That would be roux. MLB and I do it from scratch. The effort has always paid off; we’re extremely careful with the whole process; man, that stuff is hot, and trips to the ER would put a major damper on the festivities.

We prepare what for us is now a traditional Christmas Day meal: shrimp remoulade, and then andouille and chicken gumbo.

The remoulade was made last night; swirled together as always with the Braun “boat motor” style blender, tasted for seasoning, covered, and refrigerated overnight, the better for the flavors to mingle. The shrimp were boiled up with some good bottled shrimp boil, peeled, and left to chill overnight. The trinity¹ was chopped and ready last night as well.

So today, MLB and I browned the andouille, removed that from the cast iron pot we use once per year on Christmas, and then browned the chicken in the sausage drippings. Remove chicken. Heat remaining drippings with additional oil, then add the flour. Stir. Stir. Stir. Repeat stirring, until the roux is the color of a longneck Shiner bottle². When proper color has been achieved, dump in the previously chopped up trinity, stir it all up, to soften them, and kill the roux’ rapid cooking. A few grinds of black pepper, a little creole seasoning, and your magnificent gumbo base is ready.

From then on, the process is pretty prosiac. Add water, bring to a boil, add chicken back, add creole seasoning, hot sauce, bay leaf, etc. At some point, shred chicken, and add the sausage. The simmering process is an hour or more, enough time to get the rice fixed, and have a few more Shiner’s³

Being empty nesters, we’re forging our own set of memories in our emeritus years. And, we’re eating pretty well in the process, too.

Merry Christmas to all!

-k-