CAJUN VENISON
Cajun People love wild game and are good hunters, efficient and proud of getting a lot of meat out of their hunting. This hunting is fair, because many Cajuns are not wealthy at all, and they need the game for their families
so , here's how to do a Venison Roast cajun style:
trim all the fat and gristle and the silvery skin off the raw meat. cut slits two inches deep all around the roast. pack the slits with a paste of salt, pepper, garlic powder, some cayenne pepper worchestershire sauce and celery powder, with a clove of garlic to packit into each slit. put the roast into a bowl and cover it with one cup of apple cider vinegar, once cup of Italian dressing, and one cup of red wine. Place in the icebox over night....Put a whole cup of olive oil in a heavy metal pot and heat to medium. brown the roast all around, and add two large diced yellow onions, cover...when the onions are soft, add an eight ounce glass of water with cajun seasonings as desired (I usually add a roux at this time). Keep adding water to make the roast really tender. about an hour in, add minced garlic, file', a cup of cooking sherry, and three cups of mushrooms to the broth. continue at low heat until the roast is really tender when you cut it. Slice the roast while it's still in the pot, and let the meat absorb flavor from the gravy. add chopped green onions to the gravy, and a bit of really chopped parsley. Serve right away over white fluffy rice, or long grained white rice mixed with wild rice....
it takes some time, but it is a meat gift you can be really thankful for, for it is delicious and very nourishing....
Here's its POEM:
When he brought in the Deer
She was a doe
without faun
but still, I sighed.
can't waste her life no more...
So we hang her and clean her out -
the dogs and cats eat that part -
the pigs a bit as well....
The man skins her and takes off her head -
we bury those parts under the apple tree....
onto the table in the summer kitchen she lays
and we start to cut everything up.
We get Methodical right about then.
washing and lightly salting and cutting and
packing into the butcher paper and labeling
and throwing into the floor freezer in sections:
roasts and steaks and stew meat and liver and
sausage bits and parts that will go for jerky and
ribs and leg roasts and all....
then we wash the summer kitchen table and the floor
soap and water and rinse it with the hose and
once again I sigh, and I sigh the whole time
we do all these things to feed our large an'
Hungry Family of Children and Workers and Animals...
I sigh: Thank you. thank you so much, Woman Deer:
I swear to you your life was not in vain:
You will live in Us and we will Thrive for You
For Generations, this I promise you.
amen. Amen.
1/31/13
CAJUN VENISON Roast is about cooking Game correctly and well, so that its nutritious Meat is not wasted, but adds to our lives what we took when we hunted the animal. with Thanks for and to all the responsible hunters I'm known and loved, for bringing home food we needed, when we needed this food....
1/30/13
BOUDIN is a Poor Man's Sausage - stretched out with parts of crawfish or pork or livers or what-nots....this is a Boudin Balls recipe...if you're fixin' to eat sausage....
BOUDIN
is a Cajun Sausage made usually from pork parts ground up, white rice, the Holy Trinity, and Cajun Seasoning, in a Sausage Casing...there are still a lot of Cajuns who make their own properly, but I've only used store-bought...here's a good way to cook them up...
Take the Boudin (boo-dan) out of the casing...roll the meat mix into little balls, usually the size of an egg....crush a package of saltine crackers really fine, and season them with a little salt, some black pepper, red pepper flakes (a pinch or so), some dried thyme, and garlic powder...roll the boudin balls into the cracker meal, and refrigerate them to cool off on wax paper for two hours. Heat cooking oil and drop the boudin balls into fry until they[re golden brown...drain on paper towels. serve while warm, usually... you can bake em at 375 degrees, too, for about half an hour, fifteen minutes on each 'side'...some people dredge the cold balls of boudin into and egg and milk mix and then into the cracker meal again, for a fluffier, thicker breading...that's good, too!!!!
Here's their Poem:
Along with seasoned Pork Rinds
You kin chew on that Boudin
Tip a jar to Joe
Throw back your head and
Laugh and Laugh
There's a Dance over at
Petie's on the Bayou
I'm goin' ta take a plate'a
This Good Here Boudin
Over der to dat Joint
Just see if I won't!
Just see if I won't!
1/29/13
FIGS are my favorite Louisiana Fruit...Cajuns eat lots of figs - green bowls of them in the deep summer...here is one recipe to preserve them...where they will bring that hot sweet to your mouth in the winter chill on the bayous.....
LOUISIANA FIGS
The edible Figs of Louisiana are Delicious all by themselves. If you pick a lot of them in late June or early July, you get too many in a short time...a great way to 'set them by' is to preserve them as a syrup, that Cajuns love especially over biscuits, pancakes, and even plain cakes. They're a purple-brown color, pear or onion shaped, and a little leathery on the outside when mature. they can be up to two inches big...you gotta wear cotton gloves when picking them, because of their white 'sap' from the broken stem - it can really irritate the skin...they're harvested for four or five weeks, so you're likely to have a lot of em - unless the birds get to them first!
For making the Syrup to preserve them, you cut them up and clean up any old or touch areas or skin that's thick and wash them and drain a bit...cook them on low heat with their own sugars and a dash or so of corn syrup, stirring often...when they're really very soft, puree them in batches...in a heavy pan, pour in about a full cup and a half of the pureed figs, one cup white sugar, a scant teaspoon of lemon juice, and a pinch of cinnamon...bring it all to a full rolling boil and boil, stirring the whole time, for one more minute. Stir in a pat of butter...spoon into a few scalded canning jars, and seal...you can make the batches as big as you want, increasing the ratios as needed...it takes a lot of stirring to prevent big batches from sticking or burning, though...so just making several smaller batches works out much better....
Here's the Poem for LOUISIANA FIGS:
Everything blooms in Louisiana Sweet
Sweet and hot and bursting with full purple, gold
I've sat in the shade of this Magnolia Tree and been hot
Too hot to do more then to eat this Richness
This sweet angel of a Fruit from a tree rainin' 'em down
Down to this bench in this Heart of this French Quarter
Where the shutters are closed and still and the
Deep purple Figs stain this white bench stone deep, deep
Down through the purple-golds of this Louisiana Dusk.....
The edible Figs of Louisiana are Delicious all by themselves. If you pick a lot of them in late June or early July, you get too many in a short time...a great way to 'set them by' is to preserve them as a syrup, that Cajuns love especially over biscuits, pancakes, and even plain cakes. They're a purple-brown color, pear or onion shaped, and a little leathery on the outside when mature. they can be up to two inches big...you gotta wear cotton gloves when picking them, because of their white 'sap' from the broken stem - it can really irritate the skin...they're harvested for four or five weeks, so you're likely to have a lot of em - unless the birds get to them first!
For making the Syrup to preserve them, you cut them up and clean up any old or touch areas or skin that's thick and wash them and drain a bit...cook them on low heat with their own sugars and a dash or so of corn syrup, stirring often...when they're really very soft, puree them in batches...in a heavy pan, pour in about a full cup and a half of the pureed figs, one cup white sugar, a scant teaspoon of lemon juice, and a pinch of cinnamon...bring it all to a full rolling boil and boil, stirring the whole time, for one more minute. Stir in a pat of butter...spoon into a few scalded canning jars, and seal...you can make the batches as big as you want, increasing the ratios as needed...it takes a lot of stirring to prevent big batches from sticking or burning, though...so just making several smaller batches works out much better....
Here's the Poem for LOUISIANA FIGS:
Everything blooms in Louisiana Sweet
Sweet and hot and bursting with full purple, gold
I've sat in the shade of this Magnolia Tree and been hot
Too hot to do more then to eat this Richness
This sweet angel of a Fruit from a tree rainin' 'em down
Down to this bench in this Heart of this French Quarter
Where the shutters are closed and still and the
Deep purple Figs stain this white bench stone deep, deep
Down through the purple-golds of this Louisiana Dusk.....
1/28/13
CAJUN SAUCES is my hymn to the few I know...go from here to all the spices and tastes of the Cajun tongue....
CAJUN REMOULADE SAUCE
is a sauce that is poured over just about everything savory: especially fish and crawfish - of the fish, most often, catfish...it is a Delicious Sauce...keeps in the icebox for a long time too, in a jar with a tight-fittin' top....
In your blender, stuff in about a quarter of a chopped mild red pepper, a diced stalk of celery that is nice and crisp, two chopped whole green onions, a cup of mayonnaise, two tablespoons of a strong mustard, two tablespoons of ketchup, one or two tablespoons of fresh grated horseradish, half of a cup of flat parsley leaves, fresh, if you can get em, three shake-outs of worstershire sauce, a tablespoon of smokey paprika, and some flakes, or more if you like, or red pepper or a quarter teaspoon of cayenne pepper...blend and blend until smooth....always stir it up some more for serving...it is So Good!!!!....
THICKENING SAUCES THE CAJUN WAY
Best as I know, in any sauce you make for Cajun food, you may at times need to thicken...here's a couple of ways:
Beurre Manie' is an 'uncooked roux of about three ounces of flour and four ounces of butter, that have been kneaded together, and you add this cool mixture of a paste very slowly into the sauce that's too thin...it works just fine.
A Liaison is a mix of three beaten egg yolk in on cup of heavy cream...you add tablespoons of hot water to it slowly, until it's hot enough to add to a hot/warm sauce that needs thickening and richening....deliciously silkey addition!!!!
VELOUTE'
is one of the Cajun 'Mother Sauces' - it's simple, but it's used a Lot in Cajun saucing: Cajuns add stock from any of the meats or veges they parboiled or boiled, and the usual Cajun seasonings - especially the salty ones, like Celery Salt, Garlic Salt, or Onion Salt...
First, you bring the 'stock' you saved to a boil. In a small iron frying pan, combine around two or three ounces of flour with two or three ounces of mixed butter and olive oil...cook over high heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, until you have a honey brown roux. Whip the stock into the roux a little at a time, avoiding makin' any lumps. simmer this very low for at least a half hour, skimming the surface and stirring as needed...Strain the sauce into a colander with just one layer of cheese cloth...add pepper and more salt to your taste...
Veloute' is the base for so many other sauces! You can can add cheeses, wines, mushrooms, onions, garlic, beaten eggs, heavy creams, any seasonings you want...it's a wonderful Base, and that's why it's one of the French Mother Sauces the Cajuns picked-up-on over the decades....there are Lots of 'secondary' sauce recipes on line made with Veloute'....
Well, there are Lots more sauces for Cajun Cooking, but these are the ones I know...use your imagination and the internet and find some more!!! The Hunger is in the Sauce, I always say!!!!! Which leads to the Poem....
Roux and Sauces
Veloute' - Remoulade -
Liaison - Beurre Manie' -
Names that do not
Flow easy from my tongue...
o, Forgive me, my Ancestress
Who gave my Father the fluid
Grace of the Cajun Tongue -
The Taste for Heat and Spices
From his Childhood and his
Cajun Blood...
Thin Strong Line of France
Among the Southern Ladies
British Isles Confederates
Welsh Aristocrats and
Faded Glories of Evangeline...
Pass the Remoulade, Cher -
A toast in my Jar
For Cajun on the lips
In the Heart
is a sauce that is poured over just about everything savory: especially fish and crawfish - of the fish, most often, catfish...it is a Delicious Sauce...keeps in the icebox for a long time too, in a jar with a tight-fittin' top....
In your blender, stuff in about a quarter of a chopped mild red pepper, a diced stalk of celery that is nice and crisp, two chopped whole green onions, a cup of mayonnaise, two tablespoons of a strong mustard, two tablespoons of ketchup, one or two tablespoons of fresh grated horseradish, half of a cup of flat parsley leaves, fresh, if you can get em, three shake-outs of worstershire sauce, a tablespoon of smokey paprika, and some flakes, or more if you like, or red pepper or a quarter teaspoon of cayenne pepper...blend and blend until smooth....always stir it up some more for serving...it is So Good!!!!....
THICKENING SAUCES THE CAJUN WAY
Best as I know, in any sauce you make for Cajun food, you may at times need to thicken...here's a couple of ways:
Beurre Manie' is an 'uncooked roux of about three ounces of flour and four ounces of butter, that have been kneaded together, and you add this cool mixture of a paste very slowly into the sauce that's too thin...it works just fine.
A Liaison is a mix of three beaten egg yolk in on cup of heavy cream...you add tablespoons of hot water to it slowly, until it's hot enough to add to a hot/warm sauce that needs thickening and richening....deliciously silkey addition!!!!
VELOUTE'
is one of the Cajun 'Mother Sauces' - it's simple, but it's used a Lot in Cajun saucing: Cajuns add stock from any of the meats or veges they parboiled or boiled, and the usual Cajun seasonings - especially the salty ones, like Celery Salt, Garlic Salt, or Onion Salt...
First, you bring the 'stock' you saved to a boil. In a small iron frying pan, combine around two or three ounces of flour with two or three ounces of mixed butter and olive oil...cook over high heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, until you have a honey brown roux. Whip the stock into the roux a little at a time, avoiding makin' any lumps. simmer this very low for at least a half hour, skimming the surface and stirring as needed...Strain the sauce into a colander with just one layer of cheese cloth...add pepper and more salt to your taste...
Veloute' is the base for so many other sauces! You can can add cheeses, wines, mushrooms, onions, garlic, beaten eggs, heavy creams, any seasonings you want...it's a wonderful Base, and that's why it's one of the French Mother Sauces the Cajuns picked-up-on over the decades....there are Lots of 'secondary' sauce recipes on line made with Veloute'....
Well, there are Lots more sauces for Cajun Cooking, but these are the ones I know...use your imagination and the internet and find some more!!! The Hunger is in the Sauce, I always say!!!!! Which leads to the Poem....
Roux and Sauces
Veloute' - Remoulade -
Liaison - Beurre Manie' -
Names that do not
Flow easy from my tongue...
o, Forgive me, my Ancestress
Who gave my Father the fluid
Grace of the Cajun Tongue -
The Taste for Heat and Spices
From his Childhood and his
Cajun Blood...
Thin Strong Line of France
Among the Southern Ladies
British Isles Confederates
Welsh Aristocrats and
Faded Glories of Evangeline...
Pass the Remoulade, Cher -
A toast in my Jar
For Cajun on the lips
In the Heart
1/27/13
COLLARD GREENS are a food I really crave at times, for their vitamins and minerals and fiber, yes...but mainly for their Taste...which is the Taste of the Growing Green of the South of this United States...Humble they appear: Proud they are....
COLLARD GREENS
Well, first, you need to purchase a large bunch of very fresh, large leaved collard greens - not rubbery or wiltey, and rinse them under cold water to get the dirt and sand off, and then chop them into about the size of dollar bills...drain em in collander. Saute, in olive oil, one large yellow onion, diced, two cloves of garlic, diced, until translucent light gold-brown...add four of five tomatoes, diced, or a fourteen ounce can of diced tomatoes, and a cup of vegetable broth...season with 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, a pinch of marjaram, a pinch of cumin, salt and pepper to taste, and a teaspoon of file' (sassafras), bring to the start of a boil, then add the chopped greens in and cook at a simmer for about fifteen minutes or so, at low heat - enough for a slow simmer, stirring occasionally. This is without meat, but you can add meats, like roast pork, or ham, or sausage, or bacon, or even chicken, all diced up. But, don't add them until the dish is about 1/3 cooked, for flavor. If the meat is salty, then don't add extra salt to the cookin'....In the last five minutes, stir in two teaspoons of apple cider vinegar and two teaspoons of brown sugar, if you want. I do!!! You can also add tobasco sauce to taste, if you want em more 'hot'...I don't!!!
I know it's very popular to use Kale lately, instead of Collards, or to mix the greens together, or to add some mustard or beet greens: but, you know, that's not Cajun. Cajun is Straight "Greens" and by that they mean Collards, and only Collards. Collards are the easiest Greens to raise...They grow high and big and you gotta pick them often, cuz they are prolific! They last out from Spring through the first few frosts, too, real well...if you cover them with plastic during cold times, they'll last most all winter or so....replant in the Spring, tho, cuz they'll be too tough after that...lay the old ones down in the rows, so all those minerals in them will return to the soil...they compost well any way you do em in....
Here is their Poem...
Collard Greens: Humble -
Still, not bowed before any -
Full of Sturdy Life....
Well, first, you need to purchase a large bunch of very fresh, large leaved collard greens - not rubbery or wiltey, and rinse them under cold water to get the dirt and sand off, and then chop them into about the size of dollar bills...drain em in collander. Saute, in olive oil, one large yellow onion, diced, two cloves of garlic, diced, until translucent light gold-brown...add four of five tomatoes, diced, or a fourteen ounce can of diced tomatoes, and a cup of vegetable broth...season with 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, a pinch of marjaram, a pinch of cumin, salt and pepper to taste, and a teaspoon of file' (sassafras), bring to the start of a boil, then add the chopped greens in and cook at a simmer for about fifteen minutes or so, at low heat - enough for a slow simmer, stirring occasionally. This is without meat, but you can add meats, like roast pork, or ham, or sausage, or bacon, or even chicken, all diced up. But, don't add them until the dish is about 1/3 cooked, for flavor. If the meat is salty, then don't add extra salt to the cookin'....In the last five minutes, stir in two teaspoons of apple cider vinegar and two teaspoons of brown sugar, if you want. I do!!! You can also add tobasco sauce to taste, if you want em more 'hot'...I don't!!!
I know it's very popular to use Kale lately, instead of Collards, or to mix the greens together, or to add some mustard or beet greens: but, you know, that's not Cajun. Cajun is Straight "Greens" and by that they mean Collards, and only Collards. Collards are the easiest Greens to raise...They grow high and big and you gotta pick them often, cuz they are prolific! They last out from Spring through the first few frosts, too, real well...if you cover them with plastic during cold times, they'll last most all winter or so....replant in the Spring, tho, cuz they'll be too tough after that...lay the old ones down in the rows, so all those minerals in them will return to the soil...they compost well any way you do em in....
Here is their Poem...
Collard Greens: Humble -
Still, not bowed before any -
Full of Sturdy Life....
1/26/13
CRAWFISH is about the one Cajun Dish I make with Crawfish...there ARE Crawfish here in California - especially around Isleton in the Sacramento River Delta...but they are all over the Mississippi Delta all year...especially in the Spring....
Some words about CRAWFISH....
First of all, Crawfish Tails are all I've ever used, so someone, or an on-line site, can teach you how to clean and shell and prepare them if they are fresh. I've never had any fresh that I can recall, but maybe I did when I was a little kid visiting my grandparents in Southwestern Louisiana, but I can't remember...
Then, this is not quite the season to buy and to cook them. Seasonally, you can eat them year round, but the shells are harder and they're not so plump and 'rich' from around early fall through winter. They're best from early March through late summer, I understand... The only time I've ever prepared them in was around Mardi Gras, which is startin' up around now. So, here is my favorite recipe, using just the Tails, which can be fresh, but are usually frozen around California parts, if you can find them at all!!!!
CRAWFISH STEW
Make a Roux with 1/4 cup oil and 1/2 cup flour until nut brown. Saute three chopped large yellow onions, one green bell pepper, and one bunch of green onions - all chopped pretty fine. Stir in the roux and add one cup of water flavored with a dash of red pepper, a teaspoon of oregano; a half teaspoon of cumin, a teaspoon of file' sassafras, salt, and ample pepper - mince up about three cloves of garlic or more and add that too - some people add minced mushrooms to a Crawfish Stew, too....add in the crawfish tails, whole, at this point...cook over a low heat, just simmering, for about forty-five minutes. keep adding water if you think it's getting dry, since you want to get it all saucey....now, pour it over fluffy, hot long grain rice.
It's delicious. Really Delicious....
Here's its Poem:
CRAWFISH
Kylie and I went to fish
For Crawfish in a little pond
A stick and string and hotdog bait
An' hopes of catchin' dinner
But this was California an'
Them Crawfish were a little small
With tiny tails - not 'fat' at'all
So we had empty buckets
Still and all, it's fun to be
With a kid beneath the trees
Trying to fish Crawfish
On lazy sunny Springtime days
An' you know, if I had my way:
I'd fish beside kids every day
An' never long for much time more
Than fishin' Crawfish on those ponds
Those California Springs...
Those lazy days of Spring....
First of all, Crawfish Tails are all I've ever used, so someone, or an on-line site, can teach you how to clean and shell and prepare them if they are fresh. I've never had any fresh that I can recall, but maybe I did when I was a little kid visiting my grandparents in Southwestern Louisiana, but I can't remember...
Then, this is not quite the season to buy and to cook them. Seasonally, you can eat them year round, but the shells are harder and they're not so plump and 'rich' from around early fall through winter. They're best from early March through late summer, I understand... The only time I've ever prepared them in was around Mardi Gras, which is startin' up around now. So, here is my favorite recipe, using just the Tails, which can be fresh, but are usually frozen around California parts, if you can find them at all!!!!
CRAWFISH STEW
Make a Roux with 1/4 cup oil and 1/2 cup flour until nut brown. Saute three chopped large yellow onions, one green bell pepper, and one bunch of green onions - all chopped pretty fine. Stir in the roux and add one cup of water flavored with a dash of red pepper, a teaspoon of oregano; a half teaspoon of cumin, a teaspoon of file' sassafras, salt, and ample pepper - mince up about three cloves of garlic or more and add that too - some people add minced mushrooms to a Crawfish Stew, too....add in the crawfish tails, whole, at this point...cook over a low heat, just simmering, for about forty-five minutes. keep adding water if you think it's getting dry, since you want to get it all saucey....now, pour it over fluffy, hot long grain rice.
It's delicious. Really Delicious....
Here's its Poem:
CRAWFISH
Kylie and I went to fish
For Crawfish in a little pond
A stick and string and hotdog bait
An' hopes of catchin' dinner
But this was California an'
Them Crawfish were a little small
With tiny tails - not 'fat' at'all
So we had empty buckets
Still and all, it's fun to be
With a kid beneath the trees
Trying to fish Crawfish
On lazy sunny Springtime days
An' you know, if I had my way:
I'd fish beside kids every day
An' never long for much time more
Than fishin' Crawfish on those ponds
Those California Springs...
Those lazy days of Spring....
1/25/13
FEAR AND HOW I WILL REMAIN is a Poem based on the Bene Gesserit mantra-moves on FEAR....one of my favorite literary quotes in my life....
"I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain."
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain."
|
1/24/13
BREAD PUDDIN', HOT AND SWEET with Whiskey Sauce, if you wish it...The BEST of the Cajun Desserts, if you ask me....but then, I got a Southern Sweet Tooth, which is the worst of the Sweet Teeth Breed, and that's a fact....
BREAD PUDDING WITH WHISKEY SAUCE is the Best of the classic Cajun Desserts, I do believe...here's my Recipe, and it will knock your stockins off, I betcha!
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Whisk 3-4 beaten eggs into 1 quart of half-and-half. tear a loaf of day-old French bread into chunks and soak in the milk and egg mixture...kind-of knead the bread into the mix a bit, to be sure the milk/eggs have soaked through. Stir in 1 and 1/2 cups sugar, 1 tablespoon of good vanilla, 2-3 teaspoons of cinnamon, and about a cup of raisins, if you want raisins...or currents and crushed nuts or even other dried fruits, cut up....pour 2 tablespoons of melted butter into a heavy 9 x 14 or so baking pan, coating the bottom and sides...spoon in the bread mixture, and put some dashes of cinnamon and nutmeg on top...bake until very firm, about 40 minutes or so. Cool the pudding, then cut it into cubes into individual dessert dishes. pour the whiskey sauce over it, and heat it under the broiler for just a few minutes...
For the WHISKEY SAUCE:
Cream 1 cup of sugar with 1 stick of unsalted butter, and then cook it until it's well-dissolved and very hot - probably in a double-boiler...add 1 well-beaten egg very, very slowly, whipping it very, very fast, to keep the egg from scrambling or curdlin'! cool, and then stir in 2 and 1/2 ounces of a good Bourbon Whiskey, or even Southern Comfort, which hopefully you have on hand...
This makes 4 large or 6-8 servings, depending on how civilized you would like to appear...it's DELICIOUS!
Here's the Poem:
Bread Puddin' hot and sweet
Got me dancin', baby girl,
Pour the Whiskey over all
Got me dancin', baby girl,
I ain't been so happy darlin'
Since I was a little child
Like some child I wail for more
Bread Puddin', hot and sweet
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Whisk 3-4 beaten eggs into 1 quart of half-and-half. tear a loaf of day-old French bread into chunks and soak in the milk and egg mixture...kind-of knead the bread into the mix a bit, to be sure the milk/eggs have soaked through. Stir in 1 and 1/2 cups sugar, 1 tablespoon of good vanilla, 2-3 teaspoons of cinnamon, and about a cup of raisins, if you want raisins...or currents and crushed nuts or even other dried fruits, cut up....pour 2 tablespoons of melted butter into a heavy 9 x 14 or so baking pan, coating the bottom and sides...spoon in the bread mixture, and put some dashes of cinnamon and nutmeg on top...bake until very firm, about 40 minutes or so. Cool the pudding, then cut it into cubes into individual dessert dishes. pour the whiskey sauce over it, and heat it under the broiler for just a few minutes...
For the WHISKEY SAUCE:
Cream 1 cup of sugar with 1 stick of unsalted butter, and then cook it until it's well-dissolved and very hot - probably in a double-boiler...add 1 well-beaten egg very, very slowly, whipping it very, very fast, to keep the egg from scrambling or curdlin'! cool, and then stir in 2 and 1/2 ounces of a good Bourbon Whiskey, or even Southern Comfort, which hopefully you have on hand...
This makes 4 large or 6-8 servings, depending on how civilized you would like to appear...it's DELICIOUS!
Here's the Poem:
Bread Puddin' hot and sweet
Got me dancin', baby girl,
Pour the Whiskey over all
Got me dancin', baby girl,
I ain't been so happy darlin'
Since I was a little child
Like some child I wail for more
Bread Puddin', hot and sweet
HOMINY AND GRITS are the potatoes of the South. They are satisfying. there's an old saying: A man who eats Grits is a man of Peace. that could just be right....
Now for some words about HOMINY and about GRITS, which means mainly about Breakfast in the Delta Deep South for sure, and is not to be missed just cuz you move up north and all...
HOMINY or Speckeled Grits, are the whole kernal of corn soaked in lye or lyme until the hull comes off, rinsed til there's not that many vitamins left in em, and then boiled and fried and added-to with butter or cheese and maybe bacon or ham or seafood or sausage or pork bits browned, or maybe all of that, and eaten along side of eggs, if in the morning, with the yolk runnin' all over em. You've soaked them overnight, and then boiled them for a hour - or you've used them canned, which just takes a warmin' up, and doesn't taste as fine, but tastes OK. Elder Southerners all crave Hominy, and feel less 'well' if they don't have some ever so now and again...
In Mexican cooking , Hominy is called Posole, I believe, and is cooked into lots of dishes....
now, Grits are another story...Grits are dried, ground-up hominy, a coarse corn meal, and they come in bags and boxes and have to be moistened a lot and cooked for a long time to be edible. There are many, many ways to prepare Grits. this is my way:
pour 2 cups of whole milk, and 2 cups of water and 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of non-iodined salt or kosher slat into a large, heavy-bottom pot over medium-hight heat and bring to a boil. at once add 2 cups of coarse ground cornmeal, a little at a time while continually whisking and whisking. decrease the heat to very low, and cover. uncover and whisk frequently, every 2 to 4 minutes or so, to prevent the grits from sticking or forming lumps. Cook them for 25 minutes, and then they are done. you might have to add more milky water to them, very warm, if they start to dry out...they should be like a hot farina-like cereal consistency when they're ready.
Now, you can whisk in all sorts of good things: ground black pepper and up to 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter are my favorite...quite a few folks add a brown sugar syrup or sugar along with the butter... many add shredded cheddar or other cheeses... you can add cooked shrimp and chopped chives. shrimp and grits are a very popular brunch item all over the south. so are crab and grits, and runny friend eggs and grits. these are all very good to eat - they really are.
Here's their Poem:
Them Hominy Grits:
Cook 'em 'til they're nice and done...
Butter, Salt, Sugar....
HOMINY or Speckeled Grits, are the whole kernal of corn soaked in lye or lyme until the hull comes off, rinsed til there's not that many vitamins left in em, and then boiled and fried and added-to with butter or cheese and maybe bacon or ham or seafood or sausage or pork bits browned, or maybe all of that, and eaten along side of eggs, if in the morning, with the yolk runnin' all over em. You've soaked them overnight, and then boiled them for a hour - or you've used them canned, which just takes a warmin' up, and doesn't taste as fine, but tastes OK. Elder Southerners all crave Hominy, and feel less 'well' if they don't have some ever so now and again...
In Mexican cooking , Hominy is called Posole, I believe, and is cooked into lots of dishes....
now, Grits are another story...Grits are dried, ground-up hominy, a coarse corn meal, and they come in bags and boxes and have to be moistened a lot and cooked for a long time to be edible. There are many, many ways to prepare Grits. this is my way:
pour 2 cups of whole milk, and 2 cups of water and 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of non-iodined salt or kosher slat into a large, heavy-bottom pot over medium-hight heat and bring to a boil. at once add 2 cups of coarse ground cornmeal, a little at a time while continually whisking and whisking. decrease the heat to very low, and cover. uncover and whisk frequently, every 2 to 4 minutes or so, to prevent the grits from sticking or forming lumps. Cook them for 25 minutes, and then they are done. you might have to add more milky water to them, very warm, if they start to dry out...they should be like a hot farina-like cereal consistency when they're ready.
Now, you can whisk in all sorts of good things: ground black pepper and up to 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter are my favorite...quite a few folks add a brown sugar syrup or sugar along with the butter... many add shredded cheddar or other cheeses... you can add cooked shrimp and chopped chives. shrimp and grits are a very popular brunch item all over the south. so are crab and grits, and runny friend eggs and grits. these are all very good to eat - they really are.
Here's their Poem:
Them Hominy Grits:
Cook 'em 'til they're nice and done...
Butter, Salt, Sugar....
1/23/13
DIRTY RICE is a recipe and a poem about a simple poor-folk dish from some other time and place in Southwestern Louisiana...long, long ago....
- 1 pound chicken gizzards
- 1/4 pound chicken liver
- 1/2 pound ground pork
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1/4 cup oil
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 8 garlic cloves, chopped finely
- 1 cup chopped celery
- 1/2 cup chopped green onions, both white and green parts
- 1/4 cup chopped parsley
- 4 cups rice, cooked
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Red chile flakes
I copied these ingredients before I even tell the name of the dish...but, hey...IT'S DIRTY RICE!!!!!!....I'm not sure where I got this list of ingredients, but I can tell you that they are 'right' and here's how you make this wonderful Cajun Rice Dish, which can have sausage in it too, if you like....
First, make the rice, and it should be long grain rice and should be dryish and fluffy as a cloud when it's done...mince up the kitchen gizzards, chicken liver, ground pork, ground beef, and maybe bacon - as much as you'd like for flavor more than anything, and saute them all together in olive oil and butter until brown and slightly sticking to the bottom of the frying pan...Then, chop very, very finely, the onion the celery and the garlic, and the green onions and soften these veges until almost translucent mix the vegetables with the meats, add the salt and pepper and red chile flakes and mix them all into the rice rapidly and into a fluffy warm mass. serve at once!
DIRTY RICE is the real name of this dish, but some call it Cajun Rice now, as Dirty Rice sounds not-clean, or a dish for poor people. Well, it is a dish for poor people from the past, but it's loaded with proteins and vitamins and minerals, so it's good for just everybody...it's a GREAT side dish, but it's also a very good Main Dish if you add saute of slices of a good sausage to it....most people also add Worcestershire sauce at the table, but you can add it right during the mixing stage...also, it looks really pretty with fine chopped parsley on top of it, for some color and even more vitamins and minerals!
Here's its Poem....
Dirty Rice is good, darlin'
It's like a bit of home goin' down
Somewhere near the Grits and eggs
my darlin'
the jar of dandelion wine
you served us all at New Year with
the Hoppin' John
somewhere in all that is a moist, cool
mornin' on some bayou
of my imagination
where we are more easy-goin' folks
polin' some piroque down into
this swamp where old spanish moss
catches in your hair and brushes your
face where tears be fallin'
my darlin'
1/22/13
1/21/13
CORN BREAD/SPOON BREAD are simple old recipes from the deep South in Louisiana. They traveled to the ladies who gave me the recipes around a half century ago, and they are still delicious today...they bring the Bayou Food Culture right into your home and to your taste buds and stomach!
CORNBREAD
Julieanna from New Orleans was a friend of Cecelia's in the French Quarter. They were both Creole, but told me this was, and I wrote it as she spelled it: "Por'tuge Brazilian Cornbread" which was her 'best recipe'. I had some with thick black coffee-with-chick'ry over at Cecelia's Gift Boutique in the Quarter when I was nineteen years old...I thought of myself as very grown up indeed, with my Dad's bit of a drawl to match their soft Creole accents, I was certain....
So:
Combine four beaten eggs, five tablespoons of rich butter, one and 1/2 cups of white cane sugar, one and 1/2 cups of white flour sifted with one and 1/2 cups of stoneground cornmeal, a pinch of salt, and one and 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder. combine this mix with one overflowing cup of warm, whole milk and stir in Erva Doce, which is an oil of anise - just a drop of two...if you don't have the oil, then a couple of pinches of anise powder will do...if neither, then you'll have to do without! (a note: this recipe calls for one and 1/2 cups More of Sugar! You can try that - but today's times call for a less sweet cornbread taste....)
Combine all the ingredients into a light, fluffy mix and Do Not over-mix! Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes in a nice square lightly-buttered tin...when it's cooled out on a rack, sprinkle a small amount of sugar and salt very lightly on top...most folks don't take it out of the pan - they cut the squares of it right in the pan.
What my Gramma Everitt and also Lilly Bea, and Cora - the Louisiana Family Cooks, used to make, more than Cornbread, was Spoon Bread...
Here's the Everitt Family Recipe for Spoon Bread, which is a Corn Bread...and, this is GOOD!
SPOON BREAD
Pour one cup of ground corn meal into one pint of boiling water with one teaspoon of salt in it. Stir for one minute. Remove from the fire. Add two tablespoons of butter, beat well into the cornmeal mix. Add four beaten eggs one by one and then on cup of cold milk. Beat again into cake batter. Pour into a hot buttered baking dish. Bake twenty-five minutes in a 'hot oven'. Serve from the baking dish when it's still warm, but not hot...
So, there they are...two 'old timey' recipes, but, tried and true...There are as many recipes for Corn Bread as there are Southern Cooks. These are 'mine' and I'm fond of them...they have no Poems to honor them. They honor themselves with their delicious warmth and fine nutrition. They hit the spot. There are few Southern Meals without a Cornmeal Product somewhere round and about...enjoy the crunch....
Julieanna from New Orleans was a friend of Cecelia's in the French Quarter. They were both Creole, but told me this was, and I wrote it as she spelled it: "Por'tuge Brazilian Cornbread" which was her 'best recipe'. I had some with thick black coffee-with-chick'ry over at Cecelia's Gift Boutique in the Quarter when I was nineteen years old...I thought of myself as very grown up indeed, with my Dad's bit of a drawl to match their soft Creole accents, I was certain....
So:
Combine four beaten eggs, five tablespoons of rich butter, one and 1/2 cups of white cane sugar, one and 1/2 cups of white flour sifted with one and 1/2 cups of stoneground cornmeal, a pinch of salt, and one and 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder. combine this mix with one overflowing cup of warm, whole milk and stir in Erva Doce, which is an oil of anise - just a drop of two...if you don't have the oil, then a couple of pinches of anise powder will do...if neither, then you'll have to do without! (a note: this recipe calls for one and 1/2 cups More of Sugar! You can try that - but today's times call for a less sweet cornbread taste....)
Combine all the ingredients into a light, fluffy mix and Do Not over-mix! Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes in a nice square lightly-buttered tin...when it's cooled out on a rack, sprinkle a small amount of sugar and salt very lightly on top...most folks don't take it out of the pan - they cut the squares of it right in the pan.
What my Gramma Everitt and also Lilly Bea, and Cora - the Louisiana Family Cooks, used to make, more than Cornbread, was Spoon Bread...
Here's the Everitt Family Recipe for Spoon Bread, which is a Corn Bread...and, this is GOOD!
SPOON BREAD
Pour one cup of ground corn meal into one pint of boiling water with one teaspoon of salt in it. Stir for one minute. Remove from the fire. Add two tablespoons of butter, beat well into the cornmeal mix. Add four beaten eggs one by one and then on cup of cold milk. Beat again into cake batter. Pour into a hot buttered baking dish. Bake twenty-five minutes in a 'hot oven'. Serve from the baking dish when it's still warm, but not hot...
So, there they are...two 'old timey' recipes, but, tried and true...There are as many recipes for Corn Bread as there are Southern Cooks. These are 'mine' and I'm fond of them...they have no Poems to honor them. They honor themselves with their delicious warmth and fine nutrition. They hit the spot. There are few Southern Meals without a Cornmeal Product somewhere round and about...enjoy the crunch....
RED BEANS AND RICE is the Dinner of Kings for Royalty who have reached the Poor House with the best of Southern Attitude....here's the recipe I've garnished over the years with sprigs of flat leaf parsley...eat up, now....
RED BEANS AND RICE
You must soak two cups of red kidney beans in water overnight and drain them. In a saucepan then you saute about 1/2 cup of chopped white onion and 1/2 cup of chopped shallots and a teaspoon or so of minced garlic cloves - in butter until quite tender..add a little over a half cup of chopped ham, preferably southern roasted with brown sugar syrup and a few cloves of cloves - until nicely browned. add the drained kidney bean and 3 cups of water with about 1/2 cup of coffee and a vege bullion cube, a bit of marjoram, and a bit of cumin and a little pepper flakes in the water...cook slowly over low heat or put into a slow oven, which is around 300 degrees, usually...cook and cook at this simmer for an hour or so, adding hot water if needed, until the beans are cooked through but not fallin' apart...serve over short grained white, hot, fluffy rice. Sometimes I add File' to the water when the beans are about 3/4 done, to thicken the sauce and cajun-cook it more - make sure you've put in enough water that you do have a sauce, that isn't thin and isn't thick, but is tasty and smooth around the beans and over the rice.
Now this is a simple dish that isn't really simple at all. you have to cook it up with love and respect for the old ways and the poverty of money without the poverty of spirit. you have to have pride to make Red Beans and Rice and call that a Meal and not bat an eyelash. You gotta have a Southern Pride that hates the sin but loves the sinner, and sees that the gentlemen get their dinner, ready and waitin' and pipin' hot, whether gentlemen wants to eat it or not, like the old poem says...if you serve this dish with this attitude, then it will always taste like it is the Dinner for Kings. an', you know, it truly is that....
You must soak two cups of red kidney beans in water overnight and drain them. In a saucepan then you saute about 1/2 cup of chopped white onion and 1/2 cup of chopped shallots and a teaspoon or so of minced garlic cloves - in butter until quite tender..add a little over a half cup of chopped ham, preferably southern roasted with brown sugar syrup and a few cloves of cloves - until nicely browned. add the drained kidney bean and 3 cups of water with about 1/2 cup of coffee and a vege bullion cube, a bit of marjoram, and a bit of cumin and a little pepper flakes in the water...cook slowly over low heat or put into a slow oven, which is around 300 degrees, usually...cook and cook at this simmer for an hour or so, adding hot water if needed, until the beans are cooked through but not fallin' apart...serve over short grained white, hot, fluffy rice. Sometimes I add File' to the water when the beans are about 3/4 done, to thicken the sauce and cajun-cook it more - make sure you've put in enough water that you do have a sauce, that isn't thin and isn't thick, but is tasty and smooth around the beans and over the rice.
Now this is a simple dish that isn't really simple at all. you have to cook it up with love and respect for the old ways and the poverty of money without the poverty of spirit. you have to have pride to make Red Beans and Rice and call that a Meal and not bat an eyelash. You gotta have a Southern Pride that hates the sin but loves the sinner, and sees that the gentlemen get their dinner, ready and waitin' and pipin' hot, whether gentlemen wants to eat it or not, like the old poem says...if you serve this dish with this attitude, then it will always taste like it is the Dinner for Kings. an', you know, it truly is that....
1/20/13
BANANAS FOSTER, somehow, for me, were such an exotic desert when I was in New Orleans at only age nineteen...an age of innocence and sweet fire....
BANANAS FOSTER
Melt an ounce (three tablespoons) brown sugar and a tablespoon of butter in a thick shallow pan...add two bananas, sliced lengthwise...saute until tender...sprinkle with cinnamon...pour an ounce and 1/2 of rum over it all and Flame it! Baste with the warm liquid until the flame burns out...this makes two servings over a good vanilla ice cream...
POEM FOR BANANAS FOSTER
In the Court of the Three Sisters
Sultry Morning
Magnolias beginning to brown in the heat
Edges curling over the white
Bananas Foster in flames
Ice Cream melting in very white bowls
Kisses on the damp neck of desire
Crepes Suzette thick black cafe
Brown and White Brown and White
One blossom behind a shell of ear
Flames die down
Taste the syrups of this touch
One finger on the pulses
Of so strong sweet and fire
PRALINES is brown-sugar and vanilla and milk and pecans, but they taste of the South to me and smell like magnolias when they're about to go into soft ball stage....
PRALINES
Bill Hahne's New Orleans Pralines
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cups brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup Half & Half
3/4 stick butter (6 tablespoons)
1 1/2 cup pecans
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cups brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup Half & Half
3/4 stick butter (6 tablespoons)
1 1/2 cup pecans
1 teaspoon vanilla
Combine all ingredients except pecans and vanilla. Bring to a boil. Add pecans, bring to 239 degrees. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla, then stir until mixtures thickens and becomes creamy and cloudy. Spoon onto buttered waxed paper.
this is the only recipe I've ever used for makin' Pralines, that delicious soft sugar candy with pecans. I was told this guy was a famous hotel restaurant chef in New Orleans, who made these daily, to the great delight of guests for years, I believe... This is the simple truth of the recipe. but, there's more to it, of course...
first you are stirring firmly but not all whippy, until it reaches a boil, and then only very gently, very, very occasionally, at a very low boil, until it reaches Soft Ball stage: not thready, not runny, not sticky, not shimmery - sort-of gummy looking and soft - this is near-exactly 238-239 degrees on the candy thermometer. Then, take it right on off the heat and gently stir in the vanilla, which will make it creamy, then stir in the pecans and spoon it into firm puddles onto buttered wax paper set on thick newspaper. it's Very hot at this stage, so be careful...when nice and cool, they're ready. you can store them in a tin, but they should be eaten within a few days. probably they won't make it that long, anyways...if they were hardening too fast, add a little tepid water, but, if you watch them and get them exactly to soft ball stage, that shouldn't happen.
Pralines are the most delicious Southern Treat ever in the country. Though often served at Christmas Time, I believe I've had them during Mardi Gras as well. I would enjoy these any time of the year at all, I do believe...not being a traditionalist....
Here is their Poem:
Pralines were how her long hair smelled
Praline all honey brown and gold
An' he was just some deep south boy
An' rarely did as he was told
He took her to the cypress swamp
He kissed her in the mornin' sun
Her breath was sweet as soft Pralines
Her heart was warm as when they're 'done'
He went on home in his piroque and
She went down the cypress way
She took her candy-sweetness north
She took his heart and hopes away
An' now he waits at Christmas time
The kitchen smelling Praline sweet
For his soft sweetness of a love
Who cut like pecan shards too deep
Pralines were how her long hair smelled
Pralines all honey brown and gold
An' his was just some deep south dream
A story sweet as any told
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