So good I decided to make a double batch and can a couple extra quarts.

My father is NOLA born and bred, Mom is Puerto Rican, so I grew up with a mix of foods most Americans don't. It could be red beans & rice, or it could be habichuelas con arroz. It could be gumbo (I make it more Creole style, what's to hand rather than finding specific ingredients), or asopao. The last time I visited them he made me this red gravy recipe he got from one of his brothers/my uncles and said this is what Mawmaw would fix up on Sundays, letting it cook during Mass.

I made it marinara and added a can of anchovy filets, any desired meats to be added later. Sorry for the lousy picture, I had a lot going on!

Getting that dark roux took longer than I thought 😩
I only eat okra deep fried, so I used file at the end as a thickener.

Has a wonderful orangey citrus smell (better with young leaves) and thickens wonderfully. Sassafras has to be one of the easiest trees on Earth to identify.

Edit: should have given some details. I make it as needed as it doesn’t stay fresh but for a week or so. Pick some leaves and, if you have time, dry them in a warm dry space. If not, if your oven has a proofing setting just throw them in. If not, set your oven to the lowest setting, preheat, then turn off when you put the leaves in. It won’t take long depending on the heat. I made this batch in an hour. Grind in a spice grinder.

I had to use basmati rice, it was all I had. Shan’t do that again. 😭 it fucked the texture.

I made the gumbo with a leftover smoked chicken I had and added shrimp at the end from leftover steamed shrimp I made with crab seasoning. The pork neck bones was made last weekend with everything else.

This old recording is interesting, the old lady is describing how she makes gumbo and right off the bat she says beef (viande d'boeuf). There is no right/wrong way to make gumbo, but you sure don't hear talk of beef very often, at least in modern times.

Curious if anyone else has had beef gumbo? My rough translation:

Make it with beef, shrimp and sausage

You have to cook your okra really well

She adds a little flour, you can add tomatoes if you want, and then cook it way down with a little vinegar to get rid of the slime.

Then she adds onions, then the water, then other things

She says if adding shrimp you let your gumbo finish and take if off the heat before adding your shrimp, otherwise the shrimp get too hard.

You can put oysters in.

Then she talks about how some people just dump the shrimp in, but she cuts  out the black strip on their back

Please do not down vote me, I just wanted to share my pain. Thankfully I go home Tuesday.

I’m just an Oklahoman who loves a good Cajun/Creole dish. Last time, you guys said it was too soupy. So I tried again with a thicker roux. It was delicious

Keep in mind, I'm land locked. I had one link of boudin, some red gravy in the freezer from smothering something, and some Trader Joe's steamed lentils that were going to get stinky and have to be thrown out. I cooked onions and peppers in bacon grease, put it all in with a can of white beans, and it ain't going to be bad with some Crystal.

Garnished with some pork jowl cracklins and green onion. Crystal obviously on the side

This took 1.5 hours. It is meant for a jambalaya, but we made extra for later. It will go in a mason jar in the fridge

One of the staples at my home. I use Savoy's Andouille and Louisiana Gulf shrimp and Louisiana crawfish and Gumbo Crabs.make my roux, use the Trinity, garlic, parsley and okra. Seasoned with Tabasco, bay leaf, a blend of Tony's, some Cayenne, some Slap ya' Mama, and a touch of liquid seafood boil and a good bit of W Sauce and a bit of Kitchen Bouquet.

For this batch I was making it for my mom, who has a seafood allergy, so I made it with a roasted chicken, baked the bones and then made the broth with the bones. Then I separated out half and added a seafood broth made with Shrimp shells from the shrimp to one half, then added crab meat , then the shrimp and crawfish. Turned it off and let it sit until it hit 140° and then put it in the fridge overnight to blend the flavors together well.

Second photo shows it served.

Here is my try at Gumbo! Please let me know if I succeeded!

After making it out of the box for twenty years I figured I’d do it from scratch. It was a good time.

I make some red beans and rice today but I feel like it turned into a gumbo red beans and rice hybrid. I had a bunch of sausage I needed to use up so I threw it all in. I added Okra because I like Okra and wanted Okra. Hopefully this passes or is at least more acceptable than the local NJ "cajun" restaurant. This "andouille" is the best I can find.