Fave Christmas Foods Pt. 1:Louisiana Seafood Gumbo Recipe

So I normally get a head start on making my favorite holiday dishes during each weekend of December.  This weekend I made seafood gumbo.  The weather was perfect and I just could wait until Christmas Eve.
Watch my reel and see how you make yours from scratch in 30 seconds lol.  Here's the ig link
For those of you who saw my reel on instagram and commented "recipe", keep reading!

Seafood Gumbo Recipe
Seafood Stock Ingredients
Shrimp peelings and heads
4-6 onions (chopped roughly in fourths)
3 bell peppers (chopped roughly)
6-10 cloves of garlic
1 bunch of celery (chopped roughly)
6 bay leaves
10 black peppercorns
Salt to Taste
Roux Ingredients
2.5 cups of corn oil (I like Mazola brand)
4 cups of All-Purpose Flour
Gumbo Ingredients
1 Large Pack of Frozen Raw Seasonings (onions, bell pepper, celery, garlic, parsley) or 6 yellow onions, 3-6 bell peppers, Bunch of celery, 6 garlic cloves). Note: The amount of raw seasoning is really at your discretion.  In my opinion, the more the better. I normally use at LEAST what I have listed here.  If I use fresh seasoning, I chop it in the food processor. Otherwise, you can't go wrong with the 64 oz Pictsweet Seasoning Blend in the frozen section of your grocery store.
1 bunch of green onions
1 family package of chicken wings or a whole cooked rotisserie chicken
5 lbs of your favorite smoked sausage
1 pack of Dried shrimp (small pack)
1 28 oz pack of frozen okra or the equivalent in fresh okra
Black Pepper
Smoked Paprika
Slap Your Mama Creole Seasonings
Oregano
Tony Chachere's Seasoning
Black Pepper
Sage
Salt
Garlic Powder
Onion Power
Cayenne Pepper
Parsley
5 lbs of large head on shrimp
1 Container of Lump Crab Meat
1-2 bags of Tony’s Seafood Frozen Gumbo Crabs
Directions
Making Seafood Stock
1.  Peel and devein your shrimp but save the heads and peelings in a separate bowl or bag.
2.  Add the shrimp peelings and heads to a large stock pot.
3.  Add roughly chopped onions, celery, bell peppers and whole garlic to the stock pot.
4. Fill the pot about ¾ of the way with water.
5.  Add bay leaves, black pepper corn and salt to the water.
6.  Allow the stock to come to a rolling boil. Monitor the heat to make sure it doesn’t boil over but it should be at a continuous boil.
7.  I normally boil this at least an hour and then turn it off. Leave it on the stove.

Prep Your Meats and Seasonings
Do these all of these things before you make your roux.  Once you start the roux, you won’t be able to stop.
1.  Chop your smoked sausage and boil it.  I do this to get the grease out of it.  Once you have boiled the grease out, pour the sausage in a colander and set it aside for later.
2.  If you’re using raw seasonings, go ahead and chop them up and set them aside.
3.  Chop your green onions separately and set them aside.
3.  Bake the chicken wings until browned. Set aside.  If you’re using a rotisserie chicken, go ahead and debone it and set it aside.
4.  Break your gumbo crabs in half and clean the crabs.
5. Place okra in a heated skillet and add a tablespoon of vinegar.  Season with salt, pepper, garlic powder and Tony’s.  Sauté the okra in vinegar until the okra starts to turn to a darker green.  Set the okra aside.  This is done to cook the slime out of the okra.
Making Roux
1.  Using a heavy bottomed pot, turn your stove to medium heat and add the corn oil to the pot.
2.  Add the flour and stir continuously to blend the flour and oil together.
3.  Continue to stir until the roux begins to darken. Turn the fire down between low and medium. Be careful not to burn the roux.  Do not turn the fire too high.  This is a process that requires patience. It will seem like its not turning brown but keep stirring.  It is a very gradual change.  Keep your heat between low and medium.
  If you see black specs in your roux, it is burnt.  Turn it off, throw it out and start over. Please don’t continue, it will ruin your entire gumbo. TRUST ME lmaooo.
4.  Your roux will reach a point where it seems like it isn’t darkening any further.  Turn the fire up slightly but most importantly, don’t stop stirring!  
5.  If you feel like the roux is getting away from you, turn it back down, but continue to stir.
6.  Once the roux has reached the desired level of darkness, you will stop it from cooking by adding the chopped raw seasonings.
Putting the Gumbo Together
1.  Now that you have added the raw seasonings to the roux, sauté the veggies until they are translucent.  You can raise your fire some, at this point the roux is less likely to burn.
2.  This is an important step.  Season your roux! I like to use smoked paprika, Sage, Slap Your Mama, Tony’s, Garlic Powder, a little Cayenne, Onion Powder, Black Pepper, Oregano. I find that this really shapes the entire taste of your final product.  Of course you can add seasonings later, I recommend it.  But don't wait until you've added your liquid to add your dry seasonings.  It makes it harder to properly season the gumbo.  I always season my roux.
2.  Use a ladle or a pitcher to transfer warm seafood stock to your roux. Do this in small batches while blending the roux and stock together.
3.  Continue to add warm stock to your roux and blend until the pot is more than half full but no more than ¾ full.  We have to save room for our meats.
4.  Next, add the pack of dried shrimp and cover the gumbo.
5.  Allow the gumbo to come to a slight boil at medium heat.
6.  Next add your sausage while still allowing the gumbo to simmer about 20 minutes.  Be sure to stir periodically.
7.  Add the chicken and gumbo crabs.  Stir them both in and allow the gumbo to simmer about 45 minutes or so.
8.  Next add the okra.  Let that simmer about 15 minutes and then add your shrimp and crab meat.
9.  Once the shrimp start to turn slightly pink.  Add green onions to garnish.
If you have stock leftover, freeze it!
Serve over warm rice! If you make this recipe, please tag me (@bmycurlfriend)! I'd love to see what you come up with! As always, drop me a comment if you have any questions! Happy Cooking!