Mayhaw Man

Don't be a poseur. No fisherman worth his salt would be caught in anything but these fine cajun houseslippers" from the fine folks at LaCrosse. And I love those shrimp. (just to keep it food related, on topic as always!)

I like it steamed in dark beer (Turbodog, of course, is the beer of choice here ), but any beer will do. It's great on the grill, over low coals (if you get it too hot the skin splits and it's a pain to deal with) or throw it in the smoker for a while with your butt (or your legs, or whatever ). My favorite way to eat it though, is driving 60 mph on the Marigouin Hwy (check your maps kids), little tiny road on the east side of the Atchafalya Basin that runs between Poche's Boucherie and Joe's Dreyfuss Store -or Breaux Bridge and Livonia if you need towns. Squishing it out like some kind of pork laden toothpaste and washing it down with a cool beverage (of course, I am not reccomending that you drink and drive-but when in Rome......). Dining on fine food at top speed. Life is good when that all comes together. You need about two links from Champagne's grocery or from Poche's to get you to the parking lot at Joe's. Anymore and you won't have room to eat. I love the stuff. Speaking of Poche's. I stopped in on Wednesday and they had fresh Andouille still warm from the smoker. Big thick links, each weighing in at about 1.5 lbs. I bought 5 links (and some stuffed chickens, a couple of those big mamoula pork chops, and some boudin to go). Tonight we had andouille in a very spicy cream sauce over orzo. Delicious. You should have been here.

I have been kind of watching waiting for some gourmand to post a wildly enthusiastic post professing their love of those shriveled up little devils. Since one is, apparently, not forthcoming I feel the need to come to their defense. I love the things. Chewy, salty, kinda smell like a seafood dock (in sort of a good way), really good to eat. They go great with beer, but also, oddly, I discovered a year or two ago that they go great with citrus fruit. Especially Louisiana satsumas (just coming into season) and navel oranges (month or two to go on those). They aren't cheap though. A little bag costs a buck or more usually (and when I say little I am talking like, a little bag. I really like them though.

Glad that you had a great trip and found some good eats! Sorry about the weather, it's usually one of the few times a year with temperate weather.. It's the hottest October on record here. We were in the nineties today.

Exactly. Three times is a good start. Okra and Tomatoes Okra and Risotto (Squeat's idea, done this weekend at my house, stunning!) Okra Cornbread And for dessert, Okra Sorbet (no, I'm not kidding-but I'll need to work on it--after all, they make ice cream out of Durian ).

I don't hide it. I have dedicated the rest of my life to preaching the Gospel of Okra and leading those lost in the dessert back to the Vegetable.

I will be there. There was a dearth of Okra last time. I'll see to it that doesn't happen again.

I'm assembling my team now. I'll get right on it. My wife runs a gallery and I am thinking that "okra juice sculpture" brings a whole new meaning to the term "mixed media". Maybe I could build a big installation and at the end of the show, the audience could eat the art in a joyous orgy of art/food sensory overload. I could film it and get it on the list a Sundance. Very soon, I am off to Cannes, which puts me closer to Bleudauvergne-I could invite her to the festival and tell all of the enthralled listeners that, "this woman, this brilliant woman standing here beside me, was the inspiration for this whole world changing project and that she deserves all of the credit!" After Cannes, there would of course, be a book and film tour after the movie and the inevitable book were put into major release (3500 screens first weekend. Lookout Nemo! Okra is coming through). All of this would cause a world okra shortage (you wondered where I was going with this, didn't you?) and the price would shoot up through the roof. People would be clamoring for the delicious, yet rare, pod and it would finally begin to get it's due. Keller, Adria, even our own Grant would be working with okra in myriad ways. Okra foam, okra gelato, amusee of okra, okra confit, and okra sushi. This could happen. It is my wish and wishes can come true.

Eat the rest as you "need" them? Like, when you get a big craving on at two in the morning? Those look great Jason. Nice work.

Squeat, That okra risotto sounds awesome. Dinner tonight! Thanks!

I will have you know that if the position of "High Priest of the Okra Lovers" paid just a bit better, I would be their man. I'll also have you know that there is someone, with a really interesting background, both culturally and intelectually, writing the bible of Okra in all cultures and it's many forms right now and I have discussed this fascinating topic with him (as it pertains to the South) several times. In fact, I can almost guarantee that he is already reading this or has read it. A veritable Encyclopedia of Okra. I can't wait. I will make sure that you and Fifi are on the publishers list, as I know that you will want to learn more about the Pod of the God's.

Another trick that is very effective for making very bubbly water in a siphon is to keep it in the fridge. CO2 remains in solution in relation to the temperature of the water (for example, softdrinks produced in bulk (a dying art) and beer are both force carbonated before packaging). The CO2 is injected just above the freezing point and by doing this it makes for a much more consistent packaging process, as the foam up during bottling is very small. In fact, in the case of beer, a tiny stram of hot water is usually shot into the bottle to MAKE it foam, as that is needed to clear the head space of ambient air space-as air is the number one enemy of bottled beer (aside from light). So keep your GLASS siphon in the refrigerator and the stuff will stay nice and bubbly.

Roughly 12 quart jars (that seems to vary wildly for some reason, but a case of jars will probably do you).

Coarse chop. You can do it in a food processor, but that really can get it too fine, chunky is what you are shooting for here. It is not overly sweet (at least I don't think so, but Maggie, Jason, Rachel, Dave and and maybe Bleachboy (I can't remember-but I still owe him dinner) all had it, so maybe ask them. My opinion may be a bit warped. ) Yes. The salt goes on the onion. The stuff is great. Make some in pint jars instead of just quarts and have it around for gifts (Lord, I sound like Martha Stewart).

As with a lot of things, I would swear that this is on here somewhere-but who knows? This is really good. It makes alot, so you might want to halve it (on the other hand, I quadrupled it this summer, so maybe you don't want to halve it-I guess it depends on your jar supply and your tomatoes). Green Tomato Relish 15 lbs. Coarsely chopped green tomatoes 1 Cup Salt 1 Cup Pickling Spice (I use Ball Brand-because that's what this old recipe calls for) 10 Onions, coarsely chopped 3 tbls salt 5 red bell peppers 4 Cups Sugar 4 Cups white vinegar 3 tbls. mustard seed 3 tsp. Celery seed 3 tsp. black pepper 3 tsp fresh ginger 3 tsp salt 3 tsp tumeric Slice tomatoes (all of them, don't bother seeding-it all pickles great) Pour salt over toms and stand for an hour or so Chop onion 3 tbls salt onto onion and let stand for an hour or so Put together sugar, vinegar, and spices into a cheesecloth and tie Cook into the white vinegar until all of the sugar and pickling spice is dissolved into the vinegar Drain the tomatoes and the onions and add to the vinegar solution. Just bring to a boil and get it off the heat-don't overcook! Hot enough is hot enough! Can immediately, remembering to stir as you go to make the amount of solids to liquids even These will be ready in about three weeks. It is great stuff as several people aroud the site who have visited New Orleans can attest. I usually send people home with some as I have lots and many people cannot get condiments as fine as this in their strange and faraway lands. Great on peas! Also on anything that you might use pickles or pickle relish as a condiment for. One more thing-the red peppers are for color more than anything else-you can use green bell peppers if you don't feel like color is important or if you are too cheap to uy them. Good luck. Brooks Edited because I'm a mess.

Abita Root Beer Diet Barq's Peniefiel (sp) Manzano Soda

Shortage of good butter is certainly not the problem here. I think that it is more a matter of developed tastes for the stuff, although I don't think that it is quite as universal as Holly's sampling indicates. I know many places, at least here in South Louisiana, that still have butter on the table-although that butter is often in the same chilled bowll with some kind of spread.

In today'sNew York Times Magazine , Michael Pollan proposes that the popularity of the Atkins Diet, as well as others that have been popular in the past, is based on a basic assumption that most Americans feel guilty when enjoying good food. I, on the other hand (while agreeing with many points in this intersting piece) believe that the American obsession with dieting (and the related guilt involved with dining)has more to do with the fact that most Americans just eat too much of everything and believe that's how it should be, as opposed to eating smaller portions of anything that crosses their plate, as much of the rest of the world does. Read and discuss. I now return you to your regularly scheduled program.

There are actually, even with all of the bizarre laws involving the making and selling of alcoholic beverages, a couple of way above average brewpubs in Salt Lake City and the surrounding area. Squatters and then there is Wasatch, which is really in Park City, but they make great beer and the owner, a very funny guy, comes up with names that often poke fun at the locals (the one's that eat lots of jello and casseroles). He is currently still running his controversial, but quite humorously named, Polygamy Porter. Have fun.

Andiesenji, Is that an O'Keefe and Merritt or a Chambers? It's gorgeous. I am in the same boat as you. I can't part with it, but we have decided to add a swell electric oven to the mix. The oven in our old, but beautiful O'Keefe and Merritt (like # 7) works beautifully and fits both the old house and our style sensibilities perfectly. But it gets really hot in the summer and takes a very long time to cool down-hence the electric oven addition. Edited to say that I would have just taken a shot of mine, but I am sure that you don't need to see it buried in construction debris. It looks very sad right now.

Carloyn, I am deeply sorry for your loss. On a much brighter note, though, I am not sorry for the story. It is remarkably touching and wonderfully told. Just beautiful. Really. (nice knife, too!)

What were you eating? Babyfood? You couldn't have been more than 1 or 2. It's great that you can remember that, though. I have never seen Strained Okra Gerbet. I should suggest that. Maybe part of the problem is that we don't get people started early enough.

Come to think of it, I usually get okra when Jacques has it on the veg. menu (you get three choices out of about ten permanent and a few rotators on the side menu-I wish that more people did that), but there is, Melissa, a time and a place for everything and sometimes I just go with the flow and deal with the menus at these places, flawed as they often are. ALso, at J's, just go ahead and tell them to bring you extra cornbread as soon as the muffins hit the table. Trust me, you will want more. On a recent trip, Varmint, in between bites of cornbread, mumbled that it might have been the best that he ever had (I think that's what he said, anyway. He had been in the Maple Leaf, next door, for about an hour and he was pretty incoherent by the time we sat down-it was all very sad ). The cornbread is, in fact, really good.

Jacques Imo's Chicken Liver and Toast Points Godzilla and Green Tomatoes Herbsaint- Shrimp Stuffed Deviled Eggs with Baby Spinach and Bacon Vinaigrette Pan Roasted Gulf Shrimp with Romesco and Toasted Almonds Brigsten's Rabbit Tenderloin on an Andouille Parmesan Grits Cake with Spinach & Creole Mustard Sauce Grilled Prime Beef Tournedos with Tasso Marchand du Vin Sauce & Bleu Cheese I am nothing if not a creature of habit. Those tournedos are awesome at Brigstens. But then again, I would probably say the same thing about a used tire if it had enough of that sauce on it. Ya'll have fun. Sounds like a great list of evenings! THe weather is great right now. Our brief window before the steady rain and yuck that we call winter.

One must be very careful when bandying about the name of St. Elvis.