Better Gumbo Than Last Time

So I love food from Louisiana: jambalaya, etoufee, red beans and rice, and (especially) gumbo. In fact, there is already a gumbo recipe on this blog. However, that recipe is sub-par for a few reasons: 1) It was "minimum effort" gumbo, meant to be as easy as possible. 2) It was "minimum effort" blogging, where I just tried to get the recipe out there ASAP with minimal editing or planning. 3) I've cooked gumbo approximately 10 or 20 times since I wrote that recipe, have found some flavor improvements in that time and learned some new techniques. WARNING: some of the aforementioned techniques are not necessarily "traditional" or accepted by everyone who makes gumbo. As I've said before, I'm not an authority on anything, I just like to cook and share what I've found.

NOTES: 

• I like a dry roux for a number of reasons, but mostly for it's ease of preparation and use. You may toast from ½ cup up to 2 cups of flour in the first step (that way you have extra for next time,) but be sure to only use ½ cup in the gumbo or it will be too thick!
• I only buy bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs. The skin on chicken thighs is simple to remove and when you do you can make chicken skin snacks (think pork rinds but so much better.)  Since we're going to shred the chicken at the end of cooking, removing the bones is also no problem, plus the bones fortify the broth as the chicken cooks. However, you can use boneless, skinless chicken thighs if you prefer. Just don't use chicken breasts as they will dry out and become chalky.
• I may get hate for this, but you don't have to use andouille sausage; I've used kielbasa, linguica, even hot link sausages. I wouldn't use German or Italian sausage, but anything smokey, spicy, or garlicky would work.

Ingredients

• ½ to 2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
• 6-8 chicken thighs, skin removed
• 1 to 1½ pounds andouille sausage, cut in half lengthwise and sliced on the bias
• ¼ cup vegetable or canola oil
• 1 very large onion (or 2 medium), chopped small
• 1 bell pepper, chopped small
• 3 ribs celery, chopped small
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 4-6 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed fine
• ½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• ½ to 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes or ground cayenne pepper
• ½ teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes in juice
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme, marjoram, or oregano
  (use the one you prefer, I like ½ tsp thyme and 1 tsp marjoram)
• 1 tablespoon (yes, the big one) dried parsley
• 2-3 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon "Better Than Bouillon" chicken base
  (this is optional, especially if your chicken broth is homemade)
• 2-3 teaspoons of filé powder
  (also called gumbo filé, it is the dried and powdered leaves of the sassafras tree)

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 and line a large sheet pan with aluminum foil (if you're not making extra toasted flour for next time, just get an oven-safe skillet.) Spread 2 cups of flour evenly on the sheet pan and toast in the oven for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes (you may want to turn your kitchen vent on, as it gets very toasty/smoky.) Cool on the counter until room temperature, reserve ½ cup for this recipe and save the rest in an airtight container for the next time you need roux.

While the flour cools, place the sliced sausage in a large dutch oven over medium heat, stirring occasionally until some fat has rendered out and the sausage starts to brown. Use a slotted spoon and remove the sausage slices into a bowl. Set sausage aside to cool and put it in the fridge after 5-10 minutes. Meanwhile, turn the heat up to medium-high and put half the chicken thighs in the pot, smooth side down. Cook for 3-5 minutes, or until the thighs release easily from the bottom of the pot. Flip and cook the bone side for another 3-5 minutes. Remove browned chicken to a clean plate and repeat with remaining thighs. Once they are browned on both sides, add to plate with the first batch. 

Tilt the dutch oven to one side and eyeball the amount of fat rendered from the meat. There should be between ¼ and ½ cup; if there appears to be less than ¼ cup, add ¼ cup vegetable or canola oil. Add onion, bell pepper, celery, and salt. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until the vegetables have started to soften and brown on the edges. Reduce heat to medium. Add garlic, black pepper, red/cayenne pepper, and coriander. Cook, stirring constantly for 30-60 seconds. Stir in ½ cup flour and cook until all of the veggies are coated in flour/oil mix and no dry spots of flour remain. Add tomatoes with juice, half the chicken broth, and the bouillon base (if using), increase the heat to high. Stir/whisk, scraping everything off the bottom of the pot, until any lumps are smoothed out and the liquid starts to simmer. Put the browned chicken and any accumulated juices into the pot and add additional broth until everything is just covered. Bring to a simmer, put the lid on the pot, reduce the heat to low, and cook, stirring occasionally to scrape the bottom of the pot, for 45 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and falling apart.

Remove the pot lid. Using tongs, carefully remove the chicken to a rimmed baking pan or casserole dish. Stir in the filé powder. Shred the chicken and discard any bones and cartilage; you can use two forks or you can wear thin cotton gloves protected by plastic/latex gloves and shred with your fingers - it's much easier to find the cartilage. Put the shredded chicken and any accumulated liquids into the pot along with the browned sausage. Simmer until the sausage is heated through. Adjust thickness with additional broth (to thin) or filé power (to thicken.) Serve with white rice.