a recipe for gumbo and jambalaya

For one gallon of Gumbo:


for the roux:

one dutch oven, copper bottomed or iron pot (displaces heat evenly)
3/4 cup butter (or other solid shortening)
3/4 cup flour (it may take a little more)
a sturdy, heat-resistant spoon (this will burn a wooden spoon)
water to most of a gallon (if going on to gumbo)
a whisk (if going on to gumbo)

If you are planning to store this (it can be stored for a few days), you can stop at this point, as long as you insure that the roux is no longer on any kind of heat, including the residual heat in the pan. If you are planning to store, pull it off the heat immediately after it's done coloring and out of the pot completely.

directions for roux:

Melt butter in pan, stirring constantly until it is liquid. Stir in flour to make a paste of the consistency of glue but not quite rubber cement. Stirring constantly, keep over high to med high heat and brown. This will take a long time and will quite suddenly change colors from off-white to brown. Scape it up and keep it moving until it is the color of 80% cocoa chocolate, but not black or burnt. Get as close to black as possible without burning. Takes approximately twelve minutes, but this depends on your pan and stove. Pull off heat immediately if storing; if going on to gumbo, add water and slowly stir/whisk out to a thin soup.

for the gumbo:

2 loops smoked sausage
a bunch green onions
3 cans crab
1 lb shrimp, shelled or 2 cans miniature shrimp
tabasco/flaked red pepper
garlic powder to taste
salt to taste
gumbo water
cooked rice or saltines

Bring gumbo water to a boil. Chop sausage into small chunks and put sausage, shrimp and crab into gumbo water. Season with salt, garlic powder and red pepper or other spices for heat. If the shrimp is raw, this will take forty-five minutes. If not, boil until sausage is cooked through (about twenty minutes). Approximately five minutes from finished, add chopped green onions. Serve with tabasco, saltines or cooked rice.

Like most gumbo recipes, this was intended to be served with just about any meat as the flavor. As long as one of the meats is smoked, it will do fine.



for approximately six cups of Jambalaya:


red (tomato) roux:

1/2 cups butter
1/2 cup flour (or slightly more)
2 large cans tomato paste
2 large cans tomato sauce (or 4 small ones)
one dutch oven, copper bottomed or iron pot (displaces heat evenly)
at least six cups of water (if going on and not storing)
a whisk (if going on and not storing)

I've never stored this and suspect it has the same shelf life as the brown roux above. Store in fridge and use promptly.

Melt butter in pan, stirring constantly until it is liquid. Stir in flour to make a paste of the consistency of glue but not quite rubber cement. Stirring constantly, add tomato paste. Will be thick and virulently red. Stir over heat for a few minutes until paste gets a little darker (red delicious apple), then whisk in tomato sauce. Whisk in water to make a total of six cups, plus a little more (I am making this in a desert environment.)


for Jambalaya:

2 loops smoked sausage
2 bell peppers, any color
1 can chipotles in ancho sauce (can find in Spanish section of any grocery store)
optionally, a few raw jalapenos (the chipotle and ancho sauce will make it hot, this will make it painful and the flaked red and tabasco is for people who are fire-proofing their tonsils)
1 large yellow onion (not white; purple is okay but yellow is best)
3 cups rice
red roux water
dutch oven (must be able to bake in oven) and lid or foil to cover top
2 large cans diced tomatoes or 2 lbs diced fresh
4 large cloves garlic or garlic powder to taste
salt to taste
flaked red pepper/tabasco
1 T fat/butter/shortening

Can add seafood, but must add a smoked meat, like sausage. I like kielbasa.


Preheat oven to 350. Dice sausage, peppers, onion, garlic and chipotle. Set chipotle and garlic aside. Saute sausage, peppers, onion, then add to red roux water. Bring water to boil. Add chiptole, ancho sauce in can, tomatoes and diced garlic or garlic powder to water. Pour in rice. Remove from heat, cover pan and bake until rice is soft, or 30-45 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent burning on bottom.

Please let me know if you have any questions. I hope these are helpful.


Do not ever use liquid smoke. It's some nasty-ass stuff.