This recipe and instructions come from "The Cotton Country Collection", a renowned cookbook made by the Junior Charity League of Monroe Louisiana.
I have cooked it many times with great success. It may look alittle intimidating at first, but it sure taste great and can be a fun family project to boot. The seafood can also be replaced with chicken and sausage if you prefer.
Seafood Gumbo
5 lbs. Peeled shrimp, cut in thirds
2 cups okra, sliced thin
1 large white onion, chopped fine
3 cups minced green onions
2 cups celery, chopped fine
½ cup bell pepper, cut finely
2 or 3 garlic pods, mashed
1 cup Crisco Oil
½ cup flour
2 cans Chicken Broth
8 cups boiling water
2 Tablespoons salt
1 Teaspoon black pepper
1/3 Cup catsup
1 tablespoon Lea and Perrins
1 teaspoon McCormick Seafood Seasoning, season to taste
Crabmeat: 2 packages frozen Alaskan King Crab
or 2 cans fresh or frozen, lump crabmeat
First of all, Gumbo should be a two day affair. Peel and cut your shrimp and chop your vegetables one day, cover and refrigerate them. The next day, making the gumbo will be a happy thing.
Start with two heavy iron skillets. In one, start the roux by combining ½ cup Oil and ½ cup Flour over a low fire, KEEP THE FIRE LOW, and stir constantly. It usually takes an hour and fifteen minutes to make roux. Stir it until it becomes brown and flour sort of separates from the grease.
At the same time, in the other skillet, put in the other ½ cup of oil and saute’ the okra and white onions until they are wilted. Add the remaining vegetables with salt and pepper, and stir them until they are wilted and soft.
When the roux is brown, add it to the vegetables and mix well. Transfer all to a large soup pot. Add the chicken broth, boiling water, half of the peeled shrimp, and all of the remaining seasonings. Let this simmer for about an hour. Cook the remaining shrimp in a saucepan with ½ cup boiling water and 1 tablespoon salt until they are pink. Add shrimp and water to the gumbo. Remove from fire.
Last of all add the crabmeat, as much or as little, as you want. Serve over rice with chopped green onions.
Good Luck!!!
" I believe in compulsory cannibalism. If people were forced to eat what they killed, there would be no more war. " Abbie Hoffman