Mike’s Gumbo Recipe

Start by steaming a couple of crabs. Or you can buy some pre-steamed crabs. Pick the crabs and separate the meat (save for the gumbo) and the shells (save for the stock). Steam a pound of shrimp to use the shrimp shells for the broth. Have a nice snack of the shrimp.

You will want to render the duck fat. There are lots of instructions online for this like this one.

Put the shells from crabs and the shells from a dozen shrimp in a pot with about 5-6 cups of water. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for about 1 hour, occasionally skimming the white foam. Remove from heat, cool and strain. Reserve 4 cups of the broth for the Gumbo.

Set up your seasonings. You will need the following seasonings, which make up the
MAGIC MIX:
- Beau Monde Seasoning
- Basil Leaves
- Oregano Leaves
- Ground Yellow Mustard
- Ground Black Pepper
- Thyme
- Parsley
- Chinese 5-Spice
- Salt

When I ask for the MAGIC MIX, you will use several dashes of each seasoning. You will also need a PEPPER MIX:
- Cayenne Pepper
- White Pepper
- Ancho Chile Powder
- Black Pepper

When I ask for FAT, use a combination of Duck Fat (or Bacon Fat), Butter, and Olive Oil. Any mix of that is good, but try to get more than one type of fat to provide more complex flavors.

You will notice that all the layers have seasonings so that the flavors will build upon each other.

Dice the following vegetables...
Make a Mirepoix
- 2 parts Onion
- 1 part Carrots
- 1 part Celery
Make a Holy Trinity
- 3 parts Onion
- 1 part Green Pepper
- 2 parts Celery

Smash...
- 3-4 Garlic cloves.

In a CAST IRON SKILLET, sauté the above vegetables with FAT and the MAGIC MIX. You will want to sauté the vegetables until they are translucent. Add a light sprinkle of PEPPER MIX. Remove from the skillet and put into a big stock pot or skillet.

Slice the sausages and cook with the MAGIC MIX in the same skillet as the vegetables. You will want the sausages to be browned on both sides. Add a light sprinkle of PEPPER MIX. Then add the sausages to your stock pot.

After moving the sausage and vegetables into the stock pot, using the same cast iron skillet, deglaze the pan with 1 cup of white wine. Cook down for about 5 minutes and add to the stock pot.

After deglazing the pan with wine, dredge the bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 3-4) in flour. Add FAT to the cast iron skillet and brown chicken with MAGIC MIX in batches, adding FAT as needed. Once the chicken is browned, add a light sprinkle of PEPPER MIX and then add the chicken to the stock pot.

In the same cast iron skillet, make a Roux. Start by adding about 1/2 cup of FAT and then slowly add a 1/2 cup of flour. You will want to constantly stir with a wooden spoon for about 20 minutes on a low setting. You are looking for a deep dark brown roux.

Once the roux is dark brown, gradually add 32 ounces of chicken stock to loosen the roux from the pan. Stir broth into the roux until it is a smooth sauce. Add the roux/broth mixture to the stock pot. Add 32 ounces of your crab seafood stock to the stock pot. Add the Duck to the stockpot.

Add about 2-3 diced potatoes, 1-2 diced turnips, 1/2 cut up duck, PEPPER MIX, and 2 bay leaves to your stock pot. Bring just to a boil, reduce heat and put on a simmer. Taste to see if you want to adjust the seasonings. Cover and cook for about 2 hours, stirring and tasting occasionally.

Steam 1 pound of mussels and 1 pound of clams. Any mussels or clams that don't open, just throw them away. Remove the meat and throw away the shells. Save the meat for later.

Remove the chicken and duck (if using) and pull the meat off the bones. Put the meat back in the soup and discard the bones.

Add one 8 oz bag of frozen okra, one 8 oz bag of frozen baby lima beans, and one 8 oz bag of frozen peas; cook for about 5 minutes.

Add all the seafood you have: mussels, clams, 1 pound raw shelled shrimp, 1 pound crab meat. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until the shrimp is pink and the seafood is hot. Adjust seasonings as needed.

Serve in a bowl over rice with Pure Ground Gumbo File to sprinkle on when served. This seasoning is ground Sassafras leaves and will thicken the gumbo. Do not cook the gumbo with this seasoning, just sprinkle on, as desired, at the table.