Crab and Shrimp Gumbo

Like chili, I’m always piddling around with my seafood gumbo recipes, trying to reach that one perfect gumbo my mama used to make. For this crab heavy version, I decided to use a little more onion, bump up the okra to a full pound, and not take my roux quite as dark. I thought for a sweet, crab-based gumbo, this more mellow roux would be a bit more fitting, than the richer, dark and more full bodied roux I often use.

The gumbo crabs used here are for seasoning and not really for eating – sort of like a ham hock or ham bone in a pot of beans or soup – but, what exactly is a gumbo crab? The truth is it’s the same thing as a regular ole blue crab. The only difference between the two is basically their size.

Gumbo crabs are the smaller sized, though still mature, blue crabs, and are often used as a seasoning in stews, soups and, of course, a gumbo like this. Basically they are just the cleaned bodies of the crab, usually split in half, and when used in cooking, they impart a tremendous amount of deep crab flavor into the dish they are put in. Think like the difference between using a commercial broth versus a homemade stock.

For the most part, like bones in a homemade stock, they get tossed once they’ve done their job, but since lots of us like to dig in to pick and eat crabs as we enjoy our crab gumbo too – a mess, granted, but one mighty tasty mess – we often toss in a few larger, boiled and cleaned blue crab bodies toward the end too.

My mama made the hands-down best gumbo in the world, bar none, but my grandma used to make her gumbo that way, using crab bodies – and often from crabs that she and I had trapped that very morning! What great memories I have as a young gal of toting 5 gallon buckets down by the Popps Ferry Bridge and setting out crab traps filled with chicken backs along the pier pilings just as the sun was rising.

We’d sit patiently for hours in the searing sun, listening to the seagulls and the water lapping along the bridge pilings, anxiously lifting the traps to see if we’d had any takers. What memories there are in those moments of time with my Grandma Mac. Since my Mama made her gumbo with lump crab and didn’t use gumbo crab bodies, it was always a special treat for me to have a bowl of my grandma’s gumbo.

My father in law has much larger metal traps set out around the deeper waters of the Biloxi Bay and out toward the Gulf, but mostly down here along the Gulf Coast we buy our crabs from the seafood market like everyone else. Frozen gumbo crabs are generally also available in boxes or bags in your grocer’s freezer section. If you are unable to find gumbo crabs where you live, you can certainly substitute the larger blue crabs, or simply use extra fresh, already picked crab meat. It’ll be missing the infusion of crab flavor from those gumbo crabs, but it’ll still be delicious. Just don’t substitute canned crab – splurge on the good stuff for this crab central gumbo.

Remember, as with all gumbos, mise en place y’all, so get everything ready before you start. Warm the shrimp stock and get all of your veggies chopped before you begin cooking. Here’s how to make a great pot of crab gumbo – enjoy!

Recipe: Crab and Shrimp Gumbo
©From the Kitchen of Deep South Dish
Prep time: 40 min |Cook time: 1 hour 45 min | Yield: About 8 to 10 servings

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons of vegetable or canola oil
• 1 pound of sliced okra
• 3/4 cup of vegetable or canola oil
• 3/4 cup of all purpose flour
• 2 cups of chopped onions
• 1 cup of chopped green bell pepper
• 1/2 cup of chopped celery
• 1 tablespoon of minced garlic
• 2 quarts of shrimp stock, chicken stock, water or a combination
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can of diced tomatoes
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon of kosher salt
• Couple of dashes of hot pepper sauce, optional
• 1 pound frozen gumbo crabs, cleaned and split
• 2 pounds of medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
• Old Bay and/or Cajun seasoning (like Slap Ya Mama), to taste
• 1/2 pound of lump crabmeat, picked through for any shell
• 4 large blue crabs, boiled, cleaned & bodies cut in half and/or prepared crab claws, optional
• Hot cooked rice
• 1/4 cup of sliced green onions, for garnish, optional

Instructions

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet over medium heat and add okra, cooking until roping ceases, about 30 minutes; set aside. Meanwhile in a large Dutch oven or heavy bottomed stockpot, heat the 3/4 cup of oil. Using a wooden spoon, stir in the flour. Cook over medium to medium high heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is a milk chocolate color.

Add the onion, bell pepper and celery to the roux, cook and stir about 5 minutes, then add the garlic and cook another minute. Add the heated stock a little at a time, stirring until fully incorporated. Add the tomatoes, thyme, bay leaves, Worcestershire sauce, salt, hot sauce and stir; add the frozen gumbo crab bodies and their whole claws. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and low simmer for 1 to 1-1/2 hours, occasionally skimming off any foam and excess oil that accumulates on the top. Do not allow to boil. Remove the gumbo crabs and add in the cleaned, boiled crab bodies and the prepared crab claws, if using.

Toss the shrimp with Old Bay and Cajun seasoning and add to the gumbo pot, cook for about 4 minutes. Add the lump crab, very gently stir in so as not to break up the crab too much; cook just until heated through. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed. Serve in bowls over hot, cooked rice and garnish each serving with green onion if desired. Pass hot sauce at the table.
~Cook’s Notes~

Serving Suggestion: Add a green garden salad on the side and fresh, hot French bread. Also most excellent when served as a side with a po’boy of any kind.

Can also substitute 1 pound of fresh white fish fillets for 1 pound of the shrimp, cut into chunks, season along with the shrimp and add at the same time. Some good choices are snapper, grouper, or catfish. You can certainly use more than 1/2 pound of lump crab – whatever your budget will allow, and while fine as an add-in for other gumbos and recipes, avoid using canned crab for a crab gumbo – stick with fresh or frozen gumbo crabs and fresh crabmeat for this recipe.

Source: http://deepsouthdish.com
Fish & Seafood with Bill & Sheila
_____________________________________________________________________
If you require a high quality printout of this article, just click on the printer symbol next to ’Share and enjoy’, and we will do the rest. This site is hosted by (click on the graphic for more information)

Return from gumbo to Home Page

If you want to increase your site popularity and gain thousands of visitors – check out these sites THEY ARE FREE. Spanishchef more than doubled its ‘New Visitors’ last month simply by signing up to these sites:




Follow spanishchef.net on TWITTER