Best Bang Gumbo Recipes

AUTHENTIC NEW ORLEANS STYLE GUMBO

Steps:

• Make the Roux*: In a large, heavy bottom stock pot combine flour and oil. Cook on medium-low heat, stirring constantly for 30-45 minutes. This part takes patience--when it's finished it should be as dark as chocolate and have a soft, "cookie dough" like consistency. Be careful not to let it burn! Feel free to add a little more flour or oil as needed to reach this consistency.
• Brown the sausage. In a separate skillet on medium-high heat place the sausage slices in one layer in the pan. Brown them well on one side (2-3 minutes) and then use a fork to flip each over onto the other side to brown. Remove to a plate.
• Cook the vegetables in broth. Add 1/2 cup of the chicken broth to the hot skillet that had the sausage to deglaze the pan. Pour the broth and drippings into your large soup pot.
• Add remaining 5 1/2 cups of chicken broth. Add veggies, parsley, and roux to the pot and stir well.
• Bring to a boil over medium heat and boil for 5-7 minutes, or until the vegetables are slightly tender. (Skim off any foam that may rise to the top of the pot.) Stir in cajun seasoning, to taste.
• Add meat. Add chicken, sausage, and shrimp.
• Taste and serve. At this point taste it and add more seasonings to your liking--salt, pepper, chicken bullion paste, garlic, more Joe's stuff or more chicken broth--until you reach the perfect flavor. Serve warm over rice. (Tastes even better the next day!)

GOOD NEW ORLEANS CREOLE GUMBO

Steps:

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

GUMBO

Steps:

• Heat 1/2 cup of the vegetable oil in a cast-iron or other heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-high heat until very hot. Add the flour and whisk until combined and just beginning to brown. Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue to cook, whisking occasionally, until it is a deep peanut butter brown color, 15 minutes. Set the roux aside.
• Meanwhile, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil in a Dutch oven or large pot over medium heat. Add the sausage and cook, stirring occasionally, until the fat has rendered and is lightly browned. Remove the sausage with a slotted spoon to a bowl. Sprinkle the chicken pieces with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and brown over medium heat in the sausage drippings. Remove the chicken from the pot and place in the bowl with the sausage. Stir in the tomato paste until smooth and slightly darkened (be careful not to burn), about 1 minute. Add the celery, onions, peppers and cayenne to the pot and continue to cook until softened, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until just aromatic, about 30 seconds. Add the chicken broth and 2 cups water and bring to a simmer. Slowly whisk in the warm roux a bit at a time until combined. Tie the pickling spice in a bit of cheesecloth and add to the pot along with the chicken and sausage. Simmer all together until thickened and the flavors have blended, about 45 minutes.
• Add the shrimp and gumbo file and simmer until the shrimp are just cooked through and the gumbo has thickened, about 5 minutes. Remove and discard the pickling spice bundle. Taste and adjust the seasoning with additional salt and pepper. Serve the gumbo over rice.

BANG BANG SAUCE

Steps:

• Combine mayonnaise, chili sauce, Sriracha, and rice vinegar in a bowl until smooth.

CHICKEN AND SPICY SAUSAGE GUMBO

Steps:

• Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a large, heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add the sausages and brown until nicely colored all the way around, about 7 minutes. Remove from the pan and let rest; reserve the drippings. When cool, slice the sausages into 1/4-inch rounds and set aside.
• Add enough oil to the sausage drippings to make 1/2 cup. Add the flour to the fat and cook over medium heat, stirring slowly and continuously and scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan, until the mixture has thickened somewhat and turned chocolate-colored, 25 to 30 minutes. Add the onions, bell peppers and fennel and cook until soft, about 10 minutes.
• Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the paprika, oregano, thyme, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, black pepper and cayenne. Mix to blend, then add the Worcestershire sauce. Set aside.
• To the softened vegetables, add the garlic; cook until fragrant, 1 minute. Add the spice mixture and stir until well combined. Stirring continuously, slowly add 6 cups of the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Add the bay leaves. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until thickened, 30 to 40 minutes.
• Return the sliced sausage to the pan. Add the shredded chicken and all but a few handfuls of the green onions. Cook for another 30 to 40 minutes, until the flavors have melded and the gumbo has thickened further, adding more stock if the gumbo gets too thick (you should still see some liquid).
• Serve in bowls and garnish with green onions.

BBQ GUMBO

Steps:

• For the roux: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Mix flour and oil well in a wide, flat-bottomed oven-safe pot such as a cast-iron skillet. Bake, stirring every 15 to 20 minutes, until it reaches a dark brown color and has a strong nutty smell, up to 2 hours. Pour off and reserve excess oil that is left on top of the finished roux.
• For the broth: Meanwhile, using a large stockpot, heat the stock to a low boil and place in smoked rib bones and chicken bones. Simmer on low for about 2 hours to enrich broth with smoke flavor and collagen from the bones.
• In a large stockpot over medium-high heat, add 1/2 cup of the leftover oil from the roux and heat until it is shimmering.
• Add the celery, green peppers and onions, and sweat them until tender, fragrant and translucent. Add the garlic and continue to cook briefly until fragrant. Add the roux and stir to combine with the vegetables until it forms a well-amalgamated paste. Add about three-quarters of the broth. Bring to a low boil, then add the Cajun seasoning, rib meat, chicken meat and pork sausage. Simmer on low heat for 45 minutes.

BAKED CHICKEN AND SAUSAGE GUMBO

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
• Stir flour, oil, and butter together to form a paste. Transfer "roux" to the center of a large roasting pan and spread out into a rough rectangle about 1/2-inch thick, leaving enough room around the outside to place the chicken and sausage.
• Lay chicken thighs, skin-side down, and sausage pieces around the roux. Season chicken generously with salt.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes. Remove from oven and scatter onion, celery, and bell pepper evenly over the chicken, sausage, and roux. Briefly stir the roux in the center, then spread it back out. Continue baking for 20 minutes.
• Remove pan from oven; remove chicken and sausage to a plate and reserve until needed. Stir vegetables and roux together in the pan, spread back out into an even layer, and bake for another 20 minutes, or until roux is as browned as you like.
• Mix chicken broth, salt, pepper, thyme, bay leaf, and cayenne in a large bowl or pitcher. Refrigerate cooking liquid until needed.
• Pour the cold cooking liquid mixture into the gumbo and whisk until well combined. Stir in tomatoes and okra. Add the sausage and chicken back in, skin-side up. Continue baking, stirring gently and occasionally, until liquid is thick and chicken is very tender, 30 to 40 minutes more.
• Taste and adjust seasonings as desired. Garnish with green onions.