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Whitlow Enterprises Smoke School

Recipe Wonderful Chicken Sausage Gumbo for the Working Man

I have tried for years to make good Cajun Gumbo and frankly it is just not that easy. The best gumbo I ever had in my mouth beyond a shadow of a doubt was by my life long friend, now departed, Uncle Duke Andrepont.   Uncle Duke passed away about 10 years ago from a heart attack when filling out his income tax returns. I reckon the revenuers got him after all. Uncle Duke graduated form LSU Journalism School in the 1920s and founded the first Newspaper in the world to use off-line printing press. A mother could for the first time go to her daughter's wedding on Saturday and see color pictures in the newspaper on Monday. He founded the Opelousas Daily World newspaper. His first newspaper is in file in the Smithsonian Institute. After Uncle Duke sold the paper to the New York Times, he founded the Louisiana Peace Officer magazine in Baton Rouge. He would travel from town to town in Louisiana to write stories about local police departments and sell advertisements'. This is how I met him when I was about 4 years old. He would always come spend a week with us when he came to Monroe. He joined our hunting camp and we hunted together, drank Jack Daniels, played Boo Ray Poker, and tracked deer down for over 40 years. I sure did love Uncle Duke. He tried to teach me how to cook gumbo, but I never did catch on. He would drive to Laplace Louisiana to get authentic Andouille Sausage which is by far the best sausage to use on gumbo. Then he would start on the Roux which required 4 hours of stirring without burning. That was my biggest problem, I cant seem to stay in any one place for four hours.

After Uncle Duke died, I just had to search around Louisiana for good Gumbo in local restaurants. It is not that easy to find good gumbo. Last week we were doing a smoke school in Gramercy Louisiana between New Orleans in Baton Rouge and I wanted to serve our customers some good gumbo. We were holding the smoke school at the Saint James Parish Tourist Information Center when the fine Cajun and Creole folks there introduced me to Uncle Larry Roussel. He also is a fine full bleed Cajun form South Louisiana and he specializes in gumbo for charity purposes. His gumbo is very good. He does not use a Roux so it is a lot quicker and easier. This is Uncle Larry's recipe.

Reformulated Chicken and Andouille Gumbo             by Uncle Larry Roussel

This recipe serves about 7 hungry people. It is always best to drink a six pack while cooking and eating gumbo.

 Ingredients

¼ cup peanut oil or vegetable oil

1 medium onion (or 1/2 pound) diced (you can buy this already diced in most Wal-Mart's. You may also find some diced peppers or bellery as we call it.)

1 pound of large andouille sausage (skin/casing removed, cut into ¼ to ½ slices) (you can substitute your favorite link sausage)

2 pounds of boneless/skinless chicken thighs (cut in large bite sized pieces)

½ cup of Pillsbury Shake and Blend flour ( You can substitute with instant roux  You can usually find this in Wal-Mart in the spice section)

½ gallon of water

1 level tablespoon of Tony Chachere's seasoning, You can also find this in Wal-Mart in the seasoning section. You can also use Slap Ya Momma seasonings which is very good indeed, I gar--on---teee

½ teaspoon of salt

¼ teaspoon of black pepper

¼ teaspoon of cayenne pepper

¼ teaspoon of granulated garlic

5 teaspoons of Wyler's granules (chicken flavored) or 2 cans of chicken broth

1 level tablespoon of Kitchen Bouquet

1 heaping tablespoon of dried parsley flakes

Chopped okra, optional

Prep.  Combine the Tony's, salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, granulated garlic, Wyler's granules and parsley flakes in a measuring cup and mix well. Have your diced onions, sliced andouille and cut up chicken pieces readily available. Have your oil, flour and water pre measured and readily available. Have a bottle of Kitchen Bouquet handy and a measuring spoon nearby.

1. On high heat, sauté the diced onions in oil for five minutes. Stir often to prevent onions from burning.

2. Add the andouille or your favorite smoked sausage. Sauté for five more minutes and again, stir often to prevent burning or scorching.

3. Now add the chicken pieces, then add your blended seasonings to the pot. Continue to sauté for 5 more minutes, stir often.

4. Add the ½ cup of Shake and Blend flour and continue to stir for one minute to insure that the flour is incorporated into your mixture.

5. Add the water and stir your gumbo to loosen all ingredients that may be sticking to the bottom of the pot.

6. It will take about five minutes for your gumbo to come to a boil. As you near the boiling point, add the Kitchen Bouquet & stir to blend throughout your gumbo.

7. Allow your gumbo to boil for about 15 minutes, then, reduce heat.

8. Simmer your gumbo for about 15 minutes and skim any oil that accumulates on the surface.

9. TIME TO EAT!

10. I always love chopped okra with my gumbo. Add it before you add the water.

I have always served gumbo on top of rice. We grow a lot of rice in South Louisiana. We have been known to serve rice 3 meals a day breakfast, dinner, supper and rice pudding for desert. in the good ole days when times were bad, my momma used to fix rice and butter. I think I may fix some now. We serve so much rice, that when my good friend Boudreaux went for his first time at McDonalds, and they asked him if he wanted everything on his hamburger, he said no- cut the rice. I have lived a few years in Indiana now, and I noticed that not too many people cook rice there. Just put in 2 cups of water for each cup of rice. Bring the water to a boil and add rice. Salt and butter makes it taste just that much more better. Cover it and boil it until the rice gets soft. I hate crunchy rice. Rice always cooks perfectly in a rice cooker which you can usually find in the household department of Wal-Mart  Thanks for coming, I love you. Uncle George.