SEAFOOD GUMBO RECIPE

Steps:

• Make the seafood stock1. Crack open a beer and start sipping while you peel the shrimp. Set the shells and heads aside in a bowl. Set aside the bodies for the gumbo.2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the crabs and a generous amount of salt, cover the pot, and boil for 5 to 7 minutes. Drain immediately and set the crabs aside to cool. (Yes, after just 5 to 7 minutes. If you were going to fully cook the crabs, you would boil them for 10 to 15 minutes, but you want to leave most of the flavor in the crab to cook in the gumbo, so here you’re heating them just enough to take them apart and salvage the shells and sweet meat.)3. Peel the front flaps and tops off the crabs and place in a large bowl with the shrimp heads and shells. Use your fingers to scoop out the orange back fat from the middle of the crab and set aside in a small bowl. Break the crab bodies into four pieces and set aside for the gumbo, but in a different bowl as the shrimp bodies.4. Heat the oil in a large pot over high heat. Add the reserved crab and shrimp shells and shrimp heads, if using. Cook, stirring until the shells turn pink, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the onion, celery, garlic, paprika, rosemary, bay leaves, and water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and gently simmer for 1 hour.5. Remove the stock from the heat and strain, discarding the solids.
Make the seafood gumbo6. Heat the 3 cups vegetable oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot but not smoking, whisk in the flour and reduce the heat to medium. Cook, whisking slowly but constantly, until the roux has thickened and is the color of a dark copper penny, 45 minutes to an hour. You’ll want to reduce the heat gradually as you go. When the roux first begins to take on color, for instance, reduce the heat to medium. Continue in this fashion, gradually lowering the heat as the color of the roux deepens. By the end of the cooking, when the roux is appropriately dark, the heat should be on low. It