Jalapeno Chicken

Ingredients:

• 6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - pounded to 1/4 inch thickness
• 1 (16 ounce) bottle Italian dressing
• 3 fresh jalapeno peppers, halved lengthwise and seeded
• 1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 6 slices bacon
• toothpicks

Directions:

1. Place chicken breasts in a dish with the Italian dressing. Cover, and marinate in the refrigerator at least 2 hours.
2. Preheat the grill for high heat.
3. Stuff each jalapeno half with cream cheese. Roll chicken breasts around jalapeno peppers. Wrap each chicken breast with a slice of bacon. Secure with toothpicks.
4. Lightly oil the grill grate. Arrange wrapped chicken breasts on the prepared grill. Cook for 20 minutes, turning frequently, or until bacon is browned and the chicken juices run clear.

Male Bonding Buffalo Wings

Ingredients:
12 chicken wings (about 2 pounds)
2 tablespoons margarine or butter, melted
2 to 3 tablespoons bottled hot pepper sauce
1 teaspoon paprika
Salt (optional)
Pepper (optional)
1/2 cup dairy sour cream
1/2 cup mayonnaise or salad dressing
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar or white vinegar
Crumbled blue cheese (optional)
Celery sticks
Steps:
Preheat broiler. Cut off and discard tips of chicken wings. Cut wings at joints to form 24 pieces. Place chicken pieces in a shallow nonmetal pan.
For sauce, in a small mixing bowl stir together melted margarine or butter, hot pepper sauce, and paprika. Pour mixture over chicken wings, stirring to coat. Cover chicken and let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Drain chicken, reserving sauce. Place chicken pieces on the unheated rack of a broiler pan. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper, if desired. Brush with some of the reserved sauce.
Grill chicken 4 to 5 inches from the heat about 10 minutes or until light brown. Turn the chicken pieces; brush again with the reserved sauce. Grill for 10 to 15 minutes more or until the chicken is tender and cooked through.
Meanwhile, in a blender container or food processor bowl combine sour cream, mayonnaise or salad dressing, the 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese, garlic, and vinegar. Cover and blend or process until smooth. If desired, top dip with additional crumbled blue cheese before serving. Serve with wings and celery sticks and dip.

Super Bowl Chili

Ingredients:

• 1 pound coarsely ground beef
• 1 pound lean pork shoulder, ground
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 cup sliced celery
• 3 tablespoons chili powder, medium to hot
• 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 2 cans (14.5 ounces each) diced tomatoes
• 12 ounces V-8® vegetable juice
• 1 cup beef broth
• 1/2 cup beer
• 3 bay leaves
• 3 large garlic cloves
• 1 can chopped green chiles, (3-4 ounce)
• 1 bell pepper, diced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried leaf oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 can (15 ounces) small red beans, drained and rinsed
• salt, to taste
• 2 tablespoons cornmeal, mixed with 3 tablespoons warm water, optional

Directions:

In a large kettle or dutch oven, brown beef and pork until no longer pink. Add onion, celery, chili powder, cumin, tomatoes, vegetable juice, beef broth, beer, bay leaves, garlic, green chilies, bell pepper, oregano and pepper. Bring to a simmer and cover. Cook for 3 to 4 hours or until tender, stirring frequently and adding water if necessary. Add beans, if using, and salt, to taste. If too much liquid, stir in cornmeal mixture to thicken a bit.

LSU Grilled Ribs

Ingredients:

• 4 pounds pork spareribs
• 3 tablespoons chili powder
• 3 teaspoons black pepper
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons onion powder
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• 1 teaspoon oregano

Directions:

Mix together the dry ingredients. Trim and clean ribs. Rub ribs with spices and let sit for 1 hour. Preheat grill. Cook over an indirect heat for about 45 minutes. Turn once. Watch carefully to avoid burning. The ribs are done when a knife passes easily into the meat between the ribs and you can see no or very little pink.

Cheeseburger Beer Dip

Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons cornstarch
• 3 lbs. sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
• 3 cups beer
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 lb. cooked, crumbled ground meat
• 1/2 cup chopped tomatoes

Directions:

Toss cornstarch with cheese until coated.Combine beer and butter in medium saucepan and bring to a boil over low heat. Add a handful of cheese into the boiling beer and stir until cheese is melted. Continue adding cheese by the handful, stirring constantly, over low heat until cheese becomes creamy, about 5 minutes. Stir in cooked meat and tomatoes and remove from heat.

• Transfer the cheese mixture into a fondue pot and cover for transport to the tailgate site. Warm the dip with a tailgate-safe heating source under your fondue pot and serve with bread or tortilla chips as dipping items.Makes about 4 cups

New Orleans Saints Cajun Burger

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1/4 cup barbeque sauce
1 egg
3 green onions, chopped
3 tablespoons dry bread crumbs
1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning
1 tablespoon prepared mustard
1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning
4 slices Cheddar

Directions:

Preheat grill for high heat. Mix ground beef, egg, bread crumbs, green onions, mustard, and 1 tablespoon Cajun Seasoning in large bowl. Form mixture into 4 patties. In a small bowl, combine 1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning into barbecue sauce. Lightly oil grill and cook patties for 5 minute per side, or to desired doneness. At the end of cooking place cheese on patties and serve over burgers topped with seasoned barbecue sauce.

The Sazerac

2 oz. Rye Whiskey (I use Jim Beam Rye, or Wild Turkey Rye 101!)
8 dashes Peychaud Bitters
2 dashes Angostura Bitters
1 Tablespoon Simple Syrup (equal parts sugar and water/cooked until the sugar disolves)
about 1/2 ounce Herbsaint or Pernod.
1 Lemon Twist

Chill an old fashioned glass. Combine the Rye, bitters and simple syrup in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake it baby, shake it. Coat the glass with the Herbsaint, pour out the excess. Add the mix to the glass, twist the lemon and drop it in. Enjoy!

Crabmeat Imperial

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound of butter
• 1 cup of flour
• 2 cups of milk
• 1/2 cup of celery, chopped fine
• 1/2 cup of mushrooms, chopped fine
• 1/2 cup of parsley, chopped fine
• 1/2 cups of green onions, chopped fine
• 1/2 cup of pimentos, chopped fine
• 2 pounds of lump crab meat
• Worcestershire sauce, to taste
• Tabasco sauce, to taste
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Breadcrumbs

---

Cooking Instructions

• Melt butter over low heat and stir-in flour.
  Cook until bubbles appear on top.
• Add milk slowly, stirring constantly.
• Add celery and mushrooms.
• Continue cooking while adding parsley, green onions and pimentos.
• Fold-in crabmeat
• Add Worcestershire sauce, hot pepper sauce, salt and pepper, to taste.
• Pour mixture into individual baking dishes and sprinkly with breadcrumbs.
• Bake until brown in 350-degree oven.

Cajun Boiled Peanuts

A Tailgatin' Favorite!

2 pounds fresh raw peanuts in shells (available in many supermarkets in the fall)
3 tablespoons salt or to taste
Zatarain's Crab & Shrimp Boil
1 tablespoon ground red pepper (optional)
1 cup sliced jalapeno peppers (optional)

Wash peanuts well. Place them in a huge cast iron pot or a large pot. Pour in enough water to almost fill the pot. Add salt and stir. Cover and cook over high heat. Bring to a rolling boil. Add one bag of Zatarain's Crab & Shrimp Boil. Use 1 bag per 2 pounds of peanuts. If you want them a little more spicy, add the tablespoon of ground red pepper. If you want the peanuts hot and spicy, add the 1 cup of sliced jalapeno peppers. Reduce heat only enough to prevent water from boiling over. Add water as needed to keep peanuts under water. When adding water, increase heat to high until peanuts are boiling again. Boil for 3 1/2 to 4 hours. Test to see if they're done by spooning out a peanut, cooling briefly, opening the shell and biting into one. Boiled peanuts should be soft, not crunchy or hard. Drain, rinse well and cool slightly before serving.

Store in plastic bags in refrigerator or freezer.

Halloween Recipes

Vampire's Kiss (Adult Drink)
2 oz. vodka
1/2 oz. dry gin
1/2 oz. dry vermouth
1 tbsp. tequila
Pinch of salt
2 oz. tomato juice
Pour into Old Fashioned glass, shake with ice, strain over ice.

Decayed Corpse Chips with Entrail Salsa:
blue corn tortilla chips
coffin
salsa

This isn't so much a recipe as it is a creative display. Arrange the blue corn chips in a coffin in the shape of a long-dead corpse. The natural blue corn chips have almost a dusky shade of brown in them that hints of decayed skin. Serve with a nice blood-red chunky salsa as accompanying entrails.


Savory Brain Shrimp Spread:
1 (10 3/4-ounce) can cream of mushroom soup
8 ounces Philadelphia cream cheese, softened
1 (.25-ounce) envelope unflavored gelatin, softened in 1/4 cup water
1 bunch green onions, chopped
3 pounds cooked shrimp, coarsely chopped
(or 1 pound crab meat)
1 cup mayonnaise
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
Tabasco or Creole seasoning to taste

Heat soup, undiluted, and mix in the cream cheese. Stir in softened gelatin and blend well. Fold in remaining ingredients and pour into a lightly-oiled mold. Chill until firm and serve with your favorite crackers.


Cannibal Cajun Brain:
Ingredients:
3 lbs. shrimp, peeled, cooked, deveined
2 small roasted red peppers, julienned
1 green onion, sliced into 2" pieces, then julienned
Gelatin Mixture:
2 1/2 C. chicken broth
1 1/2 tbsp. (1 1/2 envelopes) unflavored gelatin
1 tsp. lemon zest
1/4 C. fresh lemon juice
1/2 C. tomato paste
3 cloves minced garlic
1 tbsp. honey
1-2 tsp. Cajun seasoning
Pinch salt
Instructions 1. Into a purchased jello brain mold, layer your shrimp in, tails facing the middle of the brain. It's best if you layer them into the brain mold with the tails facing the middle, according to each "hemisphere" of the brain. This will give you the most realistic look. Tuck the shrimps in close together.
2. Drop bits of roasted pepper and green onion in around the shrimp. These should look like veins and nerves when you're finished.
3. Repeat, alternating between shrimp and vegetables, until you fill your Jello brain mold.
4. Now make the gelatin. In a small saucepan, bring the chicken broth to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in the unflavored gelatin.
5. Stir in the lemon zest, juice, tomato paste, garlic, honey, cajun seasoning, and a pinch of salt (the amount will depend on how much salt is in your Cajun seasoning-- mine's salty so I don't use much).
6. Pour this mixture over the shrimp in your brain mold, filling to the top. Discard any extra. With a rubber spatula, smooth the top of your shrimp and gelatin to create a smooth surface.
7. Refrigerate until firm, at least several hours.
8. To unmold, set your Jello brain mold in a bowl of hot water for a few seconds. Place a serving tray underneath, then flip your mold over. The brain should pop right out. This is one of the easiest gross Halloween foods to make in advance!
9. Serve with fava beans and a glass of Chianti. (Kidding!)

Cannibal Platter:
Ingredients:
Fingers and Ears:
1 lb. medium-large shrimp, divided
1/4 lb. small peeled shrimp
3 tbsp. salted butter
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 head of garlic, cloves peeled and chopped
Pinch of crushed red pepper
2 tsp. chopped fresh rosemary
Salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Toothpicks
Freshly squeezed lemon juice, to taste
Testicles:
10-12 large sea scallops, rinsed and thoroughly dried
2 tbsp. flour
1 tsp. Cajun seasoning
1 tbsp. olive oil
Freshly squeezed lemon juice, to taste
Instructions: 1. To make the fingers and ears, divide your pile of medium-large shrimp in half. Use half for fingers, and half for ears.
2. To create the fingers, peel each shrimp, leaving on the tail and the last segment of shell right before the tail. Devein each shrimp, cutting into the shrimp as little as possible to do so. Using a pair of kitchen scissors, cut the tail off of each shrimp, leaving the small shelled end intact. Keeping the shrimp as straight as possible thread each one onto a toothpick or a length of skewer. This will keep them from curling as they cook. Refrigerate until ready to cook.
3. To create the ears, completely peel and devein the other half of your medium-large shrimp. Butterfly them generously to devein. This helps give them their "ear" shape. Tuck a small peeled and deveined shrimp into curve of each larger shrimp. Skewer them both together with a toothpick. Refrigerate until ready to cook.
4. The sea scallop "testicles" are basically ready to go-- they require no preparation.
5. To cook your Cannibal platter, melt the butter and olive oil together in a large saute pan. Add the garlic and red pepper and cook over low heat until garlic is very tender, about 15 minutes. Don't let it burn or brown!
6. Add rosemary. Cook 2-3 minutes more.
7. To cook the finger and ear shrimps, salt and pepper them to taste and add them to the pan. You may need to do this in stages. Cook 2-3 minutes per side, until pink and cooked through. Sprinkle with lemon juice to taste and keep warm (if desired-- they're also good cold) until ready to serve.
8. To cook the scallop "testicles," mix the flour and Cajun seasoning in a small bowl. Dredge scallops in flour mixture.
9. In a skillet, heat oil until hot. Cook scallops in oil, turning once, until both sides are brown, about 5-6 minutes. Remove from the heat and sprinkle lemon over.
10. Arrange your "testicles," "fingers," and "ears," creatively on a platter and pour the sauce for each over top. Serve with your choice of dipping sauces, if desired. And don't forget to label each of these gross Halloween foods for maximum gross-out!

a Creole Kitchen

CREATING A CREOLE KITCHEN: THE ESSENTIALS

Criollo was the term the Spanish used for their cooking, but New Orleanians quickly christened it Creole. Call it what you choose, but don’t think it’s ordinary. Creoles are fiercely proud of their particular culture and heritage, which they consider more sophisticated than that of their Cajun country cousins.

Creole culture and heritage go back to the European settlers of New Orleans who were predominately of French and Spanish ancestry. Most were from wealthy families and either brought their personal chefs with them to New Orleans or sent for chefs from Europe. Many of the ingredients the chefs normally used in their cooking were unavailable locally. New Orleans Governor Bienville, afraid of losing the new settlers, asked his personal cook to share with the Creole chefs his unique skills, techniques, and use of the native ingredients. A “recipe” showing the components of the Creole cuisine:

 A RECIPE FOR CREOLE COOKING

5 parts French cuisine (butter, cream)

1 ½ parts Spanish cuisine (spices, red peppers, rice)

1 part Native American cuisine (filé powder, local herbs and spices)

1 part African cuisine (okra, yams)

1 part Italian cuisine (tomatoes, garlic)

½ part German cuisine (mustard, black pepper)

1.  Add a smattering of skill from the Portuguese, Canary islanders, Caribbeans, Mediterraneans, and South Americans.

2.  Import chefs from Europe, blend in local ingredients indigenous to New Orleans and surrounding areas, use Choctaw Indians as teachers, and prepare in the classic French style of cooking.

3.  Relish the contributions of each influx of immigrants who added their own ingredients to the pot to form what is known as Creole cooking.

Creole cooking is city cooking; refined, delicate and luxurious. It was developed and originally prepared by servants, with a great emphasis on cream and butter. The result was rich sauces, elegant pureed bisques, time intensive soups, brunch dishes, and desserts.

Creoles and their cooks discovered the wonderful shellfish, snapper, pompano, and other forms of seafood available in Louisiana. Native meats and game, and unfamiliar produce including mirlitons and cushaw, sugar cane and pecans, were then adapted to the European cookery methods of the now-Creole chefs. To make yours a Creole kitchen:

INGREDIENTS FOR A CREOLE PANTRY

With the following 10 items you can make most Creole dishes by adding a main ingredient, and serving over rice.

oil or butter

flour

onions

celery

bell peppers

garlic

hot pepper sauce (Tabasco® is a favorite)

salt and pepper

bay leaves

thyme

1.  For most savory dishes, make a base (roux) by heating the oil or butter and flour and slowly cooking to a golden brown or very dark brown, depending on the desired flavor and thickening power.

2.  Add onions, celery and bell pepper and cook until softened and well-blended with the roux.

3.  Add main ingredient (meat or poultry), garlic, bay leaves, thyme, hot pepper sauce, and salt and pepper, plus enough water to completely cover the food.

4.  Cook for 2-3 hours, until the main ingredient is tender (if making a seafood dish cook the above mixture and add seafood only for the last few minutes, to avoid overcooking).

The spices and other ingredients in Creole cooking are carefully balanced so that each bite is exciting, but no single ingredient predominates over any other. The thoughtfully added seasonings are intended to excite the palate without overwhelming it. Contrary to common belief, Creole food is not hot—so don’t confuse spices with spicy. Most if not all ingredients for a Creole kitchen can be found in, or ordered from, your supermarket:

COMMON INGREDIENTS FOR A CREOLE KITCHEN

shellfish (crab [soft-shell, buster, blue-claw]), crawfish, shrimp, oysters, dried shrimp

alligator

fin fish (pompano, red snapper, trout, flounder)

game (duck, quail, squab, rabbit)

meat (beef, pork, ham, veal, lamb)

tomatoes (fresh or canned)

Worcestershire sauce

white and cayenne pepper

allspice

stocks, long-simmered and flavorful

Creole mustard

okra

filé powder

parsley

green onions

dried beans

rice

butter

cream

white and red wine

beans

LESS COMMON INGREDIENTS FOR A CREOLE PANTRY

Creole cream cheese

turtle

crab and shrimp boil sesoning

chicory (for coffee)

Satsumas (Mandarin oranges grown in South Louisiana))

Herbsaint

cornmeal

fish fry (finely-ground corn flour to coat foods to be fried)

tasso

andouille sausage

 Creoles adhere to their age old traditions of elegant dining and a relaxed lifestyle in which friends and family are of utmost importance. These people have such a love of food that shortcuts are not an option. Stocks are cooked long and slow, roux can take up to an hour to make, and foods are seasoned and tasted as each new ingredient is added. They are dedicated to every dish and love cooking as much as they love eating the results of their labor. It is this dedication and refusal to compromise on time that results in the amazing flavors gently coaxed from the foods.

Another quality of extreme importance to Creole people is their refusal to waste food; everything is used. Wonderful puddings result from leftover rice and bread; Pain Perdue (lost bread) is made from leftover French bread. The day’s gumbo is often determined by what is remaining from the previous night’s meal. Jambalaya, as well, uses ingredients on hand, often stretched by a bit of seafood or sausage. Bones from meat and poultry are used in other dishes or saved to use in stocks, as are scraps from vegetables and fish.

The Creole people take their cooking very seriously. Don’t argue with them about your recipe being better than theirs or you will lose. Their recipes do not come from a book, as they are likely to have been passed down from previous generations.

They probably make their dishes just the way their great-grandmothers made them. Creoles resist change. They strongly believe that if something is just right, there is no reason to experiment or alter a recipe...and they don’t.

Creole vs. Cajun Cooking

The similarities between Creole and Cajun cuisines are due to the French heritage of both cultures, and the new ingredients to which French cooking techniques were applied by Creoles and by Cajuns. Both types of cooking have culinary roots in France, with a nod to Spain, Africa, and Native America, and to a lesser degree to the West Indies, Germany, Ireland, and Italy. Both cultures take their food very seriously, and love to cook, eat, and entertain.

It is said that a Creole feeds one family with three chickens and a Cajun feeds three families with one chicken. Another major difference between Creole and Cajun food is in the type of roux used as the base of sauces, stews, soups, and other savory dishes. Creole roux is made from butter and flour (as in France), while Cajun roux is made from lard or oil and flour. This is partly due to the scarcity of dairy products in some areas of Acadiana (Acadia + Louisiana) when Cajun cuisine was being developed. Gumbo is perhaps the signature dish of both cuisines. Creole gumbo has a tomato base and is more of a soup, while Cajun gumbo has a roux base and is more of a stew.

The cultural difference between the two methods of cooking lies in the fact that Creoles had access to local markets, and servants to cook their food while Cajuns lived mostly off the land, were subject to the elements of the seasons, and generally cooked meals in one large pot.

• CREOLE refers to the original European — particularly French and Spanish — settlers of New Orleans. They were mostly from wealthy families and brought or sent for chefs from Madrid, Paris, and other European capitals.

• Ingredients. Many of the ingredients the European chefs normally used in their cooking were unavailable locally. Governor Bienville, afraid of losing the new residents, asked his personal cook to teach the Creole people and their chefs how to make use of the native ingredients, and to share his skills and techniques with them.

Thus, the Creoles and their cooks discovered the wonderful shellfish, snapper, pompano, and other forms of seafood available in Louisiana. Native meats and game, and unfamiliar produce including mirlitons and cushaw, sugar cane and pecans, were then adapted to the European cookery methods of the Creole chefs.

• Seasonings. Tips and seasoning ingredients from the native Indians, and Caribbean and African cooks helped give birth to Creole cooking. Africans introduced okra; the Spanish, spices and red peppers; the Germans, black pepper and mustard; the Irish, potatoes. In addition, file powder came from the Choctaw Indians; allspice and peppers from the West Indians; and garlic and tomatoes from the Italians.

• Cooking Style. Creole cooking is city cooking: refined, delicate and luxurious, developed and originally prepared by servants. There is greater emphasis on cream, butter, seafood (though not shellfish), tomatoes, herbs, and garlic, and less use of cayenne pepper and file powder than in Cajun cooking, resulting in rich sauces, elegant pureed bisques, and time-intensive soups, brunch dishes, and desserts.

• CAJUN Country is the southwest section of Louisiana, unique unto itself. Acadiana is an area comprising twenty-two parishes (counties) in Southwest Louisiana. This area is predominately populated by Cajun people who are, technically, descendents of the Acadians expelled from Acadia, now known as Nova Scotia, in 1755. While their new home in Acadiana was familiar in terms of being an agrarian setting already populated by Catholic, French-speaking people, the Cajuns had to adjust to the unknown terrain of swamps, bayous, and prairies that presented some exotic forms of meat, game, fish, produce, and grains.

• Ingredients. The Cajuns applied their French cooking techniques to these new ingredients, with a result that is recognized and respected as some of the best regional cooking in America, as well as one of the world’s most unique cuisines. There are versions of Cajun dishes on restaurant menus across the Country, from upscale to hip and trendy to fast food establishments. Unfortunately, many of these restaurants misrepresent Cajun food by using their standard menu items and carelessly over-spicing them, making the food unbearably hot, then calling it “Cajun.”

• Seasonings. Cajun food and culture has little to do with the mass media hype of the past twenty years that presents Cajun cookery as fiery hot, and Cajun people as hot pepper eating, beer swilling caricatures of themselves. Pepper and spices are merely one element of Cajun cookery, and not the most important one at that.

• Cooking Style. Cajuns in Southwest Louisiana have steadfastly adhered to the preservation of their habits, traditions, and beliefs in terms of lifestyle, language and cooking. They became noticed by society during the oil boom in the mid-1900s, which brought many outlanders (non-Cajuns) into the area. These new residents began to discover the food-oriented, talented Cajun cooks whose lives and socializing revolve, to a large extent, around the preparation, sharing, and enjoyment of food. The word began to spread.

Cooking in Old Acadia

To really understand the roots of Cajun food today, we must look back to the 16th and 17th centuries when the new Acadian arrivals from France were perplexed at some of the unusual foods at their disposal. 

• The Acadians brought their extraordinary culinary skills with them from France, and applied those skills to the foods that were available in their new land. Some foods were familiar, like pigs, cows, and chickens, but others were strange and some adjustment was needed to incorporate meadowlarks, groundhogs and porcupine into their meals. Likewise, root vegetables, potatoes, and spinach were old acquaintances, while plantain leaves, samphire, and brined, salted herbs were new ingredients.

• In researching food from the old days in Acadia, I was surprised to find so many recipes and cooking methods similar to those I learned from my Cajun relatives as I was growing up. I didn't realize that dishes made 350 years ago could be so much like recipes we cook today, with the main difference being in the names. Fricot is a soup, a bit thinner than soups we make but prepared in much the same way, and consisting of the usual soup ingredients of chicken, fish, or meat, vegetables and potatoes; Viande Fricassée is much like my Grandmother Olympe's Fricassée of Beef, though Grandma used a roux to thicken the stew rather than the potatoes that thicken the Viande.

• Beans and pork were a specialty of my Grandpa Pischoff, who paired them together just as the old Acadians did, though the Acadians served their beans with sugar and molasses. Both cultures relied heavily on animal fat in their cooking, and the one-pot meal is central to both Acadian and Cajun cookery. The biggest difference between old Acadian and new Cajun cooking is found in the seasonings (see below). Also, Cajuns are not known to cook meadowlark, bobolink, weasel, or snow bunting soup; eel pie; roast porcupine; goose tongue greens and samphire greens; and pork fat and molasses pie. These dishes were developed to make use of the ingredients available to Acadians in the 1600s – 1700s.

Basic Acadian Foods in the 17th and 18th centuries.  Pigs were an important element in the Acadian kitchen, as most of the meat consumed was pork. Lard was used for frying as well as for flavoring soups and stews, and for any application needing fat--although in some areas bear fat was used for frying.

• Cows were used for milk, cream, and butter, and oxen were work animals; neither were killed for food until they were too old to be serviceable. Game was plentiful in the form of wild rabbit, moose, deer, porcupine, squirrel, groundhog, and beaver. Sheep were used mainly for wool, as young animals were never killed while they were still useful, and the older meat was considered too strong and unpleasant to eat. Chicken and geese were the favored birds, along with partridge, pigeons, blackbirds, meadowlarks, wild duck, and seagulls.

• The most common vegetables were root vegetables, such as cabbage and turnips. The greens were mostly wild and included herbs, spinach, and dandelion greens. The blossoms of dandelions were used for wine, and spruce trees and hops were used for making beer. Herbs and plants were used as medicine; those still familiar to us today are mint, plantain leaves, and sarsaparilla. Summer vegetables were corn, beans, and tomatoes; grains consisted of wheat, oats, and barley, although bread products were made mostly from buckwheat. Berries and apples were the main fruits, while maple trees provided syrup and sugar. The abundant fish included herring, cod, smelt, gaspereau, halibut, trout, clams, oysters, and lobsters.

• So while the Acadians applied their food preparation methods to familiar ingredients in their new land, they also used their extraordinary cooking talents and applied them to the many new foods with which they were surrounded. Thus, the tradition continued by using their tried and true cookery style with foods both new and familiar. For nothing was ever wasted in an Acadian kitchen.

Recipe for Dirty Rice

Ingredients:

1 pound giblets (wild fowl, chicken, or turkey), chopped
fine
2 cups raw white rice
1/2 pound loose pork sausage
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped celery
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 cup scallion tops
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Boil the giblets in a saucepan of salted water to cover until very tender. Drain, reserving the liquid, and set the giblets aside.
   
2. Return the liquid to the saucepan, adding more water if necessary to make 4 cups.
   
3. Add the rice, bring to a boil, and cook, covered, over low heat for 20 minutes or until tender. Set aside and keep warm.
   
4. In a deep heavy skillet start the pork sausage on low heat; as soon as the fat begins to cook out, add the onion, bell pepper, celery, and garlic. Continue cooking on low heat, stirring occasionally, until all the vegetables are soft.
   
5. Add the cooked rice, giblets, parsley, scallion tops, salt, and pepper and stir all together lightly but thoroughly. If possible, add some drippings from the fowl or meat which you are serving. Do not let parsley and scallion tops become scorched.   

The History of Grits

The History of Grits

Back in the 70s there was a Midwesterner working near Atlanta who was first introduced to Grits, and loved retelling the story of that first meeting. He said his first morning at the hotel coffee shop he ordered eggs over easy with ham, toast and coffee. The waitress brought him his eggs and ham as ordered but he had biscuits and some funny looking white stuff he had never seen. He liked the biscuits but the white stuff was bland and strange to his taste.

He ordered the same thing next day and said the biscuits were okay but asked the waitress to leave off the "white stuff." His order came as requested but again the "white stuff" came on his plate. After several days of this, he was adamant with the waitress, a 35- or 40-year old wiry white lady that he did not want that "white stuff."

When she brought his breakfast she roughly put the plate before him with the "white stuff" again along with his order and looked him straight in the eye and said, "This 'white stuff' is called Grits and you can either learn to eat them or get your Yankee rear end back where you came from!" She turned and walked away, and he said he ate them out of fear of what would happen if he didn't comply; and he ate grits happily ever after. That rough ol' cowboy from Nebraska learned to cook and eat Grits, and probably by the end of the week, was drinking beer at night with the waitress.

What Are Grits?

Nobody knows. Some folks believe grits are grown on bushes and are harvested by midgets by shaking the bushes after spreading sheets around them. Many people feel that grits are made from ground up bits of white corn. These are obviously lies spread by Communists and terrorists. Nothing as good as a Grits can be made from corn.

The most recent research suggests that the mysterious Manna God rained down upon the Israelites during their time in the Sinai Desert was most likely Grits. Critics disagree, stating there is no record of biscuits, butter, salt and red eye gravy raining down from the sky, and God would not punish His people by forcing them to eat Grits without these key ingredients.

How Grits are Formed:

Grits are formed deep underground under intense heat and pressure. It takes over 1000 years to form a single Grit. Most of the world's grit mines are in South Carolina and Louisiana, and are watched over day and night by armed guards and pit bull dogs. Harvesting the Grit is a dangerous occupation, and many Grit miners lose their lives each year so Grits can continue to be served morning after morning for breakfast (not that having Grits for lunch and dinner is out of the question).

Yankees have attempted to create synthetic Grits. They call them Cream of Wheat. As far as we can tell, the key ingredients of this culinary atrocity are Elmer's Glue and shredded Styrofoam. These synthetic grits have been shown to cause nausea, and may leave you unable to have children.

Historical Grits:

As we mentioned earlier, the first known mention of Grits was by the Ancient Israelites in the Sinai Desert. After that, Grits were not heard from for another 1000 years. Experts feel Grits were used during this time only during secret religious ceremonies kept from the public due to its rarity. The next mention of Grits was found amidst the ruins of the ancient city of Pompeii in a woman's personal diary. The woman's name was Herculaneum Jemimaneus (Aunt Jemima to her friends.)

The 10 Commandments of Grits:

I. Thou shalt not put syrup on thy Grits

II. Thou shalt not eat thy Grits with a spoon or knife

III. Thou shalt not eat Cream of Wheat and call it Grits, for this is blasphemy

IV. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors Grits

V. Thou shalt use only Salt, Butter and red eye gravy as toppings for thy Grits

VI. Thou shalt not eat Instant Grits

VII. Thou shalt not put ketchup on thy Grits

VIII. Thou shalt not put margarine on thy Grits

IX. Thou shalt not eat toast with thy Grits, only biscuits made from scratch

X. Thou shalt eat grits on the Sabbath for this is manna from heaven