The most important part of making Gumbo is making a good roux, never turn your back on it, cause if it burns, you gotta start all over again.

Make the roux using equal parts of flour and olive oil. Stir until chocolaty brown. Add a chopped onion, chopped celery, and 2 chopped bell peppers. Cook for 10 minutes. At this time add some salt to taste, cayenne pepper, some sausage (andouille is the traditional sausage for gumbo), some thyme, and a bay leaf.

Here is where things get creative:
To make seafood gumbo, you add about 32 oz. of seafood stock. Let that simmer for a couple of hours. When you want to eat, add your clams, fish, shrimps, oysters, squid, crab, lobster, and any other sea critters you like. This now has to be completely finished by the end of the night. Seafood gumbo does not refrigerate well.

To make chicken gumbo, you add 32 oz of chicken stock. Let that simmer for a couple of hours, add some seasoned chicken pieces an hour before serving. Serve over hot rice. This can hold up well and be taken for lunches.

Other Options: You can add some tomato paste to your roux right before you add the veggies. If you like okra ( I don't), throw them in when you throw in the meat. If it were me and i wanted to serve okra in my gumbo, I would slice them up in little rounds, bread them in corn meal, fry them, and serve as a garnish. Try using beef broth and little chunks of beef. You could also skip the seafood or chicken and do purely sausage gumbo.

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