Gumbo is a stew that is normally found in the South, especially New Orleans and southern Louisiana, but you may also find it as far north as South Carolina. It is especially great when served over rice, so if you’ve never had gumbo, you may want to give this recipe a shot!
For this recipe, you will need butter, garlic cloves, two small onions, celery, fresh okra, all purpose flour, beef stew meat (cubed), one 16 ounce can of whole tomatoes, sugar, fresh parsley, fresh thyme, bay leaves, salt, ground cayenne pepper, black pepper, adnouille sausage (smoke sausage can be used as a substitute), crabmeat, a pound of medium shrimp, hot pepper sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and a lemon.
To prep for this recipe, you will need to mince 3 garlic cloves. You will need to chop enough onion to make 2 cups and enough celery to make 3/4 of a cup. Slice the fresh okra (discarding the ends). Chop enough fresh parsley to make 1 1/2 teaspoon. Cut the sausage into 1/2 inch pieces. Peel and devein the pound of shrimp. Drain and chop the canned tomatoes.
Melt 2 tablespoons over medium heat in a large skillet. Add the 3 minced garlic cloves, 2 cups of chopped onions, 3/4 cup of chopped celery, and the pound of sliced okra. Let it cook until brown then set aside.
In a large soup pot over medium heat, mix 1/4 cup of butter and 1/4 cup of flour. Stir until it becomes brown. Stir in the vegetable mixture from the skillet and the cubed beef stew meat. Keep stirring until the vegetables are tender and the meat is browned. Add eight cups of water, the tomatoes, 1 sprig of fresh thyme, 2 bay leaves, 1 pinch of salt, a 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper, a pinch of black pepper, 1 1/2 teaspoon of fresh chopped parsley, and 1 1/2 teaspoon of sugar. Bring this to a boil then reduce and simmer for 2 1/2 hours.
Add the pound of shrimp, 1/2 pound of flaked crabmeat, and sausage to the pot. Add 1/2 teaspoon of hot pepper sauce and 1/4 cup of Worcestershire sauce. Cut the lemon in half, remove the seeds, and squeeze the lemon juice in the pot. Simmer for another 10 minutes. Remove the bay leaves before serving.