Mayhaw Man

I love an Anchor Steam with a dozen cold salties. It's a fine combination. It's got a nice yeasty, slightly fruity taste that matches well with the saltiness of the ersters. A draft Anchor, if you can get it, is even mo' bettah.

Dan Baum's observations and conclusions are generally really on the mark, but his running commentary on making groceries is really great stuff. For a guy who's not from here he has come to, in a very short time, really get it. I love the way that he compares and contrasts shopping in Boulder and shopping in New Orleans. Dan Baum on Boulder And his observations on making groceries the New Orleans way Now that's a Pulitzer in the making-or, probably more legitimately, a Beard. It's great stuff.

Summer- Okra and Tomatoes Peach Cobbler Peach Ice Cream Fresh Peas (blackeyed, cow, lady peas, whatever-just peas) Butterbeans More Okra and Tomatoes Fresh Pole Beans Corn

Oh boy. Another crunchy crust elitist. I, somehow, expect so much more from you. Life is full of sudden disappointment. I should get used to it.

"That's my boy." says Willie Mae Seaton. "She can be so pigheaded," says John Currence. Sweetness and light at the corner of Tonti and St Ann. I love all of these people. Jim's done a nice job on this piece. He spend the whole weekend following everyone around and obviously paid more attention to detail than I thought that he was. Nice work.

Also, when balled around the hook properly, you can even catch fish with it when there aren't any shiners or nightcrawlers handy. It's great stuff.

Toast-easier to make than to buy in the store. In fact, come to think of it, you have to TOAST premade toast so, really, you aren't gaining anything by buying it. Tea-1) Boil Water 2)Add bags 3) Wait awhile 4) drink-How hard is that. Shoot, you don't even need a stove. Just get a gallon jar, fill it with water and some tea bags, and place it on top of that old Rambler wagon that's rotting off in the side yard. You'll have tea sooner rather than later. All of this can be done in less time than it probably takes to GO to the store and certainly in a much more economic fashion.

Then again, remember that phrase "better than sliced bread." Being able to go into a store and buy a loaf of whatever the bread was (and, at least where I grew up, you probably touched a bread sign when you walked in the door as the door pushes on small country groceries were, more often than not, sponsored by a bread company-"Evangline Made," "Bunny Bread," "Wonderbread," etc.) at some point in the 1930's a seriously modern convenience for homemakers who already had to work, on average, 8 hours a day just to keep food on the table and the house clean. I think that this probably had much to do with the popularity of light bread in rural areas. After all, sure, baking is fun for some people (and some people are intuitively better at it than others) but when you had to do it a couple of times a week as a necessity, it probably wasn't nearly as entertaining-especially when coupled with the fact that it had to be baked in an oven that might have not exactly had an accurate or dependably easy to deal with heat source. Remember, until The REA many people in North America were dealing with wood or coal fired stoves and the fact that those stoves had to be stoked, watched, and pampered to keep an even baking temp. meant that sliced, store bought bread was a real convenience. Wonderbread might not have been the best bread on Earth, but the price was (and is) within the reach of all but the most modest budgets and it was easy to deal with.

Toast. Really. Have you ever seen people with toast in their shopping cart? Little frozen slabs of bread slathered in "yellow food spread product" and often purported to be from "Texas."? I want to grab those people, drag them over to the bread aisle, force their lazy little hands to select a loaf of some kind of bread product, and then I will manhandle them over to the dairy section, where they will be forced to pick up a pound of butter-any butter will do for this project. Then, I will accompany them home to their pitiful little hovel and proceed to show them the many and varied ways that one can actually MAKE fresh toast at home. "No, Nimrod, you don't even need a toaster. Hell, prisoners make it in their cells and it's better than that crap you have there in that box that you paid $3.99 for." I like to think that once they have acheived toast competance, perhaps they will then be able to move on to some other money saving project-like making ICE TEA. I know, I know, even in the South people buy gallon jugs of the stuff, but I don't care-it's completely insane. Fresh is better and multiple times less expensive than buying some big jug of tea at the store. I wish that I had thought up the tea in a jug sales scam though-those guys are pretty much printing money. So, add toast and ice tea to the list.

When I was a kid growing up in North Louisiana, we called this stuff, universally-regardless of brand, "light bread." Looking back on it, I did eat a fair amount of homemade bread made by various bakers (grandmothers, aunts, mother, etc) and none of them were ever trying to emulate the stuff. Also, we had light bread on the table for virtually every meal. Now that I think about it, maybe this is where my "this would be great on a sandwich" thoughts come from when I am eating foods not really meant to be put between two slices of bread. With squishy bread available on the table at all times, all manner of things might have ended up between the bread. For example, many of you might have never had the pleasure of passing a Fried Chicken Skin Sandwich between your lips and trust me, you are all the poorer for it. What about Peanut Butter, Mayhaw Jelly and Chee-Wees-trust me, you can only enjoy this combo on light bread. It just won't work on anything sturdier. The nice thing about squishy bread is that it serves to deliver, but not to interfere-much in the same way that tortillas are used in most of latin America (though, admittedly, good tortillas have a hell of a lot more flavor than a good piece of "Bunny Bread (local brand in South LA))." You can put almost anything on white bread and the bread won't interfere with your brilliant combination of ingredients. Now that I think about it, it may be one of the most subtle and brilliant achievements of the bakers art. And hamburgers on weird bread suck. Word.

The Oyster Shooter is basically, for lack of a better description, an oyster cocktail not so different from a bloody mary. They're also pretty skippy. Simply take one raw oyster and place it into a shot glass or other attractive small vessel. Make a batch (you are making some shooters for your friends, aren't you? Of course you are.) of very spicy bloody mary mix with about double the vodka that you would normally use (it makes sense after you taste one-trust me). Add to each glass until almost full. Grin the grin of someone doing something unusually fun, say "salud" or some other nonsense, and slam it down. Repeat. Send thanks in care of: Me NOLA, USA

These are pretty much the best that I have ever eaten. And believe me, I've eaten alot of these. Brooksie's Dill Pickles

Marinated Crab Claws Boiled Shrimp Cocktail with remoulade Smoked Fish Dip Oysters Rockefeller Chargrilled Oysters Oyster Shooters Head Cheese Fried Chicken Livers Blackeyed Pea Relish Dip I can go on, but all of this stuff can be made in a way that is appetizing, from a cocktail service perspective. Oyster shooters are really fun, not to mention tasty. The fish dip can be made with any flaky fish if you can't get gulf fish and marinated crab claws are pretty much never going to last any longer than it takes your otherwise well behaved guests to shovel the little devils into their pie holes. Oysters Rockefeller can be made ahead of time (as can head cheese, the shrimp, and the crab claws). And remember to have fun. We just generally make the stuff and kind of let everyone fend for themselves. After all, the host is supposed to have just as much fun as the guests-otherwise what would be the point?

First of all, when I saw the title to this thread my first thought was, "why don't they just put them in the dryer? That will get them nice and toasty on even the coldest winter morning." But then I figured out what it was all about and, happily, I can comment on that as an expert (well, as expert as I ever get-which, admittedly, ain't so much) , as well. When we were redoing the kitchen we really looked at the things. I couldn't justify it but I knew that, very occasionally, I needed to keep more stuff warm than what one oven will hold. Or, that sometimes you need to keep stuff warm and you've got other stuff in the oven. My solution, and as with most things I do I believe it to be brilliant and well conceived, was to just put in a second oven. It didn't cost much more than a warming oven (in fact, less than some) and it's a lot more practical. You can't bake in a warming oven but you can keep stuff warm in an oven. See what I mean? Brilliant. I still like the idea of drawers in the dryer on a cold morning. But that's another story altogether.

John, I'm all about dinging! I'll do it with you anytime. Rachel, You know, I just realized that I never revealed the aspic recipe. I'll try to get that done over the weekend. I totally forgot about it. Sorry about that. Katrina Brain is an insidious thing when coupled with my already forgetful nature. And, really, talking about the storm, in whatever medium that presents itself, is a duty and an honor. So many here have no voice and being able, even in some small way, to help let people know what is going on down here is important. Ludja, You really should make that soup. It's pretty swell and crazy rich. It's just right on a cold winter's night when you really want something satisfying, filling and warm. Oysters when combined with the slightly acidic flavors of the artichoke and the smoothness of the cream are crazy good. You can't have too many oysters in there. Malarkey, I honestly believe that when you get up there and St Pete's having some trouble tallying up the score and finds that it's close he'll have a kind of "deciding" question. Cake or pie would be just as good as any, I think.

The problem with all of this online stuff is that there is never a chance, or rarely a chance, for anyone to really have any idea who made the best of whatever it is that is being discussed. Well, I'm here to help. Simply pm me and I will send you my address. You can send me samples (a pint should be about right, I think-a nice bottle would be a good touch as well) and I will, to the best of my highly trained abilities, let all of you know who came up with the best formula. I'm here to help. I'm good like that. I'll look forward to hearing from you.

I always use a fork so I don't burn myself. I'm good with the modern cooking implements, you know.

Thanks to everyone. Sadly, colorful doesn't pay the bills and my outside, sort of money making persuits have interfered greatly with my duties at eGullet. Since the hurricane, as with virtually everyone down here, my life has changed dramatically-some for the good, some for the not so good, some for the just plain complicated. One of the things that will always remain true is that, when things were really upside down in late 2005, people here helped me believe that there are some good people out there in the world. I received offers of places to stay, plane tickets for my family, and a list of other things that were just hard for me to believe anyone would offer purely out of kindness-but offer they did. I'll never forget that. Ever. Also, many eGulleteers have been frequent visitors and vocal supporters of our not so fair city since the hurricane and that has been important to all of us here. Coming here, seeing what's up (or down-for good, probably) and going home and reporting to friends and neighbors is the single most important thing that any individual can do for our city right now. There is no way that anyone can possibly understand the scope of the damage without seeing it first hand. Those aren't just photo ops that you see on tv-that goes on for miles and miles and miles and then some. My association with eGullet has been a good one for me and I believe has been good for eGullet, as well. I've had fun, I've enjoyed working on a number of major changes here that have truly improved the site, and I've managed to build some friendships that are way beyond just the electronic, one dimensional ones that ofter occur online. That fact alone makes me pleased that I have been associated with this place for as long as I have. I'll probably be a more frequent poster now, as I don't have to feel so guilty about posting when I should be doing something more work related. I'm looking forward to seeing eGullet grow and prosper and I'm sure that it will. I'm also sure that okra is the perfect pod and that, someday, everyone will come to the realization that cake is indeed much better than pie when given a good piece of pie and a good piece of cake. Those are just the facts. I'll be here to defend them. Thanks again for everything to everyone, Brooks

A 90 year old woman fried chicken yesterday afternoon for her friends and family in the kitchen of a modest house located in the Treme Neighborhood of New Orleans. While, on the surface, this may not seem so remarkable, this woman was Willie Mae Seaton and she hasn't been able to cook in her house since Aug. 29, 2005. Film at 11. Longer narrative to follow. And yes, it is damned fine chicken. In fact, given what it has taken to get a piece of it, I can safely say that it was the best yardbird that I have ever eaten.

It's been a long haul, but it's finally just about done- The Keys to the Kitchen are ready, or will be after Sunday, ready to hand over. If you are going to be in the area, or just want to support a good cause, please plan on being there. And just for the record, I have seen lots of selfless, thankless, and difficult volunteer work being done in this city in the last year and half but I have seen, personally, no one who has worked harder and with less interest in reward or self promotion than John Currence. The guy is truly inspiring. Other than an excuse to feed his little power tool fetish, John has not gotten one single thing out of this and expects nothing in return for his labors. He just does the job(s) that need to be done. If they held an election, I would campaign tirelessly to elect him for Recovery Czar. If you are ever in Oxford, MS I highly reccomend treating yourself to a meal at City Grocery-it's a testimony to what happens to guys that work hard and treat other folks the way that they would like to be treated. The food is great and the place is fun. Johnny Snack runs a great place.

I was once involved in a dinner that sort of accidentally ended up involving a pot bellied pig being consumed. One of the guests, a farm worker who helped with the party, summed it up nicely- "Pigs is pigs, I guess." It was, in fact, pretty good, if not a little bit lean.

I'm glad that it turned out well. I love making gumbo. It's a very satisfying thing to do. I made a duck and smoked sausage gumbo to augment some crawfish that I boiled on Sunday afternoon. It must have been good. I'm pretty sure that's the case as I made a ton and the only thing left in the bottom of the pot was the bottom of the pot. Several of my guests were chefs (a couple of Beard Awards between them) and both of them asked what the deal was with the flavor. The answer was pretty simple-all duck fat-no oil at all. It was pretty good if I do say so myself.

Drums. Drums. Drums. More Drums. They're like, well, I guess they are, sort of, like little tiny chicken legs. Delicious, tiny chicken legs.

Doesn't that big ass park that you live near have some ponds or something like that? In the movies they're always showing kids with sailboats, people running (sometimes in circles, but mostly from criminal, big city types) and participating in other shoreside activities, so I have always assumed that it does. I bet if you wait a couple of months you can probably find plenty of fresh duck eggs. Maybe you could train Momo to help you out. It could be a fun outing for the whole family.

I could probably boil most of my favorite cookbooks and make some pretty decent stock.