Ask 5 people who cook gumbo for their recipe, and I guarantee you'll get 5 different recipes. Well, this is the way that my Grandpa made gumbo, and as soon as I was old enough to hold a paring knife, I was enlisted to help out, so this is the way that I make it. Especially of note is that it doesn't use a roux.

• 4 ribs celery, chopped
• 1 bunch green onions, chopped
• 5 onions, chopped
• 5 toes garlic, minced
• 4-5 lbs okra, sliced (frozen okra is perfect for this)
• 30 oz. stewed tomatoes, drained and sliced (conserve liquid)
• 8 oz. tomato sauce
• 1 gallon Chicken Stock
• 1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
• 2 tbsp corn oil



• 4 lb shrimp, peeled
• 1 lb crabmeat, claw (can use lump, but it costs more $$$)
• 1 lb hot sausage or Andouille sausage, quartered and sliced
• 1 1/2 lbs ham (baked or boiled), cubed
• 6 chicken thighs and 6 chicken legs (skinned) and chopped



• 1/2 tsp. thyme
• 1 tsp. oregano
• 3 bay leaf
• 1/8 tsp. rosemary
• 1/2 tbsp salt (can be omitted)
• black pepper to taste

Fry off the chicken in the corn oil. Make certain not to brown it... just cook the rawness off of the chicken. Check to make sure it is cooked all the way to the bone. You can do 2 things with the chicken at this point: 1. debone and chop up the chicken before adding it to the gumbo, or 2. toss it into the gumbo and let it cook for an hour, then fish it out and debone and chop it before putting it back in. This is a matter of preference.

Take a big pot (This is the pot that you'll use for the final gumbo... I use a 20 qt. pot myself) and start to fry off the okra. Once it starts to get stringy, add in 8 oz. tomato sauce and 8 oz. water (the tomato sauce helps cut down the stringiness) and turn heat down to a low simmer.

Using a little of the grease left over from the chicken, fry off the onions. After a couple of minutes, add the chopped bell pepper and fry until onions turn clear. Add the stewed tomatoes now and simmer until the rawness is gone from the tomatoes (1/2 hour or so).

Back to the okra in the big pot: Add the green onions and garlic.

Once the rawness is cooked off of the tomatoes, add the celery to the tomato and onion mixture.

OK, now you are ready to assemble the gumbo. Add the chicken, half the chicken stock, and the tomato and onion mixture. Add the rest of the stock a ladle at a time. Cook for one hour and then add andouille or hot sausage if you have it. Cook for another hour. add meat and condiments. Cook for another 30 minutes to an hour, then adjust spices to taste. About 20 minutes before ready to serve, add the seafood. Serve over rice (do not add rice to the gumbo! Only add it at the time of serving).

When making this in Chicago, I've used Scott Peterson Hot Polish Sausage to add a little zing to it. If using a really hot and spicy sausage like this in your gumbo, I would recommend just slicing the entire sausage in half when you put it in the gumbo... that way people can eat it on the side if they wish...if it is diced up in the gumbo, every bite where you get a piece of this sausage will be overwhelmed by the sausage and you won't really taste the gumbo.