@musevg@23.social @astronot@mastodon.online @jack_daniel@mastodon.social @MissConstrue@mefi.social @ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org one trick i struggled with was getting a sufficiently dark roux. you want it to be dark, like antique mahogany furniture. you'll get to caramel color and it starts to bubble and get very rough and grainy. keep stirring and keep going. it will smooth back out. i always chickened out when it got to the grainy stage until i took a roux class in new orleans. you will hear debate about tomato. i prefer it without tomato. if you can get andouille sausage, great. otherwise, see which catalan sausages you can get with a decent amount of fat, made from pork, spicy, with garlic. i do my cajun seasoning myself from emeril lagasse's recipe, since i find most commercial seasonings too heavy on salt. if your okra isn't the best, definitely get some gumbo file powder. once you've gotten roux dark, the holy trinity in (onion, celery, green pepper) and you've let the broth hit light boil so that the roux thickens correctly, drop the temp low. long slow simmer is how you get a good gumbo.