Mayhaw Man

Oh Salt, that wonderful spice on top of which Avery Island , the Home of Tabasco, sits. I grew up eating food that most of you would call "soul food". My experience with the cooking of food that is more typical to South Louisiana began in a commercial kitchen (Mike Anderson's Seafood in Baton Rouge) and several other places around New Orleans and Baton Rouge. The person I learned the most from, however, was a guy named Buddy Fitzpatrick, who was my next door neighbor in Abita Springs and who also had worked with (for) Paul Prudhomme at COmmanders and then helped him to open up K-Pauls Kitchen on Chartres. Buddy later went up to Alaska during the pipeline boom and opened K-Pauls in Anchorage. This guy could cook. Everything. Well. He could bake, boil, broil, and roast. What I learned from him was that the salt- which he used much more heavily than had been my previous experience- was used not so much as a flavor in itself, but rather as an enhancement to the other flavors in the food. Shrimp, Crabs, and Crawfish for example, just don't pick up the flavor of the Cayenne, garlic, and lemon in a boil without the salt. It's true. I have tried it the other way many times and am never satisfied with the results. He also (as do I) believed that the use of black and white pepper were just more "layers" and should be used in conjunction with the Chinese Red that he and Prudhomme preferred. Another thing that I learned from him is to taste constantly. And don't taste it straight out of the pot, let it cool to a comfortable temp for a moment and then taste. You will be able to taste the full flavor of the food and not spend part of your concentration on avoiding burning your mouth. All that being said, I don't use that much salt. I do use way more grlic than most people and that seems to make up a bit for the lack of salt. On the other hand, when boiling seafood (Crawfish Season is just getting cranked up, slowly) I use more than most of you can imagine, but it doesn't taste that way. The salt just enhances the flavor of the seafood and the other spices.

Exactly. Ditto for salads. I like to cook and for some reason have always disliked making salads (but not dressings for some reason), but since the advent of the bag o' salad I eat them more frequently at home. Gumbo turned out great. I used Richard's Smoked Pork Sausage instead of Andouille, which is pretty much the gold standard of commercial sausage down here. The andouille from Poche's or Hebert's is better, but I kinda save it for special occasions as I have to drive a bit to get it. Anyway, the rice was really a bargain. Small tear in one corner of a big cloth bag and the guy practically gave it to me. Came home and vacu sealed it in one pound bags and put it in the freezer. It'll last 6 months.

The judges dally Inquiring minds want to know who won the big prize

That is a great name for a Mexican Rest. I wish I had thought of it.

I will not defend the following statement as in my world it is always true (and I live in MY world, not some world filled with oddly colored grits): Grits are white. Hominy is white. The bleached corn product universe is colorless

I know I'm not alone in sending warm wishes for a speedy recovery to Mrs. Mayhaw. Do you guys need anything? Are you set for the holidays? Instead of a cookie swap, I'm sure many eGulls would be happy to send you a dozen cookies! Thank you, but no. She's doing nicely (straight from the morphine, push button drip to the percodans woo hoo!) and is up and around, at least well enough to take complete charge of my otherwise bucolic lifestyle, and at home everyday through the holidays. And oddly enough, on the cookie front, I made a big pile of Cowboy Cookies last night and as soon as I am through typing this I am going to get started on massive amounts of pralines and a little divinity (the humidity is only 50%, so I've got a pretty good shot at success. ) Regards

I made stock from the Thanksgiving Turkey yesterday and am making Turkey and Andouille Gumbo for dinner tonight and will have a bunch leftover for freezing. I got ten pounds of Texmati really cheap at the health food store yesterday, thanks to a broken bag, and will be making a big pile to go with it. Bread from my recent trip to Lejeune's Bakery in Jeanerette, LA and a salad of butter lettuce, avacado, grapefruit, and a very thin, not very sweet, poppyseed vinaigarette.

We had cheese grits for lunch yesterday This morning's breakfast was leftover cheese grits, sliced into managable chunks, and browned in butter. I enjoyed them plain, but the little Mayhaws seem to like them with Steen's Cane Syrup. (wrong I know, but they like it, so who's to say they are wrong?). "Fried Grits" is how this is reffered to on menus and I highly reccomend them if you ever run across them. Incidentally, my wife's surgery this week was done by Vicki Steen, heiress to the Steen Cane Syrup Empire (the empire part is a joke, ok? ). She did a great job and I am grateful to her.

This link is to an article that appeared today in the New Orleans Times Picayune about this years citrus crop. For those of you that aren't in the know about the Louisiana Citrus Industry, this might be news to you. Louisiana had a fairly large citrus growing industry well into the 1950s, but several freezes (unusual, but they do happen) and a couple of hurricanes dessimated the industry. The crop is now consumed pretty much locally and compares very favorably to citrus from other parts of the country. It is a wintertime product and we generally start seeing Satsumas around Halloween, followed by kumquats, navels, lemons, blood oranges, a few limes (the little timy kind, but not key limes) and assorted other citrus fruits. The growing area is generally the part of Louisiana that sticks out in the Gulf, Placquemines Parish, although depending on freezes fruit can thrive elsewhere in South Louisiana. Bananas regularly produce here and you often see orange and lemon trees in yards in New Orleans and across the Louisiana Gulf Coast. If you are going to be in the New Orleans area during the winter months I reccomend that you look for them in grocery stores and at the various farmers markets and the French Market.

While we here in Louisiana have a festival for damn near everything but snowmobiles, our neighbors to the North have outdone us with this odd and entertaining combination.. I have not attended (although I really am gonna if I can ever remember, but I did order a fabulously sylish t-shirt from last years event. As far as the variety of Louisiana Festivals go this site is free and this one, belonging to my friend Hulie, is not. But I reccomend ordering the calender as a great piece of wall art as well as an informational guide to the wonders of the Sportsman's Paradise. Julie Posner also co-wrote the irreplacable "Cajun Country Guide" along with Macon Frye.

We have a big holiday shindig ever year. Those meatballs (exactly the same thing) disappear in short order, no matter what else people have to graze on. Those littel hot dog things are great. Another item that dissappears quickly. I like to put em close to something rediculously expensive (caviar, salmon, beef tenderloin) and watch the hoi polloi go for the weenies. I don't know why, but I always find it very humorous and satisfying. Thanks for the great reports this week. I have really enjoyed them as we are not doing a big party until sometime in January due to some family health situations. The food looked great and your mil has a right ot be proud of the Yule Log. Give her a break. That thing looked great

We'll be going to a small, but very nice, party with close friends and home before midnight. Blast up the atmosphere with a few (but very large ) fireworks and toast midnight and go to bed. Especially this year, as Mrs. Mayhaw has been in the hospital this week for surgery and won't be able to do much for about three weeks (except boss me around while she is heavily under the influence of various pleasant for her and not so pleasant for us painkillers ). So far this surgery has cost me a new TV, half a day under the house running cable for the new tv, a new disposal, carpet runners for the hardwood floors in our entrance hall, and some internet shopping done by her that is probably going to be more expensive than a few days in the hospital . They should have "post operative shopping insurance" as it costs more than the medical bills. Living in New Orleans kind of means that New Years Eve is, by rule, amateur night. The Sugar Bowl falls on New Years Weekend and there are tons of tourists in town (don't get me wrong, we and I, love tourists-they are our economy) and they seem to be hell bent on getting totally ripped and acting like, well, tourists. New Years Day will bring a large meal (peas, cabbage, etc.) for anybody who wants to stop by and lots of kids around the house. I usually end up loving the first day of the New Year. Casual company and great, casual food is what life is all about IMOH.

Hopefully this includes the tomato aspic that my mother plops next to my otherwise gorgeous plate of holiday food. Yuk.

I find that that is true of any dish that has a fair amount of pork fat piled into it. It is particularly true of Red Beans, which are always better the next day.

What did you end up drinking with your meal? Inquiring minds want to know.

Geez. You'd know where this guy was from even if he wasn't Host of a particular state forum! But no cayenne? I wasn't counting spices. I am always concious of bandwidth usage Edited to add-Community Dark Roast Coffee-The Breakfast of Champions

If someone plopped frozed ( ) okra in front of me I would chop up some onions and tomatoes while it was thawing out. Sautee the onions, garlic, and okra in bacon grease, add the tomatoes and a little stock, and simmer on low heat for about thirty minutes. I would then eat okra and tomatoes.

Okra is no joke. It is a serious matter and should be treated that way. Actually, Fifi, for some odd reason(as she seems to have otherwise impeccable taste) doesn't like okra. I do. I am trying to convince her that perhaps she should reconsider this delicious pod.

Rice Canned Tomatoes of various types Butter Garlic Yellow Onions Celery Bell Pepper Worchestershire Sea Salt Whole black pepper and a very efficient grinder Bacon Oh yeah, Okra. Can't ever have enough okra.

One plus about the freezer storage is that biscuit and pie dough are turn out better when you cut the butter into cold flour

Yes, of course. Mr Coffee is still running it (although he no longer delivers Community as his day job ).

Yes, I miss the Old Chez as well. But, happily, Austin Leslie (The God of all Things Deep and Pan Fried) is working in the kitchen at Jacques Imo's and while it is not the same, the love is still there.

Well, since I know that you are dying for sources of good food over there, perhaps you should try these links to deliciousness: Chili Essentials Gumbo Essentials Let me know if you need any more help.

This is one of those products that I would have probably never purchased, but I was putting up leftovers at my Mom's after the leftover feast on Thanksgiving night and there was a roll of the stuff in her pantry. I will admit to becoming a convert with the first glorious tear and stick. The stuff works (although as to how, the old joke about thermoses comes to mind "How does it know?") well and sticks to just about every kind of container or plate. I like it.