Mayhaw Man

We always called them rocket pops MM, while someday I hope our paths cross, popsicles better not be involved. I am so sensitive to other people biting into popsicles that just reading your post caused goosebumps to shoot up my arm and my lips to involuntarily turn inward like an old man without his teeth. It takes all kinds and I, well adjusted redneck that I am, realize that there is a place in this world for the lickers and the biters. I hope that someday you too can find the peace and joy that I have found in this little bit of wisdom. I am currently enjoying an "Hulk" Popsicle from the Marvel Heroes Popsicle Line. I highly reccomend them. They look like Small Bombpops and have some interesting flavor combos. I bit the Hulk. He screamed like a little girl.

I am a popsicle biter. I am a candy biter. Licker or biter? Which one are you?

I can't believe it. As I was reading this thread (on my newly repaired and operating like a champ computer ) I was thinking that I should admit my love of grocery store brand ice cream sandwiches and lo and behold, someone beat me to it! I love those things. Particularly the brand that is sold by Winn Dixie here in the South (name escapes me for the moment, I will come back and add when I remember). They improve greatly if they are in a freezer that keeps them cold enough to put some crunch in the cookie. I also like cheap Popsicles. Especially blue ones (bubble gum, I guess). In the good novelty department, I am kinda crazy about frozen Peppermint Patties (the candy, not the stuff they have for ice cream) and I like Popsicle brand Banana Fudgesicles. Don't forget orange popsicles with "vanilla ice cream like" goo in the middle. And Push Ups, I love push ups. Hell, I like just about any frozen confection, I guess.

Sure. But who cares? You could be a professional meringue instructor. Whipping up whites for the world to see.

MMMMM, lint. Sweet lint. I'll have mine with warm chocolate and pecans, please. Brooks, you are a bad bad man. Actually, I am picturing a "cone of lint" (ala T. Keller) with a series of changing flavors of lint as you get closer to the center. The Everlasting Gobstopper of Lint. You could use it for a sweet course towards the end of the meal. Before the cheese, of course.

MMMMM, lint. Sweet lint. I'll have mine with warm chocolate and pecans, please.

I just realized how many of my serving dishes have freezer tape and my name on the bottom. I usually deliver things on a decent plate (except for cakes - I take them in one of those cool tupperware lockdown cake-safe containers-they're very cheap and if they want to keep them, I am just as happy). And generally I find that when the dishes are returned that there is something small on them. Cookies, fruit, etc.

I'm sorry, but I read this and BURST out laughing--I'm assuming that a headcheese operation is nothing like a triple bypass... No, but if you eat that stuff on a regular basis YOU TOO can end up with a big zipper in your chest (don't you find it ironic that often times they use parts of the pig to repair the damage that the pig has done in the first place?). Actually, I suppose that it's more like "Pigs don't kill people, people do". The pigs are innocent little pleasure providers.

I look forward to hearing about your adventures Gerhard. Currently it is raining here (36 inches for the Spring, and already 4 or so for the Summer) and I am thinking that your beach looks alot more attractive than my swamp. How populated is the area? Are people coming there just for the B and B's and the beach (not that you would need more), or are there other attractions?

Ditto. Sometimes I use good balsamic instead of regular vinegar. I have some in the icebox now that I mixed with very thinly sliced Vidalia onions. I love cucumbers.

Trust me, Guy has heard it all. His situation at Dixie as the brewmaster was no worse than brewing in Sarajevo during the war, maybe even better. Dixie is a fine, state of the art, brewery. If the state of the art was currently circa 1950.

The conversation works like this: Customer: "I believe I'll take a coke" Bartender: " What kind?" Customer: " How about one of those Dr Peppers?" See? Simple.

Rachel, I guess I should have been more clear-The family has to eat. She can't, you are correct, eat most of that stuff-and certainly not right after surgery. But there were family members hanging around visiting/nursing and so forth and they needed to be fed with a minimum of trouble. Plus, my Dad does not cook (except for big outdoor projects and his yearly headcheese operation with his buddies) and would have starved to death without the help. He is a mna who is very comfortable in being served.

My mother recently had a triple bypass. She is doing well, thank you, no doubt in part by the kindness, love, prayers, and condsideration shown to her by her friends and family. In my part of the world (The American Deep South) people generally bring food for all out of the ordinary events (sickness, death, birth, wedding parties, out of town visitors, etc) and this does not mean a pound cake from Wal Mart (that would be extremely bad form and would become fodder for Circle Meetings and Bridge Club-"Did you see that cake that Essie brought when Brooksie was in the bed? She bought that thing at the STORE! I guess that she is too busy to cook now that she has taken up with that new music minister at the church" ). My mother, at my request, just sent me a list of all of the stuff that she has recieved in the last two weeks. It is a pretty amazing list. We should all eat so well! I have left the first names on there as many of them are truly Southerncentric and I just like the way that they read. Evelyn Manicotti, Muffins, Crawfish Fetucinni, Plant Glady Bell Chicken and Asparagus casserole, Salad, Rolls Nancy Chicken Noodle soup, Rolls Jewel Green salad and homemade dressing and lady peas Doris Chicken and dumplings Margaret Chocolate Pie Jan Angel Food cake Jo Daisies, Blueberries,Banana Pudding (twice) Clara Bread Claudia Tomatoes and Mayonnaise Susan Bread Ruth Chefs salad, Lemon torte, book Pat Fresh fruit basket Inv. Club Chicken, potatoes,spinach,green beans carrot souffle, rolls Diane Matzo ball soup, Potato bread Mary Lee Crabmeat Imperial Nell Chicken Spaghetti, Cake Donna Bread Ann Orchid, sandwich,Meal of Trout, Garganzola mashed potatoes, Salad, French bread and Lemon Sorbet Pat Flowers and frozen Crawfish pies Dee Dee Peaches and Pound cake Terry Kay Chicken Tetrazinni and rolls Karen Chicken Parmesan, Green beans, corn on the cob, yellow rice Sallie Stuffed Mirlitons, stuffed squash,tomatoes, cake Lola King Ranch casserole, salad, French bread and Chocolate pie Nell Crawfish Fetucinni, Lemon icebox pie Sandy Tomato pie Carol Flowers Mary Lou Flowers Suzanne Flowers Betsy Plant Florence Tuscan soup, fresh vegetables, Sunday lunch featuring a "little roast" Robin (my wife)Lots ot T.L.C. plus fresh Salmon, Salads, Chocolate pies Incidentally, if you had to pick a winner, apparently the crabmeat imperial was out of this world. I had some of the Chicken Tettrazini and the Motzo Ball Soup and they were both pretty fine, as well. Now. I am interested in the traditions in your part of the world when it is appropriate to take food, as a gift of love or concern, to other people's homes. What do you bring and why do you bring it?

THe onlyu holdup on my input to recipe gullet is my expoding computer situation. Hopefully I will have some kind of remedy in place by tongight and I can begin posting frim home. It looks kind of bad to input recipes at work (although I am writing a book review for the paper now and that looks pretty bad as well )

Actually, Trillin has spent lots of time writing about BBQ (mainly KC style, but it's still BBQ ) and I agree that he is well qualified. Steingarten knows meat and once again, should be pretty well versed in the subject of styles and he has written a fair amount about the subject, as well.

IN my life I have probably only had three or 4 pepsi drinks of any sort. I grew up in a Coke Town (Monroe, LA) and we actually had home beverage delivery until I was in High School. It was great. Cases of those little bottles of Coke straight from the bottling plant delivered to the door, just like milk. One thing that I miss is the small bottles and the 12 ouncers with the names of the towns where the bottles were originally used stamped onto the bottom of the bottle. There used to be tons of plants until the interstate sytem allowed for consolidation of the plants. All they make in Monroe now is syrup and I believe that they still bottle runs of the small bottles, but that's about it.

Coke is THE southern beverage. It is so Southern that it is generally used as the word for all soft drinks (as we discussed recently in this thread concerning regional soft drink names). Invented in Atlanta, first bottled by the Beidenharns's in Vicksburg, MS and Monroe, LA. All below current day I-20. That's Southern and that's Coke. Ice Tea probably gets my second vote (the sweet tea thing is overrated IMHO-we don't all drink it that way ). In my part of the country Barq's is the local drink and you can still get the cane sugar stuff in the Baton Rouge area (the family held the rights to distribute in glass and pre and post mixed syrup in the BR area) They have a cool, antique type "shaker" line that they use everyday. It's worth a stop if you have the time. Dr Pepper is pretty damn Southern as well. As far as alcohol goes The Sazerac and the Ramos Gin Fizz are both New Orleans Inventions, and although it's hard to tell- New Orleans is in the SOuthern United States and not the Carribean.

Boudreaux and Comeaux Jokes have been around for a long time- The sheriff drives up to Boudreaux's trailer one afternoon. Boudreux is in the middle of having a wake for his wife, who dissappeared in the bayou a few days before. The sheriff calls Boudreaux aside and says" Man, I got some good news for you and some bad news. Which one you want first?" Boudreaux thinks about it and says, "Give me the bad news, I can take it, me." "Well" says the sheriff, "We found you're wife in Bonne Idee Bayou" Boudreaux is pretty upset by the news and shows it by saying, "That's bad. What can the good news be after you tell me that my wife is dead at the bottom of the Bayou?" The Sheriff, putting on his happiest voice and trying to cheer up his friend replies, " The good news is she had a whole bunch of big crabs on her and if she has that many the next time we pull her up we can have a big crab boil tonight!" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now, as for the roux thing- I make Gumbo Z'Herbe a couple of times a month in the winter and the one I make calls for a roux. Jason's right though, there seems to be a division of flour users and non flour fryers- I am a flour man. Blond roux is what I use and I like the way that it thickens the stuff. I use butter in this one instead of oil. As far as File goes, I would reccomend as highly as I can that you try to get some of the real thing from this guy. It's the best and worth the trouble. If you are in New Orleans and go to the Crescent City Farmers Market I use filet in seafood and fish based gumbos, but not in poultry ones or ones with sausage or both. It is always a condiment, and never an ingredient in my stuff.

Nope, not talking farm raised. As a matter of fact, I had a discussion with Fifi about my shrimp buying habits and they are this-if they don't come out of the Gulf, I don't buy 'em. Period. This is not the appropriate thread for it, but imported frozen shrimp have all kinds of chemicals in them to keep them from sticking together (polysorbate and similar stuff) and on top of that, the shrimp guys are having a hard time making it in the US and need all of the help that they can get. The aisian shrimp, and crawfish too, for that matter, are being sold at way below market prices or what they can possibly produce them for and it is making for some seriously hard times for people that have been doing this for a hundred years or more. I can't do much about it, but I can choose to buy the local catch. I wish more people would do the same. I am lucky enough to have a personal shrimper, which is a very good thing to have (beats a personal trainer any day of the week) I call him up, and he tells me when to pick up the shrimp. Also, our farmers market has a couple of guys who sell them fresh during most of the year, and they are great as long as you don't mind a mixed size situation.

Actually, Susan, I live in the shrimp capital of the US (in terms of poundage, 110 million pounds per)) and I promise you that unless you are buying the shrimp from the guy who caught them, chances are that they have been frozen at some point. Lots of shrimp are fresh, but most have been frozen on the boat as they are caught-otherwise those guys would have tons of spoilage as the big boys stay our UNTIL they have a boatload. Besides, those little gumbo shrimp are great. They are peeled with a process invented by a guy from new orleans (Doc Lapeyre) a long time ago. They are the perfect size for gumbo, and as they are peeled raw, they pick up all of the flavor of the other ingredients. Our Wal Mart has gumbo crabs, but that may be a regional item ( I doubt that they have them on the shelf in Dubuque. )

I am back on line after a disasterous lightning hit. I know that it is too late, but I am here to help if you aren't already finished. Gumbo crabs (if yo buy them here) are small blue crabs that have been halved (or even quartered if they are big), small legs removed and the crabs seperated (most of the time). They are sold in the frozen seafood section of most stores here and are handy for this kind of project. Umm, use peeled shrimp. You can find peeled 71/90's in the seafood market most of the time in a five pound block.

A gumbo without roux would be, well, soup. Good soup, but soup nonetheless. It is a thickening agent, but it also carries quite a bit of flavor. Especially in meat based gumbos where the roux would be made in the same pot where the meat (sausage, chicken, turkey, whatever) had been browned. You may have to add some oil, or remove it, but you want to use what you have as those little bits of flavor are hard to duplicate (see the roux I showed in my food blog to see what I mean).

You could do it, but it would be particularly spicy I would think, and that is not the point. THe idea, if it is done right, is balance. You should taste the stock and the vegetables and the seafood and the okra and the pork (incidentally, I often make this with pork stock) in a neat, pleasing balance.

No chicken. My mistake. List of ingredients is correct. I made an error when retyping instructions.