Crock Pot Seafood Gumbo - Recipes That Crock! (2024)

FAQs

What are the 2 rules of gumbo? ›

Thou Shalt Always Use a Bowl. If you use a plate, it is not gumbo it is rice and gravy! Thou Shalt Only Use a Wooden Spoon. There is only one kind of spoon that can enter a gumbo pot and that is a wooden one.

Great gumbo starts with roux, a flavorful thickening agent made from equal parts fat and flour. Once the roux is a deep golden color, add diced veggies and sausage to the mix. Then, incorporate beef bouillon, hot sauce, tomatoes, and seasonings to intensify the flavor.

Meat-based gumbo may consist of chicken, duck, squirrel, or rabbit, with oysters occasionally added. Seafood-based gumbo generally has shrimp, crab meat, and sometimes oysters.

I - Thou Shalt Never Use Tomatoes If we've learned anything from the Disney folks, it's this. Any cooyon with half a brain knows "Making Gumbo 101" contains this golden rule -- it's roux-based and not tomato-based! Tomatoes are for things like spaghetti sauce.

Making gumbo shouldn't be scary, but there are some tricks to getting that classic taste that defines it. It should be thicker than a soup. That's where thickeners like roux, okra, and filé powder come in. They also add flavor, but you don't need all three.

First, you make a roux. A nice dark nutty one to give a deep, rich flavor to your gumbo and to thicken it a bit. The darker the roux, the more flavor it will have and the less thickening power.

Proteins that cook fast and shouldn't be overcooked (shrimp or scallops, for example) should be added during the last 5 minutes of cooking. One final opportunity to taste for seasoning. At this point, I generally find that a bit of acid will brighten the gumbo. Stir in 1 tsp of apple cider vinegar and taste again.

Use a little Bisquick mix wherever you'd use flour to make a roux and thicken a pan sauce to make gravy. The extra oomph in the baking mix makes the gravy rich and silky.

4) Make a Roux and Add It to Your Sauce Mid-Cooking

In a cooking pan, cook equal parts unsalted butter and all-purpose flour, stirring constantly with wooden spatula to break up lumps in the flour, until mixture thickens. Then add the roux to your already simmering sauce in the slow cooker.

Roux is commonly made with flour, but you can also sub in cornstarch or arrowroot powder. Mix the cornstarch or arrowroot powder with water to form a slurry before adding it to the pan and cooking it with the fat.

Is gumbo still gumbo without okra? ›

In some respects, putting gumbo into either an okra or a filé category is still valid, but for many cooks, a brown roux is the only thickener, and filé has virtually disappeared from their recipes. Often roux-based gumbos do incorporate filé, and to my taste they are the better for it.

Turns out, your preference for tomatoes in gumbo comes down to whether you learned your skills from a Cajun cook or a Creole cook. (Learn about the difference here.) Cajun gumbo does not include tomatoes in the base, but Creole gumbo (typically shellfish or seafood gumbo) does call for tomatoes.

Creole cooks in Louisiana usually prepare some variation of three basic recipes: a ''Creole gumbo'' that includes sausages, beef, veal, ham, chicken, whole crabs or shrimp and is thickened with roux and file powder; a simpler ''okra gumbo'' thickened with okra and including a variety of shellfish; and a ''gumbo aux ...

Learn How to Make a Roux for gumbo so you get the best rich Cajun flavor. Simply whisk together flour and either melted butter or oil, then simmer until you achieve a white, blonde, light brown, or dark color for all of your thickening needs.

Turns out, your preference for tomatoes in gumbo comes down to whether you learned your skills from a Cajun cook or a Creole cook. (Learn about the difference here.) Cajun gumbo does not include tomatoes in the base, but Creole gumbo (typically shellfish or seafood gumbo) does call for tomatoes.

Roux is made by cooking equal parts flour and fat together until the raw flavor of the flour cooks out and the roux has achieved the desired color. Butter is the most commonly used fat, but you can also make roux with oil, bacon grease, or other rendered fats.

The "holy trinity" in Cajun cuisine and Louisiana Creole cuisine is the base for several dishes in the regional cuisines of Louisiana and consists of onions, bell peppers and celery. The preparation of Cajun/Creole dishes such as crawfish étouffée, gumbo, and jambalaya all start from this base.