Mama Jo's New Orleans Seafood Filé Gumbo
Seafood Gumbo is perhaps the most coveted dish during the holiday seasons for endless reasons. This version, thickened with filé powder and roux, dates back to approximately 1825. This particular recipe is a true food-a-holic, soul-warming experience that has been handed down from my mother and grandparents. When we talk gumbo in my family, there is always a great debate amongst my brothers and I as to who has the best secret ingredients. That said, there are no hard and fast rules for making gumbo beyond the basic roux, filé powder, and your imagination. As you can imagine, there are probably as many distinctive recipes for gumbo as there are cooks in this country. In this recipe, we concentrate on fresh dungeness crab, large shrimp, smokey ham, smoked Louisiana hot sausages, fresh vegetables, filé powder, and of course, the roux! The roux is the key to this whole thing, for true, yeah!!!!
Seafood Gumbo is perhaps the most coveted dish during the holiday seasons for endless reasons. This version, thickened with filé powder and roux, dates back to approximately 1825. This particular recipe is a true food-a-holic, soul-warming experience that has been handed down from my mother and grandparents. When we talk gumbo in my family, there is always a great debate amongst my brothers and I as to who has the best secret ingredients. That said, there are no hard and fast rules for making gumbo beyond the basic roux, filé powder, and your imagination. As you can imagine, there are probably as many distinctive recipes for gumbo as there are cooks in this country. In this recipe, we concentrate on fresh dungeness crab, large shrimp, smokey ham, smoked Louisiana hot sausages, fresh vegetables, filé powder, and of course, the roux! The roux is the key to this whole thing, for true, yeah!!!!
- 7 large dungeness crab cleaned and disjointed from the body
- 4 pounds large shrimp fresh shrimp, peeled and eveined (save the shells)
- 4 pounds louisiana hot sausages i use pete’s louisiana style hot links
- 4 pounds louisiana smoked hot sauasges i like to use evergood brand
- 4 cups smoked ham diced
- 2 large white onions chopped
- 8 large celery stalks chopped
- 10 cloves garlic minced
- 24 cups chicken broth equals 192 ounces (4 big cans of broth)
- 30 cups water equals 240 ounces
- 6 bottles clam juice
- 4 tablespoons old bay seasoning
- 6 tablespoons sea salt
- 4 tablespoons lawry's garlic salt
- 3 tablespoons garlic powder
- 2 teaspoon coarse black pepper
- 2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 6 tablespoons gumbo file powder
- 4 medium whole bay leaves
- 4 tablespoons poultry seasoning
- 2 cup canola oil for the roux
- 2 cup all purpose flour for the roux
- 2 teaspoon lawry's seasoned salt
- 2 cups lump crab meat you can also use 5 cans of crab meat
- 4 cups shrimp broth simmer the shrimp shells with 2 tablesoopns of sea salt
- Carbohydrate 18.7852116268294 g
- Cholesterol 1261.15608048 mg
- Fat 247.21949647671 g
- Fiber 1.4436105426203 g
- Protein 306.542419412727 g
- Saturated Fat 66.0393331680528 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (2256g)
- Sodium 4753.42356177101 mg
- Sugar 17.3416010842091 g
- Trans Fat 19.3476171970233 g
- Calories 3602 calories
Step-by-step
- In a large 32 quart stock pot bring the chicken stock, water and clam juice to a slow boil
- Add the Dungeness Crab and reduce the temp to a medium flame
- In a heavy bottomed skillet, sauté the onions, garlic and celery until tender, then add to the stock pot
- In a separate pot, boil the Louisiana sausage and smoked hot links until thoroughly heated and they have released their oil.
- Drain the liquid and allow the sausages to cool. Once cooled slice the sausages from side to side.. from left to right. Dice the smoked ham and throw all the meat back into the pot to brown over a medium heat. When completed, add them to the stock pot
- In a heavy bottomed skillet, stir together the flour and oil forming a paste. Cook the roux over a low heat, stirring constantly until the flower darkens to a deep caramel color similar to peanut butter (this may take 20 to 30 minutes) ; immediately remove from heat and add to the stock pot.
- Note: If you desire a thicker gumbo, repeat this step. Also, DONT burn the roux!!! if you do, toss it out and start a new batch. This is the heartiness of the gumbo and if you burn it it will resinate the burned flavor throughout the soup.
- Add all of the spices and let simmer, occasionally stirring, tasting and adjusting the seasoning to taste
- After an hour of simmering add the shrimp and lump crab meat.
When does a multi-protein soup transition from a collection of raw ingredients into a cohesive stew? The answer lies in the careful staggering of preparation, specifically keeping delicate crustaceans away from sustained high heat until the very end of the cooking process. Long-simmered gumbos demand patience, requiring the cook to orchestrate different cooking times for dense smoked sausages, par-boiled pork products, and tender seafood that turns rubbery if abused. Organizing your station before turning on a single burner prevents chaotic scrambling once the thirty-two-quart stockpot starts demanding constant attention.
Building the foundational roux requires uninterrupted focus and a heavy-bottomed skillet that distributes heat evenly across the surface. Whisking equal parts canola oil and all-purpose flour over low heat takes twenty to thirty minutes, demanding a steady hand until the mixture transforms from a pale paste into a deep, fragrant liquid resembling smooth peanut butter. If dark flecks appear or a bitter aroma hits your nose, discard the batch immediately, because burnt flour cannot be rescued and will ruin every gallon of broth it touches. Once the correct caramel hue is achieved, incorporate it smoothly into the boiling stock to establish the signature body of the dish.
Shrimp and lump crab meat require minimal exposure to heat, making them late-stage additions added roughly an hour after the base simmer begins. Dropping four pounds of fresh shrimp into the pot too early results in overcooked, shrunken protein that surrenders all its internal moisture to the liquid. Simmering the reserved shrimp shells separately with two tablespoons of sea salt beforehand yields an intensely concentrated broth that reinforces the seafood profile without relying solely on commercial bases. File powder acts as a final thickener and seasoning agent, stirred in after the heat is turned off to prevent stringy separation.
Adapting this massive recipe for smaller households or alternative dietary needs requires strategic scaling rather than random omissions. Halving the volume is straightforward, though maintaining the exact two-to-two ratio of oil and flour remains critical for the roux regardless of batch size. Those monitoring sodium intake can easily substitute low-sodium chicken broth and reduce added sea salt, compensating for lower mineral levels by increasing the aromatic garlic, onion, and celery base.
