New Orleans Creole Gumbo

I love this Creole Gumbo recipe which I found at http://allrecipes.com/recipe/good-new-orleans-creole-gumbo/. It serves 20 people. I made it for a dinner for 7 people, so we have been having lots of leftovers. I cooked the gumbo a day in advance and refrigerated it. Since the recipe is so large, I had to use a very large pan that we used to use to steam blue crabs.

Ingredients

(Bacon drippings are called for in 2 parts of the recipe below. I did not have enough so I used a combination of butter and bacon drippings. I used the butter in a 1 to 1 ratio.)

- 1 cup all-purpose flour

- ¾ cup bacon drippings

- 1 cup coarsely chopped celery

- 1 large onion, coarsely chopped

- 1 large green pepper coarsely chopped

- 2 cloves garlic, minced

- 1 pound Andouille sausage, sliced (I used a 12-ounce package from Trader Joe's. I also noticed that Publix carries a 1-pound package of Johnsonville, New Orleans-style Andouille sausage.)

- 3 quarts water

- 6 cubes beef bouillon

- 1 tablespoon white sugar

- salt to taste

- 2 tablespoons hot pepper sauce (such as Tabasco sauce), or to taste

- ½ teaspoon Cajun seasoning blend, or to taste (Publix carries it.)

- 4 bay leaves

- ½ teaspoon dried thyme leaves

- 1 (14.5 oz. can) stewed tomatoes

- 1 (6 oz. can) tomato sauce

- 2 teaspoons gumbo file powder (Publix carries it.)

- 2 tablespoons bacon drippings

- 2 (10 ounce) packages frozen cut okra, thawed

- 2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar

- 1 pound lump crabmeat

- 3 pounds uncooked medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

- 2 teaspoons gumbo file powder

 

Directions

1. Make a roux by whisking the flour and 3/4 cup bacon drippings together in a large, heavy saucepan over medium-low heat to form a smooth mixture. Cook the roux, whisking constantly, until it turns a rich mahogany brown color. This can take 20 to 30 minutes; watch heat carefully and whisk constantly or roux will burn. Remove from heat; continue whisking until mixture stops cooking.

2. Place the celery, onion, green bell pepper, and garlic into the work bowl of a food processor, and pulse until the vegetables are very finely chopped. Stir the vegetables into the roux, and mix in the sausage. Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium-low heat, and cook until vegetables are tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from heat, and set aside.

3. Bring the water and beef bouillon cubes to a boil in a large Dutch oven or soup pot. Stir until the bouillon cubes dissolve, and whisk the roux mixture into the boiling water. Reduce heat to a simmer, and mix in the sugar, salt, hot pepper sauce, Cajun seasoning, bay leaves, thyme, stewed tomatoes, and tomato sauce. Simmer the soup over low heat for 1 hour; mix in 2 teaspoons of file gumbo powder at the 45-minute mark.

4. Meanwhile, melt 2 tablespoons of bacon drippings in a skillet, and cook the okra with vinegar over medium heat for 15 minutes; remove okra with slotted spoon, and stir into the simmering gumbo. Mix in crabmeat, shrimp, and Worcestershire sauce, and simmer until flavors have blended, 45 more minutes. Just before serving, stir in 2 more teaspoons of file gumbo powder.