This Chicken and Sausage Gumbo Is Your New Go-To Comfort Food

If New Orleans is known for anything it's probably music. Or Mardis Gras. Or frat boys puking in the midst of binge drinking daiquiris on Bourbon Street.

But if you're someone who cares about food, when you think about NOLA, you think about the cuisine. New Orleans is one of America's greatest, and most unique, food cities. The problem is that, outside of Louisiana, nobody seems to be able to do cajun and creole food right.

That's why, unless you happen to be within driving distance, you're better off just making cajun or creole food for yourself—at least if you know what you're doing. And thanks to us, you now know what you're doing.

We got this gumbo recipe from Amanda and Isaac Toups of acclaimed New Orleans cajun restaurant Toups' Meatery, so you can save yourself from a subpar Cajun meal (or a plane ticket to New Orleans).

The gumbo is just the right amount of spicy and hearty as hell, made with chicken breast, andouille sausage, beer, chicken stock, and—of course—a dark roux.

It takes a little bit of time and love, but it'll be totally worth it; it'll comfort you whether you just can't seem to warm up from the arctic chill outside or you're struggling to recover after a misguided night on Bourbon Street.