Gumbo

Ingredients

1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup flour
8 celery stalks
2 very large or 4 medium white onions
4 big cloves of garlic
4 1 lb bags (about 12 cups) of chopped okra
3 cups chopped ham
2 slices of bacon
6 12 oz cans chicken broth
1 quart water
3 32 oz cans chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce or more
1 tablespoon Tabasco sauce or more
2 teaspoons salt (or to your taste)
1 teaspoon pepper (or to your taste)
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp rosemary
1/2 tsp red pepper (or to your taste)
8-10 bay leaves
Gumbo file to taste
8 pounds large shrimp peeled and deveined
3 pounds crawfish tail meat (optional - may add more shrimp or crab to compensate)
2 pounds crab meat
2 12 oz oysters
2 cups cooked chicken

Instructions

Peel and devein the shrimp and place in refrigerator. Press or crush the garlic, chop the onions and celery and set aside. To make the roux, heat oil in large sauce pan. Slowly shake in a little flour at a time while stirring, too much at one time will cool the roux and make it separate. Simmer over medium heat about 20 minutes until it turns a rich brown caramel color. Add garlic, onions, and celery to the roux and cook slowly for 1 hour. Meanwhile, brown the okra in 2 tablespoons oil in another pan and set aside. Add ham, bacon, and okra to vegetables and brown another hour. Meanwhile in huge pot combine chicken broth, water, and all spices except bay leaves. Bring to boil and then turn down low until the vegetables are done. Then add them to the pot and simmer on low for 3 hours. Add crab, crawfish, shrimp, chicken, oysters and bay leaves and simmer on low another hour. Remove bay leaves, add gumbo file to taste and serve over rice. This requires a very large pot. If you do not have a very large pot you may want to cut this recipe in half.