First Gumbo ideas?

[janetGood]

I am making my first Gumbo from a recipe I got off this site and will use Chicken, smoked sausage,and shrimp,for the meats but need an idea for another fish since I am not a fan of crab. I was thinking clams or muscles what do you think?
Thanks Janet

[Andy M.]

Crawfish or oysters would be traditional.

[janetGood]

thanks Andy when do you throw the oysters in? I am thinking about 10 min before it is done.
we don't often have crawfish here, but I could substitute lobster probably, if they are on sale I will go for the lobster and if not the oysters, we do get good oysters in WA

[Andy M.]

Not even 10 minutes for the oysters. Cooked too long they turn to rubber. When they start to curl around the edges, they are done. Toss them in when everything else is ready and watch them closely. A minute or two should do the trick.

Local markets here in MA. sometimes carry precooked crawfish. Otherwise, lobster would work out fine.

Of course, you could cut up some fish filet and toss it in as well...

Let us know how it comes out.

[kitchenelf]

A safe fish if you decide to try something different would be nice big chunks of tilapia. I'm sure grouper would work also. Tuna, swordfish are all too firm.

The only thing that could possibly make this better is if I could smell it cooking in my kitchen!

[HanArt]

Usually gumbo is made with chicken and sausage, or a mix of seafood like shrimp, crab, & oysters. I've never heard of all of those in the same gumbo.

[Michael in FtW]

Gumbo in Lousiana means the same thing as a stew does to the rest of the world. It has some specific ingredients, a dark roux and the trinity (onion, celery, bell pepper) .... but as far as the meat .... or anything else like tomatoes, okra, etc ... toss in what y'all got!Personally, I don't like my gumbo too "busy" with too many meats.

[Rob Babcock]

Crawfish really add a lot of authentic flavor to gumbo, IMO. Just make sure the sausage is andouille!

[cantcook]

I think you are trying to mix too much in. I wouldn't add another dose of seafood if I were you. If you were making a seafood gumbo, I'd advise, as mentioned above..........crawfish, oysters, or fish. As kitchenelf said, tilapia works well as does catfish. Pretty much any freshwater fish that I've ever had would work.

But if you are making a chicken and sausage gumbo, I'd stick with JUST the shrimp or no seafood at all. Otherwise you are going to have a seafood gumbo with some chicken in it, or a very fishy chicken gumbo. It would still be good, but never as good as staying on one side of the line or the other.............chicken and sausage, or seafood.

Since its your first gumbo, you might want to pan fry your okra down a little before adding it.........just enough to get rid of some of the goo but not all of it. I like to wash my cut okra and spread it out on a big tray then LIGHTLY dust it with either all purpose flour or corn flour then pan fry in just a little oil. Once you see one of your smaller pieces getting dry and done, scoup out your okra onto a paper towel and then pat with another one to remove as much oil as you can. There will still be enough of the okra goo left to thicken it up a little without making it slimy. I also have good luck with the block of frozen okra (not loose) and throwing it into the boiling gumbo while its still hard frozen. I don't know why, but it never turns out slimy for me when I do that.

[janetGood]

Well the gumbo was good except I did not like the sausage seafood mix like HanArt said, next time I will stick to seafood, and I want to try clams or muscles, the oysters were good in it, and the roux turned out good, I used half butter half olive oil since I could not figure out what oil was best. Anyway I think it could be made the day before and just add the seafood before serving, I also boiled the shrimp skins, next time I think I will make it half fish stock by boiling some clams down. Thanks for all the suggestions, the fried okra sounds good cantcook I will try that that next time, do you use fish stock or chicken?