Turkey Gumbo with Andouille and Shrimp

5 from 17 votes

Gumbo is one of the great uses for a turkey drumstick. I use homemade andouille and Gulf shrimp from Alabama, but any good American shrimp and smoked sausage will do; tasso ham is another good option. And feel free to put any and all meats you want in here. I use filé powder here to thicken my gumbo, but you can skip that and use ½ pound of okra instead.

Prep Time20

Cook Time3

Total Time3 20

Course: Soup

Cuisine: Cajun

Servings: people

Author: Hank Shaw

Ingredients

½ cup peanut oil, lard, or butter
1 cup flour
1 quart stock, turkey or other good similar stock
2 bell peppers, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
1 large yellow onion, diced
6 garlic cloves, minced
2 to 4 turkey drumsticks
¼ teaspoon celery seed
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons Cajun or Creole seasoning
¼ to ½ pound smoked sausage or tasso ham, cut into coins or chunks
1 pound peeled, raw shrimp
1/2 pound sliced okra (or 2 tablespoons filé powder)
Tabasco or other hot sauce to taste
Chopped green onions, for garnish

Instructions

Pour the stock and 1 quart water into a pot and bring it to a simmer.
In a large, heavy soup pot, heat the peanut oil over medium-high heat. Stir in the flour to make a roux and cook this, stirring often, until it’s the color of milk chocolate. You’ll need to stir this more often as it cooks so it doesn’t burn. This should take about 15 minutes.
Add the diced vegetables and the garlic, and mix well. Let this cook over medium heat until soft, about 10 minutes. Stir in the celery seed, bay leaves, and Cajun seasoning.
Bring the stock to a full boil and start adding it ladle by lade into the soup pot. It will sputter and seize up at first, but keep adding the stock until it has all incorporated. Bring this to a full, rolling boil and let this boil for a couple of minutes.
Turn the heat back down to a simmer and add the turkey drumsticks. Taste for salt and let this simmer until the meat wants to fall off the bone, a couple of hours. Remove the turkey legs and pull the meat from the bone.
Add the sausage, shrimp, and okra or about a tablespoon of filé to thicken, and let this simmer 5 minutes. Add Tabasco to taste and serve garnished with green onions over rice.

Nutrition