This is one of my favorite gumbos I make. The combination of ingredients may sound strange, but they go together so well and it is so delicious. Serve over warm white rice.
Ingredients
- pork butt: 1 piece (6 pound, cut into cubes)
- salt and ground black pepper: (to taste)
- pinch ground thyme: 1 piece (to taste)
- slices bacon: 8 piece (cut into 1-inch pieces)
- ½ pounds okra, sliced crosswise into 1/2-inch-wide pieces: 1 piece
- smoked sausage, sliced and: 3 pound (halved)
- onion: 2 cups (chopped)
- bell pepper: 2 cups (chopped)
- celery: 2 cups (chopped)
- garlic: 2 Tbsp (chopped)
- gallon chicken stock: 1 piece (divided)
- premade roux (such as Kary's®): 1 jar (16 ounce jar)
- chili powder: 1 Tbsp
- paprika: 1 Tbsp
- ground black pepper: 2 tsp
- ½ teaspoons file powder: 1 piece
- rosemary: 1 tsp (dried)
- thyme: 1 tsp (dried)
- bay leaves: 4 piece
- pinch Creole seasoning (such as Slap Ya Mama®): 1 piece
- black-eyed peas, undrained: 5 cans (15 ounce cans)
- mustard greens: 4 cans (15 ounce cans, drained)
- tomatoes with green Chili peppers (such as RO*TEL®): 2 cans (10 ounce cans, diced)
- fresh mushrooms: 1 pack (16 ounce pack, sliced)
Metric Conversion
Stages of cooking
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Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
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Season pork cubes with salt, pepper, and thyme to taste and place in a cast iron skillet.
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Cook pork cubes in the preheated oven until cooked through, about 30 minutes. Transfer pork from skillet to a bowl, reserving drippings.
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Cook and stir bacon in a 9-quart Dutch oven or heavy pot over medium heat until browned, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel-lined plate, reserving bacon grease.
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Cook and stir okra in the bacon grease over medium heat until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Transfer okra to a bowl, reserving bacon grease. Cook and stir smoked sausage in bacon grease until browned, about 5 minutes. Add onion, bell pepper, celery, and garlic to sausage; cook and stir until softened, 5 to 10 minutes.
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Stir 48 fluid ounces chicken stock into sausage mixture and bring to a simmer. Stir roux into broth mixture until dissolved and slightly thickened, 2 to 3 minutes. Slowly stir 48 fluid ounces chicken stock into thickened stock; bring back to a simmer.
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Mix pork, pork drippings, bacon, chili powder, paprika, 2 teaspoons black pepper, file powder, rosemary, 1 teaspoon thyme, bay leaves, and Creole seasoning into thickened chicken stock; simmer, stirring often and skimming off fat, until flavors blend, about 1 hour.
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Stir black-eyed peas, mustard greens, okra, diced tomatoes with green chile peppers, mushrooms, and remaining chicken stock into pork-stock mixture; simmer for 1 hour more.
