended, 30 to 40 minutes.

Steps:

• Melt some butter in your heavy bottomed pot.
• Sprinkle your chicken with a lil bit of flour.
• Brown in the butter (about 5 minutes?) Remove.
• In the same pot, using equal parts butter and flour, make your roux.
• (see my recipe list, if you don't know how to do this, it is posted under gumbo base, aka roux) Once the roux has reached the dark chocolate stage, add the onion, bell pepper and celery.
• In Louisiana, this is known as the Holy Trinity, almost every cajun/creole dish begins with this.
• Add some salt, some pepper and a lot of garlic and saute all the veggies for a little while.
• It doesn't matter how long of a little while as long as you don't let it burn.
• Add chicken back into the pot.
• Start adding your water or broth slowly, stirring the whole time.
• You will know when you have enough by how thick or thin your gravy is.
• If you want thinner gravy, more stock, if you want thicker gravy, less stock.
• Season with more salt, more pepper and the cajun seasoning blend.
• Bring just to a boil and lower heat to a simmer.
• Add sausage.
• Allow to cook long enough for the chicken to began to fall of off the bones or until people are hovering over you trying to snitch spoonfuls of it behind your back.
• (about an hour and a half?) Serve over rice.

Steps:

• For the Roux.
• Heat bacon grease in large skillet.
• Add flour when melted.
• The mixture should be liquidy, If not add a bit more bacon grease.
• Stir mixture constantly over a med-high heat, be careful not to scorch.
• Stir until the mixture is the color of peanut butter.
• For Gumbo.
• Add chopped vegetables to roux in skillet, stir and allow to cook until onions are clear.
• Meanwhile in a large sauce pan, warm 3 cans of broth.
• Once onions are clear, stir in one can of broth, stir until smooth.
• Add roux mixture to saucepan of broth.
• Use the roux skillet for the chicken,cook sausage and chicken until chicken is no longer pink, add to broth.
• Pour the 2 remaining cans of broth into the skillet, bring to a boil, stirring, cleaning the remaining roux and the flavors from the skillet.
• Add skillet broth to sauce pan.
• Stir in Cajun seasonings and bouillon.
• Let simmer on low for 2 hours.
• Serve over cooked white rice.

Steps:

• Place chicken in large gumbo/stock pot, fill with water just to cover chicken well, boil til done. While chicken is cooking, cut up sausage into rounds, then cut rounds into quarters. Brown sausage in a skillet, drain on paper towels. Chop garlic, onions and celery and brown in the sausage grease. Remove chicken, cut up into small pieces. Dissolve bouillon in chicken broth. Add soup to broth, continue to simmer, add more water as needed. Add garlic, onions and celery to broth. If using okra, add now. Add seasonings to taste to broth. If desired, you can add diced tomatoes (like ro-tel). Add chopped chicken and sausage to mix. Continue to simmer, covered.
• Now to make the roux: This is like making gravy - use remaining sausage drippings, add oil and heat in skillet. Sprinkle flour into oil, stirring constantly, until all added and mixed well. You may have to add more flour to get the right consistency, should spread slowly back out into pan when stirring/scraping the mixture. Stir constantly, do not let it burn. Cook until it is the color of dark peanut butter. Remove from heat. Slowly scrape the roux mixture into the slowly boiling gumbo mixture, stirring as you add it, and scraping the bottom of the gumbo pot for roux that settled to the bottom. BE CAREFUL as it will steam up quite a bit. Stir constantly until all roux thoroughly dissolved into gumbo. Let simmer for 30 min to an hour, stirring occasionally.
• Serve over cooked white rice. I like Jasmine rice.

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. When hot, whisk in flour. Continue whisking until the roux has cooked to the color of chocolate milk, 8 to 10 minutes. Be careful not to burn the roux. If you see black specks in the mixture, start over.
• Stir onion, bell pepper, celery, and sausage into the roux; cook 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook another 5 minutes. Season with salt, pepper, and Creole seasoning; blend thoroughly. Pour in the chicken broth and add the bay leaf. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer, uncovered, for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Stir in the chicken, and simmer 1 hour more. Skim off any foam that floats to the top during the last hour.

Steps:

• -----Gumbo--------.
• Follow recipe on gumbo base container to mix base.
• Using water is good, but some chicken broth is better.
• Bring base to a low boil.
• This is the critical step= stir well because the base wants to stick to the bottom of the pot, while it is being fully dissolved.
• Add meat, and bring to a low boil again, lower fire and simmer for thirty minutes, stirring occasionally while scraping bottom of pot.
• stir in okra, and bring back to a low boil for 2-3 minutes, just enough to heat the okra, then serve with cooked long grain white rice.
• -----------Boiled long grain regular white rice recipe----------.
• Add salt to water and bring water to boil.
• Add rice and stir well.
• The moment you add the rice to the water, start timing for 13 minutes.
• stir occasionally during cooking process, while scraping bottom of pot.
• After 13 minutes, stir well, then drain rice using calendar, then run some hot faucet water over the rice in the calendar.
• Serve gumbo with rice added.

Steps:

• Season the chicken with salt, pepper and Creole seasoning and brown quickly. Brown the sausage, pour off fat and reserve meats.
• In a large, heavy pot, heat the oil and cook the flour in the oil over medium to high heat (depending on your roux-making skill), stirring constantly, until the roux reaches a dark reddish-brown color, almost the color of coffee or milk chocolate for a Cajun-style roux. If you want to save time, or prefer a more New Orleans-style roux, cook it to a medium, peanut-butter color, over lower heat if you're nervous about burning it.
• Add the vegetables and stir quickly. This cooks the vegetables and also stops the roux from cooking further. Continue to cook, stirring constantly, for about 4 minutes.
• Add the stock, seasonings, chicken and sausage. Bring to a boil, then cook for about one hour, skimming fat off the top as needed.
• Add the chopped scallion tops and parsley, and heat for 5 minutes. Add file powder to taste just before serving. This also acts as a thickening agent. Serve over rice in large shallow bowls. Accompany with a good beer and lots of hot, crispy French bread.