Upperline’s Duck and Andouille Gumbo

- Total Time
- About 2½ hours
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 1cup canola or peanut oil
- 1cup all-purpose flour
- 1white onion, diced
- 5celery stalks, diced
- 1red bell pepper, diced
- 1green bell pepper, diced
- 2links andouille sausage or other smoked sausage (about ½ pound), cut into ½-inch half-moons
- 3quarts duck or chicken stock
- 2tablespoons dried thyme
- 2tablespoons dried oregano
- 3dried bay leaves
- 2garlic cloves, minced
- 6cups pulled roasted duck meat, skin discarded and meat roughly chopped (from 1 to 2 roast ducks; buy these from a Chinese restaurant if you like)
- Salt, to taste
- Hot sauce (such as Crystal brand), to taste
- Cooked rice or potato salad, for serving
For the Roux
For the Gumbo
Preparation
- Step 1
Prepare the roux: In a large Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium-high. (A large stockpot works, but a Dutch oven is ideally shaped for whisking a roux.) Slowly shake the flour over the oil with one hand while whisking with the other hand. Continue to whisk until the roux darkens to a glossy, dark red-brown, 15 to 20 minutes.
- Step 2
Reduce the heat to medium and stir the onion, celery and bell peppers into the roux to prevent it from burning, about 3 minutes. Stir in the sausage and cook until coated, a few more minutes.
- Step 3
Gradually add the stock, stirring constantly as you add the liquid. Add the thyme, oregano, bay leaves and garlic and simmer over medium-low, stirring and skimming every 20 minutes, until the flavors have melded, about 2 hours. For a thinner gumbo, add water, as desired (up to 2 cups).
- Step 4
Stir in the duck meat just before serving and cook until warmed, 3 to 5 minutes. (An extended cook time would turn the meat mushy.) Add the salt and hot sauce to taste. Serve over rice or potato salad.
Private Notes
Comments
I see Tabasco mostly in restaurants in Louisiana and elsewhere, but not so much in people's homes. I prefer Crystal for its body and depth of flavor.
The roux portions worked perfectly for me but 3 quarts of stock were waaaay too much. If it's a typo, 3 cups would not be enough. Maybe 1 1/2 - 2 quarts? Brett, any comment?
I am an old woman and must take shortcuts in cooking and do prep work in stages. I use instant roux that I mix with water into a slurry and frozen Cajun mix of peppers, onion and celery. I also use chicken thighs.
Gumbo is a soup, like many, that uses whatever is in your kitchen. Any restaurant in NOLA with gumbo on the menu will serve its own spin on it. Andouille sausage is a constant, okra in most. Usually the white rice is added on top of the soup, which is thinner than depucted. So I think if you don't like the proportions of fat to flour or the amount of oregano and thyme, you should alter the recipe to taste. Me, I only eat okra under duress, so I dont include it.
Perfect the day of, and leftovers the day after.
What!?! No Gumbo (African for Okra). It ain't gumbo without gumbo.......
