Gumbo Filé Recipes

FILé GUMBO

Steps:

• Cook chicken if it's not already cooked. Leftovers work fine for this. Set aside.
• Place sausage in a large stockpot over medium high heat, and cook until lightly browned, and some oil is released. Set aside with chicken.
• Add 2 tbsp oil to pot, and saute onion, bell pepper, and celery until soft. Add garlic in the last few minutes. Set vegetables aside with chicken and sausage, wipe stockpot to remove any vegetable pieces.
• Add 1/4 cup oil to pot, and allow to heat over medium until it starts to "shimmer". Add flour, and cook, stirring constantly until the flour and oil mixture takes on a rich brown color. If I'm using sausage or ham, I like to do a chocolate colored roux, for seafood and poultry, I like a caramel color. Use your own judgment.
• When your roux is as you like it, add the chicken broth (You may sub seafood broth, or turkey stock, depending on your ingredients) stir constantly while adding broth to avoid lumps. You should have something resembling a thin gravy.
• Add meats and vegetables back to pot, add cajun seasoning. (I like Tony Chachere's, but you can use any kind you like. If this ingredient is not available in your area, several good ones have been posted to Zaar.).
• Simmer your gumbo for half an hour, or more if you like, keeping the heat low to avoid breaking the roux. This gives time for the flavors to mingle. If you're using a delicate shellfish, like shrimp, add it later in the simmer to avoid toughening it.
• When ready to serve, add hot sauce and filé, stir well, and ladle over a bowl of rice. Keep the filé, hot sauce, and Cajun seasoning out on the table, so diners may add more of any they like. This is wonderful accompanied by a loaf of crusty French bread and a crisp salad.

GUMBO FILé

Steps:

• In a kettle blanch the crabs in boiling water for 2 minutes, drain them, and let them cool until they can be handled. Discard the top shells, the aprons, the gills, the sand sacs, and the mouths and reserve the crabs.
• In a heavy skillet, preferably cast-iron, melt the shortening over moderately low heat, add the flour, and cook the roux, stirring constantly, for 30 minutes, or until it is the color of cocoa. Stir in the onion and cook the mixture, stirring, until the onion begins to brown. Add the okra and cook the mixture over moderate heat, stirring frequently, until the okra is golden. In a kettle bring 8 cups water to a boil, add the roux mixture, the ham, the tomatoes with the juice, the bell pepper, the garlic paste, the bay leaf, the parsley, the thyme, and the celery leaves, and simmer the mixture, stirring occasionally, for 50 minutes. Stir in the reserved crabs and simmer the gumbo for 5 minutes. Stir in the shrimp and the lump crabmeat, if used, simmer the gumbo for 5 minutes, or until the shrimp are firm, and season it with the cayenne and salt. Discard the bay leaf and serve the gumbo sprinkled with the filé powder.

EMERIL'S COUNTRY FILE GUMBO

Steps:

• Heat the roux in a medium-sized heavy stockpot over medium-high heat. When hot, add the onions, celery and bell pepper. Stir mixture until onions begin to brown, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and continue to cook for 1 minute. Slowly pour in stock, whisking constantly to prevent lumps from forming. Add the browned sausage, bay leaves, Worcestershire, hot sauce, cayenne, salt, and pepper.
• Bring gumbo to a boil, reduce heat to medium and simmer until gumbo is slightly reduced, about 50 minutes. (Gumbo should cook long enough for the roux flavor to mellow and for any floury taste to dissipate.)
• Season the shrimp with the Essence in a small bowl. Stir in the seasoned shrimp, crabmeat, green onions, parsley, thyme and basil. Cook until shrimp are cooked through, about 5 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings, if necessary. Sprinkle in file powder and cook, stirring, 2 minutes more, or pass file at the table for guests to thicken as desired. Remove bay leaves before serving.
• Serve in warmed soup bowls over steamed white rice.
• Place a heavy, iron Dutch oven, (or iron skillet with deep sides) over medium heat and heat the oil until just smoking. Whisk in flour, a little at a time and cook, whisking constantly, until roux becomes smooth and thick. Continue to cook, constantly stirring with a wooden spoon and reaching all over bottom of pan, until roux darkens to desired color. Be careful not to produce specs of black. The roux must remain an even color throughout process. If specs appear you must start over.
• For a Light Brown Roux, cook the mixture, over medium heat for 1 1/2 hours, or until the color of peanut butter. Remove about 1 cup of the light colored roux, cool completely, and set aside for the Delmonico's Seafood Okra Gumbo.
• For a Medium Brown Roux, cook the mixture, over medium heat for an additional 30 minutes, or until the color of a copper penny when ready. Remove about 13/4 cups of the medium colored roux, cool completely, and set aside for Emeril's Country File Gumbo.
• For a Dark Brown Roux, cook the mixture an additional 35 to 45 minutes. The color should resemble dark chocolate when ready. Remove all of the remaining dark roux from the pan and cool completely. Set aside for the Chicken and Sausage Gumbo. (See Cook's Note)
• Combine all ingredients thoroughly.
• Recipe from "New New Orleans Cooking", by Emeril Lagasse and Jessie Tirsch, published by William and Morrow, 1993.

FILE GUMBO

Steps:

• Heat some vegetable oil in a large stockpot over medium-high heat and cook the chicken in batches until it is golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add the flour to the chicken juices and stir continuously. Add the butter and cook the roux until it is brown.
• Add the peppers, onion, garlic, parsley, salt, pepper, cayenne, bay leaves, thyme, and 1 quart of water. Stir well and bring to a boil. When the vegetables are soft, put the chicken back into the pot and add the remaining water. In a skillet over medium heat, cook the sausage and ham until they are browned. Add them to the pot along with the shrimp and stir well. Let the gumbo simmer for 1 hour, then add the okra. After 20 minutes, turn off the heat. Ladle a couple of cups of the liquid into a mixing bowl. Add the file powder and whisk until well blended. Pour back into the stock pot and mix well. It's ready to serve!

SEAFOOD FILE GUMBO

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• Shell and devein the shrimp, reserve the shells. Place the shrimp in a covered bowl and refrigerate. Place the shells on a cookie sheet, and bake until the shells are dried and starting to brown on the edges. Turn off the oven.
• Make the stock: In a 8 quart pot, put 5 quarts of water, 4 carrots, 4 onions, and celery. Add 2 bay leaves, sliced garlic, parsley, cloves, 1 teaspoons black pepper, 1 tablespoon dried basil and 2 teaspoons dried thyme. Add the shrimp shells. Bring the stock slowly to boil. Reduce heat to a gentle simmer and cook 5 to 7 hours, replacing water as needed, 2 or 3 times, by pouring more water down side of pot.
• Remove stock from heat and strain. Press all liquid from the shells and vegetables, then discard them. Return liquid to heat and reduce stock to 2 to 3 quarts, or to your desired quantity (you will need 7 cups of this stock for this recipe). If clarity is desired, strain the stock through a cloth.
• In a small bowl, combine the ground red, white, and black peppers, paprika, thyme, oregano, bay leaf and salt and set aside.
• In a heavy pot, 5-quart or larger, heat oil over medium heat, warming the pot first. Add onions, celery and green pepper. Turn heat to high. Stirring frequently, add garlic, file, hot pepper sauce, and the pepper-herb mixture. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Add tomato sauce and stir as it reduces over high heat. Add 7 cups of the stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
• When ready to serve, add shrimp, oysters, and crabmeat. Cover and wait 5 minutes. Turn off heat and let stand for 10 minutes.

CHICKEN & SAUSAGE FILE GUMBO

Steps:

• Put the chicken in a pot and add enough water just to cover. Boil just until done.
• Remove the chicken from the pot, reserving the liquid. When the chicken cools enough to handle, remove the skin, take the meat off the bones and cut into bite sized pieces. Set aside.
• Melt the butter and oil in a large pot over medium high heat, then add the flour. Cook, stirring constantly, until it is a medium brown, lowering the heat to avoid burning, if necessary.
• Add the sausage, ham, onions, bell pepper, and garlic. Cook over low heat for 10 minutes.
• Add about 2 cups of the reserved chicken broth, the chicken, and all seasonings except the file powder. Stir in the rest of the reserved chicken broth.
• Bring to a boil, then simmer for one hour, uncovered.
• Remove from the heat, stir in the file powder, then let stand for 5 minutes.
• Serve over steamed rice.

NEW ORLEANS SEAFOOD FILé GUMBO RECIPE BY TASTY

Steps:

• Make the seafood gumbo stock: In a heavy-bottomed 5-quart pot, heat the canola oil over medium heat. Once the oil is shimmering, add the crabs and cook until the shells turn bright orange, 2-3 minutes. Add the shrimp shells and heads and cook until the shells turn pink, 2-3 minutes more. Smash the crab and shrimp shells, similar to mashing potatoes, to release any juices.
• Add the bell pepper, onion, and celery scraps, green onion, parsley, thyme, garlic, bay leaves, black pepper, and water. Bring to a gentle boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 30-35 minutes.
• Strain the stock through a large fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl. You should have 12 cups. Set aside until ready to use in the gumbo (if not using immediately, the stock can be cooled, then stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 1-3 days).
• Make the Creole seasoning: In a small bowl, whisk together the salt, white pepper, black pepper, cayenne, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, thyme, and oregano until well combined.
• Make the gumbo: Heat 6 tablespoons canola oil in a heavy-bottomed 6-quart pot over medium-high heat until faint wisps of white smoke come off the oil (if thicker, darker smoke appears, remove the pot from the heat and let cool for 3 minutes). Add the okra and fry for 2 minutes, until army-green in color. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the okra to a paper towel-lined plate to drain, leaving any remaining oil behind in the pot.
• Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil to the same pot. Heat the oil over medium-high heat until faintly smoking again (do not let it overheat, or the flour will burn). Whisk in the flour to make a roux and cook, whisking constantly, until it turns a dark cocoa brown, 5-6 minutes. (If the roux is browning too quickly, remove the pot from the heat while continuing to stir and reduce the heat to medium-low.)
• Reduce the heat to medium, then add the onion, bell pepper, celery, and 2 tablespoons of the Creole seasoning. Cook, stirring, for 2-3 minutes, until onions have softened. Add the garlic, bay leaves, and remaining Creole seasoning.
• Increase the heat to medium-high heat. While whisking or stirring constantly to prevent lumps from forming, add the seafood gumbo stock, 4 cups at a time. Add the okra, smoked sausage, crabs, thyme, and Worcestershire sauce. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer uncovered for 1 hour, skimming off any foamy flour residue that rises to the surface. The gumbo should thicken and reduce by one quarter.
• Season the gumbo with the salt and pepper to taste, then add the shrimp. Remove the pot from the heat, cover, and let the residual heat cook the shrimp for 10 minutes.
• Ladle the hot gumbo into bowls. Serve with rice and garnish with parsley, green onions, and filé powder, if using.
• It's important to properly cool and store leftover seafood gumbo, otherwise it will spoil. Fill a clean 2-liter bottle or plastic juice jug with water and freeze until solid. Once finished eating, place the ice bottle in the pot of gumbo and let cool, stirring occasionally to release heat. Transfer the gumbo to an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 5 days. 11. The gumbo can also be frozen for up to 3 months.
• Enjoy!