Clay's Seafood Gumbo #aaayyyeee
Seafood Gumbo Southeast Texas Style ~
I have been on a mission since I was very young to taste and record the best family gumbo recipes handed down in southeast Texas. My mom had her mom's who had her mom's here in southeast Texas. Each generation did something a little different to suit the chef. I have made a point of eating gumbo at the finest seafood places in Texas and Louisiana. I have also read reviews and visited every place in New Orleans with a reputation for gumbo. I'm dead serious and there is one gumbo that stands above the rest!
Let me be the first to say, I was never totally disappointed and always loved the various chef's take on this French Creole staple. Gumbo varies across the board. I have a Lady's Auxiliary Creole cookbook from the 60's and it is powerful tool to guide methods and flavors. Back then, pork fat ruled and it still does! Pork fat and roux are a marriage made in heaven. I like a dark, toasty roux which adds a nutty depth of flavor. Clarified butter is a close second to clean happy pig bacon fat. It just works flavor wise!
I grew up watching Justin Wilson every Saturday morning and I am a huge fan. Paul Prudhomme is a culinary genius and I have all of his books, again I am a huge fan! Prudhomme's stocks are a labor of love and he added a whole lot of love to his dishes. Prudhomme's blackening technique changed the culinary world. Single-handedly he brought the redfish industry to its knees.
Other chef's seem to shy away from okra, not me. I love okra. I par boil the okra and rinse off the slime. I don't mind a slimy gumbo at all. I love it, too. If you are trying to top the best chefs a quick par boil and rinse takes it to a higher level.
I have never liked the outer skin of bell peppers. It ruins the meal for me! Or at least I know it could have been so much better if the chef took the time to roast the peppers. Bell peppers roasted and de-skinned are glorious and well worthy of being included in the Creole trinity!
Seafood stock
A friend of mine owns a seafood market and he was kind enough to give me the trimmings of 3, 20# red snapper and 5#s of fresh shrimp shells. In a big stock pot I cut up the red snapper and put in the shrimp shells along with 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar, 2 whole limes, onions, garlic, black pepper, cayenne pepper, pink Himalayan sea salt, one whole bunch of cilantro, one whole celery bunch, fresh and dried bay leaf, fillet gumbo (ground sassafras) and dried thyme. I add thyme after about 10 hours at a slow boil. I usually boil the stock 14 to 20 hours adding water along the way. When the stock is done, I strain it twice. After about 16 hours I had 3 gallons on this last batch.
Roux
I like an extremely dark roux which has a deep nutty flavor and a very distinctive look and taste. Roux can be accomplished in the microwave but I prefer a cast iron skillet and a flat wooden spoon. The roux in this photo was done with avocado oil and fresh milled pastry flour. If the healthfulness of the dish does not matter and taste is paramount, pork fat rules! I like clarified butter, but clean pork fat, to me, can't be beat. It's very simple, mix 50:50 oil to flour and turn down the heat and work your butt off keeping the flour from burning. If the flour/roux burns, throw it away, there is no saving it. Burnt roux is nasty and it burns easily. An extremely dark roux should take about 30 minutes of non stop stirring.
Method
In a stock pot I add a little olive oil and cook down the onions and celery till the onions are slightly browned. Then I add one gallon or so of the seafood stock and the roasted bell peppers and I let that lightly boil for 2 hours. After that I add the roux whisking it in as I go. When the roux is well incorporated add the shrimp and oysters for just a few minutes and shut it down. My mom and grandmother always had oysters and okra in their gumbos. I add the crab meat after I serve up the dish, usually with rice and garnished with green onions.
You can argue all you want about the rice and I'm still going to use organic short grained brown rice rinsed 3 times. I guess if I was trying to please the crowd, I'd use Douget white rice grown right here in southeast Texas.
#aaayyyeee #cajuncountry #aintnokitchenbouqetinmygumbo #gumbo #creolecooking #alachingasohoy
I have been on a mission since I was very young to taste and record the best family gumbo recipes handed down in southeast Texas. My mom had her mom's who had her mom's here in southeast Texas. Each generation did something a little different to suit the chef. I have made a point of eating gumbo at the finest seafood places in Texas and Louisiana. I have also read reviews and visited every place in New Orleans with a reputation for gumbo. I'm dead serious and there is one gumbo that stands above the rest!
Let me be the first to say, I was never totally disappointed and always loved the various chef's take on this French Creole staple. Gumbo varies across the board. I have a Lady's Auxiliary Creole cookbook from the 60's and it is powerful tool to guide methods and flavors. Back then, pork fat ruled and it still does! Pork fat and roux are a marriage made in heaven. I like a dark, toasty roux which adds a nutty depth of flavor. Clarified butter is a close second to clean happy pig bacon fat. It just works flavor wise!
I grew up watching Justin Wilson every Saturday morning and I am a huge fan. Paul Prudhomme is a culinary genius and I have all of his books, again I am a huge fan! Prudhomme's stocks are a labor of love and he added a whole lot of love to his dishes. Prudhomme's blackening technique changed the culinary world. Single-handedly he brought the redfish industry to its knees.
Other chef's seem to shy away from okra, not me. I love okra. I par boil the okra and rinse off the slime. I don't mind a slimy gumbo at all. I love it, too. If you are trying to top the best chefs a quick par boil and rinse takes it to a higher level.
I have never liked the outer skin of bell peppers. It ruins the meal for me! Or at least I know it could have been so much better if the chef took the time to roast the peppers. Bell peppers roasted and de-skinned are glorious and well worthy of being included in the Creole trinity!
Seafood stock
A friend of mine owns a seafood market and he was kind enough to give me the trimmings of 3, 20# red snapper and 5#s of fresh shrimp shells. In a big stock pot I cut up the red snapper and put in the shrimp shells along with 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar, 2 whole limes, onions, garlic, black pepper, cayenne pepper, pink Himalayan sea salt, one whole bunch of cilantro, one whole celery bunch, fresh and dried bay leaf, fillet gumbo (ground sassafras) and dried thyme. I add thyme after about 10 hours at a slow boil. I usually boil the stock 14 to 20 hours adding water along the way. When the stock is done, I strain it twice. After about 16 hours I had 3 gallons on this last batch.
Roux
I like an extremely dark roux which has a deep nutty flavor and a very distinctive look and taste. Roux can be accomplished in the microwave but I prefer a cast iron skillet and a flat wooden spoon. The roux in this photo was done with avocado oil and fresh milled pastry flour. If the healthfulness of the dish does not matter and taste is paramount, pork fat rules! I like clarified butter, but clean pork fat, to me, can't be beat. It's very simple, mix 50:50 oil to flour and turn down the heat and work your butt off keeping the flour from burning. If the flour/roux burns, throw it away, there is no saving it. Burnt roux is nasty and it burns easily. An extremely dark roux should take about 30 minutes of non stop stirring.
Method
In a stock pot I add a little olive oil and cook down the onions and celery till the onions are slightly browned. Then I add one gallon or so of the seafood stock and the roasted bell peppers and I let that lightly boil for 2 hours. After that I add the roux whisking it in as I go. When the roux is well incorporated add the shrimp and oysters for just a few minutes and shut it down. My mom and grandmother always had oysters and okra in their gumbos. I add the crab meat after I serve up the dish, usually with rice and garnished with green onions.
You can argue all you want about the rice and I'm still going to use organic short grained brown rice rinsed 3 times. I guess if I was trying to please the crowd, I'd use Douget white rice grown right here in southeast Texas.
#aaayyyeee #cajuncountry #aintnokitchenbouqetinmygumbo #gumbo #creolecooking #alachingasohoy
What a treat! Well done!
ReplyDeleteInteresting! Seafood gumbo is a labor of love. It is my opinion, if it has sausage in it, it is sausage stew. The overwhelming flavor of sausage kills the many fragile flavors seafood gumbo offers. I would never put sausage in my seafood gumbo!
ReplyDeleteI just got back from another seafood gumbo tasting tour of New Orleans and I am saddened to report, New Orleans restaurants are not even trying! After reading all the reviews I began my tour in the morning so I had what was called a Cajun Crawfish Omelette. The omelette was executed very well but the ingredients or ingredient were very poor. I ask the server if they were using Chinese crawfish tails and he said yes. Well! No Duh! They tasted spoiled and after eating at many different "highly acclaimed" restaurants, I ran into Chinese Spoiled Crawfish Tails on 4 occasions. Gross! Side Note ~ they are selling these putrid dishes as fast as they can make them. I guess you can't blame French Quarter restaurants from saving a lot of money. The nasty flavor is favored by the tourists! But not me!