FOOD

[slim]

i miss the immediately availability of good, fresh boudin.

http://www.boudinlink.com

There's a mail order tab.

It's the only way I get the stuff in Atlanta. Not as good as walking through the mud to your local gas station / meat shop I'd imagine.

[bazo qop]

This is the recipe. I usually buy live blue crabs and split them for the flavor but then rarely eat them in the finished product. I add lump crab meat right at serving (no need to cook) and it doesnt fall apart and disappear. If you are feeling rich buy some snow or king legs and add them too heh. This recipe calls for only 1 teaspoon of cayenne, and this assumes your cayenne is VERY hot. Most isn't and so Im tripling the cayenne and adding dashes of hot sauce on top of that to get it where I like it. If you like using your homemade stock like I do go for it but don't substitute 2.5 quarts of seafood stock for 2.5 quarts of water especially if your stock is strong and or salty it will overpower the dish. Using frozen okra in lieu of fresh wont ruin the gumbo and neither will using canned plum tomatoes in a pinch.

Shrimp and Crab Gumbo:

The basic New Orleans seafood gumbo. Gumbo crabs are the hard shell crabs
we use for cooking; any hard shell crab available in your area can be used. Whether
you eat the cooked crab served in the gumbo is a matter of taste-some of us do
and some of us don't. A delightful and slightly extravagant variation is to use lump
crabmeat in addition to or as a substitute for hard shell crabs. We like chopped
smoked sausage in this gumbo because it adds a fine, smoky flavor. Reselve half
of the shrimp, and if you use it, half the lump crabmeat, then add them just a few
minutes before the end of cooking time. This way your gumbo will have both the
cooked-in taste of shrimp and also some good firm shrimp for eating. Be sure to have
everything else ready before you start the roux because you can't do all that chopping
and tend the roux at the same time.

THE GUMBO BASE
2 c. chopped onion
2 Creole (Polish, French garlic, Andouille) smoked sausage chopped fine
3/4 c. chopped green pepper
1/3 c. thinly sliced green shallot (scallion)
2 lb. whole fresh shrimp, peeled and tops deveined
2 Tbs. finely minced fresh parsley
1 lb. gumbo crabs, broken in half
2 Tbs. finely minced garlic
2 lb. fresh okra, stems and tips removed, sliced 3/8 inch thick
1 1/2 c. coarsely chopped Creole tomatoes (beefsteak, Jersey)

THE ROUX
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup flour

THE LIQUlD AND THE SEASONINGS
2 1/2 qt. cold water
1 tsp. cayenne
3 whole bay leaves, crushed
4 tsp. fresh lemon juice
2 tsp. dried thyme
10 whole allspice
5 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. mace
1 1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
8 whole cloves

After you have assembled the ingredients for the gumbo base, heat the oil in a heavy 7- to 8-quart pot or kettle over medium heat. Make the roux by gradually adding the flour to the oil, stirring constantly. Cook over low heat, always stirring, until a medium brown roux is formed. (This will take from 20 to 30 minutes. The roux should be the color of pecan shells or hazelnuts.) Immediately add the onion, green pepper, shallot tops, parsley, and garlic. Continue cooking for about 10 minutes longer, stirring constantly; the chopped vegetables should be lightly browned at this point. Add the chopped tomatoes and smoked sausage and mix thoroughly. Add 2 quarts of the cold water, 1 pound of the raw shrimp, the crabs, the okra, and the seasonings. Raise the heat slightly and bring the mixture to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 1 hour. Stir from time to time and scrape down the sides and across the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon or spatula to prevent scorching. At the end of the hour, still keeping the gumbo at a simmer, add the remaining 1/2 quart water and stir. move the pot from the heat and let stand at room temperature.

Before serving, bring the gumbo to a boil and add the remaining pound of shrimp. Simmer just until the shrimp turn pink, about 10 to 12 minutes. Stir thor­ oughly, tum off the heat, and cover the pot. Let it sit, covered, for about 15 minutes before serving. Serve by ladling the gumbo over mounds of boiled rice in gumbo bowls or deep soup bowls.

Where's the file powder?

Dab...

[slim]

Not all gumbos have file.

Dab.

The chicken gumbo coming has file powder and no okra.

Typically file is used when Okra is out of season. If you like you can sprinkle it at the end because cooking it in has little effect on flavor.

learn yourself some gumbo history son...

[bazo qop]

Well...I stand corrected..

[Lox]

Oh he just cut and pasted that shit outta wiki to cover his ass.

Fill a fruit jar and enjoy some file, for chrissakes.

[slim]

Basics dude.

Wiki actually claims there are three categories although my recipes are either Roux + Okra or Roux + File.

Tangent.

Has anybody here ever cooked or eaten squirrel. Im always killing the damn things and I've found a few stew recipes that call for squirrel. Around here their diet consists almost entirely of acorns from our huge oak trees. Thoughts?

[Lox]

I had fresh squirrel breakfast tacos one time.

Seriously, a decent cook cannot screw up a breakfast taco.

[Bug]

Basics dude.

Wiki actually claims there are three categories although my recipes are either Roux + Okra or Roux + File.

Tangent.

Has anybody here ever cooked or eaten squirrel. Im always killing the damn things and I've found a few stew recipes that call for squirrel. Around here their diet consists almost entirely of acorns from our huge oak trees. Thoughts?

The Joy of Cooking has a section on small game, including a great drawing of the proper(?) way to skin a squirrl which appears to have something to do with cutting a ring around it's anus, then standing on the tail with a lumberjack boot and pulling up on the hind legs - kinda like turning a sock inside-out.

Well anyway , you have to see for yourself.

[slim]

I use Joy of Cooking as the basis for a lot of my recipes. Good source. Will check out the squirrel section. Recipe I have takes quartered squirrels and soaks them in buttermilk prior to roasting in a heavy pan and stewing.

[Whiteflash]

Make sure you shoot it(them?) in the head as to not contaminate the abdomen with entrails. I'd also cook the shit out of it to avoid worrying about rabies...

[slim]

Im not going to take my squirrel rare dude. It will be cooked. Head shots no problem either. The air rifle has a scope and you ping a quarter at 100 feet. They really don't even have a sporting chance!

[malachi]

Brunswick Stew (for everyone you know)

Ingredients:
20 squirrels
2 whole chickens
3 gallon. water
1.5 lbs salt pork
1 gallon. butter beans
1.5 gallons peeled potatoes, cubed
2 gallons cannon chopped tomatoes
1 gallon peeled carrots, cubed
.75 gallon yellow onion, cubed
1.25 gallons cut corn
1/3 cup red pepper
1/3 cup ground black pepper
2 cup salt
1 cup sugar

Directions:
Clean, dress and cut up squirrels and chickens.

Bring 2 gallons of water to boil in 15 gallon heavy duty pot. Add squirrel and chicken pieces.

Cook, stirring often, until meat comes off the bone. Add remainder of water, as needed as it cooks to keep meet covered.

Chop salt pork, fry over medium heat. Add pork and pork fat to boiling mixture.

Add beans, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, carrots and corn in order. The goal is to have all become tender at the same time.

Add seasonings, and cook, stirring, for 1 hour, until stew is thick and flavors well blended.

Serve, optionally with moonshine and sweet tea.

[VTP]

new years eve dinner, surf and turf, so simple, so good.

[RockPharmer]

uh, wtf have you been??? salt & malt vinegar forevah

[malachi]

i recently discovered that the good people of ME and NB enjoy their french fries doused in vinegar.

THIS IS DELICIOUS.

Damn boy!
Been that way in the UK since, fuck... the late 19th century?
Where are you from anyway, Appalachia or something?

[joy]

[Lox]

Steeler-jizz on otherwise delicious looking fries.

If you gotta drench your potatos in naycho cheese, there's gotta be something wrong with them. It's all about the Hyde Park fries.

[RockPharmer]

all about the poutine

[hweight]

Has anybody here ever cooked or eaten squirrel. Im always killing the damn things and I've found a few stew recipes that call for squirrel. Around here their diet consists almost entirely of acorns from our huge oak trees. Thoughts?

Yes. It was thoroughly meh, though the stew was pretty good. The meat was thin and lacked any interesting flavor.


Do not eat rare squirrel.

[Ikefromla]

Middle Eastern food is so much better in the Middle East.



cheek meat


shawarma eem humus. soooo mothafuckin good.