Juanita's Creole Gumbo

Total Time: 1 hr 30 mins Preparation Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

• Servings: 8
• 12 crabs, cleaned, fresh, broken into 4 parts each, with claws cracked (for lack of fresh crab, 1.5 lbs chicken or fish may be substituted)
• 2 lbs raw shrimp, cleaned and peeled (if only shrimp are used, use 5 lbs)
• 1 pint oyster, raw drained (optional)
• 1 (16 ounce) can whole canned tomatoes
• 1 cup okra, thinly sliced (optional)
• 5 slices bacon, real lamb
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 6 peppercorns
• 1/4 teaspoon crab boil, zatarain's
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 3 garlic cloves

Recipe

• 1 in a large pot, put 2 cups water, salt [to taste] add crab boil, thyme and peppercorns.
• 2 bring to a roiling boil; add crabs and boil for approximately 20 minutes, add tomatoes and okra, and simmer slowly.
• 3 while this simmers, make the roux.
• 4 slice the bacon strips into small pieces and fry.
• 5 remove.
• 6 sauté the chopped onion and garlic in the bacon grease.
• 7 remove.
• 8 to bacon drippings, add enough flour to make a thin gravy.
• 9 use very low flame, stir continuously, taking care to make it dark brown without burning it.
• 10 add bacon and onion& garlic bits back to mixture and heat.
• 11 add roux to simmering seafood pot.
• 12 stir very well.
• 13 add shrimp and simmer approximately 30 minutes.
• 14 add oysters and simmer only until edges of oysters curl.
• 15 it is done, serve over a bed of rice.