Yes another fusion food.
Taking ingredients from different cultures and mixing them to make something special and unique.
The word for okra in certain parts of Africa is gumbo or something like it.
So all my gumbo has okra.
There is Creole gumbo and Cajun gumbo.
So why not Texas gumbo that way people can leave me alone and not say, That's not gumbo.

First I make a roux.
It's going to be made with appropriately 50/50 homemade beef tallow and butter.
Next is the Texas Trinity.
Onions.
Celery.
Chilies NOT bell peppers.
Mine are Hatch chilies and Poblanos.
One of the pablano chilies is starting to turn red.

Here are the spices and herbs so far.
Freshly ground fennel seeds.
Freshly ground black pepper.
Freshly ground cumin.
Freshly crushed garlic.
Sweet paprika.
I like cumin and fennel so I put it in.
My gumbo right.

The last things I added were.
Knorr tomato chicken bullion but not much because I used it as the salt.
A teaspoon of MSG.
1/2 bunch of cilantro chopped fine stems and all.
Then mixed it all up.
The fennel was about 2 tablespoons.
The rest of the spices were around a teaspoon or so.
Maybe two teaspoons give or take.
The vegetables were.
2 large onions.
About 7 stalks of celery.
2 large each of the Hatch chilies and Poblanos.
4 total.

I like to cook the roux low and slow.
While it's cooking I'm browning some sausage.
It's really good sausage too.

Layers of flavors is what it's all about.
Roux cooked to my liking in the Creole fashion not the super dark roux of the Cajun fashion of which I also like
Browned sausage set aside because it'll go in last.
No over cooked sausage please.
Vegetables sweating in the roux and cooking down.
Now it's time to brown the chicken thighs in the drippings from the sausage with a little extra oil.

Next I cut up 6 boneless skinless chicken thighs.
Flipped in flour and garlic powder.
Browning in some oil to set aside with the sausage.

The vegetables were covered and let simmer.
Right after this picture was taken I added 1 1/2 cups of extra dry vermouth.
As mentioned in another thread about okra you can add acid to reduce the slime in okra.
I didn't have any chicken stock didn't want to add a ton of water so what the heck.
Vermouth has an acidity of about 3.9 me thinks.
No okra added yet.
Lid back on.

Since the last installment I added a 15 ounce can of tomato puree and about 3 cups of water.
No chicken stock regretfully.
I also added a heap of okra.
It's simmering as we speak with the lid on but I don't want to cook the okra to death.

Chicken and sausage ready to go in.
Like the famous Black lady chef Leah Chase of the restaurant Dooky Chase's in New Orleans said.
You get what you get.
May God rest her lovely soul.

Finally a meal fit for a king.
Rice mold with chicken sausage shrimp gumbo.
The shrimp was cooked separately in seasoned water for exactly 90 seconds and removed.
NO OVER COOKED SHRIMP.
Garnished with cilantro.

That looks really good

I'd hit it.

Looks delicious! I always have perfectly cooked shrimp in my dishes for the first serving, but I never get it out of the hot pan until after I eat and by the time the leftovers are warmed up, overcooked shrimp. Still tastes good flavor wise but the shrimp are never as tender as they are when they are first cooked.

I turned on the pc at around 6:30am, and watched the Gumbo part throughout the morning. I don't remember what fennel seeds tastes like, but all of the rest sounded good to me.

I think each cook should be themselves when cooking.

AlittleSalt wrote: ↑Sat Aug 13, 2022 11:03 pm I turned on the pc at around 6:30am, and watched the Gumbo part throughout the morning. I don't remember what fennel seeds tastes like, but all of the rest sounded good to me.

I think each cook should be themselves when cooking.

Sue_CT wrote: ↑Sat Aug 13, 2022 10:32 pm Looks delicious! I always have perfectly cooked shrimp in my dishes for the first serving, but I never get it out of the hot pan until after I eat and by the time the leftovers are warmed up, overcooked shrimp. Still tastes good flavor wise but the shrimp are never as tender as they are when they are first cooked.

Salt fennel tastes a little like licorice but there wasn't enough in the really taste it.

Sue that's why I cook the shrimp separately and put it in as needed.
I got a big serving and let it cool.
Now 3 quart bags are in the freezer.
I had enough left to add some water and have another bowl for supper.
This time I just put 12 more shrimp in the gumbo and let it cook there a bit.
No rice with the second bowl just crackers.
On no way did this taste like a Mexican flavored gumbo with the odd selection of peppers.
But they were way less expensive than a green bell pepper.
The meal seems laborious and expensive but it could have fed a multitude of people along with rice.
I made approximately 1 gallon of gumbo.
Each ladle is 1/2 cup.
2 ladles per person.
16 cups in a gallon.
Equals about 16 people served each getting a piece of chicken a couple of shrimp and some bites of sausage.
I just had to be a hog and eat 24 shrimp yesterday.