FROM THE DARK HOLLOW KITCHEN
Filé Gumbo: A South Louisiana Recipe
This is the gumbo Allen grew up with in South Louisiana: chicken, smoked sausage, dark roux, and sassafras filé. It is savory rather than aggressively hot, but cayenne and pepper sauce can take it wherever you like.
Makes: about 12 servings Allow: roughly 4 hours, less if the stock and roux are prepared ahead.
Ingredients
- 2 small whole chickens, about 7 lb total, quartered
- 3–4 lb smoked pork/beef sausage or andouille, sliced
- 1 large or 2 medium yellow onions, chopped
- 1 large or 2 medium bell peppers, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1½ quarts chicken or poultry stock, plus water as needed
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp white pepper
- 1 tsp black pepper
- Cayenne and salt to taste
- 4 bay leaves
- ¼ stick butter
- 2 tbsp bacon fat, or additional butter
- About 1 cup prepared roux
- 1 cup chopped green onions
- 1 tsp sassafras gumbo filé, plus more to taste
- 3 cups sliced tender young okra, optional
Make the gumbo
- Have your roux ready before you begin. In a large gumbo pot, melt the butter and sauté the onion until translucent. Add garlic and bell pepper and cook several minutes more.
- Season the chicken with salt, peppers, paprika, and a little cayenne. Brown the pieces in bacon fat or butter in a heavy skillet, working in batches, then transfer them to the gumbo pot.
- Add the prepared roux and turn the chicken and vegetables through it. Add stock and enough water to cover the chicken. Stir well and add bay leaves.
- Simmer until the chicken is very tender, anywhere from about 1½ hours to several hours depending on your schedule. Add okra during this stage if using it. Taste and adjust salt, cayenne, and roux as needed.
- About 20–30 minutes before serving, remove the chicken and let it cool enough to handle. Add the sliced sausage to the pot.
- Debone the chicken, discard skin and bones, and return the meat to the gumbo.
- Stir in the filé near the end of cooking. Add the green onions, turn off the heat, cover, and let the gumbo settle before serving.
Serve over rice with saltine crackers. In parts of South Louisiana, a scoop of potato salad alongside or even in the bowl is entirely at home.
Traditional roux
Combine flour with butter, lard, oil, or a mixture of fats and cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly, until the roux reaches the brown color you want. A lighter roux leaves more room for the chicken and vegetables; a dark roux brings a deeper, roasted flavor. Do not walk away from a stovetop roux: once it begins to darken it can burn quickly.
Dry roux
For a convenient make-ahead option, brown plain flour in the oven at about 350°F, stirring periodically so it colors evenly. Cool it completely and store it dry in a sealed jar. When making gumbo, use the browned flour to build body and roasted flavor without having to stand over a skillet for the entire browning process.
About filé
Gumbo filé is made from dried, ground sassafras leaves. It adds a distinctive earthy, aromatic flavor and also thickens the broth. Add it toward the end rather than boiling it hard for a long time. Dark Hollow makes filé from sassafras growing here in Pennsylvania, connecting a South Louisiana food tradition with the native woodland plants of this place.