Chicken-Okra Gumbo, Plains-Style
Submitted by wdnapple
Southern chicken and okra gumbo with salt pork, fresh tomatoes, and hot pepper, served over fluffy white rice. A slow-simmered Plains-style gumbo with deep, smoky flavor.
YIELD
servingsPREP
30 minCOOK
READY
This Plains-style chicken and okra gumbo builds flavor the old Southern way: render salt pork, brown floured chicken in the drippings, then simmer everything low and slow with fresh tomatoes, hot pepper, and plenty of sliced okra. No roux, no filé powder. The okra itself thickens the broth as it cooks down.
Rendering the salt pork first creates two things you’ll use later: crispy pork bits for garnish and a deeply flavored fat for browning the chicken. That layering of fat, flour, and slow cooking is what gives this gumbo its rich, complex backbone.
After an hour and a half of simmering, the chicken falls right off the bone. Pull it out, shred the meat, discard the skin and bones, and stir the meat back in. Ladle over a mound of white rice and scatter those crispy salt pork bits on top.
Chef Tips
- Brown the chicken in small batches. Crowding the pot drops the temperature and you’ll steam the chicken instead of getting that golden, flour-crusted sear.
- Stir the okra frequently while it cooks with the onion. Okra scorches easily and burnt okra tastes bitter and ruins the whole pot.
- Fresh okra gives better texture, but frozen works in a pinch. Just thaw and separate the slices first so they don’t clump.
- Add water as needed during the long simmer. The broth should stay loose enough to ladle. It tightens up naturally from the okra.
Variations
- Add andouille sausage sliced into coins for a Cajun-style gumbo with more heat and smokiness.
- Use smoked turkey legs instead of chicken for a deeper, smokier version.
- Stir in a handful of shrimp during the last 10 minutes of cooking for a surf-and-turf gumbo.
Ingredients
Directions
Okra can be fresh sliced or a 10-ounce package of frozen okra, sufficiently thawed to separate okra slices, can be substituted.
Wash salt pork under cold water to rinse off excess salt.
Blot dry and cut into small dice.
Place in a large, heavy soup pot and cook over low heat until all fat has been rendered.
Remove crisped pork dice and drain on paper toweling.
Set aside.
Blot chicken pieces dry with paper toweling and dredge lightly with flour.
Press flour into each piece, then shake off all excess.
Heat salt pork to almost smoking.
Brown the floured chicken pieces a few at a time in the hot fat.
Remove as browned and set aside.
Pour off and discard fat.
Add butter to soup pot and place over low heat.
When melted, add onion and okra and cook, stirring often with a wooden spoon, until onion is soft.
Be careful not to let okra scorch.
Return chicken to pot and add remaining ingredients except salt and pepper and optional flour.
Let simmer for about 1½ hours, adding additional water if needed.
Remove from heat.
Remove and discard bay leaf.
Remove skin and bone from chicken pieces and return meat to pot.
Reheat if necessary.
If desired, thicken mixture with 1 to 2 tablespoons flour mixed to a paste with about ½ cup cold water, and stir over low heat an additional 10 to 15 minutes.
Ladle into large soup bowls over mounds of just-cooked, fluffy white rice.
Sprinkle crisped pork dice over each serving.
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