The preparation for this recipe (and most of them) actually started last night. I have a habit of looking at a recipe I'm going to make many times beforehand just so I am well aware of the steps and don't surprise myself. For anyone that's ever taken the trick 'test' when in school, you'll know what I mean. It's the one that starts with, "Please read all instructions before beginning this test." Then it gives a list of things to do, like writing your name in the top corner, poking your pencil through the very center, etc. Then the last instruction says, "Ignore everything you've just read. Put your pencil down and wait for the test to be over." Those who don't read all the instructions first could be in for a big surprise.
So, last night I'm reading the recipe for Gumbo Ya-Ya, already figuring that I'll be cutting the recipe in half because I don't think we'll eat 6 quarts of the stuff, no matter how good it is. I got to the end of the first paragraph and audibly snorted, causing my husband, who was also reading, to look up and ask what was wrong. The recipe for Gumbo Ya-Ya requires making a dark roux (for those who don't know, roux is a French word for the phrase, "butter and flour cooked together so when you add a liquid to it and whisk like your life depended on it, you don't get any lumps." The recipe calls for melting butter, then adding flour and whisking, then adding more and whisking, etc., etc., etc. The last sentence says, "Continue to cook the roux, stirring constantly, until it is the color of dark mahogany, about 45 minutes to 1 hour." Are they serious? I went to bed thinking about that.
They were serious. I hoped that since I was making a smaller batch of gumbo, the 45 minutes to an hour rule would be cut as well. Not so. I stood in front of the stove stirring butter and flour for 50 minutes. At one point I told my husband that it was beginning to look like caramel. He came over, looked in and simply said, "butterscotch." Butterscotch is so much lighter than caramel. That was at about 20 minutes. He was right.
As with most gumbos, this one took onion, celery and green pepper. I don't know how to do this and make it work, but after simmering for just about an hour, the green pepper was little more than mush. If I were to make this again, I'd add it with the chicken, in the last 15 minutes.
Finally, we ate. My husband said that it was really good. In his case it's because while I was trying to add a splash of hot sauce (the recipe calls for hot sauce to taste), I ended up with a glug, so it was hot enough to please him but so hot that our daughter wouldn't touch it. As for me, all I could taste was cooked flour and butter. Seriously. After standing over a pot of it for so long it hung around me like a cloud and spoiled the flavor of the gumbo. I can tell you that the sauce was velvety smooth and dark as mahogany.
A quick side note....while I love Gourmet magazine, there are two things that the magazine consistently does that absolutely drive me crazy. First, they have a habit of putting a part of a recipe on one page and then put the rest of it (usually the instructions) 100 pages or so away. It's so hard to flip back and make sure how much of an ingredient is needed when one hand's on the blender or constantly stirring a roux.
For some reason they also list all the ingredients at the beginning but omit the salt. Instead, it's included in the recipe so if you're the type of person that does your sous chef stuff beforehand and has everything laid out, you're suddenly scrambling to find the salt cellar. Don't know if they think it'll affect our sodium intake if they add it on the sly or what. Makes me nuts though.
Gumbo Ya-Ya
from Gourmet Magazine, February 2009
2 cups unsalted butter
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 red bell peppers, diced
2 green bell peppers, diced
2 medium yellow onions, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
5 quarts chicken stock, heated
2 tablespoons Creole Seasoning
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon thyme
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons kosher salt
1 pound andouille sausage, sliced 1/2-inch thick
1 whole 4-pound chicken, roasted and deboned, cut into 2-inch pieces
First you make a roux. Melt the butter in a 12-quart stockpot. Whisk in the flour and cook until foaming. Cook, stirring often, until dark mahogany, about 1 hour.
Add the peppers, onion, and celery. Cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Whisk in the chicken stock (make sure it’s hot), and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat to simmer. Stir in Creole Seasoning, black pepper, crushed red pepper, chili powder, thyme, chopped garlic, bay leaves, and kosher salt. Cook, skimming fat as necessary, an additional 45 minutes.
Add the andouille and chicken and cook for approximately 15 minutes. Taste, and adjust for seasoning.