Shrimp Gumbo 101

I made Shrimp Gumbo yesterday. It took me 7 hours. After all that work and it’s a lot of work; I’m going to eat the Gumbo, minus the andouille sausage. One o’ clock in the morning I sampled a small bite of my Gumbo and it was all worth it – delicious. I lived in Houston for a few years and a half block from my office was a small southern eatery distinctly named Treebeards. Treebeards sells Gumbo, Jambalaya, Etouffee, Red Beans and Rice, Meatloaf and a host of other southern delights. As you can obviously see I was jonesin for some Shrimp Gumbo since before I went on my fast.

After three days and 10 hours in the kitchen – success.

I didn’t slack off on any detail either. I made my roux, brick red roux that is, on Sunday and it sat in the fridge for a few days until I could get the andouille sausage and whole head–on shrimp. Do you know how difficult it is to find whole head-on shrimp in South Jersey? I had to go to an ethnic supermarket 40 miles away from where I live. The only way I knew about it was to ask around first. Why do I need whole head-on shrimp? Well, how else am I going to prepare the shrimp broth? I need the tails and heads to boil in a pot. The prep time takes the longest; it took me just around two and half hours to prep the ingredient, measure out the spices and clean up the shrimp.

I’m not a trained chef.

Once I got it all together I let my creation simmer for 35 minutes, added the sausage and shrimp, turned off the heat, covered and let it sit for ten minutes – finished. I let it cool for an additional 15 minutes, sealed it up in a container and in the fridge it went. Gumbo is best when it sits overnight so it realizes “what it is” and for some reason always tastes better the next day.

I know what I’m having for lunch – Bon Appétit!

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Tags: cooking with dad, making shrimp gumbo, making shrimp gumbo at home, shrimp gumbo