Gumbo is a spicy, hearty stew or soup, found typically on the Gulf of Mexico in the United States, and very common in Louisiana and the Lowcountry around Charleston, South Carolina. It is eaten year round, but is usually found during the colder months. This is due to the extended cooking time required, as a large pot full of simmering liquid will heat up the surrounding area.

The dish named gumbo usually consists of two components, rice and broth, and is

usually made in large batches. Left-over broth is frozen for later use. Rice is made fresh daily. The rice is prepared separately from the broth, and the two are mixed only in the serving bowl.

The gumbo broth can contain seafood (typically crab and shrimp from the Gulf of Mexico or crawfish), fowl (usually duck, quail, chicken), and other meats, used as seasoning (smoked or fresh sausage), tasso (Cajun smoked pork), Cajun-style andouille (smoked sausage), and other smoked or preserved meats). A traditional lenten variety called gumbo z'herbes (from the French gumbo aux herbes), essentially a gumbo of smothered greens thickened with roux, also exists. The one essential ingredient of the dish is okra, as the name gumbo is derived from a West African word for okra.

Charleston gumbo is often beef or seafood based, although the dish can vary extensively, and is often served over rice. The defining characteristics of gumbo are the type of stock used and the thickening agent used.

A second characteristic, though not necessary, is that the ingredients (base, roux, stock, meat, etc.) are cooked separately, then added together and allowed to simmer.

The stock is always as rich as possible, made with whatever complements the type of gumbo (seafood stock for seafood gumbo, chicken stock for chicken gumbo, etc.) This usually means roasting bones with mirepoix in the oven and then simmering in water for several hours.

Common thickening agents used are okra, filé powder and roux. The classic recipes ask for okra or filé powder. Roux may be added to either, and nowadays it is quite common for roux to be the sole thickening agent itself. Okra is the most popular, especially in restaurant kitchens. Mixing okra and filé is uncommon in Louisianan cuisine, as filé was originally an okra substitute when okra was not in season; although some cooks do this.

The traditional practice of using okra in the summer (in season) and filé in the winter has played a role in defining the kinds of gumbo usually associated with each. These associations are not hard and fast rules, but more of a general guide. For example a purely seafood gumbo is usually not thickened with filé, while one that is purely meat and game would usually not have okra. This reflects traditional practices of fishing and crabbing in warmer weather and hunting and butchering in cooler weather.

History
Gumbo has been called the greatest contribution of Louisiana kitchens to American cuisine. When the first African slaves came to Louisiana, they brought their love for a thin seasoned fish stew with okra. A variant of this soup, with the same origin as gumbo is still served in today's Nigeria and Ghana, consisting of fish, okra, plantains and tomato.

After about a century, with the Spanish, French, and Natives of the region offering their contributions of food, the stew was no longer recognizable as the thin African soup and became gumbo.

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Okra
The word gumbo comes from the Central Bantu word kigombo, meaning okra. The word came into Caribbean Spanish as guingambó, which is now the word for okra in Puerto Rico. Gumbo means "okra" in Gullah (a Charlestonian Creole dialect). Indeed, the original gumbo was made with okra. In southeast Louisiana, as in Charleston, many still consider okra the one essential ingredient in gumbo, and anything made without okra cannot be called gumbo. Okra gumbo typically has a more mellow flavor than roux-based gumbo.

Okra serves as a flavor base. The okra is cleaned, then cut into small pieces. Added to the pot with lighter meats, such as chicken or shrimp, the okra and meat simmer together with the typical seasonings of onion, celery, and bell pepper ("the trinity") for a number of hours. Other typical ingredients are parsley, hot peppers, and occasionally other vegetables, such as tomato. Sausage and other processed meats can be added as well.

Although most believe the essence of gumbo is in the okra, notable chefs like Alton Brown disagree, specifying that "okra gumbo" is a variation on gumbo.

Roux

burnt. If okra is used, a lighter color may be desired, as the flavor of a dark roux is quite overpowering. Every family has its own taste. A roux based gumbo will also use "the trinity" of onion, celery, and bell pepper — sometimes cooked in the hot roux itself before added to the stock. The roux based gumbo will use nearly any type of fowl, shellfish, or processed meat.

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Filé
Filé consists of dried and ground sassafras leaves, generally made into filé powder, and may be sprinkled (very sparingly) over the rice and gumbo by the individual in the serving bowl, never in the pot. Originally filé was used as a substitute thickening agent when okra was not in season, a practice borrowed from the Choctaw Indians. Its use as such is not particularly common anymore. Instead, filé may be added to a roux-based gumbo at the table. Not all present-day recipes for filé use sassafras leaves, for health reasons: see the filé powder article for details.

Typical combinations
The following are some common combinations of ingredients that are included in gumbo:

• Seafood gumbo, with shrimp, oysters, and crabmeat
• Crawfish gumbo
• Beef gumbo
• Chicken gumbo with Andouille Sausage
• Turkey and Andouille gumbo (popular after Thanksgiving)
• Duck and Oyster (or Shrimp) Gumbo
• Squirrel Gumbo
• Rabbit Gumbo
• Greens (with or without seafood and/or meat (see Gumbo Z'Herbes below)

Rice
The rice is nearly always plain white rice or parboiled rice, steamed or boiled with only salt, and sometimes a trace amount of white vinegar or other flavorings added. The standard rice used with gumbo is a medium grained rice that sticks well to itself and does not disperse in the gumbo.

The ratio of broth to rice is also a point of contention. Some prefer "damp rice" and some only add a minimal amount of rice to a bowl of broth. This is strictly personal taste.

Traditional side dishes include potato salad, fresh bread, crackers, or baked sweet potatoes. Many Cajuns add potato salad to their gumbo and eat it with or without rice.

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Gumbo aux Herbes
"Gumbo aux herbes," literally "greens gumbo," is a unique variation of the dish usually associated with the Lenten season and particularly Holy Thursday or Good Friday. Often spelled "gumbo z'herbes," it consists of the standard roux and stock plus a combination of several greens, such as collard, mustard, turnip, cabbage, spinach, lettuce, chard, parsley, scallions, etc.

In different family traditions, the dish, usually served only at the Holy Thursday or Good Friday evening meal, had to have a set number of different greens, usually seven or nine, and it would be referred to simply as, for example, "nine kinds of greens" gumbo. In the days before high-end grocery chains with their opulent produce displays, cooks who were hard put to come up with the required number were not above sneaking out to their gardens to snip off a few nasturtium or other known non-toxic leaves to make the required number.

Presumably this variation was devised in traditionally Roman Catholic New Orleans in keeping with the Lenten spirit of austerity, and may have originally consisted of greens only. But the penchant of the region's cuisine for embellishment led inevitably to the addition of local seafood (shrimp, oysters, crabmeat, and sometimes fish)--which were at least permitted under the Catholic Church's fasting guideline--and eventually seasoning meats (ham, sausage, bacon, even beef)--which were not. The gumbo z'herbes prepared and served on Holy Thursday by Leah Chase, owner of Dooky Chase Restaurant and widely considered the grand matriarch of Creole cuisine, is one that uses this "kitchen sink" approach.

Because Dooky Chase's Mid-City location was badly flooded by Hurricane Katrina and was not scheduled to reopen until sometime in the Summer of 2006, the New Orleans restaurant community got together on April 14, 2006 (Holy Thursday) to hold a benefit, charging $75 to $500 per person for a gumbo z'herbes, fried chicken, and bread pudding lunch at a posh French Quarter restaurant. The guests consumed 50 gallons of gumbo and raised $40,000.00 for the 82-year-old Mrs. Chase.