Cajun or Creole? Which do you prefer? Do you even know the difference? Well, folks, I'll admit until I took a trip to New Orleans myself and dug into the food scene that I didn't have a clue, either! Simply speaking, Cajun is rustic and simple, and mainly comes from the early descendants of Canadian French fur trappers, or Acadians. Creole is a bit more refined and fancy, and derived from the French-speaking, American-born people during the European colonization of Louisiana. What does that mean exactly? Well, it just describes the people and culture, but what really matters is the food, right? Cajun food is rustic and whole animal butchery fortified with rice to extend the yield whereas Creole is upper-class, select cuts of meat further influenced by the African slaves' native crops like okra and beans. While still very similar, one main difference is a lack of tomatoes in Cajun cuisine compared to an abundance in Creole. Food lesson aside, today's recipe, Cajun Gumbo, is the down and dirty simple version anyone can master so if you love a hearty thick stew with lots of meat and minimal veggies then stick around and enjoy this blog....Let's Get Cooking!
The key to any good gumbo, Cajun or Creole, is the roux, or thickening agent made of fat and flour. In Creole cooking, you would likely use equal parts butter and flour to make your roux, but today we are making Cajun Gumbo so we will be using cooking oil and flour. Add vegetable or canola oil to a large pot over Medium to Medium-Low heat along with the flour. Continue to stir the two ingredients as they come together to form a thin paste-like mixture. Let this mixture cook while continuing to stir to prevent burning. It will slowly begin to darken in color from a light beige to peanut butter color. Once you reach that peanut butter color, you can slightly increase the heat to speed things up in order to achieve a final chocolate hue. This process is slow and requires constant attention and stirring so don't be tempted to start prepping veggies or other ingredients while you make the roux. If you burn it, just toss it and start over. This roux sets the base for the entire gumbo so take your time and allow it to develop into that darker brown, cookie dough-like consistency. It will likely take up to an hour so plan ahead or make it in advance. Once you reach that point, remove the roux and set aside. You can choose to clean out your pot, or just get most of the roux out and continue on using the same pot to avoid extra dishes. Yeah that's right, I'm all for the One Pot meal any day of the week!
Once the roux is finished and removed, turn the temperature up to Medium-High and add the sliced andouille sausage. This is likely already precooked so just sauté it for 2-3 minutes per side to slightly brown and release some flavor into the pot. Once heated through and browned, remove the sausage and set aside.
While the pot is still hot, pour in some chicken stock to deglaze all those tasty bits from the bottom of the pot. Use a good wooden spoon or spatula to scrape up the fond and clean off the bottom of the pot. That is a lot of flavor we don't want to leave behind! After deglazing, add the diced celery, bell pepper, onion, green onion, and fresh parsley. Depending on the size of your pot, add 6 to 8 cups of chicken stock and stir well. You want the pot somewhere around 3/4 full, leaving room for all the meat we will be adding later on, but not so empty your batch ends up too thick. Once your pot of veggies and stock is ready to go, add the roux we made earlier and stir to combine.
Increase the temperature and bring this up to a boil while continuing to stir until the roux melts into all the stock and begins to thicken. Season your gumbo base with any Cajun seasoning mix of your choice and allow it to boil for 5 to 6 minutes so the veggies begin to soften and lose their raw, crunchy texture.
After boiling the gumbo for 5 minutes or so, reduce the temperature back down to Medium and add some minced garlic with the andouille sausage and rotisserie chicken. Give it a good stir and continue to simmer for a couple minutes to get the meats warmed through.
Next, add the peeled and deveined shrimp to the gumbo and let cook for 10 minutes or so. This should be ample time to cook the shrimp and let all those flavors fortify together one last time.
Finish the gumbo with a few sprinkles of Gumbo File Powder, a dried seasoning made from the sassafras tree. You can omit this step, but I think it's a nice finishing touch to our delicious Cajun Gumbo! Serve the gumbo in a bowl with some rice.
What do you think, Food Family? Did we nail this Cajun Gumbo today or not? Like I mentioned earlier in the introduction, this particular recipe is the simple, Cajun style gumbo you will find throughout the swamps and bayous of Louisiana. Obviously, the meats can be swapped out with alligator, crawfish, etc., but the main recipe is a true Cajun classic! Don't let anyone tell you otherwise or that it needs tomatoes and okra to be true Gumbo because we already know that is Creole style gumbo, which is great too. Personally, I'm not a fan of slimy okra but adding tomatoes isn't so bad. It's all personal preference of course, which style and ingredients you use in your gumbo so get in the kitchen and experiment and let me know with a tag on Instagram @grubbongrub how you make your gumbo....Just Keep Cooking!
CAJUN GUMBO
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