kayb

The quintessential southern trailer park trash breakfast -- pigs in blankets. With honey mustard.

Just got back from a quick getaway to the Gulf Coast and New Orleans. It's not enough for a full-blown travelogue, so I'll hit the highlights in one post. Made it to Biloxi Wednesday in time to do a little shopping at the factory outlet mall, and on to The Reef for dinner. Hadn't been there, won't go back; touristy, and mediocre. Crab dip with pita toasts: Way too cheesy, and too peppery. Pita wasn't toasted enough. Dinner, which I forgot to photograph, was a "Reef boil." Allegedly royal red shrimp -- they were not -- with corn and potatoes. Adequate. The next night was a vast improvement. We went to Mary Mahoney's Old French House, a Biloxi standby since the 1950s, and with good reason. Classic old-style Creole and Cajun classics. We shared an appetizer of miniature fried soft-shell crabs, which were predictably excellent. My entree was one I have trouble getting away from -- Shrimp and crab au gratin. Sinfully rich and delicious. Marvelous. Predictably so. On to New Orleans the next day. Wandered the French quarter and on a whim, decided to try lunch at the Royal House Oyster Bar. Caprese with grilled shrimp. Tomatoes were a little weak, but everything else was excellent. Had to have a little midafternoon pick-me-up, so we opted for beignets and coffee... And stopped off at a candy store for pralines and truffles. This is a Bailey's Irish Cream truffle, which was excellent. For dinner that night, we chose another French Quarter standard -- Broussards. Started out with crab ravigote (please pardon blurry photo) salad, which was marvelous. Steamed and chilled asparagus in endive leaves, topped with a salad of crabmeat in the lightest of viniagrettes. Light, refreshing, perfectly tasty, just excellent. Followed by Pompano Ponchartrain. Possibly the most perfectly cooked pompano I've ever eaten. The sauce was a chardonnay butter sauce. I must confess I ignored the green beans. One must have priorities. On the way home the next day, we stopped at Middendorf's in Manchac, on the northern shore of Lake Ponchartrain. It's known for its "thinfish," quarter-inch thick filets of catfish, lightly breaded in what's almost a tempura, but isn't, and flash-fried so it's impossibly crispy but yet moist inside. Well deserved fame in the region, I'd say Slaw was average, as were hush puppies. Fries were likely a cut above average. The fish, though? Superb. Think catfish chips. Middendorf's was also celebrating Oktoberfest with a couple of traditional German (not seafood) dishes, and respectable assortment of German beer. And home, to 30-degree temps (it was 90 when I left Wednesday). I think I'll bake bread and make soup today.

Did not know Larry's had moved to Memphis. Will have to make that trek and look next time I'm over that way. Thanks for the link. Used to hang in that area some, back in my younger and more foolish days, when it wasn't the 'hood.

Best hot dog ever: On a stick, over a bonfire, at church camp.

Score!

Thanksgiving is VERY traditional at our house. The side dishes MUST include: -- Cornbread dressing. I order mine from a local diner. Mine is very inconsistent. Theirs is not. -- Cranberry salad. 1 pound cranberries, 1 tart red apple, 1 green apple. 1 orange, 1 cup pecans, 1 1/2 cups sugar, 1 small box raspberry jello, 1 cup water Chop all the fruit (either zest the orange or chop peel and all) (core but don't peel apples) in food processor, toss in a big bowl. Heat 1 cup water and sugar until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and whisk in jello. Pour over fruit and stir to combine. This is NOT a congealed salad; the jello makes a kind of thick syrup. It is one of the two dishes in my repertoire for which I use a Jello product. -- Sweet potato casserole. Boil about three or four big sweet potatoes until tender. Allow to cool, and peel. Add 1/2 cup sugar, 2 tsp vanilla, a beaten egg and a half-stick of melted butter; combine well. Turn into baking dish. Top with a streusel of 2/3 cup each of flour and brown sugar, 1 cup chopped pecans, , 1/2 stick melted butter. Bake at 350 until bubbly. -- Either mashed potatoes or mac and cheese for the kids. -- Yeast rolls. -- A green thing. Think this year it will be the sauteed brussels sprouts with farro. Sometimes it's green beans. Sometimes it's roasted broccoli. Sometimes it's asparagus. Dessert, which no one ever eats because we're all in food coma, will be pumpkin cheesecake.

This is not an appropriate thread to read before breakfast. I'm starving. And I just got back from a debauch of eating on the Gulf Coast and in New Orleans. Beautiful food!

I cook a lot for just myself. Anxious to hear your thoughts.

Don't know where to find them in Memphis...I would try a soul food place, maybe ask at Alcenia's on South Main or the Four Way Grill, whose address I disremember. Or you could head south to Helena, AR and visit the food truck in the parking lot if the Sears store on 49 N and get a batch of Pasquale's. Or go on down to Clarksdale, Miss., to Larry's or Abe's, or if you're staying on the west side of the river, my personal favorite, Rhoda's in Lake Village (get pie, too). If you go that far, do NOT fail to cross the river and have the tamales as an app for your steak at Doe's.

Au contraire. The bacon barbecue mac and cheese I had a while back at a restaurant was quite delicious. I can usually take or leave the stuff. This was a keeper.

Don't you love the sound the jars make when they come out of the canner, cool and seal? Sounds like accomplishment.

Snagged that one! Thanks!

I'm a whisk wuss. My immersion blender has a whisk attachment, and that's my go-to.

@CantCookStillTry -- "Slaw-lad." I love it. I suspect you are a cook after my own heart. Step 1: "This ought to be good in there...." Step 2: "Hush, and eat it."

I was going to get the Bittman book, and discovered I had done so last year.

I made a muscadine pie yesterday. Per the way my mama did it, I popped the pulp loose, tossed the hulls (which are thicker than grape skins/hulls) into a pot, put the pulp/seeds into a food mill and used it to get the juice and pulp separated from seeds. Juice and pulp went in pot with hulls, sugar and lemon juice to cook until hulls were tender (some 40 minutes). Then into a pair of small cobblers, which I put in the oven and promptly forgot. For about five hours. Muscadine bricks, which went into the trash as soon as they cooled enough to do so. I wept.

Actually, mushroom and barley casserole sounds pretty doggoned good.

Instant Pot yogurt, homemade granola, and fall strawberries, which I found at the farmers' market yesterday. The berry people said they bought the seedling plants last spring, kept them in the cooler all summer, and set them out when the weather cooled. The berries think it's spring and, thanks to our long, warm fall, merrily start to bloom and then bear fruit. Been around gardening and farming most of my life, and never heard of this before. But I'll not complain. Fresh, local strawberries in October? Yes, indeed!

Going to look for the Lebovitz recipe. Sounds like a damn fine idea. As someone who lived in the greater Memphis area for more than half my adult life, I have to chuckle at a "renowned" barbecue restaurant in New York, particularly one that serves a mushroom and barley casserole. Come visit. I'll take you to Payne's or Interstate or Cozy Corner. I, too, loved the long underwear story. When I was a kid, Mama and I used to take off and go swimming, and one day she found a patch of wild scuppernongs (white muscadines). Didn't have a bucket. Was wearing capri pants over her bathing suit (in the early 60s). Stripped them off, knots in the legs, picked them full. Drove home in her bathing suit, and had to change a flat tire along the way. The story is here, at a storytelling hour at a local bar I used to frequent. (I would note I've lost about 70 pounds since then.)

Some farmers from whom I bought a lot of chicken and pork when I lived in southwestern Arkansas also grew mushrooms. They held a seminar every year where people prepped, took home and grew their own mushroom logs. Always thought I ought to do that, and never did.

When I was a kid and the only mushrooms available in rural West Tennessee were the sliced ones in a can, I'd badger Mama into buying a can and I'd sit down and eat the whole thing. The first time I bought and sauteed in wine my own white mushrooms from the grocery, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. Then I discovered portobellos; mushroom deliciousness x two or three. I love any kind of mushroom. Buy them often at Aldi and saute them for a side dish, to put over a steak, or to top pizza. I will be eternally grateful to @HungryChris for the marinated mushrooms recipe; when my quart jar gets low, more mushrooms go on the grocery list and go right back in the same brine with a bit of topping-off. I am never without them, and eat them with a sandwich or cheese and crackers for lunch. Confession: I have never yet had a morel. That's on my bucket list. That, and to learn how to identify the "good kind" vs. the "bad kind" in the wild, and forage my own.

A collard green toastie. Saints preserve me. Sue me. Can't abide greens, either collard, turnip, or otherwise.

I think my favorite recipe in the entire book -- certainly one of the most versatile -- is for Stewed Tomatoes. As my neighbor's tomatoes stubbornly continue producing, and she keeps gifting me with them, I decided I'd make a big batch of stewed tomatoes today and can them. These 10 pints represent about a triple batch of the recipe. I cooked up to the point of adding bread crumbs, then canned and water-bath processed. When I'm ready to eat them, I can just open a jar, add the crumbs, and simmer a bit to thicken. I think these, on top of grits with eggs baked in them, are just about my favorite breakfast in the world.

Very possibly the last of the tomatoes. I made Vivian Howard's Stewed Tomatoes from Deep Run Roots, through the stage where one adds the bread crumbs. Theoretically, one could open a jar, add the crumbs, and simmer for a few minutes to thicken. I purely love eggs baked in these. 10 quart mixing bowl full of tomatoes from my 85-year-old neighbor across the street. She can grow tomatoes much more successfully than I. 10 pints of crumbless Stewed Tomatoes. A few of the tomatoes went into bolognese sauce I made Sunday and never ate, as I had to cut those plans short due to a medical issue that put a good friend in SICU. Today, I fetched it out of the fridge and froze three quarts, leaving a bit for dinner. Then we ordered Chinese, so I guess it'll be dinner tomorrow. It's the IP bolognese recipe from Serious Eats. Will be picking up some Arkansas Black apples and making apple butter week after next.

It's the time of the year for state fairs, and the Arkansas State Fair, opening this week in Little Rock, is no exception. Food writer Kat Robinson always does a detailed run-down of the assorted culinary treats available at the state fair: Here's this year's. I have fond memories of going to the old Mid-South Fair, a four- or five-state affair held annually in Memphis each fall, and eating my way across the fairgrounds. That was back in the day the fair was about the only place you could get a gyro, and I looked forward to them anxiously every year, along with roasted corn, funnel cakes, and multitudes of other wonderful stuff. Reading Kat's piece made me want to go to Little Rock and try eating my way across the state fairgrounds. Deep-fried bacon-wrapped Oreos? Yes, please!