Books Along the Teche Literary Festival Features Great Southern Chefs Bonnie Breaux and Ryan Trahan

Chefs Bonnie Breaux and Ryan Trahan (used with permission from Lee Ball)

In Louisiana, good food is serious business. We prize our oyster beds, our redfish, catfish, and crawfish. We can batter and fry almost anything and when we aren't doing that we are making a roux and creating a delicious etouffee or gumbo.  From Natchitoches meat pies to crabmeat pizzas in Arnaudville, from crawfish in Breaux Bridge to oysters in New Orleans, we love good food.

That might be why the Great Southern Chefs Food Demo at the Books Along the Teche Literary Festival in April is always a popular event.

This year the cooking demo featured 2017 Louisiana Seafood Queen Bonnie Breaux of Cafe Sydnie Mae in Breaux Bridge and chef Ryan Trahan of Blue Dog Cafe in Lafayette. Ryan is the 2018 King of American Seafood.

The event filled up quickly Friday morning at the Steamboat Warehouse Pavilion on Bayou Teche in New Iberia. I skipped breakfast that morning because I knew we would soon be sampling delicious bowls of crawfish etouffee and Louisiana shrimp and grits.

Before the chefs demos, we were treated to a discussion by author Ken Wells about his new book, Gumbo Life: Tales from the Roux Bayou:

A seasoned journalist, Ken Wells sleuths out the answers. His obsession goes back to his childhood in the Cajun bastion of Bayou Black, where his French-speaking mother’s gumbo often began with a chicken chased down in the yard. Back then, gumbo was a humble soup little known beyond the boundaries of Louisiana. So when a homesick young Ken, at college in Missouri, realized there wasn’t a restaurant that could satisfy his gumbo cravings, he called his momma for the recipe. That phone-taught gumbo was a disaster. The second, cooked at his mother’s side, fueled a lifelong quest to explore gumbo’s roots and mysteries. 

In Gumbo Life: Tales from the Roux Bayou, Wells does just that. He spends time with octogenarian chefs who turn the lowly coot into gourmet gumbo; joins a team at a highly competitive gumbo contest; visits a factory that churns out gumbo by the ton; observes the gumbo-making rituals of an iconic New Orleans restaurant where high-end Creole cooking and Cajun cuisine first merged.

Mr. Wells's talk was peppered with funny stories and one point that interested me was his research into the earliest gumbos and his discovery that more than likely bear grease was used as the oil for the roux.

Author Ken Wells (photo used with permission from Lee Ball)

"New Orleans was awash in bear grease!" he told us.

This made perfect sense to me.  Elizabeth Shown Mills talks about this in her book The Forgotten People: Cane River's Creoles of Color.  By 1792, Marie Therese Coincoin, a former slave given her freedom by Pierre Thomas Claude Metoyer, was successfully farming tobacco on land given to her by Metoyer. She shipped this tobacco on barges to New Orleans. She also "trapped wild bears in the Natchitoches wilderness and sent bear grease to market..." (Mills 39).  Mills reports that Coincoin sent, in one particular shipment, three hundred hides and two barrels of bear grease.  This was a fairly common practice at that time and so Ken Wells comments resonated with me.

During the course of his research, Mr. Wells even obtained a small container of bear grease from a supplier and tested the bear-grease-roux.

His book is a fascinating study in the history of our most beloved dish and after his talk, Mr. Wells signed copies of his book.

The first cooking demo of the morning was chef Bonnie Breaux. An animated, enthusiastic chef, Miss Breaux says she is self-taught and learned to cook at her mother's side and later out of necessity to feed her family. Most recently Breaux had been the chef at St. John restaurant in St. Martinville (one of our favorites!) and Cafe Sydnie Mae is a sort of sister restaurant in Breaux Bridge.

Breaux shared her crawfish etouffee secrets with the crowd at the Steamboat Warehouse Pavilion and stressed the importance of  using the crawfish fat in the etouffee.  "That's where all your flavor is," she said.  When asked what kind of rice she uses, Breaux said she just uses regular medium or long grain rice in her etouffee.  There's a time and place for jasmine rice and the other gourmet grains, but not in a Louisiana etouffee. She also shared that she never tastes her food while she's cooking it.

Chef Ryan Trahan followed and his dish was shrimp and grits.  Trahan grew up in a restaurant family

Trahan's Shrimp and Grits (photo used with permission from Lee Ball)

and is from Crowley, Louisiana. His rule in the kitchen: "Everyone stirs the grits," he said.  "If you walk by, you stir the grits. If I walk by, I stir the grits. Everyone stirs the grits."   The rule must work pretty well because his shrimp and grits were to die for; the grits were creamy and the dish was seasoned with Trahan's own Worcestershire sauce.

Breaux and Trahan were available and visible throughout the day, talking to festival participants and sharing cooking stories. They were both at the evening event at the Sliman theater as well.

There is no shortage of fabulous chefs in Louisiana but festival organizers were on top of the game when they scored these two "royal" chefs for the demo this year!


Coming next in my Festival recap: Taking the Second Line through Historic Main Street

Thank you to photographer Lee Ball for allowing me to use his photos!


Further Reading:
2018 Small Town Chefs: Bonnie Breaux (Country Roads Magazine, 6/22/18)
Gumbo Life, Tales from the Roux Bayou (Robert Davis, New York Journal of Books)
About the Chef: Ryan Trahan (Blue Dog Cafe)
Voter's Choice (Vicky Branton, The Daily Iberian, 10/24/18)
Author Rebecca Wells Charms the Books Along the Teche Literary Festival (SIGIS, 4/10/19)

Salad Days

A couple of weeks ago when Steve and I went to the Centaur Parade, my friend Harriett had this wonderful salad. She had lots of other food too, but this was a wonderful cabbage salad, an alternative to the ubiquitous coleslaw. I ate two servings!

The second week, when we went back for the Gemini Parade, Harriett gave me the recipe for her salad. I went right to the store and picked up the ingredients the next day. I thought, this will be a nice little salad for us to have one night at dinner!

I was not thinking, nor was I paying any attention to the recipe. It calls for 1 medium head of cabbage, chopped. I did not buy the biggest cabbage in the store, I swear. I guess "medium" is a relative term, but now I have enough salad to feed the entire neighborhood. Salad for days. Tons of salad. Whole new meaning to the term "salad days."

In case you would like the recipe, and lots of salad, here is Harriett's Top Ramen Salad:

1 medium cabbage, chopped
4 green onions, chopped (or one regular sweet onion)
3/4 c. vegetable oil
4 T. sugar
6 T. Rice vinegar (or balsamic)
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
4 T. sesame seeds (optional)
2 pkgs, chicken Ramen
4 t. slivered almonds (optional)

Mix cabbage and onions overnight. Seal well.
Combine oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, and seasoning from Ramen. Stir and add to cabbage.
Toss with crunched Ramen noodles and other optional ingredients one or two hours before serving.
Also optional - diced chicken.

Serves 8

New Year's Food

The best thing about New Year's day to me is eating. As soon as I get up I get the food going. This is southern food at its best!

This year instead of ham (since we just had that at Christmas) I'm going to have a corned beef brisket. I decided against having greens and opted for cabbage (at Steve's request). And of course, black eyed peas and cornbread. I typically reject dried peas; they never taste right to me, and NEVER canned ones. Frozen are okay but fresh are best. In my case, fresh/frozen.

I'll cook both my peas and my cabbage with a big ole' ham hock in each. I'll also break out the chow chow Steve and I bought in Jefferson, which is a sweet/spicy/hot cabbage based relish. Sounds bizarre, but it's wonderful! And in the south when you serve black eyed peas, you usually have a side relish of diced tomatoes and sweet onion marinated in vinegar. Lots of hot, sweet, buttery cornbread on the side!

How I cook black eyed peas:

2 c. fresh black eyed peas
2 lbs. smoked ham hocks
onion, sliced in half
1 fresh jalapeno or cayenne pepper

Place the ham hocks in a heavy 4 to 6 quart pot and add enough water to cover the meat by at least 1 inch. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce the heat to low and simmer partially covered for 2 hours, or until the ham hocks are tender and show no resistance when pierced deeply with the point of a small skewer or sharp knife.

In a sieve or colander, wash the black-eyed peas under cold running water until the draining water is clear. Add the peas, onion, pepper and a few grindings of black pepper to the pot, mix well, and bring to a boil over high heat.

Reduce the heat to low and simmer partially covered until the peas are tender.

And then turn on the football game!

Christmas Snacks

I've begun my Christmas baking binge. Over the Thanksgiving holidays I made the fruitcake. I know, nobody likes fruitcake, but I do. And I like all the "doctoring" you get to do to it, like how it changes the taste if you doctor it with apple juice or bourbon, or even brandy. I've made a "light" fruitcake - that's not to say light in calories, but light in color & texture. As we speak, it's in the fridge "aging!"

Next was fruitcake cookies - LOVE these. Even people that don't like fruitcake like fruitcake cookies. They are better with age also, and they are currently wrapped in bourbon soaked cheesecloth in an airtight box.

And the Chex mix - good lord, what would Christmas be without Chex mix? I usually make multiple batches of Chex mix. For example, I made my first batch Saturday and well, between Steve, me, and my mom, we're making a pretty good dent in it so far. Not much left to give away. So, I'll make more! I always experiment with stuff to put in, like sometimes I throw pretzels in there, and sometimes I put pretzel goldfish instead. I've seen some recipes call for Funyuns or Cheetoes but I think not.

The best twist on Chex mix is this super-secret recipe I got from Lauren Harrison in Iowa. Lauren is married to Steve's nephew Kenny. We went to visit them in Villisca, IA a couple of years ago and Lauren brought out this Chex mix that was sweet and had M&Ms in it. We couldn't keep our hands out of it. At that time, Lauren wouldn't come off the recipe but she did donate the rest of the bag to us. She finally told me I could have it since I lived south of the Mason-Dixon line and she was pretty confident that I wouldn't give it out to any of her friends. I don't think she'd let me post it here either, so you'll just have to wonder how good it is. I finally got the recipe from Steve's sister Sheryl and then I lost it and nearly panicked. I had to beg for it again.

Next up on the baking list is my mother's Never Fail Fudge recipe (I've never actually tried it, but she's unable to do it this year so I'm giving it a shot.) And this weekend - Martha Washington Candy! Good stuff! I'll post that recipe after I make them, if you're interested.

Eating is one of my favorite parts of Christmas!

Fall Food

There is something about fall weather that makes me want to start cooking. I don't like to cook much in the summer; it's either the lazy days or the heat, or maybe both. I grill a lot in the summer. Plus, a lot of the things I like to cook are more fall-type things, like gumbo or hearty stews. My sweet tooth is pretty much year round; things like an apple pie (pictured) interest me or a pineapple upside down cake, like my grandmother used to make.

I have an old, old Chambers range that I would not trade for anything. I'd say it's the one thing I'd "grab in a fire" but I couldn't move it with the help of twelve men. That thing is HEAVY. Because of the narrow configuration of my kitchen I cannot take a decent photo of it to show you, but it looks like the one here. On the left side is a griddle, and mine, like the one pictured, has a cutting board sitting on top of it that I just move aside when it's time to make pancakes. On the back right is a well, in which a deep pot sits, which you can make soup in. I never use it for that. I can warm bread or rolls in it though. The oven is on the left and that is storage on the right. Mine is white, like this one.

The only problem with this stove is 3 burners; when I cook Thanksgiving dinner it takes a bit of juggling, but I get it done.

Right now my stove has a rump roast in the oven (it will be very rare when it comes out; I like it that way!); fresh peas from Lester's Farm are on the front left burner and a pot of rice on the back. When the roast comes out, I will slide a pecan pie in the oven, for dessert. I wanted to make the maple-nut pie, below, but didn't want to go buy walnuts. I guess I could have substituted pecans, but usually the first time I try a recipe I like to stick to it as written. Since I have pecans on hand (my mom has two pecan trees) I'm going for the pecan pie.

As fall progresses I suspect I'll be sharing more recipes here. There is something about fall, cool weather, football and holidays, that means FOOD!

Maple-Walnut Pie

• 1 Recipe Single-Crust Pie Pastry, see recipe or 1 rolled refrigerated unbaked piecrust (1/2 of a 15-oz. pkg.)
• 1-1/2 cups pure maple syrup
• 3 eggs
• 6 Tbsp. butter, softened
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 cups coarsely chopped walnuts, toasted
• 1 Tbsp. vanilla
• 2 Tbsp. light rum (optional)
• 1/4 tsp. freshly ground nutmeg
• Rum raisin or vanilla ice cream

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Prepare pastry and line 9-inch pie plate. Prick bottom and sides of pastry with fork. Line pastry with double thickness of foil. Bake 8 minutes. Remove foil. Bake 5 minutes more or until crust is lightly browned cool. Reduce oven to 350 degrees F.

2. In saucepan bring maple syrup to boiling. Reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 10 to 12 minutes or until reduced to 1 cup.

3. In medium bowl beat eggs with electric mixer on medium to high speed until thick and lemon colored, about 5 minutes.

4. In large bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add granulated and brown sugar; beat to combine. Beat in reduced syrup and eggs. Fold in walnuts, vanilla, rum, and nutmeg. Pour into prebaked crust.

5. Bake pie on baking sheet in lower third of oven 35 minutes or until set around edges; cool. Serve with ice cream. Makes 10 servings.

The Blue Willow Inn Cookbook

As the school year has started I find that I have less time for cooking. I love to cook and love to try new recipes, but it always takes me a few weeks to get back into the routine of the school year. Steve would take me out to dinner every night if that's what I wanted, but we both get tired of eating out. We enjoy eating out more if we don't do it too often. I prefer to cook when I can.

On the weekends I do have time to put together decent meals. Yesterday, for example, I made red beans and rice; I might have been inspired by my recent trip to Don's Seafood, or maybe it was a deep longing for fall to hurry up, but either way, they turned out pretty good. I like to use a mixture of andouille and regular pork sausage in my red beans and rice. Plus, it makes lots of leftovers for the upcoming week!

Today I'm going to make a shrimp and rice casserole that is in The Blue Willow Inn cookbook. The Blue Willow Inn is in Social Circle, GA, about an hour out of Atlanta. I've never been there but my sister gave me their cookbook for Christmas last year and I've made nearly everything in it. It's good old, bacon-grease-laden Southern cooking! (Yesterday I made their banana pudding recipe to go along with my red beans and rice). Many of their recipes use boxed or canned ingredients (like cream of mushroom soup), which most purist cooks scoff at, but the Blue Willow philosophy is that in all likelihood that's how your grandmother cooked. They are all about recreating that authentic Southern home cooking taste.

I'm glad I don't live near enough to the Blue Willow Inn to eat there often because by the looks of their cookbook, I'd weigh 500 pounds in no time.

Here, for your enjoyment, is Savannah Shrimp and Rice, from the Blue Willow Inn Cookbook.

1 small onion, chopped
1 small green pepper, chopped
1 tablespoon butter
8 cups cooked rice
1 pound cooked shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 (10-3/4 oz.) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1/4 teaspoon curry powder
salt and pepper
1/2 plus 1/4 cup grated cheddar cheese

Sautee the onion and pepper in the butter. Preheat the oven to 350. In a mixing bowl, combine the onion and pepper with the rice, shrimp, soup, curry powder, 1/2 cup grated cheese, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix well. Pour shrimp mixture into a 9 x 12-inch baking dish. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until bubbly. Remove from the oven, and immediately sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. Serve hot. Makes 8 servings.

(Photo credit: Bluewillowinn.com)