By special request: chicken, turkey & sausage gumbo

Plated

Stirred & spooning it up

Cooking the Louisiana hot sausage

Cooked; removed from heat

Used a different smoked sausage than usual

Sliced

Cooking

Smoked turkey breast (another involuntary change)

Deboned, skinless chicken thighs, sliced into chunks

…and cooking

Garlic & green onions

Yellow onions, celery, and Anaheim peppers (see below)

All the veg, cooking

Parsley, salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper added

Bay leaves & bouillon cubes added

Side view of 1 big can of broth, the 4 cooked meats, and the 30qt pot

50oz Can #2

Almost everything is in,

Roux

Almost finished- final color was actually between milk & dark chocolate

Mom & Dad wanted to give 2 different groups of special people a treat, and asked me to make some gumbo. But there were some necessary changes:

1) several people in each group didn’t eat seafood, so that was out
2) one person is Muslim, so I had to make sure I only used beef sausages. Usually, beef sausages only isn’t an issue- that’s my default. But MOST of them use pork casings. So I had to find one that had beef casings, hence the Hillshire Farms. But since it’s new to me, I didn’t know how smoky the sausage was.
3) to add some extra smoky flavor, I usually use Diestel Smoked Turkey thighs. But there weren’t any available nearby. So I went to one of my favorite BBQ joints and got some of their smoked turkey breast.
4) veteran gumbo makers will have noticed I used Anaheim peppers instead of Bell peppers. That’s because Mom reacts poorly to Bell peppers. We don’t use them. But we recently discovered Mom has NO problems with Anaheims.

Given that both groups didn’t want seafood, I decided to make one BIG batch in my 30qt, and divide it. Between the 4 different kinds, there’s between 16-20lbs of meat.

After several hours of cooking, it worked out to about 18qts. I reserved some for us at home, then split the rest equally between the other two groups.

I also made 6 cups of white rice for each group.

Delivery is tomorrow.

EDIT: Recipients were very happy!

RECIPE INGREDIENTS:

1) Diced yellow onions
2) Diced green onions
3) Diced garlic
4) Diced celery
5) Diced fresh peppers (Bell peppers are traditional; other mild peppers like Anaheims, Hatch or Poblanos will work)
6) Chicken thighs, sliced into chunks
7) Smoked turkey breast, cubed (substituted for ham or smoked turkey thighs)
8) Hot sausage, ground or sliced into medallions
9) Smoked beef sausage, sliced into medallions
10) salt
11) black pepper
12) cayenne pepper
13) parsley
14) bay leaves
15) chicken stock
16) chicken bouillon
17) filé (aka ground sassafras)
18) flour
19) oil
20) rice (white is traditional, brown will work)

OBVIOUSLY, I don’t want to share an exact recipe based on the 30qt scaled up amounts I used. Generally speaking, I use a bunch of yellow onions, equal amounts of celery & fresh peppers (together totaling about the same as the yellow onions) and equal amounts of garlic & green onions.

I use roughly twice as much meat as I do veggies, with the hot sausage being the smallest amount by percentage. You want to SEASON your gumbo, not punish your diners!

Seasonings are to taste. Filé use is kind of an art; you’ll use a bunch, but add it in stages.

METHOD:

1) in your stock pot or Dutch oven, sauté your meats in a bit of oil to brown them, then remove them from the pot. (You can also do this stage in your oven on a sheet pan.) If necessary, deglaze your pan with water or chicken stock.
2) sauté your veggies until soft or slightly caramelized. If necessary, deglaze your pan with water or chicken stock.
3) return the meat to the pot, adding your stock and all seasonings except the filé. Bring to a boil.
4) while your main pot is coming to a boil, start cooking your rice and use a nonstick pan to create a roux: flour cooked in oil over low heat. (This can ALSO be done in an oven, but I don’t use that technique.) A roux will thicken & flavor your gumbo- light ones will thicken more and flavor less; dark ones flavor more and thicken less. I aim for a caramel color at the very least, and usually go for something between milk & dark chocolate. Any darker will taste burnt.
5) when your main pot is boiling, start adding your filé, as well as any other seasonings your taste buds tell you to add.
6) when you’ve got the flavor you want, add your roux, stir, turn off the heat and let it come together for a few minutes before serving over rice.