COACH RUKMANA ARIEF

Gumbo is a wonderful dish.  When I worked in the restaurant business I always put gumbo on the menu because of it's ability to take any flavor, any ingredient, a fantastic dish to lay at the feet of the food cost god.
Trim some fat off of a steak after you pull it off the grill? Toss that lovely piece of USDA grass-fed prime FAT right into the gumbo. Little bits of bacon--in the gumbo. Half a slice of avocado--plop. New line cook overgrill lobstertails? Chopped and tossed into the gumbo.  The tomato ends left over from the burger sets end up being nice flecks of red in the gumbo. I  wished I could toss in the extra Caesar salad that was prepped. You can even toss cheese in gumbo.
Everybody has a recipe for gumbo and mine, not being born of a kitchen in Louisiana, came from making innumerable batches and feeding them to my one Cajun friend who was always more than happy to to have yet another bowl.
Gumbo is a simple but not an easy dish.  The base is the roux, the trinity, garlic, thyme, and some stock.  Either file' powder or okra, but usually not both, is added as a thickener.  Everything else is all up to the cook and that what makes gumbo personal.

My recipe for the base if I am making a 4 quart pot is much like anyone else's with the personal variations:
Heat the oil to a low medium heat, add
the flour and stir continously until the roux becomes brick red. It takes a long time for the roux to become almost ready and then a heartbeat for the roux to become burned so be careful. I've tossed many a burnt roux due to videogames and TV shows so make sure you give the roux your almost undivided attention (Listening to This American Life is not a problem) until the roux is ready.
The more you develop the roux, the more of flavor you get out of it though the roux's ability to thicken wanes the more you cook it. I've been in restaurants that never seem to develop the roux to that brick red color and nobody ever seems to say wonderful things about the gumbo they serve other than "look there's shrimp in it".
After the roux is developed, toss in the trinity, the garlic, and the herbs and work those together until the trinity softens.  Add some stock, chicken, vegetable or otherwise.
From this point, the personal comes in. Andouille sausage is common but I suggest slicing it thin and then browning it before you add it to add that extra layer of flavor. Chicken is also a nice ingredient and I use chicken thighs that have been cubed into 1 inch chunks.
The last batch I made I had both of those items plus a pound each of shucked mussels and clams. I also chopped some mackeral.  I like using mackeral, an oily fish that stays together even when you stew it. If you wish to add shrimp or other crustaceans, add them at the end so they don't overcook. Serve it over rice, always.
The only non-traditional ingredient I add is fish sauce, a bunch of it.  The smell disappears and all that is left is that nice round flavor; hey, a billion Asians can't be wrong.
Go out to the store and your local fishmonger and make some gumbo today. Winter is a great season to make your first pot of gumbo and then you will have a dish that you can serve for four seasons for the rest of your life.
Here's a photo of my friend Chris Leslie after he had a bowl of gumbo. The mean look on his face is "stop taking my picture and bring the roast chicken you promised".