My Legacy Recipe. The big one.
Gumbo YaYa gets its name from Chef Paul Prudhomme who claimed that the gumbo was so good it made you say “Ya Ya!"
I prefer the expression that o' so often came out of PBS cajun chef Justin Wilson “eau oui!” I often make this sound when I get the first whiff of the trinity hitting the hot roux.
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Equipment:
Dutch oven Food processor Chef knife Cutting board
Ingredients:
Roux
.25 cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
.25 cup Rapeseed Oil
.5 cup AP flour
Aromatics
1 white onion
1 yellow onion
1 Red bell (3 point)
1Yellow bell (3 point)
1 Poblano
3 stalks Celery
1 head garlic
Proteins
1# Pecan wood smoked Andouille Sausage from Wayne and Jacobs
1 Whole Duck (quartered and taken off carcass)
½ cup picked crab meat
Stock
2 quarts Duck Stock (made from Carcass)
1 quart Seafood stock (made from Crab or Shrimp Shells)
1 can amber beer
Thickeners
1 Tablespoon Tomato paste
1 cup diced fresh okra
Seasoning
Cajun Seasoning (linked in seasonings list)
Black Pepper
Bay Leaf
Thyme
Diamond Crystal Salt
Garnish
Gumbo File
Crystal Hot Sauce
Lemon
Rice
Louisiana Popcorn Rice
Bayleaf
Unsalted Butter
Water
Instructions: Begin by breaking down your duck the day before starting the gumbo. Breakdown and remove all leg quarters, breasts with skins, and wings. Make stock with remaining neck, head, feet, carcass, and wing tips. Simmer Stock with veg trim overnight.
You can add shrimp or crab shells to the duck stock, or use existing stock if you have it.
Mes en Place Trinity and Pope (onion, peppers, celery and garlic). Medium dice half of the trinity, and pulse remaining half 4 times in the food processor. Crush all garlic into a paste with the flat of a chef’s knife.
Pat Dry and score all duck skin. Season with cajun seasoning and place skin side down into a saute pan. Bring up to high heat, and begin rendering duck fat from skin. When skin is crispy, and meat is underdone, remove from the pan. Reserve duck fat, and remove skin from duck and retain for garnish.
(If using chicken, pat dry, season with cajun seasoning, and place skin side up in heat proof saute under broiler for 5 minutes until skin is crispy)
Begin making roux. (*Note 1) If In the bottom of a dutch oven, melt butter and rapeseed oil together over medium heat. Stir in flour with whisk until the consistency of wet sand. The whisk should be able to make a line in the roux, and it should flow back into a solid mass within 2-3 seconds. Continue to whisk roux over medium heat, do not step away, and watch the color go from white to blonde to peanut butter to brick to milk chocolate.
Once Roux is the color of milk chocolate, add in food processed trinity, turn heat on high, add diced trinity, continue to whisk roux as trinity caramelizes. Add tomato paste to the bottom of the dutch oven and pince’. Add okra and diced tomatoes, and garlic paste until moisture from the tomato is gone.
Deglace with ¾ amber beer, drink the rest, add Duck and Seafood stock.
Add in Duck meat, andouille sausage, bayleaf, thyme, and black pepper. Add in enough black pepper to wear out your arms with a pepper mill, or 1 tablespoon fresh ground.
Cover and Simmer for 1 hour. Roux will take at least an hour to cook out the flour taste. Add picked crab meat, and simmer for another hour for all flavors to marry.
Begin Stovetop popcorn Rice. Preheat the oven to 250F. In an oven safe saucepan, melt 1 tablespoon of butter and saute 1 cup popcorn rice until the grains are well coated. Add 2 cups water and bay leaf, bring to a boil, cover with lid and place pan in oven for 45 minute- 1 hour
Taste gumbo for seasoning. Salt to taste (just enough to want 1 more bite). Hot sauce and lemon for savoriness on the sides of the tongue, and pepper for nose and front of tongue.
Serve by molding ¼ cup rice, place in a bowl. Ladle 1 cup of gumbo around the mound of rice. Garnish with a dash of host sauce, a squeeze of lemon, and a dusting of file.
*Note 1: As a rule of thumb, 1 cup of dark roux will thicken 2 quarts of liquid in gumbo. In this recipe, we are building the gumbo in a 6 quart dutch oven (what most people have which will hold the 3 quarts of total stock, and the 2.5 quarts of trinity and proteins.
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