Mom’s Slow Cooker Gumbo

Submitted by: Donna Battle Pierce (Missouri)

At least once a year when my siblings and I gather around a table to “break bread together” with big bowls of seafood gumbo, we’re keeping a promise made to our mother before she passed away almost 20 years ago. During this annual family meal, someone always brings up the courage it took for our parents to move north from the Gulf Coast to Missouri the week after their 1950 marriage. “Moving from Mobile, also dramatically switched our diet from rice and fresh seafood to meat and potatoes which was a big deal for two kids who had grown up daily enjoying some of the world’s best fish and shellfish at next to nothing prices” Mom would laugh about when post-Migration menus came up in family discussions. “When we moved away from the segregated south, gumbo became much more than something delicious,” she added. “It also became a symbol of family tradition, our ancestors and their courage.”

Mom’s Slow Cooker Gumbo

(Serves 10 people)

Ingredients 

• 6 ribs celery, 4 left whole, 2 chopped

• 1 turkey carcass


• 1/2 pound beef sirloin, flank steak or flat iron, optional

• 1 each: trimmed, chopped, large onion, green pepper

• 1 can (14 ounces) chicken broth

• 2 cups water

• 3 tablespoon Creole seasoning, or to taste

• 2 bay leaves

• 1 can (28 ounces) crushed tomatoes

• 1/2 stick butter

• 1/4 cup flour

• 1 1/2 pounds okra sliced or 1 package (20 ounces) frozen cut okra

• 8 ounces, sliced smoked Creole or Chorizo sausage (Spanish not Mexican)

• 12 ounces best available crabmeat

• 1 pint Gulf oysters, with liquor, any shell pieces removed

• 1 1/2 pounds shelled, deveined large Gulf shrimp

• Cooked rice
  

Instructions:

Place 4 ribs of celery in the bottom of a slow cooker to serve as a rack; top with turkey carcass, chicken and beef, if using. Add remaining chopped celery, onion and green pepper. Add chicken broth and water. Season with 1 tablespoon of the Creole seasoning. Add bay leaves.

Cook on LOW (50 percent) 6 hours. When gumbo has cooked 6 hours, remove and discard any bones, skin, whole celery ribs.

Heat butter in a cast iron skillet over medium heat. Stir in flour. Cook, stirring, until mixture thickens and roux becomes the color of pecans, (careful not to form lumps) about 15 minutes. Gently stir roux into slow cooker. Add crushed tomatoes, okra, sausage slices, remaining 2 tablespoons of Creole seasoning.

Cook on LOW (50 percent) until flavors come together, another 5 hours. Remove beef and shred, if using. Return to gumbo. Taste for seasoning; adjust.

Remove and discard any remaining skin and bones. Add crabmeat; cook on LOW (50 percent) 20 minutes. Add oysters and shrimp.

Cook on HIGH (100 percent) 15 minutes. Turn off heat. Stir in file, if using. Let stand about 15 minutes before serving in bowls over cooked rice.

Makes 10 servings.