Crawfish Gumbo

Name: Crawfish Gumbo
Yield: Makes About 8 Servings
Cuisine: United States
Ingredients: ¾ cup chopped green bell pepper; 3 cups cooked long-grain white rice; 1 large or 2 small carrots; reserved crawfish tails and “fat”; 1 large onion, peeled and quartered; 6 large ripe tomatoes or 2 28-ounce cans peeled tomatoes; 2 celery ribs; 2 pounds okra, trimmed and sliced; a handful of fresh herbs such as parsley, oregano, basil, thyme, and savory plus a bay leaf; salt, freshly ground black pepper, and cayenne pepper or hot pepper sauce to taste; ¾ cup chopped celery; 1 gallon water; ¼ cup chocolate-colored roux; ¾ cup chopped onion; 1 lemon, halved; 5 quarts water; 1 teaspoon Herbal Mix; 3 tablespoons seafood boil or commercial seafood boil; 5 pounds live crawfish

Preparation info

Makes About
8
Servings

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Hoppin John’s Lowcountry Cooking

By John Martin Taylor

Published 1992

About

In this rich, densely flavored gumbo the dark roux provides a complex background to the vegetables, and the rice provides a foil for the intensity of the shellfish stock—with brilliant red crawfish tails garnishing the soup with their buttery sweetness.

Ingredients

For the Crawfish

5 pounds live crawfish
3 tablespoons seafood boil or commercial seafood

Americas
United States
Charleston
Fish course
Pescatarian

Method

Put the crawfish in a large pot and cover with salt water. Swirl the pot around (some say the motion will make them seasick). The crawfish will purge themselves. Dump out the water and throw away any crawfish that have not survived the ordeal. Repeat until the water is clear. Add the seafood boil and lemon to the 5 quarts water and bring to a boil. Add the crawfish and boil, uncovered, for 3 mi