Seafood Gumbo

You can''t live in the Golden Isles and not learn to prepare and love seafood dishes. This one can be doubled, trippled and so on to fit your crowd. I use an extra large heavy roaster that fits on two burners to cook mine but I'm going to give you the single recipe and do with it what you may. Start with 1/4 cup lard (yes I said lard) it's hard to find but it does make a difference, if you can't find it use crisco) in your heavy pot on med heat add the same amount of self-rising flour. Cook slowly and brown very well. Add 2 large sweet onions chopped, 2 stalks of celery chopped,1 cup bell pepper chopped, 1 cup parsley chopped, saute ' in rouix and add 2 quarts of beef broth and stir until smooth and thick on med. When the base is nice and smooth and the consistancy you would like add 1 tsp file' seafood gumbo seasoning, 2 tsp cumin, salt and pepper to taste.Now add 3# of good smoked sausage cut on the bias. Then your ready to add 2 # of crab claw (I buy the one pound cans of pasturized claw from WD in the seafood market) Sometimes they have it buy one get 1 free , I stock up, it freezes well. My family doesn't like oysters in the gumbo but you can add a quart if you like. Now add a large bag of cut frozen okra and put the lid on and let it cook for about 2 hours on low, stirring occasionally. 45 Mins before serving add 4 # of Georgia Wild Shrimp peeled and devained. Cook for 45 more mins on med and serve over rice. This makes a big dish so plan on a crowd. I usually tripple this recipe so that my family can do take home.