Mayhaw Man

I'll look into it as I am interested in whether they even HAVE a regular importer in the US. I find it very odd that a law firm is listed as their importer. Another thing that seems to put off many tourists on the food is that they seem to be looking for big, North American style restaurants and often, the places are just afew tables in front of a small building. There is some great seafood dining on the west coast, but people look for it in hotels and tourist places, which is kind of dumb down there as I have never met a group of people who were easier to deal with than Ticos. It is true that not many of them speak that much English outside of big tourist spots, but they are extremely patient with people stumbling around in Spanish. In fact, with bizarre traffic patterns and extreme dearth of roadsigns (I believe that they take them down so that you will be FORCED to stop and ask directions, and of course buy something out of politeness) has actually improved my awful gringo spanglish over the years. It's a great place and if you live near New Orleans and can fly out of there, a pretty cheap long weekend with a reasonably short, pleasant flight (after the stop in Cozumel to dump off the college kids). Get there around lunch, rent a car (small Japanese 4 wd is a good bet) and you are out of San Jose and into the country by 3. We have made it to Arenal by dark once, and to Quepos in about the same time, got there in time to swim on the first beach at Manuel Antonio National Park. The monkeys in these photographs look great in the photos, but they are really aggressive as hell. When walking up to the peak (worth it every time) to see all of the beaches at once, we are always happier when we don't see them. Sloths on the other hand are, well, pretty slothful. The beaches here usually end up on the top ten in the world lists. THey are never very crowded, as this is a pretty primitive place and the park is a walk in deal only. I hope that they keep it this way. THere has been lots of construction in the area in the last ten years and they are in danger of loving the place to death.

Men's Journal has an interesting article on the "flavor" of Vodka. The crux of it is that a spirit that is, by definition- flavorless, actually has tons of subtle differences between brands. Especially (of course) in the high end bottles. It is a pretty interesting read. Neutral Grain Spirits aren't so neutral after all-says this guy.

I have asked about Lizano before in other threads. I LOVE the stuff. It is one of the best all purpose condiments in the history of condimentdom. Oddly, the last place I found any was recently in a salvage store called Hudson's on the Mississippi Gulf COast. We bought the whole case of 700 ml. bottles. I love that stuff. The importer listed on the bottle is as follows: Best Food Division CPC International Englewood Cliffs, NJ When you do a quick search on the web it turns out that CPC Internationalis a law firm specializing in all kinds of stuff (what a specialty). I am going to call them this week and see what is up with that. Recently, I asked Foodie52, who works at the best grocery store on the Planet Earth (The main branch of Central Market in Austin) if they carried it. She responded that people asked about it all of the time, but that they had never been able to determine where to get the stuff. It is a condiment conundrum and someone needs to get to the bottom of it. As far as Costa Rica and Food go, I like the food down there. but that is probably because I like all the stuff that Ticos eat.Beans, rice, meat, fish, plantains are pretty much what I eat here. I have had a couple of reasonably outstanding meals (particularly seafood in Manuel Antonio and Quepos), but then again- they were pretty simple. Our trips down there involve flying in, renting a car, and driving. We rarely have reservations anywhere, except Manuel Antonio ( Villas Nicholas-just because it is small and sometimes full. A very, very cool place near the entrance to the park. Unbelievable views off the porch of the cabinas) and just stop and see what's available. Costa Rica is beautiful, cheap, and fun. I love the place. The last time I was down I spent a couple of days at Arenal watching the volcano and bass fishing. It was a nice change of pace from the beach.

A joke? I'm always the last to find out.

I really enjoyed your blog and it just so happens that I have a ready supply of a few tins of decent sardines, I think I might give that a try for lunch tommorrow. I love those little devils. Now, as for the New Yorker crack I, once again, should not rise to the bait but being a little fish out here in the woods and seeing that tasty worm dangled by a callous sophisticate such as your self......well.....let me make one thing clear- New Yorkers are just fine by me. Hell, I even hang around with some who were bright enough to move where the weather and parking are better. I love to meet New Yorkers in New Orleans and show them our little backwater. They can then go home and tell tales of alligators, debauchery, and seafood and that makes their friends want to come down here. It is a beautiful cycle of people from New York winging it down with full wallets and going home with just enough money to get their cars out of the airport. Tourism is a wonderful thing. I just wish some of them would bring some jobs and leave them. We are a little short on those right now. What's up with the turkey. Will you return with it?

The dumplings usually hold together quite well. I'm not sure what is up with that. OTOH- you could cheat and use squared flour tortillas. They actually make damn good dumplings in a pinch, and I know the difference between a good one and a bad one so you 'll just have to trust me on that until you try it for yourself.

It's gorgeous. Absolutely wonderful. I feel like I am looking at pictures of Grandchilden (hopefully I am about 15 years away from that event, so this will have to do ). It looks great. If I had anything to say it would probably be it looks like you went a little heavy on the rice, but that's just a matter of taste. The dumplings usually hold together pretty well. Sorry about the dishes. I think that part of the history of this dish is that all of the women in my life who cook this thing have help or kids to wash. My mama does not wash dishes unless there is literally no one else to do it. She cooks, you wash. Fifi, I feel strangely honored. I hope that you enjoyed it. It really is my favorite old dish in the world. It takes some serious skills to make right and is delicious when you get it right. Brooks

Yeah you know, yellow skin-kinda curved-easy to peel-soft white flesh. They're quite good. I'm sure that you can get them where you live. Usually they are in a bin near the rest of the produce. Actually, they grow pretty well in the parts of the Gulf South that don't freeze very often. New Orleans is, in fact, nothing if not the northern most city in the Carribean. We have alot more in common with the places South of us than we do even with the rest of the state of Louisiana. It's a strange and wonderful place. In the extreme southern part of the state (the toe of the boot on the map) you could grow them 9 out of ten years as it virtually never gets below 32 for more than a few hours per winter (if that much). The ones that I have were picked up as plants out of the middle of the railroad tracks at the end of Napoleon Ave. They used to grow all over the railroad as up until we screwed it up we were the biggest banana port on Earth. Now it is all devided between Mobile, Biloxi, New Orleans, and Houston. We can get them to make on the Northshore sometimes, but not if we have had a freeze the previous winter. I have to admit - I had no idea that a) these bees existed b) that I could do this. I know that it sounds kinda nuts, but this sounds like fun, if for nothing else as a cool experiment. It's not like there is a shortage of beekeepers around here (the guy at the alligator farm that I occasionally link has a big pile of hives, but he is a little far away "as the bees fly" for them to bother with a dozen or so cucumbers). I will p.m. you if you don't mind. I just discussed this with boy #2 and he is into it (he would be-at night his room contains a hamster, a yellow eared map, 2 bettas in two tanks, a 30 gallon fish tank full of fresh water tropicals, and the dog sleeps on the floor by his bed). He is good for a few bees I think This might make for a fall crop of cukes.

We have two tomato seasons. Plant in late Feb-early March and harvest in late May and June. I then gets too hot and while the vines will flower a little if coddled, the flowers just drop off in the heat, so no fruit. Plant again in Mid August and Harvest in October up until sometimes as late as Thanksgiving. It rarely freezes here. With any luck the bananas in my yard will actually make a bunch or two, although we will occasionally freeze on the Northside of the Lake (In New Orleans you will notice that bananas that are cared for and protected from the cool winter wind almost always make-there are lots of huge banana plants all around town). Thanks for all of the tomato sauce tips. Currently I am leaning towards a drying attempt, and a smoking project. It should be interesting. I will keep you up on progress.

Ponchatrain Not nearly as difficult as Tchopitoulas. Just be glad you don't live in Mississippi. I have always thought that maybe one of the reasons that their illiteracy rate is so high has something to do with kids giving up on the first day-when their teachers tell them to spell the names of the counties. Some of them would be pretty tough.

I live in a swamp. The soil right now could best be described as humus based mud. We have had an unusual amount of rain, even for here-one of the wetter places in North America. Coupled with the fact that we are pretty much just above sea level (the water table on my property is somewhere around four feet, in terms of mud running into holes that you are trying to dig). I don't really have any good, broad pictures of my place-but these shots of The Louisiana Nature Conservancy's Abita Creek Flatlands Preserve are a pretty good substitute. Throw in flower beds, old pecan trees, mosquitos, and an old BMW (hey, I live in the rural Southern US-semi functional vehicles are a charming part of our landscape plans here ) and you will probably get the idea. This place is about two miles from my house. Well worth part of a visit to the Northshore is you are getting out of New Orleans for a visit to the rural part of the area for a day or two. This link is to the UCM Museum, the quirky but fascinating pastime of my quirky but fascinating friend John Preble. The place is, to put it mildly, oddly enthralling.

That would, of course, depend on what you were working towards.

Here in South Louisiana we can usually safely start planting tomatoes around the end of February. I did, and the weather did no damage freeze wise (we didn't even have a hard freeze this year). The results of this good luck is that I now have 24 tomato plants (primarily big boy, best boy, hawaiian, and creole) that are loaded with tomatoes. A real bumper crop of the things. Outside of the tremendous amounts of rain that we have gotten this week (15 inches and currently raining) it looks like I will be pulling red, ripe tomatoes by the end of the week. These will immediatly become table fare and gifts for friends, but many of them will have to be preserved. I usually put up lots of tomato sauce and a few jars of red tomato relish ( I make green tom relish as well, but I usually order those at the farmers market by the case). I will cook some of it down into pizza sauce which is so much better than anything from canned tomatoes and usually I can get enough to last through the year. What I am looking for is a few good recipes for tomato sauce. I generally end up making most of it italian style (basil and oregano in the jar and the cooking process), and a little of it on the spicy side (seeded and split tabasco peppers in the jar). Do any of you gardener/chefs have any great ideas that I can use? This is my only gardening success story so far this year (aside from a great looking bunch of giant sunflowers that my kids planted around the edges of the vegetable garden). My okra was eaten by killer rabbits and my bell peppers, were they children, would be put in "special classes". There are no bee keepers in my neck of the woods (nearest ones are 4 miles away) so my cucumbers look (as always) stunted and weird. I plant them anyway because I like to run the vines up the trellises as it makes the garden more pleasant to look at. THe hot peppers (in pots) look pretty good though. They should make all summer if I remember to keep them watered. The garlic is looking pretty good I guess, if you can judge from the thick green tops. On the other hand, the flowering side of my big, old yard has been a wonder to behold this year. My hundred years old 7 Sisters Rose bloomed better than it ever has and I have all sorts of lillies blooming right now. The irises were gorgeous, especially the little oriental ones that I showed in my blog. They are still blooming for some reason-they should have stopped by now.

Fifi, Add what ever you like. You can certainly make it more interesting according to your personal taste. This is one of those dishes that is dependent on the blend of the ingredients as much as it is on the main part (the chicken). The pastry is important and the rice is important and so are the dumplings. I have done this, just for kicks of course, I am not advising you to do it that way, with Saffron Rice and it was pretty swell-just not the same thing. I do, however, regularly use Texmati as I really like that nutty flavor. Knock yourself out. The thing is time consuming and kind of a pain in the ass to make, but the results speak for themselves and part of the fun is learning how to do it so that you can change it the next time around. You will do it again if you come EVEN close the first time. I don't defat the broth unless there is just a giant pad of the stuff after refrigeration. Chicken Fat is good. Ask the Good Rabbi Ribeye. He'll tell you the same.

I'm not vague at all. I am verbose and rediculously specific when the need arises! My mama, on the other hand, thinks that everyone can cook like her. COnsequently her instructions in "The Cookbook" are vague at best, mainly because my brothers and I have watched her do all of this stuff our entire lives and just know how. She should make a video series just to interpret the thing. It would be hysterical. She hates cameras and hates repeating herself. SHe would not make it on FoodTV.

I will have to scan the picture to prove it as I only have it in old world technology, but I have a photo of my then 9 old lying on the dock next to one of those carp that is literally longer and heavier than he was at that point. The things get really big. The real problem with them (from a strictly Lousiana-"it must be good if it swims" point of view is that they are carp. They don't eat bait much. We caught the one we photographed off of my parents dock when they were schooling around my dads fish feeder (don't ask-it's pretty strange). They show up at 7 a.m. when the thing goes off just like clockwork. They are fun to catch as they fight like crazy (picture a pike without teeth) but they are so bony that they are a poin in the ass oto clean and the meat is not particularly tasty (we tried, it was our duty as denizens of this state to try and make a meal out of the thing). The Vietnamese guys up in the Delta (there are lots of them, oddly enough-reminds them of home somehow) clean them and make lots of tasty stuff like fish balls out of them, but even they have a hard time getting a decent piece of meat off of them large enough to do anything with.

Pork and it's many delicious by-products rarely leave the user wanting. The Mighty Pig is a gift from a wiser and Higher Power.

In Louisiana we have a little different way of looking at what others consider to be a problem- Carping about carp in Louisiana waters. There is alot of interesting reading about both Maryland and Louisiana and their related invasive species problems in The Underwater Times. You can scroll down a bit in the middle column and see what the real problem is with the carp here (they have invaded the rivers of the Delta in huge numbers). Men running their boats at night have to have windscreens made of wire to protect themselves from these fish that seem to be motivated to jump straight up out of the water by the sound/vibration of an outboard motor. It is kind of funny when you see it, intil you realize that getting hit in the face with a large fish while going 50 mph would suck in the extreme. They are completely taking over some streams (The Boeuf and the Tensas Rivers in Northeastern Louisiana have been particularly plagued with these fish).

Wine as Art is something that I have never really considered, but Tom Stiltz of Ruxton, Md. is making a pretty sporty living at painting favorite bottles and glasses of wine. This is a pretty interesting article and the guy's website is really well done. I thought that some of you grape heads might be interested in reading it.

I should also add that much like fried fish tails, sausage out of Jambalaya, and crunchberries out of a box of Captain Crunch, the crust on this stuff seems to magically dissappear in amounts that are much greater than the rate that the rest of the pie. Crust thieves are ferreted out and prosecuted to the fullest extent of culinary justice at my house-I hope that you will do the same. Crust thieves should be branded on their right shoulder with a big C to warn others of their weakness. This thing is also a beautiful looking dish. All of that golden crust on top of the chicken, rice and dumplings. A study in shades of gold, brown, and white.

Brooks, this is just a suggestion in regards to redoing the cookbook in a useful software format...You could use an OCR program to turn the scanned cookbook into something editable. It might save having to re-type the entire cookbook. That's a thought. I scanned it a few years ago. I think that the files still exist in one of my wife's computers at her gallery (although that could be along shot-no one should ever give artists access to computer files and a delete button )

Paula Wolfert makes reference to Davis in her latest book, The Slow Mediterranean Kitchen (eGullet credit link). Wolfert is an admirer of Davis' work, but she cautions against using some of Davis' methods today, because some of these slow cooking techniques can result in massive bacterial growth. Some of the recipes in Wolfert's book attempt to get Davis' results without some of the dangers. Edit: I'm loving the blog, by the way. I'm glad you referenced that because I was thinking the same thing about fowl at 175 degrees. Chicken/fowl bacteria can be pretty nasty, and with a wild turkey...well, you just don't know where its been! P.S. Thanks for the support!! I think that the argument that wild turkey (the food, not the whiskey) is probably a much safer bird to eat than a pen raised bird is pretty easy to make. No antibiotics. No Growth Hormones. No cross contamination of feed. No living in unclean conditions. The chain of evidence is much easier to follow as well, since you know who has handled the bird all the way down the line. The only unsafe part would be how the bird is handled and subsequently frozen and thawed. As long as safe practices are followed concerning chicken/fowl bacteria, I wouldn't give it another thought.

A good story. I side with the thief (sort of). I have been doing the same thing with turkey carcasses for years. The only difference is that I always make sure that the original owner of the carcass gets some of the gumbo. No one ever seems to mind.

Yeah, I have pretty much decided to go in that direction. I live in an old farmhouse and they would fit with all of the other beat up wood that this place consists of. We had them in a house in New Orleans and I really liked them. The cost is minimal as the linear footage of the countertops is really quite small as the whole kitchen is built around a 4X6 island (with a sink and a very strange, but handy, high btu double burner) covered in corian (I think it was originally wood, but got recovered with the corian, which I have actually come to like).

Is that a really giant cutting board or do you have butcher block counter tops? I am thinking of replacing mine with butcher blocks (I can get them very cheap) and was just wondering.