The truth is, you can use just about anything in gumbo—it’s one of those dishes that you sometimes make with whatever you have in the fridge. However, it happens that many families in the southern gulf have things like onions and shrimp in the house. This article is going to list and discuss the 4 most common types of seafood for gumbo.

Shrimp

Shrimp is the most common type of shellfish used in gumbo. The reason for this is that shrimp is incredibly prevalent in Louisiana, where gumbo was invented. Also, shrimp are available most of the year in Louisiana. One of the best reasons to use shrimp in this dish is because it’s easy to get a rich, flavorful shrimp broth by boiling the shells. Boiling the shrimp heads and shells will give you an extremely shrimpy flavor that you can use as a base for your gumbo, along with the roux.

Crab

Crab meat is also extremely prevalent in Louisana, and therefore in gumbo. The most commonly used type of crab is blue crab, which has a sweeter, richer texture than almost any other crab in the United States. Usually, the meat from the body and claws is reserved and placed in the gumbo towards the end of cooking, but sometimes, people use what they call “gumbo crabs,” which are crabs that are too small to account for. boil them and eat them plain. , but it adds a great crab flavor to the dish. To use these little critters, remove the top cover, break them in half, and let them cook along with the rest of the gumbo.

oysters

Oysters are extremely common in seafood gumbo and most people will tell you they either love oysters in gumbo or hate them (there are very few in between). When oysters are added in gumbo the texture is somewhat slimy as not only are oysters slimy but if you use okra in your gumbo that will only contribute to this texture problem. However, this really isn’t a problem for most people because many are used to okra in gumbo. Some say that eating oysters in gumbo is the best way to get a real taste of oysters, and it’s true: you can taste oysters without the competing flavors of breading or cheese, but unlike raw oysters, these are warm and the heat intensify this flavor.

River crab

Crayfish is the type of shellfish that is absolutely adored by anyone with access to it. In addition, the lobster season is limited throughout the year, and it is a type of food that people love to eat alone. Since that’s the case, it’s kind of rare for crabs to find their way into the gumbo pot. However, if you have a lot of crawfish left over after boiling and don’t want to make any of the wonderful variety of dishes like crawfish etouffee and crawfish soup, you can use crawfish tails as meat in the gumbo, and use the shells as broth.