Thread: Crappie Gumbo

I'm new to the board and figure I would toss out my favorite crappie recipe. Hope you enjoy. Very easy to make.

2-3 pounds crappie meat in chunks.
48 oz of chicken stock
1 cup white rice
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
1 Pablano Pepper
1 Anaheim pepper
1 white onion
1 red onion
3 celery stalks
1 Whole clove garlic
4 tsp olive oil
1 pound of good bacon
1 pound smoked andoiue sausage
1/2 cup flour


Spices- Try to use fresh
1/4 cup minced cilantro
1/4 cup minced basil
1/8 cup minced oregano
3 sprigs of Thyme

Black pepper and kosher or sea salt to taste.

Fill a large pot or dutch oven with the chicken stock.
Start the heat on medium and get the stock warm.
Dice all your veggies, dice the garlic and start the bacon in a separate fry pan.
Fry all the bacon until crisp reserving all bacon fat into a bowl.
Using a fine strainer, pour the bacon fat through the strainer and into a clean bowl. Clean fry pan and immediately reheat. Pour the clean bacon fat into the clean pan and set the flame on medium. Get your flour and a whisk ready, its time to make a Roux. When the bacon fat begins to smoke, dump the flour into the pan. Using a whisk, stir, stir, stir until you have a mixture that is the color of a brown paper bag. Do not let the mixture sit and cook. It will burn the flour and destroy your meal. Your finished Roux should look like brown pudding. When done with Roux, immediately pour into your pot of chicken stock.

Next, toss your diced veggies into a clean fry pan with some olive oil and sauté for 5 minutes. Just enough time to extract all the water and moisture from the veggies.
When done, toss them into the pot.

Crumble the cooked bacon and toss that into the pot.
Slice or dice your sausage and toss that into the pot.

Next add all your spices.

Let simmer on medium heat for 30 minutes.
After thirty minutes, turn heat up to almost a boil and add your rice, black pepper and salt.
Turn back down to a simmer and let the rice cook for 30 minutes.


The last and most important step is adding the crappie. Before adding the crappie, taste your stock. Add more spices, salt, pepper, or if your like me, lots of Tabasco

When you have found a taste that likens the taste buds, gently lower the crappie meat into the pot. Making sure all pieces are submerged. DO NOT stir the pot (no pun intended) Let the crappie simmer in the pot for 20-30 minutes. As the meat cooks, it will lose its texture and be fragile. When time to serve, use large ladle and pour into nice big soup bowl. Or you can cheat like I do, I also use a slotted spoon to find the best crappie pieces.

I like to serve this dish with Cajun Cornbread.
You can make from scratch but box or bagged corn bread will work. Just add a can of cream corn and 3 diced jalapeño peppers into your mixture before you bake it.

A nice cold beer and dinner is served...

One final note, this recipe will make lots of left overs unless your buddies stop by. Place the left over Gumbo in the fridge, the longer it sits, the better it gets. Just re-heat on the stove top. 3-4 days of crappie gumbo cant be beat.

I'm starving!!!! The roux you speak of sounds a bit like a "peanut butter" colored roux. Pack the rice in a cup, place it, "formed" dumped out in a bowl and scoop the gumbo around it for a nice presentation! YUM...I'm starving!