Sure. I know my husband makes gumbo all the time, and I don't think we have used andouille sausage everytime.

Linda,
I don't put andouille in my gumbo. I put about everything else in, including the bacon used to render fat used to cook the okra. I also put in chicken, crab and shrimp. My recipe, which dates back to about 1970 in Mississippi, calls for ham, not sausage. But I don't use ham anyway.
Yours will be great no matter what you put in.
Jo

I also omit sausage, but if you want to make sausage from ground pork, add some sage, thyme, cayenne, and garlic to it. I only make seafood gumbo, and I never make it without okra, since I love okra! If I don't have okra, I won't bother to make gumbo.

Lars

I know how to make breakfast sausage....but wondered if there was anything unique about andouille besides the pepper.

Here is my recipe for andouille....forget all the sausage making stuff and for sure you're not doing 4 pounds of pork but the spice combos may be helpful. I love this particular recipe.

Andouille Sausage

4 Lb Lean pork Butt
2 Lb Pork fat
3 Tbl garlic Finely Minced
2 Tbl Salt
1/2 Tsp black pepper Freshly Ground
1/8 Tsp Cayenne
1/8 Tsp Chili powder
1/8 Tsp Allspice
1/2 Tsp Dried thyme
1 Tbl Paprika
1/4 Tsp bay leaf Ground
1/4 Tsp Sage
5 Tsp liquid hickory smoke

Soak the casing about an hour in cold water to soften it and to loosen the salt in which it is packed. Cut into 3 yard lengths
Run cold water through the inside of the casing to remove any salt. Cut the meat and fat into chunks about 1/2 inch across and pass once through the coarse blade of the meat grinder. Combine the pork with the remaining ingredients in a large bowl and mix well with a woodenspoon. Run through the finest blade on the grinder. Stuff casings~

I've used Hillshire Farms kielbasa in gumbo before we knew about andouille and it was a fine substitute.

Teresa

(((Calling RiverRat)))

Yeah!!!! Yoooo Hooooo!
Also dont' have File powder....and my son is arguing about using okra!
River hon! Where are you when I need you!!!

It wouldn't be gumbo without the okra.

Bumblebeeze, that's what I thought too, but I learned some people make it without. I would only make it without even though I love okra, just not in soup or gumbo. My DM put okra in her veggie soup. Yuk!

To me, it must have lots of okra, be made with a dark roux and taste spicy. Everything else is variable. It can be a seafood gumbo, chicken gumbo, sausage gumbo, mixed meat gumbo or whatever. Seafood is my favorite. FWIW, that's my opinion. :)

Jim

Well, I'm cajun... not as cajun (or creole?) as riverrat, but I'll do until she checks this out. Being from new orleans, though, she's the resident expert.

Gumbo can be made of anything. There are even green gumbos that they used to make on fridays and especially good friday - using only vegetables. You know, the whole no meat on friday thing.

I've had seafood gumbo and can appreciate that because where I grew up, seafood was cheap and plentiful. So, you needed different ways to prepare it. Where I live now I just feel like seafood of any kind is wasted in gumbo. I'm land locked and it's hard to find good seafood. When I do, I want to highlight it and have it be the main attraction.

My mother only ever made chicken gumbo. My first love's (sigh) mother always made chicken and sausage gumbo. Any kind of sausage will do. I'm partial to Meyer's or Opah's. They might be specific brands to my area, though. What kind of protein were you planning besides sausage? I make chicken, chicken and sausage, sometimes a lighter gumbo (with a medium roux and tomatoes) and shrimp. That's not really "gumbo" according to my mother, but it is to some people. There are as many gumbo recipes as there are cooks. So, do what you like. As long as you have a roux, and a long, slow cooking period, you're good to go.

Oh, and no, okra is not required, lol. Although, some people think it is. It's just like spaghetti sauce for Italians. Everyone makes it a little different. Regions affect it as well. But, there will still be people who tell you this is the one and only way to make gumbo. Tradition can be a good thing sometimes. Sometimes - not so good.

Jim, I was in the middle of typing my post when you posted yours. Just wanted you to know that I was not trying to slam you. We were just speaking with opposite opinions at the same time. Had your post been available when I was typing, I probably would have worded things differently. I don't care to insult people. I think it's rude and not worth while, and definitely was not my intention before!

Okra is not required for gumbo. We use okra in our seafood gumbo, but would never put it in our Chicken gumbo. Our seafood gumbo has tomatoes in it and cayenne pepper. The chicken gumbo has black pepper (not cayenne), and isn't spicey or very thick. My recipes all come from my grandmother who grew up on Canal Street in New Orleans, and her family is all from New Iberia and NOLA. All of my family still lives down there. And this is how our family all makes it. But like someone said, you make gumbo any way you like it --- anything goes. We've even changed it some the last couple of years and we now add a little basil to ours. My grandmother probably never even heard of that!

Here is mine. I would say that any gumbo has to have celery, onion and green pepper in it. Mine is thicker than it looks, based on a slow cooked roux. Heat comes from cayenne and liquid crab boil.

Jo

Smiles at Trsinc. That was nice of ya.

Should I give my references first? lol.. My wife is from New Orleans and I lived there for 10 yrs.[that's where we met], had a small restaurant there and many friends who I spent time with at camps down in the bayous. Winks.

Trsinc said most all of what I'd have said. Gumbo can be anything you want in it. We generally make it with chicken, smoked sausage and shrimp. No okra usually because Christy doesn't care for it much. But, I do, so once in a while I'll put some in. I love the combination of chicken and shrimp, but then I love shrimp. Shrimp is pretty available here so I almost always use it. It's not the dollar a pound I used to pay my shrimper friends when they'd bring a 40# ice chest full of them [if they'd take money], but I buy it on sale whenever I see it just to make sure I have it for gumbo and Christys fried shrimp poboy cravings.

Roux, the trinity and some meat/seafood and you have your basics. Anything else is up to you. Personally I have to have my file. My sil sends it to me in our Christmas package along with Zatarains crab boil[hate, hate, hate Old Bay] and Community coffee, and chow chow for Christy.

Ok, now I want gumbo. Good thing I have everything to make it. Smiles. Well, I'd like some gator, but.. sigh.... ya can't have everything.

Since Karen/riverrat hasn't chimed in yet, I'll add my south Louisiana two cents.

As others have said, it can be made with many different combinations of meats and/or seafoods, but will always start with a very dark roux that then has the "trinity" of onion, celery and bell pepper added. Then after the trinity cooks and is softened, the hot stock/broth is added in, along with the other seasonings and meats.

Linda asked about subbing ground pork for andouille. I rarely use andouille, usually just a good pork sausage. But you wouldn't want to use a loose (ie bulk) type sausage. It needs to be something that will hold it's shape.

Okra and file serve as thickening agents and generally (but never say never) MOST people won't use both okra and file in the same recipe. For the okra to give it a good thickening, it will be cooked down to the point where even picky okra haters won't say they don't like it... the flavors will have married and the pieces will have broken up for the most part. File is added to individual bowls by sprinkling it on the gumbo after it is dished up.... NOT added when the gumbo is heating.

File is ground sassafras root and the flavor is something that you may either love or not. Personally I'm not just wild about it but that's just me!

Of course like any good south Louisiana cook, ll be making a turkey gumbo the day after Christmas! And cabbage and blackeyed peas for New Years Day in order to insure luck and prosperity for the new year!

Grace

Grace

I started making mine with a bit of smoked paprika. Took it to a different level.

I love okra but the family doesn't...waaaaahhhh...

Jo, I can almost taste that delicious looking gumbo from here.

Perhaps okra is not exactly a requirement. It's just that I love it and look for any excuse to have some. :) Also, gumbo and okra are synonyms if I'm not mistaken.

I defer to any real Louisianans (I'm not one) when it comes to making gumbo. We didn't even get into the different colors of roux (trsinc touched on it), which can be quite important as I understand it.

Thanks for your thoughtfulness, trsinc. I know how awkward those simultaneous posts can turn out to be. Downright embarrassing some times. LOL I took no offense at all.

Jim