Reviewed: Nov. 8, 2011

Great recipe! To the couple of people who said that gumbo "must have roux" or "doesn't have tomato sauce"... I have lived in Louisiana and I have Cajun and French relatives and those statements are not true. There is a "red gumbo" and a "brown gumbo".

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3 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

chrisw

Reviewed: Jan. 3, 2011

This was awesome awesome. I was scared to try gumbo for some reason, but my husband said this was the best Gumbo he had ever tried!

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7 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

Manda

Reviewed: Nov. 10, 2010

Excellent gumbo recipe. I'd also like to mention in reply to LASTMANG0 above, this is a traditional 'Creole' gumbo, which do usually contain tomato, and don't use a roux at all. Cajun gumbo uses a roux (usually a very dark one).

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9 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

Gawain

Cooking Level: Expert

Reviewed: Oct. 20, 2010

This is easily a 5 star recipe. I couldn't find file powder anywhere at my grocery store, so I made a four roux instead, and it worked fine, I also subbed chicken stock for fish stock, since I couldn't find that either. I also added sliced smoked sausage, and omitted the white pepper. I followed the rest of the recipe to a "T" and wouldn't change a thing. It was delicious, and didn't make it to the leftover phase. A real crowd pleaser.

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5 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

Beth

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: Augusta, Georgia, USA

Living In: Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, USA

Reviewed: Sep. 15, 2010

We tweaked this one a little and it was MAJOR hit!!! Love this recipe!!! Will definitely make it again!!!

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3 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

Burgeoning Epicurean

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: Winnsboro, South Carolina, USA

Living In: Savannah, Georgia, USA

Reviewed: Aug. 14, 2010

This is so good, and I was worried about the amount of grease but after you add the shrimp, crabmeat and rice, you really don't taste it. I didn't used white pepper and I didn't crush the bay leaf. I left out celery ( personal taste ) and I used 1/4 green bell pepper and a whole red bell pepper, I used seafood broth, no oysters but I used crab meat and that overpowered the shrimp a bit. I made brown rice to serve over it. It's really more of a effutae than a gumbo but it still makes a good meal.

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5 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

Ladybugcook

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: Hornbeck, Louisiana, USA

Reviewed: May 31, 2010

Good recipe except for one thing. Add the file' to INDIVIDUAL bowls of gumbo. NEVER EVER cook file' as it will make the file' tough and destroy its delicate flavor.

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2 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

TheEditorSez

Reviewed: Feb. 13, 2009

I made this recipe at the firehouse the other day. Firemen are the toughest critics around, and they loved it! Great, spicy taste! A definite pleaser!!

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5 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

ROOFRAT72

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Living In: Westerville, Ohio, USA

Reviewed: Jan. 15, 2009

Great Recipe. I do not do much Cajun cooking myself, nor does my family eat it very often, so I don’t have anything to compare this to, but all I can say for sure is that everyone loved it (except my son, who thought it was too spicy). I did tweak the recipe a bit to accommodate what I had on hand: first, I omitted the oil altogether and added salt to the veggies so they would sweat a bit and not burn, second, I used chicken stock instead of fish stock, third, I used scallops instead of shrimp, and fourth, I didn’t have oysters, but I did have light smoked sausage, so I added that in its place. I know this sounds like a lot of changes, and it was…but for me not knowing how to make gumbo, this served as a great starting point. So, thank you Sara for the recipe and the inspiration!

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3 users found this review helpful