eG Foodblog: PopsicleToze (2011) - Honeysuckles and Huckleberries... F

[heidih]

Do tell how you compiled the family recipe book

[PopsicleToze]

Oh my- that smokehouse is a treasure. The head cheese looks really finely minced and rich. I normally do not choose it but that looks delectable. Strawberries surely do span a range from chewy blah to just almost too ripe sweet perfumed goodness as it appears you found. We have the same range here in Southern California and I am lucky to have good farmers markets and a farm stand with locally grown and picked that morning. Did you get any other smoked products from that shop?

Yes, I was going to save that for tomorrow because it has some other things in it, but since you asked... just pretend you don't see the alligator sausage. It's not there!

I purchased 2 pkgs of the sausage (I had dropped off the headcheese and 1 pkg of sausage at Mom's before this was taken), and 2 pkgs of bacon. The bacon is fantastic! Everything is. I can't believe that place has been there for years and I just now found it, but that's why field trips are fun! The man doesn't advertise, and I don't give praise like that too freely. I'll happily drive hours to get something -- and he's been in my backyard all along happily cooking away... I guess he thought I would get there eventually. ROFL

Rhonda

[PopsicleToze]

Hey! Make room for me. My grandmother was born in and grew up in New Iberia and her family goes back in New Orleans to before the Purchase. Really looking forward to this week.

Roberta, hi!!! I soooooo very much enjoyed your blog, and your gumbo was amazing! It doesn't matter where you live, you are definitely a Louisiana Girl I'll try to do okay, but this isn't easy. It's 9pm now, and I still haven't fed anyone dinner! Oh, well. I'll get to it, and I'm sure glad you're here.

Rhonda

[robirdstx]

Hey! Make room for me. My grandmother was born in and grew up in New Iberia and her family goes back in New Orleans to before the Purchase. Really looking forward to this week.

Roberta, hi!!! I soooooo very much enjoyed your blog, and your gumbo was amazing! It doesn't matter where you live, you are definitely a Louisiana Girl I'll try to do okay, but this isn't easy. It's 9pm now, and I still haven't fed anyone dinner! Oh, well. I'll get to it, and I'm sure glad you're here.

Rhonda

I'd like to take credit for her gumbo but it wasn't me. I did last week's blog on My Spring Break from Galveston and Mesilla.

[Dejah]

Another incredible blog off to a flying start!

Looking forward to learning lots about you, Louisiana, and the food.

[janeer]

Well, I had a client in Lafayette in the 1980s and used to fly back to Boston from my visits with big brown paper bags of fresh crawfish, shrimp, rattlesnake, and tortoise bought on the side of the road, so I will definitely be following this blog to learn more.

[PopsicleToze]

Do tell how you compiled the family recipe book

I did it the hard way. First, gather the recipes. Sounds easy. Everyone wants a family cookbook, and they want you to do it, but you would be surprised at what it took JUST to get the recipes. Then, you have to publish. I was naive and I just started typing in Word. Then, I learned that Word does NOT like long documents, so then we (I) broke everything down into chapters. Then, page numbers. They have to be automatic to be efficient, and I have about 15 chapters. That's when I learned about table of content and index entries. (Yes, go back to every single recipe and input the data.) I could go on and on...

I wanted to have a theme *and* a title, so I finally decided on Honeysuckles and Huckleberries. There were 3 things that were consistent. First, every recipe was from a family member; that's a given. Then, and because of the title and theme (and because I love Mark Twain), at the beginning of every chapter there was a quote and illustration of his, and then on the back of every page I had a funny food quote -- most of the time accompanied by a family member's picture and a written memory I had of them telling the reader about the person.

The first cookbook was published in 1990. Then, I did an upgrade maybe in 1998 or so. Then, I did it again in 2005 with lots of family pictures, stories that brought the recipes home, etc. We started in a 1-inch binder with room to spare, and now I'm we're over 2-1/2", printed on both sides.

I've had so many people ask me for a cookbook... not even knowing what that meant. It's a very labor-intensive and expensive process.

Would I do it again? In a heartbeat! It's all about memories! Memories are associated with the food, and if no one writes that down, then it's lost forever, and that would be a shame.

FWIW, at the end of the cookbook, I sign my name as "keeper of the cookbook" and that's what I am. I try to keep things real, and at the end of the day you just have to go forward on faith that someone in the future will care and they will pick up where you left off. It's a labor of love!

Rhonda

[Peter the eater]

More chairs scraping up, Rhonda. I love those old photos and maps and, of course, all the food. I went and looked up something eGullet member shellfishfiend posted in 2007 when I eG foodblogged about my area:

the story is often told that when the Acadians were forced out of Canada, they began their long trip to Louisiana. Their friends, lobsters, decided to follow them south. By the end of the long trip, the lobsters had lost so much weight that they were now crawfish.

I tell that story all the time.

[heidih]

Great info on the family cookbook compilation. I did a very minor version and am open to new ideas.

[PopsicleToze]

More chairs scraping up, Rhonda. I love those old photos and maps and, of course, all the food. I went and looked up something eGullet member shellfishfiend posted in 2007 when I eG foodblogged about my area:

the story is often told that when the Acadians were forced out of Canada, they began their long trip to Louisiana. Their friends, lobsters, decided to follow them south. By the end of the long trip, the lobsters had lost so much weight that they were now crawfish.

I tell that story all the time.

OMG! I LOVE THAT STORY, TOO! And that's a good thing, because I love crawfish so much more than I love lobster! (Don't respond to that -- lobsters are good, and I have spent a lot of money just TRYING to have a clambake!)

Rhonda

[Pierogi]

Day-um ! I want that sausage...and that bacon. And I bet Mr. Lloyd has some amazing tasso as well...

BTW, "Popsicle Toes" is one of my favorite songs. Both the Michael Franks and Diana Krall versions. I'd always wondered if that was the source of your screen name. And Aunt Bobbie, well, Bobbie is, of course, a nickname for "Roberta", although I drop the last "e"....

And let's just not talk about those onion rings. Oh man. Our strawberries are still a little too early. We had a blast of hot weather about a week and a half ago, and now record rain and cold, so I'm not hopeful. The first batch I bought were astringent and cottony. Then the rest rotted before I could eat them. Maybe another couple of weeks.

Believe me, I *know* about eating late during Blog Week. I wasn't kidding when I said I should've started dinner around noon !

[PopsicleToze]

IF IT'S MONDAY, THEN WE'RE HAVING RED BEANS AND RICE! (Yeah, I know... it's Tuesday. Just pretend it's still Monday. A girl has to sleep...)

Red beans and rice are eaten throughout Louisiana every day of the week, but historically they were made on Mondays because Monday was wash day, and with all of the boiling water and hand-scrubbing, the ladies needed something they could simmer on the stovetop that would cook with very little attention – and red beans was the dish of choice. Every Monday – and especially in New Orleans – restaurants still offer red beans and rice on the menu.

Now, there are city beans and then there are country beans. For city beans, red beans are the star of the show. They're eaten as the main course with a green salad on the side and French bread. In the country, the beans we grew up eating were still flavored with smoked pork, but not a lot of it (usually just a couple of small smoked ham hocks in the pot), and the beans were eaten as a side dish. Fried chicken or pork chops would be be the star of the day; we didn't eat a salad with it, and there would be fresh cornbread. Which version wins? New Orleans wins this competition hands-down!

How do you make them? Well, like everything else around here, everyone makes them a little differently, but most people I know season their beans with a leftover ham bone, smoked pork hocks or sausage (you can throw in some tasso, too, if you want to); you can use a lot of things. I met a lady at a meat shop in North Baton Rouge. She was buying smoked turkey necks and was having the butcher cut them into 2-inch pieces. “Whatcha makin?” I asked, because that's always a fun way to start a conversation with a cook, and she said that since her daughter doesn't eat pork, she uses the smoked turkey necks in her red beans. She said it tasted great, so, you guessed it. I bought some and tried it for myself. I picked the meat from the bones before serving it, and it was good and it did have a pork flavor, but that was the only time I made it like that. Still, it's good information to pass on just in case someone out there has to cut pork out of their diet.

Now, let's make some. Today I'm seasoning the beans with ham and sausage. I usually use pork hocks and sausage in red beans, and I like ham in white beans. However, I'm not cooking both red beans and white beans in the same week – and we're using a stock made from a ham bone because I cooked a whole ham several weeks ago and had plenty of ham leftover, which I froze, and I used the bone to make a stock, and that's what we're using today. While I wish there were hocks cooking in that pot, trust me, all of that smoky pork goodness is in that stock. I guarantee it!

Here are the cast of ingredients

And here are the red beans. They're red kidney beans, and while I am not paid to advertise for Camellia brand beans, that's what everyone uses. I grew up on them, and it's the only brand of beans I buy.

Heat some bacon drippings to the pot. This is actually a mixture of ham and bacon drippings.

Chop your trinity.

I believe in seasoning in layers. I always season the trinity, and go ahead and add the bay leaves and thyme to the pot.

Add stock to the pot and cover the beans by about 2-inches. Your beans always have to be covered with a liquid.

Now, bring to a boil.

Then, reduce the heat to a low simmer and cover.

It will take a few hours to cook, but that's where I am now. After about an hour or so, I will correct the seasonings and add a few things. They will simmer some more... and then, today (hopefully!), we will eat!

Rhonda

[PopsicleToze]

Did you know that Louis Armstrong signed his autographs, "Red Beans and Rice-ly, Yours" It's true! What a fantastic musician -- I just love him, and you can just imagine that he ate A LOT of red beans and rice in his day. He also travelled, so he knew what it was like to miss Louisiana home cooking. I've travelled a little bit, and I love tasting the food from anywhere, but there is no place like home! No matter how much fun I had, when I get home, I'm a happy camper!

Rhonda

P.S. Beans are still simmering away, and I forgot to tell you that I added garlic to the trinity (or "the pope" as garlic is called). When the vegetable seasoning was just beginning to color, I added the garlic and stirred it into the pot just for a bit until I could smell that fantastic garlic smell. That's when I added the stock.

[PopsicleToze]

"Popsicle Toes" is one of my favorite songs. Both the Michael Franks and Diana Krall versions. I'd always wondered if that was the source of your screen name. And Aunt Bobbie, well, Bobbie is, of course, a nickname for "Roberta", although I drop the last "e"....

You are absolutely correct! And it was the Diana Krall version that I loved so much. Plus -- there's more! My Aunt Bobbie's real name IS Roberta!

You absolutely have to come here and visit. I know where you can get room and board for absolutely nothing, and New Orleans is only an hour and a half away! I hear that they have fantastic restaurants there! We could go visit...

Rhonda

[PopsicleToze]

Well, I had a client in Lafayette in the 1980s and used to fly back to Boston from my visits with big brown paper bags of fresh crawfish, shrimp, rattlesnake, and tortoise bought on the side of the road, so I will definitely be following this blog to learn more.

I am so glad you're here! I'm going to try and cook a few things for you. Things bought off the backside of a pick-up truck are awesome! I'll see if I can get a picture for you. They're usually there just on the weekends, but you never know...

Rhonda

[Chris Amirault]

Can we get a close-up of the sausage above? I'd be very interested to learn as much as you care to share about the different styles of andouille, in particular. Thanks!

[PopsicleToze]

FESTIVALS

I guess you've heard that we celebrate here, and we do with over 400 annual festivals celebrating everything from the abundance of seafood, fruits, vegetables, etc. to pine trees! Their reason for being was a time for the community to come together maybe just to uplift each other after a hard winter or maybe it was to share in a necessary task that had to be done in order to ensure their future survival. For example, in the fall when people were putting up meat for the winter, The Boucherie, it was a time for family and neighbors to assist one another in the tremendous task of butchering and processing pigs/calves. (To read more about The Boucherie, click here: http://cajuncountry.org/boucherie/ ) Today, the most popular festivals in Louisiana are centered around food. To name just a few: we have the Crawfish Festival in Breaux Bridge, the Jambalaya Festival in Gonzales, the Cochon de Lait Festival in Mansur, the Creole Tomato Festival in New Orleans, the Frog Festival in Rayne (yes, we eat frog legs), the Strawberry Festival in Ponchatoula, and I can go on and on. Well, what did my forefathers bring to the table, you ask... pine trees! Yes, friends, Walker is home to the official Louisiana Pine Tree Festival.

Children enjoy watermelon at the Watermelon Festival in Ruston, Louisiana

[Shelby]

So, now we're on the way to Pontchatoula for strawberries. On the way I see a sign for Tickfaw State Park. Now, I've never been there, but why not? On the way there, I spot a sign for smoked meats. It's intriguing. And the shop is a converted garage with the owner sitting in a rocking chair near his front lawn. I know I need to stop, but the park is just a mile away. Well, the park was temporarily closed (they were getting ready for an arts and crafts festival that just took place this past weekend).

So, I went back and stopped at Mr. Lloyd's. He was sooooo great! When I was placing my order, I asked him if I could take a few pictures. Of course! Then, he said, "If you want pictures, why don't you open the back door there and see what's inside?" He didn't have to ask me twice!

Now, I thought it would be good, and I wish you could just smell this place. There's just an aroma to an authentic smokehouse that is so good. This place had it, and I knew it would be good. I bought the headcheese for Daddy because he loves it (and I bought sausage and a few pkgs of bacon -- we'll see those later). He pours a little bit of vinegar on it and eats it plain. Okay. I like it on plain saltine crackers with a little bit of Crystal hot sauce.

When we got back to the house, that was the first thing I opened, and Mom was out of saltines, but she had Ritz crackers, so that would have to do...

OMG -- this is hands-down the *best* hogshead cheese I have ever tasted!

From now on, Lloyd's will definitely be on my hit-list of places to go. It's not that far out of the way when I'm going to New Orleans anyway. This is a great find!

Rhonda

What a GREAT place!

I WANT a bit of that hogshead cheese. It looks really good.

Is that a Myrtle tree in the picture by the flowers? We went to New Roads, LA a few years ago and I loved seeing those trees.

[Shelby]

Do tell how you compiled the family recipe book

I did it the hard way. First, gather the recipes. Sounds easy. Everyone wants a family cookbook, and they want you to do it, but you would be surprised at what it took JUST to get the recipes. Then, you have to publish. I was naive and I just started typing in Word. Then, I learned that Word does NOT like long documents, so then we (I) broke everything down into chapters. Then, page numbers. They have to be automatic to be efficient, and I have about 15 chapters. That's when I learned about table of content and index entries. (Yes, go back to every single recipe and input the data.) I could go on and on...

I wanted to have a theme *and* a title, so I finally decided on Honeysuckles and Huckleberries. There were 3 things that were consistent. First, every recipe was from a family member; that's a given. Then, and because of the title and theme (and because I love Mark Twain), at the beginning of every chapter there was a quote and illustration of his, and then on the back of every page I had a funny food quote -- most of the time accompanied by a family member's picture and a written memory I had of them telling the reader about the person.

The first cookbook was published in 1990. Then, I did an upgrade maybe in 1998 or so. Then, I did it again in 2005 with lots of family pictures, stories that brought the recipes home, etc. We started in a 1-inch binder with room to spare, and now I'm we're over 2-1/2", printed on both sides.

I've had so many people ask me for a cookbook... not even knowing what that meant. It's a very labor-intensive and expensive process.

Would I do it again? In a heartbeat! It's all about memories! Memories are associated with the food, and if no one writes that down, then it's lost forever, and that would be a shame.

FWIW, at the end of the cookbook, I sign my name as "keeper of the cookbook" and that's what I am. I try to keep things real, and at the end of the day you just have to go forward on faith that someone in the future will care and they will pick up where you left off. It's a labor of love!

Rhonda

This is so cool.

You should publish it and sell it! I'd buy it!

[HungryC]

Hey, Rhonda! I had my first local strawberries last week; can't wait to see what you're cooking & eating.

[PopsicleToze]

Can we get a close-up of the sausage above? I'd be very interested to learn as much as you care to share about the different styles of andouille, in particular. Thanks!

Sure! Andouille is the famous Cajun smoked sauage of Louisiana. It's made with pork butt, shank and a small amount of pork fat. How do I describe it to you? Well, it's actually very lean and there is not a lot of fat to it. Think of it as a ham stuffed into a sausage casing. I use it when I want full flavor, but not a lot of fat. For instance, chicken and andouille sausage is my favorite gumbo. I wouldn't put ordinary sausage into it, because it is too fat. However, when I make jambalaya (I make the brown Cajun type), then I need some fat to keep things moist, so I use regular sausage -- not andouille.

Here is a picture of Mr. Lloyd's andouille:

And I am very sorry to say that this is not andouille. It's a good pork sausage, for sure, but it's not andouille. Andouille is thicker and when it is smoked, it becomes very dark in color. More importantly, this has wayyyyy too much fat to be andouille.

I buy my andouille at Jacob's in LaPlace. Until further notice, that's where I'll still buy it. However, I'll still stop off at Lloyd's place and buy his sausage, bacon, and things. He really does do a great job, but that is not andouille.

Rhonda

[PopsicleToze]

Hey, Rhonda! I had my first local strawberries last week; can't wait to see what you're cooking & eating.

Celeste -- it's about time you got here, woman! I really need some help. I know it's *my* blog, but you know more about food and cooking in this country than I will ever know. I am asking you *please* whenever you can see something that you could add some additional insight, go right ahead and do it. It would make for a much better informational blog, and everyone would benefit from it.

And for those among you who are not familiar with Celeste, take a look at her site: Click Here

Between the both of us, we might pull this off

Rhonda

[PopsicleToze]

Okay, I have to go stay with Daddy now because Mom has a hair appointment. "How are the beans doing," you ask... they are just fine and dandy. I just corrected the seasoning and turned off the heat. Typically, I would add the meat now so it cooks just at the end of the dish and doesn't become rubbery, but I can't do that now because I have to go.

When I come back, we will add the meat, cook the rice, and (FINALLY) have dinner.

Rhonda

[Zeemanb]

Now THIS is what I call "appointment reading"! Onion rings...head cheese.....two premiere food groups covered immediately.....perfect. Onward!

[llc45]

Loving this blog so much. I have never forgotten my trip to New Orleans and the incredible food I had from your neck of the woods. Try to recreate it here in New Jersey but just don't have access to the incredible ingredients (sigh, andouille) that you can get there. Our local "substitutes" are just not close and I always vow I am going to start mail ordering them. You are very lucky to live there!