Crab Boil Recipe for Success.

Here are a few tips on how I would do a crab boil.  There is no correct way to make it, as everyone has “the best” recipe.  But the main goal is to enjoy a few cold beverages with friends over a communal pot of crabs.  And remember, it’s just a Cajun court bouillon.

Vegetables

New Potatoes, Cob Corn, Sausage, Garlic, Lemons, Mushrooms

Seasonings

Zatarans or Rex Crawfish Boil (Follow directions on the box for measurments)

Crabs

Down here we figure three to five per guest.

Bring water to boil, add seasonings, lemons, and garlic.  Let go for twenty minutes until well incorporated.  Add potatoes, the mushrooms, then sausage, then corn and cook.  By the time the corn is done, the potatoes should be finished.  Remove all the vegetables, bring back to boil.  Add crabs, bring to rolling boil, and shut off.  Ice down the container, or if outside use a hose, not completely cold, but slow down the heat.  Start tasting crabs for desired taste around 45 minutes, or before, whenever you think they’re ready.  Dump them on newspaper, serve vegetables with some butter, and wash it all down with conversation and a few cold Hi-Lifes.

Hope this helps!

Cheers.

/ˈmākiNG/ Bacon

    Making bacon is a process utilizing two age-old preservation techniques, curing and smoking.  Both of these techniques were used before the invention of the refrigerator.  Curing draws the moisture from the protein, moisture is to bacteria like booze is to New Orleans, they thrive together but it always isn't a good thing.  Smoking was a technique used to dry out the protein, and also keep bugs away.  And using both of these techniques, with a little patience mind you, at home will spoil (pardon the pun) the palate with joy.

    While in Pittsburgh, it was an opportunity to buy some never before frozen pork.  Omar Ifft is a third generation farmer in Evans City, PA, Iff T's Poultry farm.  Yes, pigs are not considered poultry, but since my father has an established poultry relationship with Omar, we were informed of the fresh pig he had slaughtered from his friend's farm.  Arriving on the farm, we met Omar and his two friends in the processing room.  The scene reminded me of pictures in the book Pork & Sons, where slaughtering an animal brought people together to talk, drink, and enjoy some of Mother Nature's bounty.  We bought several items, but for this story let's focus on the belly.

    Omar called the Belly, Bacon.  It is common for different cuts of meat to be called different names in different regions of the country.  An eight pound belly costs us around twelve dollars, compared to one pound retailing for anywhere between three to ten dollars at the local grocery store, please beware of cheap bacon, there is a reason it is cheap. 

The basic cure for bacon is a mixture of sugar and salt; 1 # Kosher Salt, 1/2# Sugar, 10 teaspoons Pink Salt (TCM).  Pink Salt or TCM (Tinted Cure Mix) is composed of 94% sodium chloride and 6%

sodium nitrate.  Basically it allows the meat to retain a pink hue, as opposed to grey, and eliminates any potential leftover bacteria.  Cure the meat for three to five days, then smoke for three hours.  Bacon has been made. It seems like a long time, but the actual physical labor involved is a mere hour or so.  The mental labor of patience is the only real skill need to make bacon.

If you are reading this, you have access to the intraweb, so look up more details (or email me elliott@yobreaux.com) and make some bacon. 

Happy Jazzfest!

The Infant Sheep (Lamb)

WELCOME TO PURE BRED LAMB

"All of us at Elysian Fields have discovered one thing for certain, how insignificant and out of focus we all can be in relating to the natural order all around us. We live within a miracle that continues to reveal itself, the dynamics of which we can barely begin to grasp. We feel, for some reason, that we are the center of this natural process when in reality we are completely outside. We have been given a great gift, a gift of choice, which we have decidedly developed into authority over all things. Or so we think. We have moved away as a culture and a society from “real” values, which has in turn removed us from our true mother….earth. No longer are we connected to the soil as all other things are. No wonder our walks in the park rejuvenate us, why getting our hands dirty feels so good. Within the order of nature exist the relationships which are its very fabric. Within these relationships are inter-dependencies proving we are all one, not The One."

http://purebredlamb.com/philosophy/voice-of-the-lamb/

Elysian Field's Lamb (Raw)

When in New Orleans, mentioning the phrase Elysian Fields can bring to mind a street.  Here in Pennsylvania, it is a lamb and a philosophy.  Purchasing a leg yesterday, led to the discovery of another great company in the food business.  A company which chooses to do things the correct way, rather than the easy way.

Pecan Smoked Lamb/Thyme Smoked Clams (Cooking)

Smoked Leg O' Lamb (Shhhhh.Resting)

Representing two cooking methods for the lamb, the top round was seared on the stove, reaching a well-rested rare. When someone has taken the time to raise an animal well, cook it with a purpose.

Butter-Seared Top Round (Cooking)

Visiting family is alway good times.  As a cook, it is an opportunity to nourish both the mind and soul of people which have shaped one's life.   

Seasons

The cycle of life, has many components with two parts being the pretty major contributors, birth and death.  Life comes  alive when the conditions allow them to and Spring is conditionally a good time for life.  Currently living in the South, there is an abundance of life right now.  Everything seems to be coming into bloom, and walking down the streets of uptown New Orleans on a sunny day smells like a refreshing bar of soap.  Up North, life has just begun to sprout. 

The ground and soil are beginning to unfreeze, allowing the resilient vegetables which made it through the Yankee winter have now started to peek from beneath the rich comforting blanket of composted soil.  On the hill, several things have begun to sprout back, namely green onions (scallions of the North), chives, thyme, and parsley.  These ruffian winter resistant plants were met by a new friend, lettuce, which just got planted this week.  Together they will enjoy nutrients from the soil, sun from, well the sun, and eventually get to meet my knife, but until then grow well veg-e-tables.

American Terroir

Terroir was a word not in my lexicon until a few years back, when the formidable wine bug had taken bite.  I use it to illustrate the intangible "it" factor of amazing food and wine.  Terroir has no, one-word translation from the French  phrase, gout de terroir.  Defining the term is difficult, but a rough meaning of the phrase is "taste of place." 

Identical seeds planted in different places, will taste differently. Similarly, people brought up in different areas will have noted cultural differences.  Terroir is the sum of all factors which have represented themselves at that certain moment.  Whether it be, a farmer choosing when to harvest, a vigneron cold fermenting, soil composition, micro macro or meso climate variances, all are telling a unique story on the palate and to the soul.

A book by Rowan Jacobsen explores the American continent for a sense and explanation of terroir.  It is a good book, holding the reader's hand through the science, industry, and philosophy which make up our food system.  The book's story is a good one, and quick.  It is literature to keep on your shelf, for at least the next five years, as a reference to some great products available in North America.