food.jdspc.com

My uncle Jack was a straight up cajun ‘man’.
A man’s man kinda cat, ya heard?
One of the coolest guys I ever met too.
There wasn’t anything he couldn’t do.

[audio:http://jdspc.com/Music/Shook.mp3]

When I met him he was a shrimper, welder, horse trainer, hell, he was probably a river boat gambler and a buffalo hunter for all I know!
Don’t get me wrong though, he could be an ornery old cuss…
As Peanut the African Gray used to parrot, ‘Jack’s an asshole, Jack’s an asshole!’…I think my aunt taught the bird that…

His career was in the oilfields overseas though. He and my Aunt Brenda lived in Africa for several years, hangin’ with the who’s who of the industry of the 1980s. When I listen to her reminisce, which ain’t very often, the conversation usually turns to the many different foods and techniques they experienced in Africa, Spain and who knows where else.

Jack was also one of the best chefs I had the opportunity to sit down to eat with.
He died before I could get his roast beef and gravy tricks but it is just as well though, I prefer the memory.
When it come that time of year for shellfish and outdoor fryin’ or boilin’ of crawfish, I always think of him.

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Now my brother Jason can th’ow down the best crawfish goin’, so I have guessed, tested and attempted his process, so here goes…
This is not only about time, but sequence…layering flavors so to speak…Now Jason does this with beer, so I guess, drink beer…
I for one prefer an ice cold tequila…but I hear iced tea does just fine!

Outdoor Boiled Crawfish – Texas Style!

• 30 lbs of Live Crawfish or 3-4 lbs per shucker
• 2 boxes Seafood Boil
• 7-9 Red Onions
• 1 Bag of New Potatoes
• Fresh Garlic
• 7-10 Ears of Corn
• Mushrooms
• 20-30 Serrano peppers
• 4-5 Lemons

If you bought the bugs from the market they may have been purged.
If not, in a plastic kiddie pool, place crawfish and a runnin’ garden hose till somewhat clean water results.
~ Keep an eye on them rascals! They know what’s up! ~
Purge the crawfish by submergin’ em in a salt bath for a while.
This gets all the crap out of em.

Set up your propane boiler and bring water to a boil. Put a lid on to speed up the process. Propane is gettin’ expensive these days, ya heard?
Just about any decent seafood boil will do, add about a pound or so to the water and let it simmer for a few minutes…

Drop in all the onions (halved), your potatoes and garlic.
Let this stew fer a bit, don’t over cook the taters, your eating outside with your fingers, leave em a bit under cooked, about 10 minutes.
Add the corn and mushrooms, cook for 5 minutes tops.
Place the vegetables in an ice chest to keep warm.

Add some more spice to the water and the lemons as well.
Th’ow in some serranos for a bit more heat! Save some to chew on later though.
When the water comes to a boil, drop the crawfish into the pot.
Put a lid on and let em boil for 4 minutes.
Then turn off the fire and let em soak for another 3 minutes before pullin’ em.
Kill the boil by adding cold water or ice, bout a gallon or so.
Then let the crawfish soak. Once they sink, pull em again and dump the basket of crawfish on top of a table covered with newspaper and sprinkle with leftover spice.
Dump the onions, potatoes, corn and garlic on top of the crawfish.

Grab a cold one and get busy.
Even Mama D gets into the peelin’ – Note the thumb protectors…a real pro!

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During the winter months some of us are fortunate enough to have weather conducive to outdoor cooking. But there are days that are just too nasty to stand outside babying that tenderloin you so carefully marinated.

On such days I have experimented with cooking meat indoors…
Blasphemy if you ask me…urgh! The following is a very simple yet amazing technique that I have perfected…(if you are dieting, I suggest another technique…This is all about the fat baby!)

Pork Tenderloins

2 – 1.5″ thick marinated pork tenderloin steaks

Preheat an oven to 400 degrees and fire up a burner to med-low heat.

In your favorite saute pan, throw in 1/3 stick butter and 3 tbsp olive oil.
– Note: Do not let it get to a smoking point, if it does, throw it out and repeat.

Insert porks and let cook for 4 minutes. Flip, and place pan immediately into the hot oven for 8 minutes. Remove steaks from pan and place into a covered container to rest while you make the sauce.

Sauce

This is too easy!
Note: If you are using wine, leave out the flour…just reduce it over low heat.

Throw in some diced onions and cook for about 5-10 minutes over a med-low heat. Sprinkle 1/4 cup flour into the mix, whisk in and add S & P. Cook about 2-3 minutes to remove the flour taste, remember, the longer you cook the roux, the darker the gravy will be. Add 2 cups water or stock and raise heat to med, you can use a vegetable stock if’n ya like but the wine is a deep flavor! Cook about 4-5 minutes or until you get the thickness you desire, stirring often.

Serve over a jazzman rice.

This is just too dang easy, but awesome flavor!

2 cups water
1 cup jasmine rice
1 pomegranate/cranberry tea bag

Salt up the water, boil it, drop rice and tea bag.
Simmer covered for 15 minutes…too easy coach!