Chicken & Sausage Gumbo

Prepare all ingredients for quick assembly: measure out oil, flour, broth, chop onions, celery, bell peppers, etc. Set everything aside to be thrown in at the proper time. Season all chicken thighs generously with Emeril’s Essence. I’d say it almost looks like “blackened” chicken, but it’s probably not quite that much seasoning.

My cooking pot of preference for this is a heavy cast iron Dutch oven (mine is from Lodge). This seems to give the best results for me when I’m working with roux (especially getting a very dark roux like in this recipe).

Add 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil to the pot and heat. Add sliced sausage and brown. After browning, remove with a slotted spoon and place on a dish covered with a few paper towels.

Next, add the seasoned chicken in batches and brown well on both sides. Remove the chicken and allow to cool briefly, then refrigerate until ready to use again.

Lower heat to medium and add the remaining 1/2 cup of oil to the fat that has rendered from the sausage and chicken. Then, add the flour. So, here we’re cooking a roux. You will need to stir constantly. Please be careful, as this mixture is VERY HOT. Also, wear comfortable shoes; you’ll be standing at the stove and stirring this roux as it cooks for about 20–25 minutes. I like my roux to get pretty dark, about the color of milk chocolate or even slightly darker.

When you’ve achieved the desired color, add the onions, celery, bell peppers and cook about 5 minutes. Next, add your sausage, salt, cayenne, and bay leaves. Continue cooking and stirring for about 2 minutes more.

Now, you will start adding your broth. (You can use all chicken stock/broth, but I like to add a little bit of beef broth.) I usually have all my broth in one giant measuring cup and I slowly add about 1 to 2 cups at a time, making sure everything is well combined/incorporated.

Bring the heat up to medium-high again and bring everything to a boil. Once at a boil, reduce the heat to medium-low and allow to simmer uncovered for about 1 hour. Stir occasionally.

Your mixture will have reduced in volume. Add the reserved chicken to the pot and continue to simmer for 1 1/2 hours. Skim any fat/oil that rises to the surface. (I find when I use boneless skinless thighs, I don’t have as much fat to skim.)

Toward the end of your cooking time, remove the chicken. Allow it to cool enough to handle. Remove and throw out bay leaves. You can use a couple of forks to pull apart and shred the chicken thighs. Return the shredded chicken to the pot.

Et voilà! Serve with white rice and hot sauce (I prefer Louisiana Hot Sauce).

Optional: garnish with chopped parsley.