Mayhaw Man

If you have to ask you will never be considered for Membership. Jr. Leagues are service organizations that exist all over the country, but primarily in the South and are, frankly, just extensions of sororities and operate a great deal like them as well. Members are friends of friends and older women become sustaining members (which allows them to get their daughters in without a chance of blackballing). They raise money for various charities, often through the publishing of cookbooks. These cookbooks, as far as I am concerned, are enough reason for these women to get together. Several of the best cookbooks ever printed (IMO) came out of Southern Jr. Leagues. THe COtton Country, Southern Sideboards, River Road, and Talk about Good! are all Jr League books worth having. Some of these are legitimate best sellers-The Cotton Country and River Road have both sold well over 1/2 million copies at this point. My wife's complete disinterest in the Jr League has been a bizarre source of dissappointment for both my mom and my MIL. It comes up every once in a while and we just laugh.

I thought that we had settled this and were going to bury this obvious fault of yours under the rug and never talk about it again. I am extremely dissappointed in you. Port. I have had some of the supposedly best port (read most expensive/oldest) that can be had any number of times-served properly and all of that other ritualistic crap and I have to admit that I don't get it. Yuck. Tastes like it's gone bad even when it's good. I feel that I am doing a service to all port lovers by not drinking it. You can send your thanks and money to me.

I add stuff to the basi recipe all of this time. Pecans and chocolate (either at the same time or separate) are particular favorites. Hazelnuts also so well in this pie. The recipe that I use is thus: 5 egg yolks 1 3/4 cups sugar 1 Tablespoon yellow corn meal 1 Tablespoon All Purpose Flour 1/2 cup melted butter 1 cup whole milk 2 teaspoons vanilla 9 inch pie crust The directions are located in Recipe Gullet here. Not that I want to start a big argument or anything, but I have always been under the impression that Chess Pie needs to contain corn meal or is is just custard. The meal gives it a nice texture and I reccomend it. Edited to say that the amounts of meal and flour should be heaping tablespoons. Good Luck

Delta Chess Pie Serves 12 as Dessert. 5 egg yolks 1-3/4 c sugar 1 T yellow corn meal 1 T All Purpose Flour 1/2 c melted butter 1 c whole milk 2 tsp vanilla 9 inch pie crust Combine egg yolks and 1 cup sugar and beat until VERY light. Mix the remaining sugar with the meal and the flour in another bowl Add melted butter and mix well Add milk and mix well Combine the two mixtures (along with any additives, like chocolate powder or nuts) with the vanilla. Pour into an unbaked pie shell and bake at 350F until filling is solid. The pie should be firm when it comes out of the oven. Keywords: Pie ( RG1071 )

Delta Chess Pie Serves 12 as Dessert. 5 egg yolks 1-3/4 c sugar 1 T yellow corn meal 1 T All Purpose Flour 1/2 c melted butter 1 c whole milk 2 tsp vanilla 9 inch pie crust Combine egg yolks and 1 cup sugar and beat until VERY light. Mix the remaining sugar with the meal and the flour in another bowl Add melted butter and mix well Add milk and mix well Combine the two mixtures (along with any additives, like chocolate powder or nuts) with the vanilla. Pour into an unbaked pie shell and bake at 350F until filling is solid. The pie should be firm when it comes out of the oven. Keywords: Pie ( RG1071 )

I plated my dinner tonight to present to all of you, but alas-my wife took the camera out of town with her. Dinner tonight here way down on Lonely Street consisted of: Hearts of Romaine Salad with grapefruit, avacado, and a strawberry vinegarette (it worked very well together, thank you) French Bread from Lejeune's Bakery in Jeanerette, LA Sliced Tasso, fresh shrimp, onions, red bell peppers, garlic sauteed in evoo and finished with fresh cream from Mauthe's Dairy-served over penne pasta. Very Spicy, but not too. This was a great meal. Plenty of leftovers for lunch.

You want a new copy? I can give you the right Junior Leaguer to complain to. One of the best eating years of my life was when they were testing recipes for that book. That's a bad part to be missin, though-Trudy Aron's Stuffed Pork Chops (my old next door neighbor), Jambalaya, Joe Baum's (yes that one from Windows on the World--he had a bunch of relatives in Monroe) Grilled Leg of Lamb, Tamale Pie, and all of the meat sauces. On second thought-maybe you should contact an attorney.

She's home. She's fine. She has been told to eat anything she wants (within reason, clearly, and heart healthy to a point) and do not, under any circumstances, diet. She is remarkably happy about this order. Robin, my wife, has gone to spend the week helping out and reports all seems o.k. Thanks to everyone for the notes and stuff. They were greatly appreciated. It has been a long week. Brooks

Wecome Kevin and thanks for the recipe. Interesting website you have. Thanks for the link to the Louisiana Forum, it is greatly appreciated. I too am a former resident of Uptown, former bartender in Uptown, (but I was not a banker, although I had a bank account-so that's close ), and I like to eat-so we have a lot in common. We always need some local voices to answer questions for all of the pilgrims headed for Mecca and I look forward to hearing from you. Brooks

I had grits tonight, with smothered skirt steak. Cooked them in pork stock. Delicious.

I find myself home alone tonight. Pizza? Chinese? Leftovers? HELL NO! I just enjoyed a salted and peppered tomato outta my garden, skirt steak smothered in onions and garlic over creamy cheese grits with a green salad w/ avacodo and some great vinegarette my wife left for me. Desert will be lime sherbert (homemade). Loneliness can be a good thing.

Dammit. Your first post and you have given me a new project. Make a list of great food bars in New Orleans. Welcome to eGullet. Well, there is certainly no shortage. Bar dining is totally acceptable here (and, in fact, often encouraged in busy places and both dinner and lunch). One of your listed places is a great place to eat at the bar. NOLA is fun, the bartenders love to serve, and the food is good. Right across the street from NOLA is the Napoleon House. Good food-great bar. In fact, a really great bar. One of the great bars in the world in a town full of good bars. I'll work on a list tonight. Hopefully somebody else will chime in. It seems lots of people spend lots of time in bars here.

Is that figure with or without tip?

There are very few packaged foods closer to my heart than Talk O' Texas Pickled Okra. It is a fine product and has been a staple in my fridge for years. When I was single, my refrigerator's entire contents often consisted of Pickled Okra, Cream Cheese, Pickapeppa, Beer, Milk, Beer, and Pickled Okra. This is a balanced diet for the unbalanced bachelor.

The first time I ever head of Jelly Bellies was because of him. We have a local grocery store chain, Rouse's (a superb South Louisiana Family owned chain), that features a Wall o' Jellie Bellies in every store. Conveniently located by the produce section, you can't miss it. I am able to resist many impulse purchases in the grocery, but I don't seem to be able to pass up the jelly beans. This wall of convenience/temptation has a zillion flavors of the things all in handy vaults with pull down dispensers that vend those little devils into an awaiting plastic bag. They sell em by the pound and you can mix and match to your hearts content (or malcontent, considering that they are just globs of sugar and/or corn syrup ). I like the popcorn flavors, kiwi, wedding cake, and pear-but there are very few that I don't like. Damned smart of those Jelly Belly people to come up with those dispensers. When I am standing in front of them I invariably end up picturing myself as a rat in a lab test with the choice between the button for food and the button for cocaine. The food button in these experiments always ends up gathering dust while the one full of coke wears out from overuse (if the rat doesn't die first).

All Okra! All the Time! That's what I'm talking about! It looks like things turned out great and I'm with you on the okra "croutons". I'll have to give that a try next time around. The veg. stands and the farmers market are filled with the stuff right now as it is just coming in (conveniently along with tomatoes, onions, and garlic-as they go together like Rogers and Hammerstein, or is it Jones and Wynette?). Next time, try the maque choux with small hominy. It works great and is not nearly as sweet. The crawfish will become the center of the dish, as opposed to the sweet corn. The peaches and bannanas thing looked great. I'll steal that too. THose crab cakes looked pretty swell. About ten bucks apiece? Wine list? Or was is just 30 bottles of Night Train, Strawberry Hill, and MD 20-20?

In between we can kill a couple of hours in the bar at the Four Seasons and go watch the bats (I love those bats). That bar is one of the superior places on the planet to enjoy a well mixed anything. In wild and wooly Texas, The Four Seasons Bar in Austin is proof that there are a few people who understand civilized behavior and service beyond BBQ on butcher paper (not that I have a problem with that-bbq and butcher paper, that is).

I'm sure that you will get lots of advice- Mi Tierras as a late night thing can be wonderful (good anytime, but the late night crowd is really fun) and it is a hellof a late night snack. Superb Huevos Rancheros. Los Barrios probably has better food than Mi Tierras IMO

He already has all of the yogurt he wants. It's funny. I was thinking just the other day that I had not read a good Fat Guy Diatribe in a while. I chalked it up to your being busy with the book, but obviously you have just been laying in wait working up the right stuff. Nice Work. Very enjoyable.

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It's no different than tough guy characters in books about New Orleans and the author has them drinking Dixie-the chances are pretty slim. Were it not for tourists and out of state sales Dixie would have (sadly IMO) closed long ago. The last few Dave Robichaux books in that excellent series have had many of the main characters drinking Abita, which in fact, would be much more likely. Or at least that's what they'd like you to think.

Well, there always Gordon Biersch. They make great beer, but as a brewpub you need to put your character in the place to have him swill any of the stuff.

Yes! Redemption! I am kind of a Golden Flake freak. Hard to go wrong with any of these fine products from the Southland Golden Flake Tom's Snacks (especially their delicious peanut butter cheese crackers ) Zapp's and finally, the superior toasted cheese snack of the World- Chee Wees (great on Peanut Butter Sandwiches!)

I would like to reiterate a rec. for Upperline over Gautreau's. Once again, Gautreau's is very good, but Upperline is a serious food experience that is (in my opinion) a step up frim Gautreau's. Make sure that you speak to Joanne if she is there. She is charming in the first place and is a veritable fountain of info about the New Orleans dining scene. And she digs eGullet. What mo could you aks fo?

Texas is big. Just ask a Texan. They'll tell you.