Turkey & Sausage Gumbo, Thanksgiving 2018

I roughly followed the recipe and process we used Christmas 2017. Kelley, Rockey and the girls were with us and Kelley said it was very good. The best compliment was that the girls ate it with no comment nor under any threats. We all ate in the new dining room under the chandelier for the first time.

Made this using the broth from the jelled fat, meat, and bones of the 25 lb. turkey we baked/roasted in the new Monogram oven for our first Thanksgiving at the farm. On Friday, (the Hughes’ last day on this their first trip to the farm) I picked the large loose chunks of meat off and then boiled the bones and what skin survived to this point. The turkey had been rubbed with 6POGS and Kit’s Creole Seasoning then stuffed. 

Although this cook digresses a lot from Chef Robert Barker’s recipe on page 41 of Kit Whol’s book New Orleans Classic Gumbos and Soups he still deserves to be acknowledged as well as Kit and her book.

1 C flour and 2/3 C corn oil to make the roux. Roughly scooped out 4T of premade roux from the jar into the blue CI DO. Added some of the jelled turkey broth that has some turkey grease in it. Heated and stirred it until it made a thick paste.

  • 2 large 4 small yellow onions chopped roughly
  • 1 bell pepper and one ____mexican pepper chopped roughly. [Recipe called for 3 bells.]
  • about 18″ of Conecuh Cajun Sausage
  • 5 pieces of thick-sliced bacon from the meat market that had been draped over the turkey during its roasting.
  • 1 12 oz. bottle of Rye Ale.
  • 3T Worcestershire Sauce
  • 1/8th C Crystal Hot Sauce
  • 6 average garlic toes minced
  • 1T dried Basil
  • 1T dried Oregano
  • 1T dried thyme
  • 1/4 tsp Cayenne [Had added 6POGS to the roasted bacon as before we had used our spicy tasso. The skin that made it to the broth also had been seasoned with 6 POGS and so did not want this too spicy for Piper and Olivia.]
  • Leftover turkey
  1. Roughly scooped out 4T of premade roux from the jar into the blue CI DO. Added some of the jelled turkey broth that has some turkey grease in it. Heated and stirred it until it made a thick paste.  Added the veggies. Stirred them into the roux.
  2. In a separate skillet sauteed in bacon grease the:
    1. sausage sliced into thick coins until it began to curl a little then added
    2. 6 finely chopped toes of garlic
    3. Only sauteed the garlic only until it became fragrant–not until cooked soft.
  3. After the rouz+veggies had cooked on low for about 30 minutes, add herbs and spices, beer, Worcestershire, hot sauce and contents of the roux and veggies.  Covered and let it very slow simmer for an hour while the turkey stock pot simmered for another 3 hours.
  4. Using the 4C measuring cup, dipped out the turkey broth avoiding bones and large pieces. Poured it into the pot through the fine screen spoon-like spatula to strain out the junk.
  5. After it simmered very slowly for another 1.5 hours added some of the smaller chunks of turkey meat that had been pulled from the bones.

Made yellow saffron rice from the new large plastic jug we had bought at Greers. [Should have used some of the remaining turkey stock as we did before.]

Comments – I did not think this cook was as good as the last ones–but it was still good. This was rather quickly thrown together after lunch and was ready by dinner time about 6 PM.  A significant difference was that the bottled roux was not as flavorful as it would have been had I made it fresh.