Ok folks, ya gotta pretty near perfect recipe here, don't get scared. Gumbo is like pasta salad, it's what you want to make of it. This recipe is one of the best you can find, but like any recipe you can tweek it. Now is not the time to find out if ya like shrimp or not. Or if cooked Okra is the thing for you. I made up a triple batch of this recipe for a Jimmy Buffett tailgate party and it came out great. But ya gotta have an evening set aside to do it. First off I used chicken thighs. I washed them down and deboned and skinned them. Keep all the bones and skins, that becomes your real chicken stock. I'm gonna tell ya how I made it. So if you can't think on your feet you need to read this a few times and figure out your own method, meathead. After I deboned the thighs I put some olive oil in a deep pot and got it hot. Then I tossed in about a cup each of celery, onion, and a 1/4 cup of parsely. Added some kosher salt and pepper (don't ask me where ya buy kosher pepper)and some Cajun spice mix that is more spice than salt. After the stuff sweats a bit I tossed in the skin, bones and other tidbits from the chicken and browned it well. Once all this had cooked up until browned I added enough water to make the amount of broth called for. In my case it was 36 cups of water. Scale it to your own level, ok? Now while this mess bubbles away get busy cuttin' the other green up and boil up some shrimp. Use a good shrimp boil mix that comes in a bag that you can d

Reviewed On: Apr. 12, 2009

Have tried several Wassail recipes over the years but this one really stands out. Even my teenagers enjoyed this one and kept going back for more. I doubled the recipe. I used pasteurized, unfiltered cider. I juiced lemons for the required juice, did not use prepared. I used a premium, no pulp orange juice. Mixed it all up, floated a clove studded orange in it and simmered it until it had reduced about 1/2 inch from where I had started in a 6 quart kettle. Just before serving I added honey to sweeten it up a bit.

Reviewed On: Dec. 24, 2008

Very good recipe. If cooking it fresh, not frozen, it will cook in about 40 mins. You may want to compare other recipes for oven temp if cooking fresh.

Reviewed On: Nov. 2, 2004