Gramercy Crawfish Gumbo

Guess what, that "something" is more chicken bouillon flavor. I usually put in about three tablespoons worth of Knorr Chicken Flavor Bouillon and that does the trick. Just so you know, I made the cher77 review six years ago, now my kids are 13, 12, 10 with 8 year old twins and they ALL love this gumbo. I trim down the cayenne to about 1/4 tsp, because the recommended amount is usually too hot for them. You can always add more later. Just don't waste your money on file powder, because I've tried that a few times using a good brand and, I don't know why, it just doesn't make a difference in flavor. Just so you know, though, I've lived in the Gulf Coast for the last eight years and every restaurant here has their version of gumbo. This gumbo beats them ALL!!!

This is the meal I make myself for my birthday every single year. It is one of the very best Cooking Light recipes I have made in the 15 years I have had a subscription to the magazine. Truly a FAVORITE all time meal in this house.

I confess I made this gumbo just because the author of the recipe has a very Cajun-sounding name. I made it exactly using 3 Tbs All That Jazz seasoning. It was terrific and even my 6 & 7 year olds said it was yummy. If you want to make the seasoning for one pot of gumbo (3 Tbsp), mix together 1 Tbs. each garlic powder and onion powder, 1 1/2 tsp paprika, 3/4 tsp each cayenne and black pepper, 1/4 tsp + 1/8 tsp each celery seeds and chili powder, 1/4 tsp each salt and lemon pepper, and 1/8 tsp nutmeg. If you're serving this to guests, use an ice cream scooper to get a picture-perfect ball of rice. Enjoy!

Good, but missing something...depth of flavor just wasn't there. I'm blaming it on the shortcut oven roux. Will try again sometime using a traditional dark roux and more cajun trinity and let y'all know the verdict.

This recipe is very good as written, but I felt like it was missing something. So, I added 1 whole chopped green pepper and 4 ribs of chopped celery for at traditional trinity. I also used an entire bag of frozen okra (10 oz.) I still felt like it was missing something so I added 1 tsp. of dried thyme and 1 tsp. of worchestire sauce and that seemed to do the trick. To finish the gumbo, I added 1 Tbs. file powder at the end. If I make it again, I will also combine the oil and flour prior to baking to get a deeper roux. All in all, it was pretty yummy, one of the more authentic tasting gumbos that I've had since living in the south, and I will likely make it again.

Although it has okra, it also needs FILE' for flavoring. I know this seasoning may be hard to find outside of south Louisiana. Anyway enjoy.

Wow, I was pleasantly surprised! Very close to the real thing. I added more hot sauce and used shrimp instead of crawfish. I also added chicken sausage. Yum!