HungryC

Not exactly a classic (yet) and dispensed from a machine rather than mixed by a bartender, I nominate the Bushwacker from Liuzza's on Bienville. It's like a grownup's snowball.

Ha--Brooks, you made me laugh out loud this AM! Local media reports say that it was a water bottle, BTW.

I had a cheeseburger & a mocha freeze for lunch today, and I feel 58% better about the City of New Orleans. (And I didn't even need a pollster to make that calculation, either.) Amazing how a cheeseburger can affect my quality of life, huh? The place looks great--new marble counters are nice, yet fit well with all of the old stuff still in evidence. The pay phone on the wall is gone, the cash register is electronic with a touch screen, but Marvin still gave me some dap before he took my order. Burger seemed larger, counterguys confirmed it. Bun was a little too large for the burger--Marvin says they're trying to get the size right. Coconut cream pie, apple pie, pecan pies looking all frosty in the mirrored cases, big pile of bacon on the side of the grill....I'm happier than I've been in 20 months!

I'm pretty sure Mr. Bat retired a few years ago....I wonder if he's still alive.

One more CG thought: I hope you still get to walk through the back kitchen to get to the restrooms. I always liked the tour of the behind-the-scenes operation on the way to the facilities.

Can't wait to see if any of the old faces behind the counter have returned.....to have Marvin say "it's all good" when I order my burger with onions, bacon, and cheese. To get a piece of pecan pe warmed on the grill w/ syrup and a slight hint of grilled onions. Am also hoping that cloth napkins have returned!

Nice list, Todd. I'll add a few of my own: --turtles & pralines from Southern Candymakers on Decatur --a burger or omelet at Clover Grill on Bourbon --chicken bon femme at Tujagues --late-night grub at Coop's --duck, cashew butter, & pepper jelly sandwich at Bayona

Believe it or not, the microwave is your friend in this matter. You want to cook out the water in the bacon, not the fat, so a sous-vide isn't much help. Water=soggy, fat=cripy/flavorful. Lay the bacon out on a plate or microwave bacon cooker and zap it for a minute or two (depends on the wattage of your machine). You want it flexible for wrapping, but showing some shrinkage/contraction. Without the microwave, you can par-cook in a heavy skillet, but use a bacon press to keep the slices nice & flat. (For some reason, they don't curl as much in the 'wave.)

Odd as it may seem, my first purchase is always merguez. Partly tradition, partly 'cause it's a damn good sausage.

Am I the only person who finds cooked cabbage gross? The smell, the texture, the appearance...I don't like cabbage rolls, smothered cabbage, grilled cabbage, fried cabbage, cabbage casserole. I can tolerate it in pork & cabbage egg rolls. But I do really like raw cabbage in slaw, goi ga, or other salads. Weird, I know.

Sauteed crab claws go over great....buy already prepped clawfingers. Melt 1 stick of butter per pound of claws in a wok or big saucepan, throw in small whole mushrooms or sliced larger ones. Add four or five minced cloves of garlic, two bunches of chopped green onions (tops & bottoms), plenty of black pepper, juice of half a lemon, three or four healthy shakes of worcestershire, and the crab claws. Toss around until the claws are heated through. Serve with lots of bread for sopping up all those onions & mushrooms.

Makes me wonder what Baum would do at a real live boucherie....would he volunteer to hold the pot that catches the pig blood for the blood stew and boudin? Mmm. Pig blood.

Fresh mint can be ephemeral...add it near the end of cooking. Or, use it like fresh basil and stir it in after the cooking is done.

I'm still fascinated by this thread...please keep posting. I find your frustrations interesting, too. Why the aversion to frozen veggies? Heck, you're in Ontario in the winter. In pre-industrial times, winter veggies were quite limited in snowy climes. So many of your clientele shaped their tastes in a locale where seasonal choices weren't so diverse....but I applaud you for trying to get some new things into the mix. On the other hand, if the program experiences mass defection over your menu choices, that doesn't really count as success either. Keep on trucking...and see if you can't sneak some beans & rice into the mix. Oh, and I can't remember if somebody already suggested this (just read the most recent posts), have you considered looking through local community cookbooks for some ideas about what people might like? You can identify some regional tastes & trends that might bear fruit in your menu-planning.

I am running out to get Mes Confitures right now....

Funny--I made paneed chicken last night, boneless breast pounded and coated w/egg wash & dry breadcrumbs mixed w/creole seasoning. Deglazed the pan w/lemon juice, swirled in a little butter. It was grownup chicken fingers and took all of 10 minutes to prepare. I have to agree that precooked, reheated frozen chicken is pretty bad. Why not get him started on chicken potstickers or gyoza? They're easily made ahead & frozen, a snap to cook, and don't really suffer from their time in the freezer...

My local strawberry crop is rolling right in, and I'd love to make french-style whole preserved strawberries. I can't seem to find any recipes. I know that I'll need to use small fruits and slow-cook in sugar syrup, but have any of you ever done this at home? TIA.

They're perfect for slow-cooked New Orleans style grilladese. Cut into 1 or 2 inch cubes, toss with flour seasoned w/salt, black pepper, red pepper, ground thyme. Heat a generous amount of bacon grease in a heavy, deep skillet or saucepan and brown the cubes well. Next, brown two or three chopped onions, then toss in chopped green & red bell peppers, two or three ribs of celery, chopped, and four or five minced cloves of garlic. Cook until veggies wilt and then add two chopped tomatoes, the browned beef cubes, and a little beef broth and red wine, plus a bay leaf and some chopped fresh parsley. You want the cubes to be nearly submerged, but not floating. Simmer until the cubes are tender & juices reduced to a thick gravy, at least 45 minutes. Servee over creamy grits or mashed potatoes. Paul Prudhomme has a "seven steak" gumbo recipe in one of his cookbooks, too. (Seven steaks are a particular cut of semi-boneless round, and the eye of the round will stand up to similar treatment.)

How does one "sort of accidentally" kill & butcher & cook a pot-bellied pig? Did it get off of its leash and run out into the street? I gotta here the story behind this one...

Thanks for that link! Makes me wonder if he cooked those greens with his pickle meat or not. Me, I prefer tasso to pickle meat for greens, but pickle meat's good with beans.

Thanks! That's just what I needed to know.

Bought some malt syrup to use in bread baking. Label simply states "Malted Barley Syrup" and ingredients state: sprouted barley. So do you think it is diastatic malt, or was it heated past the point of no return when it was put into the jar?

I planted a moro blood orange tree in the backyard this time last year, and I have two lovely oranges waiting to be picked. I'm thinking of a blood orange salad, since I have just two this year.

Will you have a already-baked cake so that the kids can taste the finished cake? They might be more excited about the process if they can eat some, then make their own.

My first thought was beef-veggie stew; you can use frozen veggies in it, and inexpensive cuts of beef go a long way, especially when cut into small, bite-sized bits. It is a bit prep-intensive at the beginning, but once simmering, requires little attention. Other ideas-- --Beans. Figure out what kind of legume is acceptable to your clients (red beans, navy beans, black beans, favas, blackeyed peas--surely some legume is familiar to them) and do a ham & bean soup, or ham-potatoes-n-bean soup. Just a little ham goes a long way for flavor, and you can still have other cooked veggies on the side. --Egg salad and/or chicken salad bulked up with egg. Easy to prepare, easy to eat, familiar, and a traditional "luncheon" food, after all. Make some homemade yeast rolls to perk up the meal, folks can eat their rolls on the side or as a sandwich. My mother-in-law dines twice weekly at the local Council on Aging's luncheon program. The food is prepared by Louisiana prison inmates some 75 miles away earlier in the day and delivered a few hours before the meal. Thus, everything is sitting around in its own juices & veggies are always quite soft. She says that most of their meals are okay, but she goes for the fellowship & convenience, not the cuisine. Typical entrees include red beans & rice flavored with sausage or ham, smothered chicken w/rice, spaghetti w/meat sauce, baked pasta like ziti or lasagna, and casserole-type dishes. Salads run toward iceberg lettuce w/hard tomatoes, or pasta salads. And she says there's always a piece of cake or a cookie or a roll.