Snacking State-by-State: Louisiana I - Gumbo-licious

Over the next few months, I will be exploring several states whose identities (not just food-wise but overall) are tied very closely to their cuisines: Louisiana, Maine, and of course my own home state of Maryland. In terms of Louisiana, chances are that Cajun and Creole cuisine are among the very first things that pop up in one's head.

Official Name: State of Louisiana (French: État de Louisiane; French Creole: Léta de la Lwizyàn - though Louisiana has no official language, French is important to the state's identity, and in 1812 Louisiana was the first state to join the Union whose majority did not speak English. For more on the linguistic history of Louisiana, see here)
State Nicknames: The Bayou State; The Pelican State; The Sugar State
Admission to the US: April 30, 1812 (#18)
Capital: Baton Rouge (2nd largest city)
Other Important Cities: New Orleans (largest); Shreveport (3rd largest): Metairie (4th largest)
Region: South; Deep South; Gulf Coast; West South Central (US Census)
RAFT Nations: Gumbo; Cornbread & BBQ
Bordered by: Arkansas (north); Mississippi & the Mississippi River (east); the Gulf of Mexico (southeast and south); Texas (west)
Official State Foods and Edible Things: crawfish (crustacean); milk (drink); alligator (reptile)
Some Famous & Typical Foods: Cajun cuisine and dishes, especially gumbo, jambalaya, courtboullion (COO-bee-yon) and étouffée; pralines; crawfish, shrimp, crab, alligator, catfish; typical Southern foods in the northernmost part of the state.

Louisiana's cuisine is not difficult to pin down by any stretch of the imagination. For the most part, Louisiana's cuisine is Cajun and Creole cuisine. Note that the two are not the same, but most older Louisianans will debate for hours as to what the difference actually is. Even Tom Fitzsimmons, in a piece republished on the Tabasco Sauce website, tries to hash it out, only to arrive at the following conclusion:

[W]hat defines Creole and what defines Cajun? The answer is: nothing. And everything. I can tell you about a roux – a mixture of oil and flour that darkens and thickens gumbos--but that's in both. Salt and pepper and cream and butter and fat? More of all of them in both Creole and Cajun than in most other cooking styles, but now more than there used to be in both historically... There's been so much cross-fertilization of the styles over the decades that the merger has been consummated. I say, stop thinking about it. Just eat it. [Fitzsimmons 2003]

To maintain my sanity, I am just going to use the term "Cajun".

Southerners will happily embrace Cajun cooking, and it is one of many iconic strains of Southern cuisine - a complex quilt that stretches from Texas and the Southwest all the way to Virginia, (yes) Maryland and the Chesapeake. But Cajuns such as Terri Pischoff Wuerthner, chef and author of In a Cajun Kitchen, point out that the embrace only goes one way. Pischoff Wuerthner notes:

Cajun Country is the southwest section of Louisiana, unique unto itself. The northern part of the state is considered to belong to the large region considered the American South and has much in common with the adjacent states of Mississippi, Arkansas, and Texas. Southwest Louisiana, on the other hand, is not thought of as being part of "the South," but geographically below it. [Pischoff Wuerthner 2006: 3]

So what is the origin of Cajun cuisine? Pischoff Wuerthner further points out that Cajun comes from Acadian, the Catholic French people who fled Nova Scotia in the 1750's and headed waaaay south, to the other end of French North America. They had to adapt their French techniques to their new geography and ingredients, also getting ideas and help from the Choctaw people (filé, which is ground sassafras, was directly given by the Choctaw to the Cajuns). The result was the unique cuisine of much of Louisiana: Cajun cuisine [Pischoff Wuerthner 2006: 3].

I also wanted to find recipes that were indicative of northern Louisiana, whose cuisine is traditionally less Cajun and more Southern. I was hard-pressed to do so, specifically because the few recipes I could find from northern Louisiana were, more or less, Cajun recipes, likely having been embraced by non-Cajuns in the area. For this reason, and because the traditional food of the north is the Southern food that I have looked at and will look at elsewhere, I am holding off on Southern food for the Louisiana posts, and just focusing on Cajun country.

Perhaps the most iconic Cajun recipe of them all is gumbo. Most accounts say it comes from the Bantu word ki ngombo, which means "okra" (though Wikipedia also suggests the Choctaw word kombo, which means "filé"). Gumbo is a stew (or at least a very thick soup), thickened by any of three things: a French roux (at the beginning), okra (in the middle) or filé powder (at the end). Terri Pischoff Wuerthner provides several gumbo recipes, including a chicken-sausage gumbo that uses all three of these thickeners.

Recipe: Chicken and Andouille Sausage Gumbo

A few things to note about gumbo, and many Cajun dishes for that matter:

1) Many Cajun recipes start with the phrase "First you make a roux" (that famous French fat and flour mixture). With this recipe, technically, it's the second thing you make.

2) This gumbo and many Cajun recipes feature the famous Holy Trinity of celery, onion and green bell pepper. I've never been much on green bell peppers, preferring the sweeter red ones myself. But I wanted to do this right, so the green ones it is.

To make this chicken & andouille sausage gumbo, one of many recipes that Pischoff Wuerthner culls from her family's own handwritten recipes and passed down over the generations - in this case from Pischoff Wuerthner's grandparents - you need the following (for exact amounts, please see Terri Pischoff Wuerthner's In a Cajun Kitchen, page 34 - also available as an eBook, for $15):


* flour and oil (for the roux)
* onions, celery and green bell pepper, all chopped (I had to halve her recipe, so I used a half of an onion, two celery stalks and most of one green bell pepper)
* chicken broth (I had none on hand, but I did have the foresight to save the broth from some collard greens I had slow cooked before, so I used that, and added enough water and chicken bouillon cubes to equal the quart of stock I needed)
* chicken (the author calls for breast meat, but I prefer - and used - dark meat for its flavor and its tendency to dry out less easily than the breast)
* andouille sausage (It's not as difficult to find this uniquely Cajun sausage in Maryland than I thought it would be, but note that even at $6 for a pound we probably aren't getting the absolute best stuff here)
* okra (frozen is fine, and so much easier to use than the slimier, pricklier fresh stuff - $1.50 for a one pound bag)
* salt, pepper, cayenne, paprika and parsley (had them all)
* Tabasco sauce (had it)
* filé powder (one small spice bottle will set you back only a few dollars)
* plain white rice (I had this in the fridge from another Cajun recipe, to be posted soon - you will cook this and spoon it into your gumbo)

Note that in this entire recipe there is not a single sprinkle of Cajun seasoning or anything with the word "Emeril" on the label. I am keeping with that trend, not because I have anything against the Zatarain's people (or even Emeril), but because you just don't need those things to make Cajun food. The spices you add end up doing that.

First, you hold off on the roux, and cut up the chicken as best you can - it's easier to cut up raw breast meat into cubes, but for thigh and leg meat you're going to have to just cut it up into little pieces.


Season it all with your dry spices - not the filé powder. You are going to save that for the very, very last step (Why? Adding filé before or during cooking will make the gumbo turn unpleasantly stringy, and who wants to eat stringy soup? Yeah, I didn't think so)

Now, you make that roux.

Er, not this Ru.*

Yes, this roux.

A roux is easy to make, but even easier to burn, so you must constantly watch over it. Just heat the oil or other fat (in this case, I used peanut oil) and add the flour, then constantly stir it over low medium heat. I mean it, too - this is not something you walk away from for even a minute. Thirty seconds here and stir, thirty seconds there and stir, for about 15 to 30 minutes, depending on how much of a roux there will be and just how dark you need it. The above-pictured roux eventually got a little darker than this.


If you haven't chopped the vegetables and sausage yet, take the roux off the heat and do that now.


When ready, heat up the roux and add the onions, celery and bell pepper, stirring for a few minutes.


Next add your seasoned chicken and do the same.


After this you add your stock and boil.


And then add your sausage and Tabasco sauce.


Cover and cook over low heat for an hour, and then add your second thickening agent: the okra. Usually, okra is added to seafood gumbos, but the author's grandparents add it here, too. Cover again and cook for half an hour.


The gumbo is done, but before you serve it, take it off the heat and then add the filé powder. Put a mound of white rice into the center of each bowl of gumbo and serve.


How to describe this gumbo? It is my first, and it is a beautiful dish. It was quite the change from the Campbell's soup canned "gumbo" that is really more of a glorified vegetable soup with Cajun seasoning. As for the filé, it adds not only thickness but a nice flavor and smell. I didn't think to drink a bottle of sarsaparilla - also made with sassafras - with this, but before I run out I will have to do so.

For dessert, we will return to Terri Pischoff Wuerthner in a few posts. But first, a few more of the iconic entrées from Cajun country.

(Props to LA Weekly Blogs for the RuPaul photo)

Sources:

BoilCrawfish.com. "How to boil crawfish". Copyright 2005 BoilCrawfish.com.

Edge, John T. A Gracious Plenty: Recipes and Recollections from the American South. An Ellen Rolfes Book. For the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi. G. P. Putnam's Sons: New York, 1999.

Fitzsimmons, Tom. "What's the difference between Cajun and Creole Cooking?" Published 2003 on the "Taste Tent" section of the Tabasco Sauce website. Copyright 2011 McIlhenny Company, all rights reserved.

Junior League of Baton Rouge, Inc. River Road Recipes: The Textbook of Louisiana Cuisine [Volume I]. The Junior League of Baton Rouge, Inc: Baton Rouge, 1959. 72nd printing, April 2000.

Pischoff Wuerthner, Terri. In a Cajun Kitchen: Authentic Cajun Recipes and Stories from a Family Farm on the Bayou. St. Martin's Press: New York, 2006.

Some information also obtained from Wikipedia's "Louisiana" page and other pages, and the Food Timeline State Foods link to "Louisiana".

Thank you, Baltimore Magazine!!!

Baltimore Magazine has named this blog one of the top ten blogs of the year! In their own words...

The Baltimore Snacker: Not just recipes, but reports on local markets, road-trip food, and videos—some food related, some not—all presented with a heaping helping of spot-on humor. [Baltimore Magazine 2011]

I'm smiling here :) But as I tweeted and emailed before, I want to extend sincere apologies to the intern who emailed me and tried to get some info about the blog, but didn't because I was lazy and hadn't checked my messages until after the deadline. Egg on my face here.

But back to Baltimore Magazine: thank you again. This means very much after a difficult year that saw me shut it all down for a few weeks, only then to get a similar compliment from the City Paper (note the headline currently at the top of the page) and then for me to start a whole new project (look for posts about Louisiana this week and next), and try to restart another (yes, gas prices helped bring the Back to the Beltway series to a halt).

I am, as always, humbly touched that I have fans, even more that they like the blog!

Indigma to reopen next week

After last winter's devastating fire in Mount Vernon that shut down several businesses - and could have claimed the Helmand and Thairish restaurants had it gotten even worse - one of the hard-hit restaurants is planning to reopen next week. Baltimore Magazine reports this in a recent Twitter posting, and on CityPeek. The new location will be right across the street from the old location. Best wishes to Ann and Tony Chennamoor. I'll be back soon!

Oh look, Restaurant Week is here already...

It all starts at the end of next week: the latest round in Baltimore's Summer Restaurant Week. A lot of local favorites are taking part. I plan to get out once, at least for lunch which is always cheaper ($20.11 for lunch, $35.11 for dinner).

Where do you get your crab meat?

I was just discussing (okay, tweeting) about getting ready to make a crabcake from an old handwritten & hand-pasted family cookbook from my my mother's Great Aunt Florence, who died long before I was born. I was noting just how happy I am to have actual Chesapeake Bay crab meat to use. It's not so easy to find these days. Usually in Giant, I am lucky to find a tub that doesn't say "Packaged in China/Thailand/Indonesia" on the bottom.

So that led to the poll on the right, under the photo: where does YOUR crab meat come from? I try my best to only use Chesapeake Bay crab meat - for me, as long as it's from Maryland or Virginia, I'm happy (yes, Virginia - it is the same Bay). North Carolina is close enough to work when our crabs aren't in season, and the Tar Heels seem to prefer theirs to the ones from Virginia & Maryland, bless their hearts. (In fairness, I'd be saying the same thing about Chesapeake Bay crabs if I were from North Carolina - the local crab is always the favorite!)

The poll closes at the end of the day on August 2 (coinciding with the looming default on our nation's credit, by the way). You can choose multiple answers.

Buy Local Challenge is back

The Buy Local Challenge is back this year! Okay, I am a little late in mentioning it - this started Sunday - but the challenge is simple:

Stock up at local farms, farm stands and markets that offer genuine local products, and dine at restaurants featuring local food and wine.

I don't kow if having a garden counts, but since the challenge helps inject new money into the local economy my guess is no. But it is in the spirit of eating local. So look for foods made in Maryland - better yet, made close to where you live - at markets and restaurants near you.

And now, you can follow the Buy Local Challenge on both Facebook and Twitter.

Snacking State-by-State: Kentucky II - Burgoo Me, Baby!

If the mint julep is the official drink of the Kentucky Derby, the official meal of Kentucky must be burgoo. People outside of Kentucky and the immediate area may not have any clue what this is, though there are variations by the same name in southern Indiana and Illinois. It is a close cousin to Brunswick stew, and is pretty darn hearty to say the least.

Official Name: Commonwealth of Kentucky
State Nickname: The Bluegrass State
Admission to the US: June 1, 1792 (#15)
Capital: Frankfort (14th largest city)
Other Important Cities: Louisville (largest); Lexington (2nd); Bowling Green (3rd); Owensboro (4th)
Region: Appalachia, South, Upper South; East South Central (US Census)
RAFT Nations: Cornbread & BBQ; Chestnut
Bordered by: Illinois, Indiana & Ohio (north); West Virginia (northeast); Virginia (east); Tennessee (south); Missouri & the Mississippi River (west)
Official State Foods and Edible Things: blackberry (fruit); gray squirrel (wild animal game species); Kentucky spotted bass (fish); milk (drink)
Some Famous & Typical Foods: common Southern foods; Kentucky-specific foods such as burgoo & Derby pie; fried chicken (though not "Kentucky Fried Chicken"); mint julep & Kentucky bourbon

Just like Indian pudding in New England, gumbo in the Gulf Coast and our own crab cake here in the Chesapeake, every family and community seems to have its own recipe for burgoo. To go back to Jean Anderson's book A Love Affair with Southern Cooking, while legends abound about the origin of burgoo - some say it came from as far away as Wales - many historians agree on the general facts:

[Most h]istorians... agree that burgoo was created during the Civil War by Gus Jaubert, a French chef serving Confederate general John Hunt Morgan. At war's end, Jaubert settled in Lexington, Kentucky, began making burgoo on a massive scale, and soon gained fame as "the burgoo king"... Jaubert's original recipe apparently contained blackbirds. Unable to say "blackbird stew" not only because French was his first language but also because he had a hairlip, Jaubert pronounced it "burgoo." Or so I [Jean Anderson] was told. Elsewhere I learned that those early burgoos contained mostly squirrels plus whatever vegetables came to hand. [Anderson 2007: 128]

Anderson goes on to note that she literally found hundreds of burgoo recipes. After my research, it seemed as if I had found about as many, with enough sheer variety that I just had no idea how to approach this project. Among the few common threads I found:

* Burgoo usually includes a few meats - this ain't vegan food here - and usually chicken is one of those meats. Mutton does not feature into all recipes, but many recipes specify mutton as one of those meats. Beef and/or pork also are common.
* Though no longer common, the early burgoos added all manner of game animals. Squirrel was, indeed, very popular, and you will still find it in a few modern recipes for it (No squirrel? Add chicken)
* Most recipes yield enough to feed a family reunion. Unless you want to cook for 20 people, you will need to pare down this recipe, which is what I did.
* This is not a quick thing to make. Food Network sent the ever-lovable Dave Lieberman down to Kentucky for his "In Search of Real Food" segment to see another massive burgoo-making operation in Owensboro for a Catholic Church function, and it wound up on YouTube:

After much hemming and hawing, I finally went with another Owensboro-based recipe for Kentucky burgoo - this from the Moonlite Inn in Owensboro. As they told NPR's "Hidden Kitchens" segment, it often featured chicken, mutton and various vegetables. I more or less followed Moonlite Inn's recipe, adding only beef and lima beans (which also pop up in many other recipes). And since I didn't have all day to make burgoo, and I didn't have a church full of people waiting for it, I went and cut the Moonlite Inn's recipe down to a quarter the size. The original makes about three gallons of the stuff.

The recipe: Kentucky Burgoo

To make the Moonlite Inn's Kentucky burgoo you will need more than a few ingredients:


* lamb meat (I bought about a pound for $6)
* chicken (I had this in the freezer - yes!)
* beef (not in the Moonlite Inn's recipe, but enough recipes have it that I wanted some in mine - about a half pound was $4, and I used half of that and froze the rest)
* cabbage and onion, ground up (I had the onion, and the half a head of cabbage, more than enough, was not much)
* a few potatoes, peeled (had those laying around)
* canned or fresh corn (not expensive)
* tomato ketchup, tomato purée, Worcestershire sauce and vinegar (had them)
* lemon juice (same)
* salt, pepper and cayenne (same)
* lima beans (half of an inexpensive one pound bag was good enough)
* water - lots of water

The one other modification I made to the Moonlite Inn recipe was to bust out the slow cooker for several of the steps. There are burgoo recipes for the slow cooker, but I didn't like the ones I saw.

Start with your mutton and beef. Moonlite says to cover them with water and cook for a few hours. This is one part that is well-suited to the slow cooker (I cooked them for 2 1/2 hours on low), where you can just leave the red meats to cook while you do other things.

When they are done cooking, take them out, cut away the meat from the bone and fat, and grind up the meat in your food processor.

While you are cooking the mutton, cook the chicken in a large pot on the stove, in lots of water, until tender.

When done, again remove bones and skin from the chicken, chop up the meat and set aside.

Grind up your onion and cabbage in the food processor...

...and add it to the chicken broth, along with the diced potatoes, the corn, ketchup and more water. Boil, and then add the meats and all other ingredients.

Here I transferred everything from the pot to the slow cooker, and set it too cook for another four hours, again on low.

I spread out the meats and felt for any missed gristle, most of which came from the lamb.

In go the contents from the stove.

Then the spices, Worcestershire and tomato paste

I added the lima beans unsoaked. Laugh, if you must, but after only four hours I kind of liked their unusually firm texture. Of course, you should soak them overnight, though for me it ruined nothing.

It needs to cook for a while so it can become thick. A burgoo is not a consommé after all. In fact, I was wondering as I made this why Chunky Soup hadn't commandeered a burgoo for one of its pready-made "soups that eat like a meal".

Serve with bread, biscuit, cracker or corn bread.


This is, indeed, quite the hearty stew. Everything blends nicely together - in fact, I would say the mutton, for my taste, blended a little too well with everything else since I couldn't find it too easily. It doesn't matter: as long a process as burgoo-making is, it is well worth the effort. Plus, with all the things you could add to it, I can see why each family seems to have its own recipe. Now when I eventually get to Brusnwick stew, I look forward to seeing just where the differences are. Bonus fact: on Kentucky Derby day, burgoo often follows that fabled mint julep as a first course, sometimes in the previous glass once it's empty.

From one end of the South to the other: the next state on my list is a state with one of the most famously unique and regional cuisines, unique not just in the US but within the South itself. Read on next week as I try my hand at Cajun food when I finally get to Louisiana.

Sources:

Anderson, Jean. A Love Affair with Southern Cooking: Recipes and Recollections. William Morrow: New York, 2007.

Beaumont Inn. "Recipe: How to Make the Perfect Mint Julep". Video "How to Make a Mint Julep" by Beaumont Inn, featuring Dixon Dedman. Video posted on YouTube by Beaumont Inn (user BeaumontInn) on May 24, 2010.

Hellmann's. "Owensboro Kentucky: Burgoo". From the In Search of Real Food YouTube Series with Dave Lieberman. Posted August 6, 2007.

National Public Radio. "Moonlite Burgoo and Mutton Dip". From the "Hidden Kitchens" Series. Originally published November 5, 2004.

Lacabe, Marga. "Margarita's Appalachian Menu". Date unknown.

Maker's Mark. "Mint Julep Recipe". Reprinted on the Beaumont Inn website. Date unknown.

Moonlite Bar-B-Q Inn. "The Burgoo Soup Story / The Burgoo Recipe". Copyright 1996-2005 The Moonlite Bar-B-Q Inn, Inc.

Some information also obtained from Wikipedia's "Kentucky" page and other pages, and the Food Timeline State Foods link to "Kentucky".

Lunch on a 100° Day

On a hot day like today, where the heat index was 111° at 10 in the morning, cooking is not a great option (even though I will be doing it at some point, but just a little). What to eat to cool off? How about a nice garden salad (from my garden), with mint and Thai basil and some olive oil and salt? Couple that with a mint julep, some ginger ale and a freshly made gazpacho of Roma tomatoes I just bought, thrown together with olive oil, water, ice cubes, dried chilies, salt, a small red onion and two cloves of garlic (don't like bread crumbs in mine, and I don't have cukes on hand), blended until smooth. It's about as refreshing as you can get in this weather.

It's too darn hot...

I will be cooking today. I know, I am crazy. However, I do have some cold stuff to pair it off with as well: gazpacho in the freezer and salad in the fridge. Let's hope those go well with those exotic New England fiddleheads I yanked out of the freezer and will be stir frying up today (read about it in a few weeks when I try to interpret the foods of Maine).

In the meantime, deal with the heat in these ways:

* Please stay well-hydrated today, stay indoors in the A/C or at least a fan, as much as humanly possible - , for example, a mall, library, museum, hospital (if you have someone to visit - try not to go there as a patient, please), or house of worship (pray for cool weather - do it).

* If you do visit an air-conditioned pub, make sure you offset any alcohol you drink with water or juice or something along those lines. And don't just rely on soda, coffee or tea today either: the caffeine can be bad in this heat. Again, offset them with water, juices or anything that provides electrolytes.

* If you are doing activities outside (like the footie I was playing yesterday evening in much cooler 90° temperatures), stay hydrated and take frequent breaks.

* It's probably a fool's errand to look for the food trucks out today: the Gypsy Queen Café Truck (Twitter: @thegypsytruck) has already said they are staying home today due to the heat. Not to discourage people from visiting the food trucks, but who knows which ones will be out today? (UPDATE: At least one will be out today; the Kooper's Chowhound - Twitter: @BRGRwagon - is in Mount Vernon until 1:30. And the Haute Dog Carte - Twitter: @hautedogcarte - as always, is selling its delicious dogs).

* Did I mention that you need to stay hydrated today?

* Check in on your sick and elderly, and if you see any animals locked in cars... well I don't even want to think about that!

Snacking State-by-State: Kentucky I - That Derby Day Classic

Done (for now) with the Midwest, I head to the Upper South as I explore some of the most famous edible exports that the Bluegrass State has to offer the rest of America.

Official Name: Commonwealth of Kentucky
State Nickname: The Bluegrass State
Admission to the US: June 1, 1792 (#15)
Capital: Frankfort (14th largest city)
Other Important Cities: Louisville (largest); Lexington (2nd); Bowling Green (3rd); Owensboro (4th)
Region: Appalachia, South, Upper South; East South Central (US Census)
RAFT Nations: Cornbread & BBQ; Chestnut
Bordered by: Illinois, Indiana & Ohio (north); West Virginia (northeast); Virginia (east); Tennessee (south); Missouri & the Mississippi River (west)
Official State Foods and Edible Things: blackberry (fruit); gray squirrel (wild animal game species); Kentucky spotted bass (fish); milk (drink)
Some Famous & Typical Foods: common Southern foods; Kentucky-specific foods such as burgoo & Derby pie; fried chicken (though not "Kentucky Fried Chicken"); mint julep & Kentucky bourbon

For the most part, the foods of Kentucky are those of the South: catfish, hush puppies, cornbread and (well duh) fried chicken abound. This also includes the foods of Appalachia, which trundles through a massive part of the Bluegrass State (look at Margarita's Appalachian Menu for a bibliography of Appalachian cookbooks, which I will find useful at some point during this State-by-State series). And true, fried chicken is important in Kentucky (even if what the entire world thinks of as "Kentucky Fried Chicken" or, at least in Egypt, as just plain "Kentucky", has a bit more in the way of hydrogenated oils and high fructose syrups). Corbin, Kentucky's most famous son, Col. Harland Sanders, opened his first business in a gas station in 1930. As Jean Anderson points out in her book A Love Affair with Southern Cooking, it wasn't all just fried chicken at first. It was only after the government ran an interstate right through his business that the gears were set in motion for KFC to hit the big time

Still believing in his fried chicken with its secret seasoning blend of eleven herbs and spices, Sanders took to the road in 1952. Crisscrossing the country, he called on restaurant owners and fried batches of chicken... Dozens were impressed enough to cut a deal: Sanders would share his secret recipe and frying technique if they'd pay him a nickel for every order sold. [Anderson 2007: 114]

Finally, a test case for that famous saying, "If I had a nickel for every time..."

Another famous Kentucky classic is pretty tough to find at KFC (unless Pepsi is starting to make them en masse). The mint julep is, by all accounts, a Kentucky Derby classic. Yes, various Southern states lay their own claims to their own juleps, but Kentucky's is the one that everyone keeps going back to. There is a variety of recipes even for Kentucky's take on the mint julep, but it more or less comes back to the same simple formula: Kentucky bourbon, simple syrup and mint. Since I am not well-versed in the art of the cocktail or other liquored drinks, I needed some visual aids. I found one at the website for the Beaumont Inn in Harrodsburg, made by Dixon Dedman, which you all can follow below:

I more or less followed Dedman's procedure, since he is showing how to make just one and since it looks so easy when he does it! But I did take a hint from the recipe posted by the Beaumont Inn underneath the video, which shows how to make enough mint juleps for 30 people! I am not drinking that much liquor, but I took a cue from Maker's Mark for how to infuse their bourbon with mint leaves.

The recipe: Mint Julep (Kentucky-Style)

To make a mint julep, you will need the following:


* Kentucky bourbon - yes, it has to be Kentucky bourbon - not rum, brandy or whiskey as they use elsewhere in the South, otherwise it's not the kind you will find at the Kentucky Derby. When I sought out a bottle of Kentucky bourbon, the nice folks at the Wine Source in Hampden gave me some recommendations. The woman I talked to said that she prefers Knob Creek Kentucky Bourbon because of its flavor. However, she pointed out that people with a sweet tooth may prefer the slightly sweeter Maker's Mark, and that is why I went with that brand. Just don't use something cheap. You are making this for the flavor, not for the buzz.
* fresh sprigs of mint - lots of it if you are making a lot of mint juleps. Since the one tiny mint plant I planted in my raised bed at Clifton Park last year has literally taken over the whole damn bed, I am not lacking in fresh mint.
* equal parts water and sugar, which you will use to make a simple syrup. Don't just mix the two in the glass like some sloppy bartenders - make the simple syrup, for corn's sake. It's not as hard as it looks. Note: some folks infuse mint leaves into the simple syrup while cooking it. The Maker's Mark recipe did not suggest that, probably because you will infuse the bourbon itself with your mint.
* crushed ice - okay, it doesn't have to be crushed, but this is preferable.

In addition, make sure you also have a straw to slightly bruise the mint as you push it down into the glass, kitchen shears to cut the straw, and a jigger with which to measure the bourbon and simple syrup.

If you don't have crushed ice on hand, go ahead and crush it. I found that neither my blender nor my food processor was very useful for crushing ice - I got a snowball-like consistency at the bottom of the blender and many slightly bruised ice cubes on top in the blender, but that was still better than the food processor which didn't do much more than slightly crack the ice. I finally had to put the ice in a ziploc bag and take a hammer to it on the front porch.

Sometimes the bluntest instrument is the best

To make the simple syrup, take a cup of water and bring it to a boil, and then put in an equal portion of sugar, constantly stirring it over low heat.


It is done when the sugar is completely dissolved the simple syrup is ready. You can tell this by taking a metal spoon and pouring the syrup back into the bowl, looking for crystals. No crystals = simple syrup (there are many places online to find these instructions). During the simmering process you may want to put some mint leaves into the mixture, which you will fish out later. Either way, let the syrup come to room temperature and refrigerate.

If you don't use minty simple syrup, follow Maker's Mark's suggestion (again, on the Beaumont Inn website's mint julep page): take about 40 smallish fresh mint leaves and cover them with Kentucky bourbon.
Let them sit for 15 minutes, then take a cotton cloth (I used a fine cheese cloth)


and put the mint leaves into it and squeeze the life out of those leaves. Dip the sachet into the bourbon a few more times, each time wringing as hard as you can.

Okay, YOU try taking a photo while wringing out a cheese cloth filled with bourbon-soaked mint leaves!

Throw the leaves out and set the minty bourbon aside until ready to use.

To assemble the mint julep, start with a glass. Preferably, you will use a silver mint julep cup, but those can get pricey and I am on a budget.

This assembly is per Maker's Mark:


Fill your glass part way with crushed ice.


Next put in a sprig or two of mint.

Then put more crushed ice in the cup.

The rest comes from the Beaumont Inn video: as Dedman suggests, you can play around with the amounts: use two parts bourbon to one part simple syrup for a stronger mint julep, equal parts of each for a sweeter one.

Again I went sweet (and because I didn't want to get too buzzed here), and used my 1 3/4 oz to 3/4 oz jigger to measure out about 1 3/4 oz each Kentucky bourbon and simple syrup into my glass.

Of course, do not forget to put some of the mint-infused bourbon into the glass - a few spoonfuls should do you.

Take your straw and muddle the mint down towards the bottom of the glass. Put another sprig of mint in for decoration, and powdered sugar if you like. Some recipes suggest that you snip the straw so that it is the same height as the mint sprig.


I have not had a mint julep before. I did have a black-eyed susan once, on Preakness Day, though I was not terribly satisfied with the version I had (note: the black-eyed susan also uses Kentucky bourbon). The mint julep I made was pleasantly sweet and minty, and very cold and refreshing for the hot day on which I made it. Because mine was not as strong, it didn't get me terribly buzzed. I wasn't going for "terribly buzzed" anyway, so I was not disappointed. Again, if you want yours stronger, fill your jigger accordingly. This is a very nice drink and I now finally know how to make it. That and the simple syrup will come in quite handy for other uses (I have some iced tea to make, for example...)

Sources:

Anderson, Jean. A Love Affair with Southern Cooking: Recipes and Recollections. William Morrow: New York, 2007.

Beaumont Inn. "Recipe: How to Make the Perfect Mint Julep". Video "How to Make a Mint Julep" by Beaumont Inn, featuring Dixon Dedman. Video posted on YouTube by Beaumont Inn (user BeaumontInn) on May 24, 2010.

Hellmann's. "Owensboro Kentucky: Burgoo". From the In Search of Real Food YouTube Series with Dave Lieberman. Posted August 6, 2007.

National Public Radio. "Moonlite Burgoo and Mutton Dip". From the "Hidden Kitchens" Series. Originally published November 5, 2004.

Lacabe, Marga. "Margarita's Appalachian Menu". Date unknown.

Maker's Mark. "Mint Julep Recipe". Reprinted on the Beaumont Inn website. Date unknown.

Moonlite Bar-B-Q Inn. "The Burgoo Soup Story / The Burgoo Recipe". Copyright 1996-2005 The Moonlite Bar-B-Q Inn, Inc.

Some information also obtained from Wikipedia's "Kentucky" page and other pages, and the Food Timeline State Foods link to "Kentucky".

Parce que c'est la Fête Nationale (de la France)

Today is Bastille Day, and hopefully we are having a better one than the French Women's World Cup team (congrats to our own Women's World Cup team, who play Japan in the final round on Sunday).

Back to Bastille Day: find some good French eatin' around town this weekend - anything from crepes to escargot (Urbanspoon has the lowdown on all the French food around Baltimore). Or you could just pack up a Chinese food container with profiteroles lovingly made in your kitchen in the Hamptons, like Ina does. Because nothing screams "Overthrow the monarchy!" like the Hamptons.

Snacking State-by-State: Kansas II - Hello, Pickle!

Bread and pickles don't really go together in my mind, unless there's a sandwich going on somewhere. In fact, pickles don't really strike me as "Midwestern food". Or are they?


Official Name: State of Kansas
State Nicknames: The Sunflower State; The Wheat State; The Breadbasket of the World
Admission to the US: January 29, 1861 (#34)
Capital: Topeka (4th largest city)
Other Important Cities: Wichita (largest city); Overland Park (2nd); Kansas City (no, the one in Kansas: 3rd largest)
Region: Midwest, Great Plains; East North Central (US Census)
RAFT Nations: Cornbread & BBQ, Bison
Bordered by: Nebraska (north); Missouri (east); Oklahoma (south); Colorado (west)
Official State Foods and Edible Things: buffalo (animal); wild native sunflower (flower & flower emblem); honeybee (insect - its honey is what is edible)
Some Famous & Typical Foods: prairie foods, including Native American and pioneer foods; wheat, wheat and more wheat; sunflowers; honey; did I mention wheat?

Judith Fertig, in her Prairie Home Cooking, mentions that prairie housewives regularly put out relish trays and, during the hot summers, had ice cold pickles ready in the refrigerator (or perhaps the icebox). The following recipe comes directly from Fertig's cookbook. This isn't her recipe per se - she tells us where she got it:

I first tasted these pickles in Ernestine Van Duvall's kitchen in Nicodemus, Kansas, when the temperature outside was 106 degrees in the shade. She had made them to accompany a barbecued rib dinner for Emancipation Days [celebrating the Emancipation Proclamation], held in late July. Cold, crisp, crunchy, and slightly sweet, they were just what my parched tastebuds wanted. Good home cooks all over the Heartland keep a tub of pickles like these in the regrigerator for days when temperatures soar and appetites flag. If you are a novice pickler, these quick pickles are a simple place to start. [Fertig 1999: 50]

Again, there isn't anything specifically Kansan about these pickles, but this seems like a good thing to have on hand during the hot summer months that are about to hit here - not to mention the hot spring we've had lately.

The recipe: Icicle Pickles

As Fertig suggests, this is an easy pickle for pickling noobs like me. I have hardly ever pickled anything. I did make a very fast Cambodian-style pickle a while back, but that's a different type of pickle altogether.


* cucumbers (about one pickling cuke yields a cup of cucumber slices, and you will be slicing them thinly)
* yellow onions (again thinly sliced and chopped)
* pickling salt (a large box is not too expensive; you can also use kosher salt, but you will need to adjust the amount: What's Cooking America talks more about this)
* distilled vinegar (got it, but bought a much bigger bottle since I needed a lot)
* sugar (same, but I had more than enough)
* celery seeds and mustard seeds (I needed to buy both. These can be pricey, but there is no shame in buying the budget herbs and spices)


First, slice the cucumbers thinly. The best way to do this is with a mandoline slicer with a safety. You don't want nice little slices of you, do you? This is why these mandolines freak the hell out of me.


Gently mix the cucumber slices and the onion slices together and set aside while you prepare the brine.


I had no idea just how easy brining pickles for the fridge could be. All I had to do for this recipe was mix an equal amount of vinegar and sugar together, and boil them with pickling salt, celery seeds and mustard seeds.
Boil them until the sugar dissolves, and pour the liquid over the cukes and onions.


They aren't done yet, of course. Set them in the fridge to pickle for at least 24 hours. Fertig notes that they will keep in the refrigerator indefinitely.

These were simple and nicely sweet and tart pickles. It was not quite a pickle I was used to eating - a little sweeter than the more savory and tangy pickles I prefer. I would like to play with some variations: dill, more sour pickles, perhaps an Indian pickle version, or even one with actual pickling spices. But even though I cut the recipe in half, I am unlikely to finish these pickles anytime soon. I guess that's what a hot summer is for.


My first foray into the Midwest is done. Next I head not too far away fro the Midwest, to Appalachia and bluegrass, bourbon and burgoo: Kentucky is coming up very soon.

Sources:

Fertig, Judith M. Prairie Home Cooking: 400 Recipes That Celebrate the Bountiful Harvests, Creative Cooks, and Comforting Foods of the American Heartland. The Harvard Common Press: Boston, 1999. Also partly available on Google Books.

Hester, Bree (BakedBree). "Honey Wheat Sunflower Bread Recipe". Published August 24, 2010.

Kansas Wheat Commission. Facts About Kansas Wheat. Kansas Wheat, copyright 2009.

Kansas Wheat Commission. "Sunflower Wheat Bread". Kansas Wheat, copyright 2011.

King Arthur Flour. "Kansas Sunflower Bread". King Arthur Flour, copyright 2011.

Some information also obtained from Wikipedia's "Kansas" page and other pages, and the Food Timeline State Foods link to "Kansas".