eG Foodblog: Pierogi (2011) - Rollin' the bon temps on the Left Co

[Shelby]

*drool* Harry Connick Jr. is about the hottest thing ever.

Will you be having a hurricane drink?

[Pierogi]

da pierogi's are da bomb. Like you, I make them once a year aroung the holidays. It is a lot of work for everyday consumption, but they are damn tasty looking.

I'll probably get my eGullet membership card revoked for admitting it, but....I usually have a package of Mrs. T's in my freezer. Sometimes, you just gotta have a pierogi or two, in July or September, and well, *I'm* certainly not going to be making them then ! Promise you won't tell anyone my dirty little secret?

I can honestly say, that even with copious amounts of browned butter, browned onions and sour cream, they only ever become...tolerable.

[Pierogi]

*drool* Harry Connick Jr. is about the hottest thing ever.

Yes. He certainly is. Most certainly.

Will you be having a hurricane drink?

Not if it was the last drop of alcohol on Earth. (insert green pukie face here).

The only time I've ever tried one, it *was* at Pat O'Brien's in the Quarter and I had a very bad experience with it (had nothing to do with the fact that Pat O'Brien's was our last stop of a long, very wet evening). But I still wanted the glass. So I ordered one, and took one sip and realized that if I even smelled the cursed thing again, many people sitting around me were going to be very sorry they were that close. But I didn't know what to do with that hideous drink, because I really did want the glass. My equally inebriated companion kept, very "slurrily", suggesting to "tossh it in da fountain...". After a bit of deliberation, I decided that "tosshin' it in da fountain" was a far better alternative than me "tossshin'" my cookies.

[Pierogi]

Dinner's perking along on the stove, and in the oven, so it's cocktail hour.

Rather than expose myself to the horror that is a Hurricane, I chose another Mardi Gras-appropriate adult beverage.

Made with these ingredients, two of which are the absolute essence of my beloved NOLA:

Along with a bit of sugar and water, and maybe a strip of lemon twisted over, but not dropped, you have a *real* N'Awlins cocktail.

Ladies and Gentlemen......

The Sazerac:

A bad picture of a true thing of beauty. Back in a bit, gotta go stir the pot (literally !)

[Pierogi]

Before I split for my errands around noon-ish, I made a different iteration of of the starch/hummus/olive/tabbuleh theme of the week.

I took a slice of my beautiful bread, and toasted it. I smeared on the hummus and the olive paste, then topped it with the tabbuleh. It was REALLY good, and that will be lunch tomorrow as well:

As you probably figured out, we're cooking New Orleans food today to celebrate Mardi Gras.

The sources are:

From "Cooking Up a Storm" I got:

From the John Besh book I got:

And from the Paul Prudhomme book I got:

Edit to correct premature postage....oops, it's PREVIEW you want Roberta, NOT POST...

As I was saying before I interrupted myself,

I usually make my gumbos from the Prudhomme book. As you can probably see, it's well used and loved. Lots of grease drips on the pages. Or I use Alton Brown's from the Food Network site. His roux technique actually works pretty well, although it is unorthodox.

Prudhomme's gumbos are so tasty, but his roux is scary. He cooks it over jet-engine high heat the whole time, and it can go from good to burnt in a nanosecond. Brown's roux gets cooked in the oven (in the OVEN for Heaven's sake), with no stirring, but it does yield a pretty tasty result. I usually play with his seasonings though.

I've had the Besh book for about a year, and I've made a few other recipes from it, and have been pleased. His seasonings are very different from Prudhomme's, as are some of the techniques, but I can't say I like either one better than the other. They're both outstanding, very different, but really good, flavorful food.

I've made Prudhomme's red beans and rice, his jambalayas, his gumbos (most of them), his sauce piquants and etouffees, and his grillades, all a million times. Until I got the Besh book, he was my go-to for all those dishes. I've only made Besh's red beans and rice, grillades and I think maybe a jambalaya. And then only once each. As I said, they were very different from Prudhomme's but very very good.

So, when I was deciding what to do for this blog, I knew I had to make a gumbo for Mardi Gras. And I thought I'd try Besh's. Of course, there are as many gumbo recipes as there are gumbo cooks, but this one certainly *smells* good ! My widdle (NOT) tummy is rumbling pretty bad....His roux technique seems to be a happy medium between the "blast it at inferno level" of Prudhomme and the "totally hands off" version by Brown.

One of the problems I consistently have (and actually one of the reasons I hadn't tried this gumbo recipe before) is that I am only cooking for one (ok, one and a couple of vultures, but you know what I mean). This recipe makes *ahem* 10-12 SERVINGS . I could feed my entire BLOCK with that, and I really don't like most of my neighbors ! Not enough to feed them gumbo !

Needless to say, I've become pretty adept at adjusting recipes. I actually have a calculator a friend gave me as a present that allows you to punch in the number of servings the recipe is written for, then the number of servings you *actually* want. Then, you go ingredient by ingredient (and it can calculate cups, teaspoons, tablespoons, fluid ounces, solid ounces, etc.) and hit the "convert recipe" key. It is a godsend ! Especially because, well, I was a liberal arts major. Math was never really a good thing in my life....

Anyway, even with that, most times I can do the math in what's left of my brain. Sometimes though, I gotta use a cheat sheet (wish I'd had those in algebra...)

I know writing in cookbooks is anathema to some people, but, like the greasy roux drips in my copy of Prudhomme, I think it's an indication that you actually COOKED from the book, and it didn't just sit in a designer kitchen looking nice.

Alright, my gumbo, rice and pickled green beans are calling. I'm gonna finish this Sazerac, and enjoy my Mardi Gras dinner. I'll be back after clean-up to show all y'all the process and the finished products.

(note to self...."preview" first, then "post")

Edited March 9, 2011 by Pierogi (log)

[eldereno]

Looking forward to what comes next!!!! Have cooked from Paul Prudhomme's book.....the fettuccini alfredo, the barbeque shrimp, the rice dish, probably some others. Have loved them all!!!!

[Burnin' It]

That book of Treasured Polish Recipes is the same one my Bushia gave to my Mom.

[Peter the eater]

Great stuff Roberta, and for what it's worth, I write in cookbooks all the time.

My school buddy from Dauphin, Manitoba made the best pierogies I've ever tasted. He used a form that said "Hunky Dave" made of red plastic. Sour cream and sweet memories.

[Kerry Beal]

Great stuff Roberta, and for what it's worth, I write in cookbooks all the time.

My school buddy from Dauphin, Manitoba made the best pierogies I've ever tasted. He used a form that said "Hunky Dave" made of red plastic. Sour cream and sweet memories.

Hey I've got Hunky Dave's in a couple of sizes.

[prasantrin]

You sure that's not Hunky Bill's?

http://hunkybill.biz/

[Kerry Beal]

You sure that's not Hunky Bill's?

http://hunkybill.biz/

Funny I was thinking I knew it was Hunky but Dave didn't sound right!

[judiu]

After the dough had relaxed and found it's happy place, it's time roll, stuff, seal and boil. But first *I* needed to relax and find *MY* happy place. This helped:

Divide the dough into 3 pieces:

And keep the ones you're not working with under a damp tea towel. If the dough dries out, you'll have problems sealing the 'lil' dumplings later on.

Take a rolling pin and start to roll the dough out. You'll need a good amount of flour on the board because of the stickiness of the dough. I started out using the humongo pin in the background, and switched to the French pin I'm using in the shot. For whatever reason (karma, planet alignment, phases of the moon, who knows...?), I was over working the center of the dough while the edges were staying quite thin when I was using Big Bertha back there. But whatever works will do quite fine.

I think, for me at least, and it was confirmed by by able-bodied assistant who was taking the pictures for me today (love you guys, but I really didn't want to goop up my camera with floury, sticky hands...) that the major difference between homemade pierogies and commercial ones is the thiness of my dough when I'm done. You want to get it as thin as possible, but with enough heft to hold up to those fillings (which are pretty dense) as well as the boiling water.

But thin it needs to be:

Once you've got it thin enough, take a biscuit or cookie cutter (this one is about 3&3/4") and cut out circles. You can, to an extent, do "abstract" circles to maximize dough use as well. When we seal them, it will almost self-correct:

Save your scraps, you can re-roll them for the next round.

With a pastry brush (and for this application, one of the silicon-bristle brushes don't work so good....) very, VERY lightly brush the circles with water:

Use a light hand with the water, otherwise you'll literally glue the dough to the board ! Don't ask me how I know....

Put a rounded tablespoon or so of filling in the middle of each circle:

Fold one side of the circle over the filling, and you'll need to stretch the dough a bit, and also simultaneously push the filling in, and then press around the edge with your fingers, sealing the dough edges well. Try to also press out any air trapped in the center, which causes the dreaded Pierogi Blow-Out in the boiling water.

Don't ask me how I know about Pierogi Blow-Outs, either.

Once all the dumplin's are preliminarily sealed, take your official pierogi pinching fork, and press around the edges to give them a final seal. Be careful not to puncture the middle with the tines of the fork (see dreaded Pierogi Blow-Out, above):

Next: We boil !

Yee gads! Were you playing with beets, is it a weird lighting thing, or are your hands REALLY purple?

[Peter the eater]

Yes you are correct Kerry and Rona. My appliance shows Hunky Bill, not Dave.

[Dejah]

People born and bred in Dauphin - Yorkton area just seem to have the knack for pierogies and cabbage rolls. I used to have 2 guys working in my Chinese restaurant kitchen, and for staff celebrations, they'd have us all making pierogies. The wrappers were never as fine as yours, Pierogie. I like mine deep-fried with sour cream and dill.

Last Christmas, a colleague's daughter was selling pierogies as a fundraiser. This time, they came from the Ukrainian church ladies in Yorkton, Sask. Apparently, they made thousands! They were beautifully shaped and quite delicious with our Xmas turkey!

[Pierogi]

Looking forward to what comes next!!!! Have cooked from Paul Prudhomme's book.....the fettuccini alfredo, the barbeque shrimp, the rice dish, probably some others. Have loved them all!!!!

Ohhhhhhhh, his BBQ shrimp is THE BEST. Takes me right back to New Orleans. THAT was another epiphany dish for me, the first time I ate NO barbeque shrimp. No grill required, thenkyewvermush. Just lots of butter.....(notice a trend here?)

It would be a toss up for me between Prudhomme's "Louisiana Kitchen" and the book I'm cooking from tomorrow (well, and Mom's Fanny Farmer and the Polish book) as to which I'd rescue in a fire/flood/earthquake (pick your Southern California disaster). Prudhomme is certainly very close to first place in my cookbook list. It is simply a classic, especially in the context of the cuisine. Again, like "Cooking Up a Storm", it gives you a really nice insight into the culture and foodways as well.

[Pierogi]

That book of Treasured Polish Recipes is the same one my Bushia gave to my Mom.

Hi Burnin' It!!! And a big WELCOME to eGullet !

That is *soooo* cool. I literally thought I was the only person in the world that still had that book. I remember reading it when I was a kid, and even then, thinking it was so wonderful how it told the stories about the culture and the traditions. My Mom was first generation. And, of course in those days, the immigrants assimlated immediately, so she never really explored HER parents culinary experience. By the time I was old enough to care, both my Polish grandparents were gone. Its a huge void I feel. This book, and some old newsletters my Mom used to get, were my door into the Polish world.

Mom got that for a wedding present in about 1953. It's literally held together with packing tape at this point. We used to make the chrusciki recipe from it all the time for Christmas when I was a kid. I still get the urge to make them occasionally, but I don't want to fool with the whole deep frying thing.

The pierogi dough, and the cheese and mushroom/'kraut stuffings are straight from that little gem.

Just don't ever ask me about the time I tried to make paczki from it.....

[Pierogi]

Great stuff Roberta, and for what it's worth, I write in cookbooks all the time.

Thanks, Peter. Writing in cookbooks is OK by me. I also usually make notes about if the recipe worked, what I'd change, etc., etc., etc. Mostly, though, it's the scale-down quantities.

Unless they're really obvious (like cutting 2 cups of stock in half....even *my* math-challenged brain can handle that !)

My school buddy from Dauphin, Manitoba made the best pierogies I've ever tasted. He used a form that said "Hunky Dave" made of red plastic. Sour cream and sweet memories.

Using a pierogi folder/form/maker is for wimps. Us *REAL* Polaks do it by hand ! And we're damn proud of it.....

Actually my able-bodied assistant photog yesterday said "didn't you used to use one of those fold over things to seal them?" I resisted the urge to throw the big pot of boiling water at her, mostly because she was holding my camera.

[Pierogi]

Hey I've got Hunky Dave's in a couple of sizes.

You sure that's not Hunky Bill's?

Yes you are correct Kerry and Rona. My appliance shows Hunky Bill, not Dave.

Hunky Dave, Hunky Bill, Hunky Steve, Hunky Fred, Hunky George........

If it ain't a pierogi maker, I'll take one !!!!

In *any* size !!!!!!!!!

[Pierogi]

People born and bred in Dauphin - Yorkton area just seem to have the knack for pierogies and cabbage rolls. I used to have 2 guys working in my Chinese restaurant kitchen, and for staff celebrations, they'd have us all making pierogies. The wrappers were never as fine as yours, Pierogie. I like mine deep-fried with sour cream and dill.

Last Christmas, a colleague's daughter was selling pierogies as a fundraiser. This time, they came from the Ukrainian church ladies in Yorkton, Sask. Apparently, they made thousands! They were beautifully shaped and quite delicious with our Xmas turkey!

That was the real moment when I knew I had them nailed....when my Mom told me the dough was as good as *her* mother's. When Mom had made them, she made them thicker. I don't like them doughy. That's why I don't really care for the commercial ones, 'though they'll do in a pinch (an utterly desperate pinch).

Some of mine yesterday looke a bit, ermmmm, *rustic*, to say the least. As I was *trying* to say in one of my semi-incoherant posts about them, I was having a problem with that first rolling pin I was using. I honestly believe, now that I think about it, that it was due to that dip in my butcher block I was telling Heidih about. I could get the edges really thin, but the middle was still way too thick, and to compensate, I was overworking it all. When I switched to the French pin, with the taper and the thicker center, it went much better. It is an art.....

Yep, again, good ones are sublime. Usually on Wiglia, I serve them with fish. Then for Christmas Day, with whatever the main is. As a kid, I can remember sneaking into the fridge and pulling out a cold one and munching it down when Mom wasn't watching.

I made wontons for the first time last month for Chinese New Year (may as well co-opt everyone's holidays, all the more to celebrate!), and as I was reading the recipe, I thought, "well, heck, this is like sealing pierogies. I know how to do THAT !"

[Pierogi]

Yee gads! Were you playing with beets, is it a weird lighting thing, or are your hands REALLY purple?

LOL...

Nooooo. No beets (didn't make borscht, unless there was a parallel me), and while my hands aren't *that* attractive any longer, gotta chalk that one up to a) bad lighting and b) bad color correction in the editing. I knew some of those photos had a bit of a, shall we say......*fuuhhnkayy* color, so I decided to use Microsoft Office Picture Manager's "autocorrect" function.

BAAAAAAAAAAD decision. And I didn't realize it until I went back to look at it, and of course, it was way too late to undo.

As I said, my story and I'm stickin' to it, I was stupid-tired last night after 3 big project days, and the old gray matter just ain't what it used to be.

I promise I'm not Lobster Girl !

Or Barney's evil twin

Edited March 9, 2011 by Pierogi (log)

[Pierogi]

OK, so to the food today. We'll take it dish by dish. There were two major successes and a huge fail....

What worked? What didn't....? (dramatic music insert....)

Stay tuned for

Pierogi's Mardi Gras dinner !

Here are some of the players in the meal:

The veggies:

Some of the supporting characters (a couple were late for the class photo):

AAAAAAAAAND our stars, the proteins !

Let's deal with the marinated green beans first.

So, you take white wine vinegar, preferably from your spiffy, re-purposed fish bottle...

and mix it with olive oil, chopped jalapeno (unlike the tragic specimen from Saturday, this one was HOT), sliced garlic, mustard seeds, whole peppercorns, some brine from a jar of green olives, a bit of crab boil and some water in a saucepan.

Bring that to a boil, then simmer for 15 minutes. Meanwhile (back at the ranch), slice your red bell into strips, and put it, and your beans, in a heat-resistant bowl. Side note: the recipe said a yellow *and* a red bell...um, not at the prices I saw at the market last week. I got the yellow & green beans, and a red bell, and figured it was close enough.

"Don' 'dat be purty" as Justin Wilson used to say. Raise your hand if you remember Justin Wilson. I LOVED his show !

When the pickle mixture has simmered for 15 minutes, pour the hot marinade over the beans and bells, and cover with plastic wrap. Let it cool, then pour the mix into a freezer zip bag, and stuff in the fridge (y'all SAW my fridge, you KNOW I literally mean stuff) for a few hours.

The final dish:

Pretty isn't it? Especially in my spiffy cobalt glass bowl. From Goodwill. $0.95 each. Got all 4 that they had.

Wish the beans had been as nice as those bowls.

Verdict - MAJOR fail.

You know, one of these millenia, I am really, truly going to learn to *trust my damn cooking instincts* ! I read this recipe and I thought "that marinade sounds GOOOOOOOOD. But ya know, it's odd the beans aren't cooked. Are they really NOT cooked?"

Now, I very frequently develop ADD when I'm reading recipes. The mantra in the Little Kitchen is "read the recipe Roberta !". So I did. I read it again, and again. And then once more. Nope. Beans aren't cooked. Hmmmmm.

But I figure, hey, *someone's* tested this recipe, it's in a published cook book, it's gotta work, right?

Nope. The beans were, well, raw. Now, full disclosure, the recipe *does* say use a shallow bowl. Mine was, obviously, not a shallow bowl. Maybe, MAYBE, that made a difference. Somehow, I'm thinkin' not.

I actually went BACK to the recipe when I was cleaning up the kitchen to check that I hadn't missed the crucial "blanch/cook/steam the green beans" step. Nope. No such step.

The peppers were good. I may try it again with actually cooked green beans (wow, what a concept). But certainly not as written. The whole freezer-zippy lok bag will be moldering in a landfill somewhere in Southern California very, very soon.

Edited March 9, 2011 by Pierogi (log)

[Pierogi]

So, to the rice. I've made this recipe a bazillion times. It's from the Prudhomme book, and it just works. It's a bit odd for a rice recipe (although as I've come to find out, maybe not so much), in that it bakes rather than cooks stove top. But it always turns out, and it's a good deal when you need to free up a stove-top burner.

Get your oven up to 350°. Melt some butter. Since we'll be making the rice in a loaf pan, I usually just toss butter into the pan and throw it into the oven while it's preheating. Why dirty another pan to melt the damn butter?

Here's a mini-version of the trinity (onion/celery/green bell pepper), finely minced and tossed into the sizzling butter:

Oh, and remember, that loaf pan is hot. Don't ask me how I know...

Add some cayenne, white & black pepper, salt and garlic powder to the veg. I forgot to take a picture of that, but hey, it didn't look like much different anyway. On top of the veg & seasonings, put in some rice. Then add some stock/broth, cover WELL with foil (remember, the loaf pan is still hot....) and put it back in the oven for 70 minutes.

No shots of all that, I just jelled, but hey, it's cooking rice, how tough can it be? (Actually pretty damn tough, I have a bear of a time cooking rice on the stove top, but that's another day/issue/topic.)

And here it is, done:

Verdict - Perfect as always. I may have used a skosh too much white or black pepper, but once the gumbo was over it, all was fine.

Next up......Dat Gumbo, chere !

[Pierogi]

Before I start on the gumbo post, I have to say how much I respect and admire the people, culture and traditions of New Orleans and southern Louisiana.

I fully realize how lucky I am to live in Southern California, it's a pretty darn special place, and I love it. But there are two other cities I've been to where I would live in an instant. Manhattan and New Orleans. Problem is....I can't afford Manhattan and I can't take the New Orleans weather. I *hate* when that happens !

But New Orleans, from the first moment I saw it, just spoke to me. I loved the vibe, I loved the food, I loved the people I met, I loved the architecture, I just was smitten. My deep respect and affection for New Orleans actually was the reason that I wanted to do this blog *this* week, since I knew it would include Mardi Gras, and for the title of the blog. Let those good times roll, babe, wherever you are.

In both Manhattan and NOLA, one of the things I fell for hardest was the food culture. God knows, you can find anything you want to taste in Manhattan. And in New Orleans, man, it's just history on a plate.

So, even though I'm a Polish/Norwegian Midwestern girl raised in SoCal, it is with all deep homage and respect that I show you how I made Chicken and Sausage Gumbo to celebrate Mardi Gras.

As I said in another post, I was really interested to try John Besh's technique and his recipe, so this was the perfect opportunity. The beginning was standard enough.

You gots to have your Trinity:

That's onion, celery and green bell pepper. The onion isn't chopped yet, because Besh doesn't cook his trinity the way other recipes I've seen do.

So, here's the green portion of the trinity joined by a sad, winter Roma tomato and some minced garlic:

Hey, nice lady....we heard veggies being chopped. You got any to spare?

Yeah, probably....

Apparently dogs like the trinity (sans onion) too.

Then you take your chicky-bird, and sprinkle it with lovely Cajun spices, and slice up the smoked sausage:

The spice blend is a recipe from the Besh book. I made it a while back when I made his grillades recipe. It keeps well in the cupboard. I only used (again, since I'm *trying* to limit the actual amount of end product I produce) one breast, one thigh and one drumstick from that huge package of chicken I bought. The rest got packaged in meal-sized freezer bags and stuffed into the freezer. For the smoked sausage, I used smoked beef hot links.

OK, off camera, the onion's been chopped, it must be time to make roux. So we must need oil (or fat) and flour:

Besh says to use rendered chicken fat. Would've loved to, but don't have it. So, it was corn oil instead.

Let the oil get REALLY hot in a heavy pan (how do I love thee, Le Cruset, let me count the ways, starting with the fact you give good roux). When it's almost smokin' sprinkle in the flour. It'll sizzle up and you should start whisking, like now.

Whisk, whisk, whisk. Have some good New Orleans music on the CD player (yeah, Shelby, it was Harry), and keep whisking. They say, to get a good roux, you have to cook and whisk as long as it takes you to drink a Dixie Beer. Sadly I had no Dixie beer. But I did have Harry.... . You want to get it to what Besh describes as a "deep brown".

Not yet, but darker than when we started:

Keep on a 'whiskin'....and whisking.....and whisking.....

Ahhhhhh, there we go:

Smells like toasted flour, too. Important note....toasted, not burnt. I actually could've probably let this go a bit longer, but I'm chicken about burning it (don't ask me how I know...), so I stopped it now. Besides, it will continue to darken as you...

Dump in the onions and continue to cook for another 10 minutes or so:

This is the major difference between Besh and Prudhomme. Prudhomme puts all the trinity in at the same time to stop the darkening of the roux. Then, he has you add hot stock in ladle-fulls to make the base. Besh has you just put in the onions, which he then continues to cook and caramelize in the hot roux for quite a long period of time. He says in the book that he feels this gives the gumbo a deeper flavor.

Then put in your chicken, and let it brown, turning as need be, in the roux/onion goodness. "Don' dat be purty?"

Add the sausage, then the celery, green pepper, garlic and tomatoes. Stir that around for a bit, then toss in the bay leaf and some fresh thyme sprigs:

The thyme didn't make the class photo, guess it ran out of 'thyme', or couldn't keep track of 'thyme' or....never mind. I know, keep my day job !

Pour on some chicken stock/broth, and bring it to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.

"Don' dat be purty?"

After a good, long simmer, chop up your andouille and add it to the pot along with some okra. Besh wanted fresh, not an option here right now, so frozen'll have to do:

Season it up with some of this stuff:

And you'll need to keep skimming the grease off the top:

Evidence of a baaaaaaad Rosie dog:

That's the wrapper from the andouille when dumb Mommydog left the trash unattended for a moment !

Up next: The final steps and the verdict.

Edited March 9, 2011 by Pierogi (log)

[Pierogi]

So, the gumbo's been simmering (and Rosie's been rooting in the trash) for a bit now. The house smell AMAZING. It must be showtime.

Finished gumbo. "Don' dat be purty?"

I pulled the chicken

because I wanted to get rid of the slimey, nasty, flabby skin, and pull it off the bone. One of the major gripes I have with trying to eat gumbo at home is trying to wrest the meat of the chicken off of the bone, in a soupy, stewy dish. And that icky skin. So, eventually I got the lightbulb moment to pull the chicken, remove the skin, chunk it off the bone, and then return it to the pot. Et, voila !

The debris:

The good stuff:

The shredded chicken back in the pot. "Don' dat be purty?"

Take some of the rice, and put it in a bowl:

And top it with the gumbo:

Scarf it up, just as fast as you possibly can.

Verdict - HUGE SUCCESS !

A great gumbo. Absolutely stellar. Made me a very happy camper to taste it, very complex, the spice from the sausages was spot on, and although I put in a wee bit too much file powder, and it got a bit too thick, the taste was great. This is now the 5th or 6th recipe I've made from the Besh book, and all of them have turned out well. This gumbo will go into my regular rotation.

[Pierogi]

Random notes before I collapse:

Tomorrow we have at least another field trip (or possibly two, we'll see), and then a MUCH more mellow, less involved and more representative dinner planned.

I deliberately front-loaded the blog with BIG STUFF for several reasons. I knew I wanted to make gumbo today, Monday was the only day I could get help to shoot the pierogi making process, I knew I wanted to make a King Cake, and Saturday seemed best like the best day, and the same for bread and ribs on Sunday.

Plus, I figured, and I was right, that I would run out of steam as the week went on. And, I had some appointments/stuff to do on Thursday. And, I was also planning for a couple of late week field trips. We'll have another on Thursday.

Normally, I would NOT have done so much, and so many involved projects in such a compressed amount of time. While the intensity may not be typical, the projects are. Just not so close to each other, yeeeesh !

So, the leftover count stands at:

1 chicken breast from the Indian curry. Probably going into the freezer...

A boat load of short ribs from Sunday. I'm planning on reheating some of those after y'all go away, and then I'll probably freeze the rest.

2 servings of gumbo already in the freezer (happy happy) for the next time I get a gumbo jones.

About 1/3 of the bread left, but I'll use that up as toast before it goes totally bad. And I can always make bruschetta...actually *that* would go well tomorrow.

And tonight's dishwasher load, while still a "heavy wash/heated scrub" cycle, was much more normal.

And this...

...was the only thing that was hand-washed

Night all. See you tomorrow.

P.S. How do you know when you're writing an eG foodblog? When you're cleaning up the kitchen as usual, and you stand there staring at the doggie water dish, and for the life of you, you can't remember if you changed it !

Byyeeeeeee.