-Roux, water, chicken, and good sausage. Always the good sausage. That's the fla vor.

Season only after the sausage has given up its smoke, salt, and spice. You want the gumbo to be a little salty because the rice will n ot be salted and you need the big flavors to make sure it's not bland when eaten. -4 boxes of stock to start. Get it on the stove and boiling first. You need to make sure that you have room for the bouquet poulet. You can always a dd liquid later after the bones and skins have given up their flavor to the gumb o about an hour or two in. It is better to add liquid later and co ok longer to get the flavors married after the addition of more liquid if it means you can extract the flavor from the bones, skin, and schmaltz first. Always leave room for the bouquet poulet -get that stock to a rolling boil -2 extra boxes of stock on hand to make up the liquid as it evaporates off -Minimalist. Mommom's gumbo. Roux, water, chicken, and sausage. MSG to make the meat flavors pop. Salt to make the dish rounded out. -3/4 jar of roux. Shoot thin, you can always add more. Mommom's gumbo always had flavor but was always thinner than most gumbos. You cannot fix too much roux because there's only so much room in the pot to add liquid. Too little roux can always be fixed a tablespoon at a time. Remember, you're coo king for HOURS, not minutes. Small adjustments work. -2.5 onions -1.5 bell peppers -2 stalks celery -Those are the vegetables you need. CUT THEM SMALL. Patience. Get the roux hot. Buy an extra jar just in case you burn the first. Warm the roux while you chop vegetables. Add enough oil to the pan to get the roux to the consistency of a good syrup. Remember what you watched Mom and Mommom do with their rouxs . Cajun lava. Then add vegetables. Let the roux fry them down a nd wilt them. Once they're fully wilted, add the roux/vegetables to a hard boili ng stock a cooking spoon at a time. The idea is to get thei r flavor but cook them down so far you see no trace of them in the bowl when you're eating. -3 tablespoons garlic once the main vegetables and roux go in. -5ish bay leaves go in with the garlic -1 pack of thighs with bone and skin. Debone and deskin. Reserve bones and skin. -1 pack of breasts. Same treatment as the thighs. -2 packs of sausage. Richard's beef and pork. -Make the bouquet with the skin, bones, and schmaltz. -Add meat after vegetables have had about a half hour to swim in the pool. -2 to 3 hours into the simmer, remove the bouquet and add liquid and MSG/salt to taste. -FEAST