Christoph and Steffi's Food and Travel & Christoph and Steffi's Food and Travel
Deep brown gumbo with chicken pieces, browned andouille coins, finely integrated trinity, and a modest scoop of white rice
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Main CajunLouisiana chickenporkone-potcomfort-foodspicymake-aheadfreezer-friendly

Chicken and andouille gumbo

A deep brown Louisiana stew built on dark oil roux, chicken, andouille, and the trinity, served with separately cooked rice.

Prep35 min
Cook135 min
Rest10 min
Servings8
Done at74 °C
Cook mode

Adapted from Explore Louisiana's chicken and sausage gumbo and regional roux guidance, with boneless thigh quantities and a separate rice yield for this archive.

Ingredients

Written for a 8 L pot

Units
Temperature
Servings
8

Gumbo

  • 900 g boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into 4 cm pieces
  • 350 g fully cooked andouille, cut into 8 mm coins
  • 110 g neutral oil
  • 110 g all-purpose flour
  • 300 g onion, diced
  • 200 g green bell pepper, diced
  • 160 g celery, diced
  • 20 g garlic, minced
  • 2 1/6 L unsalted chicken stock, kept warm
  • 18 g homemade Creole seasoning
  • 2 g dried thyme
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 15 ml Louisiana-style hot sauce
  • 50 g scallions, sliced
  • 25 g parsley, chopped
  • 8 g filé powder, optional and only for finished bowls (optional)

Rice

  • 320 g long-grain white rice
  • 575 ml water
Diced onion, green pepper, and celery beside chicken pieces and sliced andouille for gumbo
Cut the trinity evenly and keep the raw chicken separate before the roux starts.
Deep mahogany oil roux coating the bottom of a pale pot
Step 2 Stop at deep mahogany with a nutty aroma before black specks appear.

Method

  1. Keep raw chicken and its tools separate. Brown sausage and chicken in batches in the 8 litre pot; remove them. The chicken will finish later.
  2. Add oil, then flour. Stir continuously with a long utensil, scraping the corners, for 25 to 45 minutes until dark mahogany with a nutty aroma. Roux is extremely hot and clings to skin. If black specks appear or it smells acrid, discard it and restart.
  3. Immediately add onion, pepper, and celery to stop browning. Cook 6 minutes, then add garlic for 30 seconds. Gradually whisk in warm stock without splashing.
  4. Add chicken, seasoning, thyme, bay, and hot sauce. Simmer gently 55 to 70 minutes until chicken is tender and reaches 74°C. Return sausage for the final 15 minutes. Stir in scallions and parsley.
  5. Meanwhile cook rice separately in the measured water. Rest gumbo 10 minutes. Serve over rice. Offer filé at the table or stir it in only after boiling has stopped; boiling filé can make the gumbo stringy. This roux-thickened formula contains no tomato and no okra.

Ingredient substitutions

  • Fully cooked Louisiana andouille is preferred. In Germany use firm cooked Krakauer or smoked Mettwurst; in Canada use cooked kielbasa or another smoky sausage. They are less peppery and garlic-forward. Verify the label: raw pork or beef sausage must reach 71°C and raw poultry sausage 74°C. Check salt before seasoning.
  • Filé powder may be ordered from a specialist in Germany or a Cajun supplier in Canada. If unavailable, omit it; the dark roux still supplies body, but the herbal sassafras note is lost. Never compensate by boiling filé.
  • Homemade Creole seasoning controls salt. Commercial blends in either region vary; reduce separate salt and do not use garlic salt or onion salt.

Notes

  • Gumbo is a stock-based stew served with separate rice, unlike jambalaya, where rice cooks in the pot. Louisiana households vary; this is one dark-roux, no-okra route.
  • Cool gumbo and rice separately in shallow containers within 2 hours. Refrigerate 3 to 4 days. Freeze gumbo without rice for up to 3 months.
  • Bring reheated gumbo to a rolling boil while stirring and verify solid chicken pieces reach 74°C. Reheat rice separately to 74°C.

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From Christoph Mayer

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