We challenged chefs of three different skill levels – amateur John, home cook Heather, and professional chef Airis Johnson – to simmer up their best bowl of gumbo. Once each level of chef had ladled out their creation, we asked expert food scientist Rose to explain the choices each made along the way, breaking things down from a technical perspective. Which level of gumbo would you dip into first?
Chef Airis is on Instagram at @airisthechef
Find Rose at @rosemarytrout_foodscience
Keep up with John at @johndlopresto
Heather is on Instagram at @hmclinton
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4 Levels of Gumbo: Amateur to Food Scientist | Epicurious
@airisjohnson5065 I'm curious about your stance on mirepoix-based stocks. I usually make chicken stock in advance, which includes carrot, celery, onion, bay leaf, thyme, and parsley. You're the first person I've ever heard push back on using carrot-based stock for gumbo. Could you tell me more? Thanks for a great episode!
Buy better stock servant!!!!!
Humphrey love cats!!!!!
How could you not have shown what seasonings chef Airis put in her gumbo? You showed store bought cajun seasoning for John and cayenne pepper, salt, pepper and bay leaves for Healther. The whole point was to see the seasoning blend that the professional chef uses.
2 years old, I have watched this episode many times, and it is still a favorite!
A wise chef once told me . . . "always pee before you start your roux" – true story I guarantee.
I hate to break it to just about every professional and amature chef/cook out in the world today, but "Umami" is NOT a culinary idea that recently came from East Asia.
It's just the Japanese word for the centuries-old concept of "Savory" as it's called in English.
Gumbo is an African word (Kongo) that means okra. So, how can you have gumbo without gumbo I just don't know!
Congratulations for Emily!????????????
No way I'd ever trust a new yorker to make gumbo! I'm from Texas, gotta have a southerner make it!
Okay as a man from southern Louisiana please don’t ever claim this as us or any of this ours as a real southerner this trash hurts my feelings that the rest of the world sees this and thinks it’s ours
Gumbos are not made in the ways you have seen and are much better but not by any chain restaurant
Especially if it’s tomato based
Just because you make a roux and use some stock, doesn’t mean it’s not tomato based
If you gumbo red it’s not gumbo it’s soup
Also we cook down all vegetables after dicing except okra it’s cut up in small chunks then tossed in the boil to cook down
A roux is made with butter and flour for gumbo not oil unless you want diarrhea and less flavor
Also if you put oysters in your gumbo, it must be eaten that night or early that morning or your gumbo will rot
Shrimp and crab meat is not blue until cooked red. I don’t know what idiot on the show put that
Blue crab is simply the blue markings on the shell
I’m sorry I’m just tired of stupid people trying to appropriate southern cooking that obviously they’ve never done it
I heard him say he used butter for that roux it’s not gonna taste right
The level 3 chef's final result…scared me a little. The crabs look like claws that'll attack me in vengeance for daring to eat em lol
overall though seafood gumbo is my favorite simply because of a friend who made some for me once and sadly I never go the recipe. But boy do I want to have good seafood gumbo again. She even went and brought me lemon to add to it knowing I"m fond of adding ti to just about everything I eat.
Never tomatoes. Never, ever, ever. Plus the duck scraps need to be roasted first before making that stock. Always roast the bones and carcass scraps. Vastly better flavor. Props to the chef that knew to cook the onions FIRST.
Add vegetables to the roux? Interesting, we never did that. Just so you dont add too much roux.
7 min in i can see chef Johnson is going win this all day the second lady so did alright but thing with the roux its best to brown your chicken or duck and then take that oil and use it for the roux and chef did it right never add all veggies at once you also want to layer the flavors . and the second cook again she did good too but the first cook forget about it .
i am also pretty shocked at how well this went, still wouldnt be something id see any of my grandmas cooking, but nice compared to the other "gumbo" videos ive seen. really admire the level 3 chef distinguishing cajun and creole, as a cajun, they are so very different!
The amateur's confidence actually goes a long way in making him seem more legit haha ???? Props to him, his gumbo doesn't look bad at all!
She grew up around white people if she things Cajun is the normal one. Cajun is a heavily accented "acadian" meaning French. Creole is the slaves and other "coloreds." There are also creole Africans in west Africa, because the word basically means native.
Was there really no other level 1? Maybe one who has made gumbo before
Why not taste each other's Gumbo?
Tasting your own and saying "Mmmm! Delicious!"
Is not very convincing.
Never trust a skinny chef, So I really don't trust the amateur chef.
Auntie did that! Yes to New Orleans Gumbo
I’m def the first chef. Simple quick easy lol.