It’s going to take me years, likely, the rest of my life to master the nuance of New Orleans cooking. Luckily, it’s a delicious road to travel.
I’ve been making gumbo here and there for the past year. Getting a roux just right takes trust and patience, a can of beer and a good chat with a friend. More on that later.
Gumbo, with it’s incredibly flavorful, gravy-live broth seemed a cheeky topping for French fries and cheese curds. Gumbo gone Canadian in one of the best mash-up dishes to ever come out of my kitchen. See also: Red Beans and Rice Nachos.
We’re working towards the weekend which, if you ask me, could be well spent building the flavors for a gumbo and then serving it over crispy fries for friends.
I’m telling you- this dish is beyond!
Here’s where we start- with a big ol’ cast-iron pan.
- chicken thighs: Boneless and skinless OR boneless and skin-on. If you’re using skin on (which I think is a very fine idea) you can cook and render the fat from the skin.
- andouille sausage
- chopped onions + celery + green bell pepper. Otherwise known as the trinity and here’s why.
- oil and flour because we’re making a roux. A dark one… get excited!
- spices and bay leaves
- chicken stock, too!
Start by browning the chicken. If you’re using skin-on chicken, brown the skin side down until the fat is rendered. Flip the chicken to cook on all sides. Add the sausage too and cook until just browned.
Remove the mostly cooked meats from the pan, leaving the delicious and important oils behind.
Now… we’ll add more oil. Trust the process.
A roux starts with equal parts oil and flour. I used one cup of oil to one up of flour for this big batch of gumbo.
Making a small batch of gumbo seems like a fool’s errand.
A good roux is the base, the life-blood, the everything of gumbo. We’re slowly toasting the flour in fat to create a layer of flavor that will also thicken our gumbo to a perfectly luscious, almost-gravy consistency.
Emeril Lagasse has some encouraging thoughts about making a roux. It’s a very trusting activity.
I haven’t been making a roux my whole life, but in my time here in New Orleans I’ve made enough to know the difference between my successes and failures in the pan.
You’ll need heart, maybe a can of beer (for drinking), a spiral or flat whisk (I talk about whisks here), or if you’re the real-deal a roux spoon.
Roux is cooked over medium to medium-high heat until the flour toasts to a chocolate brown. The best way I’ve been taught is to open a can of beer and have a sip, stand casually by your pot of roux- certainly in stirring distance- so the roux knows it has your attention. Stir very frequently to near constantly while sipping your beer and chatting with a friend. When the beer is nearly gone, your roux should be browning well. Try it, don’t drink too fast, offer your friend a beer too- don’t be rude.
I made this recipe when my Dad was visiting last year. He said, “oh beer goes in the roux!?”. No dad, I have to drink this in order to cook the roux. This is how you learn Louisiana cooking- time is measured in beer and chats.
After the roux is pleasingly browned, add the trinity.
The trinity can be raw or you can have cooked it down a bit.
Add the spices and bay. Add the sausage.
Add the chicken if you’d like it to cook down to shreds. If you’d like your chicken in more full pieces, don’t add it until later.
Chicken stock aaaand a good long simmer. Uncovered. We want the gumbo to reduce and thicken. I let the gumbo simmer for about two hours, stirring often to ever-so-often to make sure no big bits were sticking to the bottom of the pan.
While the gumbo simmers and perfumes the house, why not bake some fries?
We’re going to all this effort to make a beautiful gumbo and the truth is we’re using store-bought frozen french fries as our base. The reason? Because they’re pretty dang delicious and they have the supportive crunch we need as a base for our gravy gumbo.
Making fries from scratch… I’m afraid they’d be limp unless we successfully double fried them… and we only have so much energy and so many pans, and we’re not going to deep fry while gumbo is simmering away when frozen fries are actually just what we need.
Grab the thin fries and cook to golden and crisp.
Poutine is traditionally served with cheese curds and if you’ve never tried them well NOW IS THE TIME! Delicious!
Topped with warm, thick Gumbo. Amen.
Fresh greens by way of green onion and parsley.
And angels sing. I’m confident in that.
And if you play your cards right you’ll have gumbo left over for the next day’s dinner!
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Gumbo Poutine
- Cook Time: 120
- Total Time: 2 hours
Ingredients
For the Gumbo
- 4 boneless, skin-on chicken thighs
- 1 pound andouille sausage, sliced into 1/2-inch rounds
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 cup finely chopped yellow onion
- 1 cup finely chopped green bell pepper
- 3 celery stalks, finely chopped
- 3 tablespoons minced garlic
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, plus more if you’d like
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme or about 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon sea salt, plus more to taste
- 3/4 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper, plus more to taste
- 10 – 12 cups chicken stock
- 1/3 cup chopped green onions, whites and greens, plus more for topping
- 1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley, plus more for topping
For the Poutine Dish
- 2 large bags frozen french fries
- cheese curds
Instructions
- Start with a large, heavy-bottom pan. I used a large dutch oven- the heavy cast iron type of pan.
- Place the pan over medium heat and allow it to warm. Add the chicken thighs, skin side down and cook, allowing the skin to brown and release its fat. Flip the chicken and continue to cook until browned on all sides and a good amount of fat has rendered into the pan.
- Remove the chicken and place on a large plate. Add the sausage to the pan and cook until lightly browned. Remove the sausage from the pan and allow it to hang out with the chicken.
- Now is also a good time to remove the chicken skin and discard it. We were using it for the fat and now that we’ve rendered it, we can throw the skin away.
- Add vegetable oil to the pan. Add flour to the pan. Increase heat to medium-high and whisk the flour into the oil mixture and continue whisking frequently as the flour begins to toast and brown. You can use either a flat whisk or a wooden spoon once all of the lumps have loosened in the flour.
- Cook the roux to a milk chocolate color, this usually takes me 20 to 25 minutes but your time may vary.
- Once you’ve achieved your desired brown in your roux, add onions, bell peppers, celery, garlic and cooked sausage. Stir to combine and cook until the vegetables have begun to soften- 5 to 7 minutes. Add the cayenne, thyme, bay leaves, salt, pepper, and chicken stock.
- Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 1 hour.
- Add the chicken and any juices from the plate and simmer and reduce until thickened, about 1 hour more.
- Stir in the green onions and parsley. Turn off the heat and allow the mixture to rest, uncovered for 10 minutes. Remove the thyme stems and bay leaves.
- To make the fries, preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Cook fries on baking sheets in a single layer until cooked through and crisp- usually about 20 minutes but check the instructions on your particular french fry bag.
- Remove from the oven and gather into small serving dishes. Top the fries with cheese curds, a hearty ladle of gumbo, and a sprinkling of fresh parsley. Enjoy hot with cold beer! Store any leftover gumbo in the refrigerator.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 8
33 Responses
Where’s the Okra? I thought that was a staple of gumbo.
I love your explanation of making your roux and the amount of time that needs to be put into it. I’ve been making gumbo for many years and it never occurred to me to spoon it over crispy golden French fries.
Your gumbo recipe is delicious and the cheese curds take it over the top. (I found mine in Los Angeles at Say Cheese in Silverlake)
My Louisiana raised kids now ask me to make this every week! :-)
Burned the first attempt at roux, then got a little nervous and added veggies when the roux was more almond butter color than chocolate milk. But…absolutely DELICIOUS!!! Thanks for the recipe!
You had me at drinking beer while cooking. However, with so many great Oregon beers to drink, my roux will be dark chocolate. Can’t wait to try this recipe!
This one absolutely hit the spot last night. I’ve been itching for a gumbo and poutine has been a favorite since a trip to Montréal a few years back. I usually end up with a “decent” poutine using jarred gravy whenever I have some extra meat and find cheese curds but it never comes out quite like this one. You brought them together in a perfect rib-sticking meal. No more jarred gravy poutine for me!
If you haven’t tried toasting the flour for the roux in 350ºF oven, you should. I started doing this for anything requiring a dark roux a few years ago. For gumbo, preheat the oven, spread the flour over a sheet, and put it in when you start chopping the veggies. I usually stir it after finishing chopping each vegetable. Take it out when it has browned nicely. It might smoke a little so be careful if you have smoke alarms nearby. It cut my time to make a nice milk-chocolate colored roux to about 5 minutes last night. Definitely try it if you haven’t and keep the recipes coming.
I love gumbo and I love poutine so life is good, Added bonus, I live in the Midwest so I have easy access to fantastic cheese curds. If you get an opportunity to try cheese curds from Ellsworth Creamery, you won’t be sorry. Can’t wait to try this!
After growing up in New Orleans and years of cooking roux, I’ve decided I’m no longer required to be chained to a stove top and am entitled cheat now: I use the oven method (both ways). My husband just saw this recipe and now we’re in search of cheese curds in the DFW area.
In your pictures you have 3 spices in a bowl, one of which looks maybe like a Cajun seasoning but you don’t mention it in the ingredients list. Is there one you left out?
I love this idea! I love Cajun dishes, but they’re not always at the front of my mind. Happy for a reminder!
This looks so delicious!
Erika
https://whaterikawears.com/sipping-a-cappuccino-overlooking-lake-como/
Stop it, don’t stop it!
“..time is measured in beer and chats” You make it sound wonderful Joy. I’m not sure where to get andouille sausages or cheese curds where I am, but it looks delicious.
You are a genius, Joy. A genius.
Hmmmm, I think I may need a roux spoon!! Surely it will make my creativity in the kitchen more spectacular!!! So what is in the Canadian version of poutine if I may ask…just curious! And thank YOU!
Cajuns came from Canada originally, right? From Acadians? Full circle!
So…this is very very high on my list of things to make now because a. my hubs is dairy-free and I can eat his portion of cheese curds and we can both enjoy this, and b. because I just booked my first trip to NOLA in January and have all things cajun on the brain, and c. because one of my fav neighborhood bars specializes in putting everything over tater tots, and now THIS on tots is all I want to eat ever.
Where in New Orleans do you buy cheese curds???
Country Girl Creamery at the farmer’s market sometimes has them. Hollygrove, occasionally. Whole Foods, occasionally.
went to Canada for the first time – had poutine for the first time – waited until I was 60 for these two first things. Now going to New Orleans for the first time. Now gumbo and poutine – the food gods have spoken and said “life is good!”
This Canadian living on the Third Coast can make both poutine and gumbo, but you glossed over that most important ingredient, the curds. I resort to mail order, iffy in this summer heat, because I can’t source them locally. Otherwise, this looks stunning.
This Louisiana/Creole style cooking is starting to become more popular at pubs/restaurants here in England… which is a great thing as this looks absolutely delicious!! Brilliant post :)
Sochal – The Healthy Social Network
I have had pretty darn good poutine. I have had spectacular gumbo. While it feels a teensy bit sacreligious to combine them, I’m willing to take that chance, at least once.
Omg, that looks incredible! Seriously, this idea is brilliant!
Lawd girl, you might be on to something here!
You know how in that song, “Blessings” by Chance the Rapper, there’s this quick little part where someone shouts, “Good God!”
So that’s EXACTLY what I heard when I saw this recipe. #blessingskeepfallininmylap
HAHAHAHAHA. You win everything.
You had this Canadian girl at poutine! Looks amazing!
Next time I make gumbo I am totally doing this, how delicious!
Omg, this looks like food heaven! Definitely happening in my kitchen this week! But, if you’ll excuse my ignorance, what would cheese curds be outside of the US? What would be an acceptable substitute? Can’t wait to try this…!
Honestly, this looks so Belgian. They will do so many things with fries. Good things, mostly.
Also, it is amazing how a little bit of sausage can really improve a dish. So many flavors.
This looks Ah-maze-ing! I can’t wait to try it!
I have never seen this dish before but this flavor combo makes so much sense to me. Joy you killed it with this one. I am loving the NOLA inspiration. Keep it up girl!
Joy, you’ve combined four of my favorites….fries, gumbo, andouille, and cheese! Your roux is the perfect color. I live in the city and I humbly submit myself to be a “taste tester” whenever needed. Really… I can zip right over…fork and spoon at the ready! :)