Smoked Turkey and Sausage Gumbo

[jeepdad]

From several gumbo making times so if the words underneath don't make sense it's from several different posts.


Smokin Okie's Holiday Brine cooked up.


Two never frozen turkeys from Wegmans.




Nice birds - total weight is 25.5 pounds.


Brined overnight.


Next day ready for the smoker.


They smoked about 45 mins longer than I wanted as I got caught on 95 in traffic coming back from Gander Mountain in Fredericksburg.






Mise en place. Can you spot the Guinness?






Sat around the fire last night it is nice and cool at night perfect fire sitting weather.


Gumbo pot...check. Gumbo paddle...check. Coffee...check. Donuts....check!


Big Mama the roux making machine.


Fresh veggies and cajun sausage!






It's a beautiful thang!


Turkey, sausage and veggies getting right.




Got my roux stool out.












Roux resting.




Gumbo is simmering. Can't wait to jump in for supper tonight. Having some friends over can't wait!


Gumbo eggs! Yum!!!!


--jeepdad

The eggs are fantastic. They take on the gumbo flavor. I got nine gallon bags of gumbo in the freezer! I don't freeze the eggs we eat them over the next several days. I don't add shrimp to my gumbo either as I don't think the shrimp would freeze well.

I got my recipe and techniques from my "coonass" buddy. His recipe below as well as questions he answered for me years ago when he first gave me the recipe. Be mindful that the amounts is a quadrupled recipe.

If you like okra in your gumbo you know it can get slimy. Here's my buddys trick to stop the sliminess.

Kams Gumbo Okra Trick

When the gumbo is almost finished sweat down some onion and cook 2lbs. of frozen okra. When the okra starts getting slimy add 1Tbs. of white vinegar to 1lb. of okra to help cook out the slime. Then the okra will cook until it takes on an olive color.

KAMS Turkey and Sausage Gumbo x4

First start boiling the turkey, sausage and veggies.

24 quarts of water
1 20 pound turkey, cut up
8lbs smoked sausage, sliced, reserve 2 cups cubed for Roux

2 cups parsley, finely chopped
4 cups green onion, chopped
4 cups white onion, diced
3 cups bell pepper, diced
4 cup celery, chopped
24 cloves of garlic, minced
8-10 bay leaves
8 Tbsp Tony Chachere's
Shrimp (optional)
okra (optional)

Let turkey boil for 45 minutes, pull turkey, cool and then debone.

ROUX

4 cup vegetable oil
8 cups all purpose flour

Over medium heat in a cast iron skillet, heat oil, then slowly add flour, stirring constantly, until you achieve a pancake batter consistency, cook until paper bag brown and starting to smoke a little, reduce heat to simmer add:

1/2 cup parsley, finely chopped
1 cups green onion, chopped
2 cups white onion, diced
2 cups bell pepper, diced
2 cups celery, chopped
2 cups sausage, cubed (that was reserved)
8 cloves garlic, minced

Then stirring occasionally until vegetables caramelize and Roux takes on a deep dark rich color. (Don't Burn Your Roux!)

Let Roux cool and add to the turkey and sausage stock. Bring to a boil. Add deboned turkey then bring down to a simmer. Simmer for 1 hr stirring often so it doesn't stick to bottom.

If at this point my Gumbo is to thick, I make up some chicken stock from Bouillon Cubes. At this point I season to taste with Tabasco Sauce, Gumbo File, Tony Chachere's, Red Pepper, and 4 fresh Cayenne Peppers.

From this point my Gumbo normally cooks for 5 hrs, it should achieve a nice dark color.

This is the basics for my Gumbo. I also like boiling eggs and then peeling them and dropping them in my gumbo's

Dan: I'm thinking of making some for the office. If I want to double the recipe would your advice be to simply double all the ingredients or should I throttle back on anything? For example I was wondering if 8 bay leaves would be to many. Same cook times?

kam: If you are going to double or triple the recipe do the same for the ingredients. It is not unusual for me in a 6 gallon gumbo to drop 8 to 10 bay leaves in it. The one that is going to change a bit is your roux veggies ( I will get to that in a moment)

Dan: When do you add the hard boiled eggs?

kam: I have my eggs boiled and peeled early in the cook, as soon as the gumbo is starting to take on the flavor I want ( about 30 min to 1hr. after I add my roux) I drop the eggs in.

Dan: When you have time would you check out my post of the gumbo (Dutch Oven section) and let me know what you think of my roux? My finished roux looked dryer than what yours looked like. Although it was damn tasty!

kam: When your roux thickens up like that add a little cooking oil to it so it will move around in the skillet, sometimes the veggies will suck up what little oil you have and dry your roux a bit. From the looks of yours which by the way looked great, I would have added about a tablespoon of oil the let the veggies sweat a bit more.

Dan: For a double recipe I was thinking of making the roux in two shifts instead of one large mix. Thoughts?

kam: This is where it will get a little tricky. What I can tell you is double the roux mix, meaning 2 cups oil and about 3 to 4 cups flour. you can double the veggies as well. I would cook the roux all at once for consistency I always do this. Now the tricky part will be adding this much roux to your gumbo and knowing when is enough. So add it slowly and let it settle in before you add more (don't want gumbo to thick). You will also want to push the roux to its limit of darkness or your gumbo will be blonde and flat tasting so you will be scrambling for seasonings to fix it. If this happens drop a couple of lg. chicken bouillon cubes in and let it cook a while and taste. It won't fix the color but your flavor will be a little closer.
Note: just before adding your veggies your roux should have the consistency of a loose pancake batter, so during the end of your cooking process if you need to add a little oil you can do it then.

Dan: You mentioned adding the shrimp the last hour. Do the shrimp stay tender cooking that long?

kam: During the last hr. my gumbo is like a slow roll or simmer. The shrimp at about 1.5 hrs should be tender at least the way I like them. Depending on your shrimp size you can easily put them in 2hr.'s before finishing. I use 30 - 35 count.

Brine the turkey the day before if desired.

Turkey: Smoke at 225 – 250 at 30 minutes a pound.

Light coat of olive oil. 

Smoke to 165 F in the breast or 175 F in the thigh. Add olive oil blanket (cheese cloth soaked in olive oil/keeps the bird an amazing mahogany color instead of turning black/more for like Thanksgiving when the bird is the presentation not so much for gumbo but you can) at hour two, reoiled at hour four.

Smokin' Okie's Holiday Turkey Brine (I use this every Thanksgiving it is by far the best I've ever come across)
1 gallon water
1 cup coarse kosher salt
3/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
4 tablespoons black pepper
3 - 4 tablespoons chopped garlic
1 teaspoon allspice

[JDann24]

Looks amazing! Thanks for sharing.