[javadog]

I'd suggest you use a recipe. Personally, I like Emeril's gumbo better than Paul Prudhomme's. Stick to a 1:1 ratio on the roux, use good ingredients and make no substitutes. The quality of things like the sausage make a big difference, as does browning the meats first. There's Andouille that you buy in a grocery store, then there's Andouille, which is a different thing altogether. I usually cut my sausage into smaller pieces than the recipe suggests and I shred the chicken after it's cooked at put it back in. Make your own stock, don't use the crap in a box, or the (much worse) crap in a can. If you use shrimp, use fresh gulf shrimp, not farmed Asian crap, and put it in at the very end. It only takes a couple minutes to cook.

JR