Canning Gumbo

My friend Deb has been visiting with me for a week and she makes the best gumbo. After all she is from Mississippi and they do have that talent down there. I taught Deb how to butcher chickens, something she had never done. Now she can go home and butcher her chickens. Yesterday after butchering my old laying flock we canned the meat and made stock. We had about 2 gallon stock left from the canning and decided to make gumbo to use the stock. I wanted to make a bunch of gumbo to can for us here. So this is the recipe Deb taught me and we used it to make 14 quarts that we got canned.


Debs Gumbo

2 cups flour
2 cups oil (we used peanut oil)
4 lb okra
7 lb cubed chicken meat
2 lb beef polish sausage (sliced thin)
10 cups sliced onion
10 cups sliced bell pepper
10 cups chopped celery
2 gallon chicken stock
2 tablespoons or to taste
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons liquid shrimp and crab boil or to taste
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Heat the oil in a large kettle and add the flour. Slowly brown to a rich brown color. Do not burn. This needs to be done on low heat.

This makes a rich roux for the gumbo. It sure helps to have 2 people doing this so says Ms Deb. While 1 makes the roux the other can saute the veggies and brown the meats. Mix the veggies and the meats in a large container.

When all this is done its time to add the roux to the chicken stock and make the gravy. Add roux to 2 gallons of chicken stock in a large stock pot, bring to boil, season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, Worcestershire sauce, and shrimp boil. Let simmer for a few minutes to thicken some, whisking constantly. Remove from heat.

Prepare jars and put the veggie meat mixture in the jars up to the shoulder of the jar. This makes 14 quarts. Divide the roux among the 14 jars. Put on lids and put in pressure canner and process quarts for 90 minutes at 10 lb pressure.

Let pressure go down and remove to rack to finish cooling and seal. You might notice the contents look like they have separated, this is fine.

This is some good gumbo. To serve, cook about 1/2 cup of rice and add the cooked rice to one quart of gumbo or you can add the rice straight to the gumbo as it heats up.

You can also add shrimp at re-heating if so desired. This is a good hearty meal in one kettle and quick if you have your own home canned gumbo. Enjoy! Compliments of my good friend Deb.
After we fed the guys some gumbo for supper we went and picked some wild plums to make jelly. We are planning on making that in the morning and then we can see whats next. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella