Mayhaw Man

A monumental effort. Nice Work. I enjoyed every virtual bite and every last calorie and certainly hope that you do a blog of your quad bypass Maybe you could review hospital food from an "on your back" perspective. Thanks again. Happy Holidays up to you and yours in the Frozen North.

It's funny you referenced The Snopes clan, as I did the same here. This is a term that has come into pretty common usage among literate rednecks when reffering to our "less well read" relations and acquaintances. Faulkner understood the type better than most and it reflects in his seriocomic writings involving that family of ne'er do wells. My grandfathers name was Absalom (A.C. Oliver, Cass County Texas), you don't see that much anymore. In fact, Hezekiah, Zachariah, etc., mostly biblical names seemed to have gone by the wayside. I still think they sound kind of cool.

I have a couple of those old carbon steel Sabatiers mentioned in your excellent essay. They are worn, have been rehoned a couple of times and the 10 inch (my favorite) was sent back to the factory a couple of years ago for a rehandling job (dishwasher damage, wrong I know, but it happens). I love those knives. They have been through numerous kitchen jobs and since I quit working commercially years ago have served me well at home. A friend of mine brought me a right handed fish blade a few years ago from Japan. It is dangerously sharp and handy for a few jobs, but I still find myself going back to the tried and true Sabatiers again and again. The first (8 inch) was recieved as a wedding gift twenty years ago and I purchased another not long after. I recently saw the person who gave me these knives at another wedding, this one for my brother in Austin and I thinked her again for a useful and thoughtful (and not cheap) gift given long ago. Of course, she had no memory of it, but actually seemed touched that I remembered, after twenty years, who it had come from. After I thought about it I am pretty sure that, excepting the swell vintage cuisinart (it wasn't then, but it is now) that is still operating like the day it was born (with no annoying safety features to get in the way of cooking operations), I cannot tell you what a single other person gave us for our wedding. They are great knives and have a good deal to do with my cooking style at this point. I like to cut.

But that's okay, considering that it's mostly a Southern food. And Southerners are known for given their kids two names. Bobby Jo, Ruth Ann, etc.

We are going to a big potluck gathering that we go to every year. The food is usually pretty outstanding. I will be taking a rare beef tenderloin and a batch of oyster/artichoke soup. I will grill the tenderloin in advance and finish in the oven at the party and I will need to finish the soup there as well. New Years day is a big cooking day for us. The usual:peas, cabbage, corn beef, black eyed pea fritters, cheese grits, etc.

Carolyn, Pangs of jealousy have caused me to take a whole day to read your essay in fits and starts. I just read it through from start to finish and greatly enjoyed it-But I am still immensely jealous. Nice work if you can get it, I guess

Sorbet, Man, Sorbet. If you look at "What did you have for dinner" for yesterday you will see some discussion about the pomegranate.

I reccomend letting that white shirt become her pomegranate shirt, or throwing the whole shirt in juice and dying it. It is very difficult to get out, althought I am sure some Heloise or another here on egullet might have a few hints

Pomegranates are a huge bargain this time of year. I do all kinds of stuff with them (including ruin my clothes while eating them sitting down ). I wonder how the seeds would do in a juicer? Anybody ever tried this method for juice extraction?

The following article is the first installment of an excellent article that appeared in the Picayune earlier this year. There are a number of interesting links (including parts two and three of the article) at the bottom of part one. A change of cultures

The Picayune for today, 12/18/03, has a couple of articles about buying cookbooks for the holidays and some short reviews. The first article has a listing for an excellent book about how to fry turkeys and not kill yourself, your friends, or burn down your home while doing it. Louisiana Cookbooks A Bakers Dozen Marcelle Bienvenue, one of my favorite food writers, has an article in today's paper (as she does every Thursday) and it concerns cream soups. Her stuff is usually pretty user friendly to cook and is truly authentic South Louisiana Fare. Cream Soups Marcelle's Fudge

Ham Cracklin's and chipotle oil? Talk about Bobby Flay meets Bubba! Woowee!

Drop Biscuits Smothered Porkchops over onion risotto Turnip Greens cooked with Richard's Pickled Pork, garlic and onion (lightly cooked, not "berled") Mashed turnips (just like I posted above) Corn off of the cob (frozen this summer)(sauteed in butter until warm) Green Salad Homemade sugar wafers with pomegranate ice It was a very nice meal. We all enjoyed it

You know it brother. Thank you. Not only do I care about my wife's health and welfare, but my own sanity is going to shortly be threatened by the lovely and really appreciated (but frankly taxing) visit of my MIL. I did blow her out of her chair with dinner tonight. I even whomped up some drop biscuits and finished the whole thing off with very thin sugar cookies (have been making them most of the day for the holiday gift giving extravaganza) topped with a little pomegranate ice. It was pretty swell if I do say so myself. Edited to say that in the middle of today's activities I knocked out two columns and don't have to turn anything in until after the 25th. Woo hoo! One great thing about being in Louisiana is that if you are stuck for something to write you can always write a political opinion piece. People read those things for sport down here

If these guys were a public company I would take my life savings and invest it all in their fine product line. THey produce an amazing line of commercial pork, Louisiana-centric oriented products and the finest commercial bacon on the planet (at least as far as American style bacon goes). Pickled pork is, essentially, a hunk of pork butt that has been put through the "corning" process (much like corned beef) and it adds a nice touch as a seasoning meat and around my house is often the cause of heated arguments involving who gets to eat it after the greens are gone. Similar arguments often occur involving the tails off of fried bream and toasted pecans that are supposed to be destined for salads. And in fact, this is kind of an average meal around here, but it is not one that my Atkins loving MIL eats regularly, so she considers it to be a big treat. And keeping her happy is my paramount duty at the moment.

Outside of egullet and the food press, the reviews that I am involved with most often involve the little Mayhaws. While both of them are very experienced diners and have a suprising amount of fine dining under their belt, their vocabularies involving food do not reflect their rediculously expensive schooling. Here are some of their favorite (mostly negative, because if they like stuff they are too busy eating to talk) terms: yucky gross gooey smooshed grotty (grow-Dee) goopy not fresh (used for any leftovers, which they must be fooled into eating) chunky (Mayhaw 1 likes smooth sauce, no chunks ) And the Ultimate description of Bad Food..... Tastes Like Escargot

The guy who brings my firewood (just call him Mr. Snopes ) is also a very dependable guy when it comes to the delivery of winter greens. Along with some wood this morning he delivered a box full of greens with medium size (baseball) turnips attached. What to do? Tonights meal will consist of: Smothered Porkchops over onion risotto Turnip Greens cooked with Richard's Pickled Pork, garlic and onion (lightly cooked, not "berled") Mashed turnips (just like I posted above) Corn off of the cob (frozen this summer)(sauteed in butter until warm) Green Salad I believe many of you who hail from Northern climes might call this soul food. Down here we call it supper. My MIL is here due to my wifes recent surgery. If I keep her impressed with the food she will leave me alone about all of my many shortcomings

There was an interesting article in the New Orleans Times Picayune today about BBQ in New Orleans and South Louisiana in general. It was written by Brett Anderson, the food critic for the Picayune. I thought that it was odd that it did not contain any opinions from Lolis Eric Elie, given that he wrote what I believe to be the ultimate BBQ Bible, Smokestack Lightning, an incredibly well researched book covering BBQ from the Rio Grande to West Virginia and all points in between. The link to the book is to a review written by John Edgerton for Southern Food.

This space will serve as a place to deposit reviews and news on the New Orleans Restaurant scene. Hopefully many of you will find it of use when planning travel to the Crescent City and surrounding areas. The Times Picayune is the only local daily in New Orleans and the Lagniappe is the Friday entertainment pull out. Gambit Weekly is a long running weekly newspaper. It is one of the best done weeklies in the US and I reccomend that the first thing you should do when you arrive is to find a copy (any local coffee shop, bookstore, etc. will have it). It's free and not only can you get the scoop on when and where to eat, but you can read about our favorite local contact sport-Politics.

As for this "dried shrimp thing", I have never seen anyone cook with them. OTOH I eat them all of the time. They are delicious little snack food and I highly reccomend them. THey are sold all over South Louisiana at the checkout stand of better Zippy Marts and gas stations. Incidentally, they are not a cheap snack. A 3 oz, bag will run you a couple of bucks.

I am crazy about turnips. They are the root of turnip greens and how can I not like something that is the "root cause" of my favorite winter green. I like to boil them until soft in lightly salted water and whip with heavy cream, butter, black pepper, and an egg (temper first or you get turnips and scrambled eggs). They come out light and fluffy. Great with a meaty dish like roast or braised beef tips.

Come on. You've got to get out more and try new things

What about Goff's in Dallas? I used to eat there all the time (Lovers Lane and Greenville Ave locations) and thought that they were prety tasty. Haven't had one in years, so maybe they went downhill. I also seem to remember that Harvey Goff was the Dallas equivlant of the "Soup Nazi" on Seinfeld.

Have a habbi, Rabbi! I made a batch of chicken spaghetti (for 50) the other night. All vegetable matter was sauteed in schmalz. It was delicious. Looking forward to more reading.

Citrus (this citrus in particular) Oyster Stew Ducks in Olive Gravy Chafing Dish Duck Beef Tenderloin (Christmas Lunch) Yeast Rolls (homemade, but Sister Schubert's will do in a pinch) Chocolate Covered Cherries (Brach's, not some fancy schmancy cherry ) Black Walnuts (in the shell) Milk Punch in frosty,silver beakers (with bourbon, not brandy) Treacle (not Southern, but my Mom makes a swell one)