🍲 ALABAMA GUMBO (BE PATIENT LIBBY STYLE)

Cooked up in a smoky Alabama kitchen, raised by patience, and stirred by hand until the world made sense again.

PREP TIME: 30 minutes COOK TIME: 2-3 hours TOTAL TIME: 2.5 - 3.5 hours SERVES: 8-10 DIFFICULTY: Intermediate (requires patience and stirring stamina)

🌶️ What You’ll Need to Feel Better

  • 1 whole chicken (legs & thighs preferred — dark meat holds up like your stubborn streak)

  • 1 gallon chicken stock (warm or room temp — no fridge shock)

  • 1 cup vegetable oil

  • 1 heaping cup flour (the only thing in life you actually measure)

  • 2 cups diced yellow onion

  • 1 cup diced green bell pepper

  • 1 cup diced celery

  • 2 lbs Conecuh hickory smoked sausage, sliced (don’t argue)

  • 2 lbs cooked chicken (from your stock), cut into chunks

  • 2 lbs okra, sliced (fresh or frozen — naked and unashamed)

  • 2 tbsp vegetable oil (for frying okra)

  • 1 tbsp salt

  • 1 tbsp black pepper

  • 2 tbsp garlic powder (say when)

  • 1 tsp dried thyme

  • Optional: 1 lb raw shrimp (add at the end if you’re feelin’ fancy)

  • Cooked white rice (Uncle Ben’s is the Southern therapist’s choice)

🔥 How to Cook Your Feelings

  1. Make the Stock of Your Life: Simmer that chicken (and turkey necks if you can find ’em) in salted water until tender. Strain. Save the broth. Pull the meat and set it aside for later redemption.

  2. Roux Therapy Session: Pour a cup of oil into a heavy cast iron pot, add the flour, and stir like you’re working through something. Don’t walk away. Don’t answer texts. Stir until it’s the color of chocolate and smells like you’ve been standing in your feelings for 30 minutes straight.

  3. Trinity Intervention: Add the onion, bell pepper, and celery. Stir fast before it burns. The smell will slap you right in the nostalgia. Cook until soft and honest.

  4. Pour Your Soul (and Stock) In: Slowly add the warm stock, stirring like you mean it. You want it smooth, not lumpy — milkshake thick, not watery regret.

  5. Add the Meaty Memories: Drop in your chicken, Conecuh sausage, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and thyme. Stir. Cover. Let it all get to know each other.

  6. Okra Counseling: In a skillet, heat oil and fry your okra until tender. It’s the thickener and the truth-teller. Want it thicker? Sprinkle some flour before frying.

  7. Merge and Simmer: Add the okra to the pot. Stir and let the gumbo simmer low and slow for 30–45 minutes. If shrimp’s invited, toss ’em in during the last 5 minutes — they’ll curl up quick.

  8. Serve It Up: Spoon that gumbo over rice. Step back. Smell it. Maybe call your mama.

💡 Feeling Tip:
“When life won’t stop stirring the pot, grab a wooden spatula and do it yourself. Keep it moving. Keep it warm. Keep it real.”