04/25/2026
Bill and I travel south quite frequently and have developed a love for gumbo. All the wonderful deep south flavors in a comforting bowl of bliss!
Of course any great bowl of gumbo starts with a roux. Let me tell you about roux, in context of gumbo. It’s intense, scary, watch it constantly, tend to it constantly, or all your efforts for half and hour go out the window. The unmentionables include stinking your house up, setting off your smoke detectors, and the walk of shame of starting over. The end of your roux should be dark like molasses, but not burnt! That’s the trick! I chicken out every time and each time I make I try to get it just a bit darker, more rich.
So, in order of start to finish is my roux. I used beef tallow this time. The smoke point is higher than other fats used such as vegetable oil or bacon fat. The tallow gave it a deeper complexity perfect for chicken and sausage!
