Chicken Gumbo Filé

By davidgoodman

Ingredients

• 4 lb. stewing chicken, cut up
• 1 tbsp. lard
• 1/2 lb. ham, diced
• 3 tbsp. chopped parsley
• 1/2 tsp. dry thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 18 oysters with their liquid
• 1/2 pod hot red pepper
• 2 tbsp. filé powder
• 4 c. cooked rice

Details

Servings 1

Preparation

Step 1

Boil chicken in salted water to cover until tender. Save broth. Strip meat from bones, cut into 2 inch pieces. Heat lard in a kettle, add ham and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes until lightly browned; add parsley, thyme, and bay leaf and cook 5 minutes. Drain oysters; to oyster liquid add enough of the reserved chicken broth to make 6 cups and add this to kettle with pepper pod. Taste for seasoning; add salt if needed. Simmer 30 minutes; add diced chicken and oysters; simmer just until the oysters curl on edges. Remove from heat and stir in the filé. Never cook after filé has been added. Serve gumbo on rice.