Gumbo means "Okra".
To make a proper dark brown roux for a Louisiana style Gumbo, you have to cook the flour in the fat at the lowest possible heat for nearly a good two hours. Corky Clark, who was/is a fish and seafood instructor at the CIA made the best Gumbo I've ever eaten. He told me to use corn oil instead of solid fat and cooked his roux on aluminum sheet pans in a 250 F oven for and hour and a half, stirring it every 15 minutes. He was making huge amounts of it so I found it easier to do on top of the stove in a cast iron skillet on an electric burner set to a very low temperature. When it's done, the roux should be the color of Hershey's chocolate but shouldn't smell burnt. You can use lard for a more authentic taste, but it's a little harder to control. Don't forget the okra or the Gumbo file, (even if it is a little carcinogenic). Also, if you can't find good Tasso ham, go down to one of those old German butcher shops in Yorkville and get some Westphalian smoked ham.
I have Corky's recipe somewhere; I'll try to dig it out of my mess and post it. But if you're impatient, go to Epicurious.com and see if they don't have a good recipe from a bona fide N'orleans cook like Dookie Chase, Paul Prudhomme. Meanwhile, here's an industrious recipe from the Junior League Girls:
Seafood Gumbo
24 live Blue crabs, alive and kicking, soaked in cold fresh water for 1 hour
3 lbs. Shrimp with heads on
5 quarts water
1 large carrot, peeled with a whole clove stuck into it
5 medium-sized onions, 1 quartered, the rest finely chopped
2 cups chopped celery
1 cup green pepper (I use poblanos), diced fine
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 lbs. okra, cut into ½” pieces
1 ¼ cups corn oil
¼ cup flour
3 medium-sized tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped (out of season, I use 1 can diced tomatoes)
½ cup Tasso or other smoked ham, diced
1 sprig fresh Thyme
1 teaspoon dried sage
3 bay leaves
¼ cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
Tabasco sauce to taste
Worcestershire sauce to taste
Cooked rice for serving
Steam the crabs over vigorously boiling water for 5 minutes. Remove, cool and pull of the shells of the crabs, adding them to 5 quarts of water in a large stockpot. Discard the inedible spongy fingers of the crabs, break their bodies in half and set them aside. Add any crab roe to the pot. Peel the shrimps, adding he heads and shells to the pot. Set the shrimp aside. Later on, pick crab meat from the bodies and set aside. Keep all shrimp and crab meat well chilled.
Add the carrot, onion quarters and ½ cup of the celery to the pot, cover and simmer to 2 hours. Strain the stock and return it to the pot.
Meanwhile, sauté the chopped onions, green pepper, garlic and the remaining celery in ¼ cup of oil until soft. Set the vegetables aside off the heat. Fry the okra separately in ¾ cup of oil over medium heat for about 45 minutes, or until it is soft and the ropy texture is gone. Stir often; adding more if the okra sticks. Set the okra aside.
In a separate skillet, make a brown roux with 4 tablespoons of oil and the flour. Cook for 1 ½ to 2 hours until the roux is dark brown. Add the tomato pulp and cook the mixture into a paste. Add the ham, thyme, sage and bay leaves. Cook for 5 minutes and set aside.
Add the sautéed vegetables and the okra to the strained stock and, while stirring, slowly add the roux mixtures. Simmer for 1 hour. Add the peeled shrimp, crab halves and parsley and cook for an additional ½ hour(I only cooked for about 10 minutes more, just to heat the fish). Season with salt, pepper, Tabasco and Worcestershire to taste. Serve in gumbo bowls over rice.
