Waldeaux's Turkey and Sausage Gumbo
by Paul Morris
Great for leftover turkey! Makes about 8 quarts. All measures are approximate; vary to taste and depending on size of turkey/amount of leftover turkey.
You will need:
• 6 qt turkey stock (best made by boiling turkey carcass, skin, etc.; skim off most of fat, remove bones and skin, etc. from stock)
• ~2 lb turkey meat, cut into bite size pieces
• ~1 lb andouille sausage, cut into bite size pieces (If you can’t find authentic andouille, use any good smoked sausage. If it’s not spicy hot, be sure to use enough cayenne pepper below.)
• 4 c onions (not sweet), chopped
• 3 c green bell peppers, chopped
• 3 c celery, chopped
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 c parsley, chopped
• 1 bunch green onions, chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 tsp poultry seasoning (McCormick)
• 1 tsp thyme
• seasoned salt (Lawry’s) – to taste
• black pepper – lots
• cayenne pepper – to taste (careful, andouille sausage can add heat too)
• lemon juice – as needed to balance flavors, make it ‘sing’ (see below)
• ½ c peanut or vegetable oil
• ½ c brown rice flour
• 1 Tbs cornstarch
1. Heat turkey stock in large stockpot. Bring to a boil, then keep simmering throughout following steps.
2. Mix onions, bell peppers and celery together. Set 1/3 of the mixture aside, stir the rest into the stock.
3. Brown sausage in a large, heavy skillet or dutch oven. Remove from skillet and set aside.
4. Pour off sausage fat, leaving a little with pan scrapings.
5. Add ½ c oil, heat over medium-high burner. When oil smells very hot (but not yet smoking):
6. Gradually add flour & cornstarch mixture, stirring in with a whisk. [Caution: be careful not to splash out of pan. Wear an apron and oven mitt just in case. Hot roux is known as “Cajun napalm.”]
7. Turn heat down to medium. Cook, stirring constantly, until very dark brown. Then immediately:
8. Remove skillet from heat and dump onions/peppers/celery mixture to roux. Stir together.
9. Return to medium-high heat and cook until vegetables are soft, stirring and scraping skillet constantly.
10. Taste turkey stock. Add bay leaves, poultry seasoning, thyme, black pepper and seasoned salt—adjusting amounts depending on how highly seasoned the stock already is. (Go light on the salt until step 13.)
11. Spoon vegetables/roux into stock, stirring between each addition.
12. Stir in sausage, garlic, parsley and turkey.
13. Let simmer for at least 1 hour.
14. Taste, add cayenne pepper and adjust other seasonings to taste.
15. Add lemon juice as required. (Start with 1 Tbs lemon juice. Stir in, taste, add more if needed. Lemon flavor/tartness is not the objective; it should just enhance the flavor by adding ‘treble’ notes to balance and enhance the predominant ‘bass’ and ‘mid-range’ notes of the other ingredients.) [Hope this makes sense to you—I don’t know any other way to describe it!]
16. Simmer at least another 30 minutes.
17. Just before serving, stir chopped green onions into the hot gumbo.
18. Serve with rice, sprinkle with gumbo filé (optional).
19. Serve with Tabasco sauce.
Note: Refrigerate leftover gumbo; flavor is even better after a day or two!