MS Hospitality’s Infamous Chicken and Oyster File Gumbo

First you make the roux. Combine the flour and oil in a cast iron skillet and stir over medium heat until the mixture is the color of caramel. Transfer the rue to a large soup pot.

Add the onions and stir until they are translucent. Add the celery and stir until soft. Add parsley, bay leaf, oregano, chicken broth and stir until the rue is completely dissolved in the broth mixture. Cook for45 minutes.

Next add the cooked chicken and cook for about 15 minutes or until the chicken is heated through. Add the oysters and cook until the oyster edges curl (about 5 – 8 minutes).

If you can’t read a newspaper through the broth, add more chicken stock. Just before serving over cooked white rice, fold in the Gumbo File and chopped green onions. Salt and pepper to taste.

Boil the 4 cups of water, add the rice with salt to taste and boil for 20 minutes our until the rice is tender. Cook the rice while the gumbo is bubbling during the vegetable stage.

I usually make my own chicken broth using the same vegetables and herbs. I debone the chicken from the broth to use in the gumbo. A deli roaster chicken is a great source of cooked chicken meat and a good canned chicken broth will make do if you are in a hurry.

Gumbo is a food of love. You must love the people you are preparing it for because it takes the entire day! Wishing you a loving gumbo, I remain, MS Hospitality.