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Sunday, July 12, 2009

Buttered Corn on the Cob


TIP: The next time you prepare corn on the cob try this out for convenience:

In a tall glass of hot water stir-in and dissolve about 1/2 tsp of salt. Next, add melted butter to the glass of water. Butter always floats on top of water so when you immerse each cob of corn into the glass and remove it, all the kernels will be buttered evenly, salted and ready to eat.

Now that was pure and simple. Wasn't it?

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Thursday, July 09, 2009

The 10 Best Recipe Comments


Someone asked me to post the 10 best recipes from this site. I told her I liked all of the recipes on this blog and that it would be a difficult thing for me to do. However, I did agree to post a few items from the Real Cajun Cooking archives with the nicest comments. So, I present this list with a heartfelt gratitude. And here they are:


Introduction
Cappy and Pegody said..."Mr. Gaspard, I just stumbled across your blog and must say it looks very good. I would like to share your blog with" ... read more

What Makes A Gumbo A Gumbo?
Roux-B-Doo said..."Oh Jacques, I made one tonight. Oh man it was so good, it'd bring your tongue to its knees"... read more

Boudain (aka Boudin)
val61sf said..."I LOVE Boudain! Will eat it most any way, scramble with eggs, plain, boudain balls but my favorite snack is"... read more

Chicken Stew
Sharee said..."Thank you so much for posting this. Maybe now I can have it more often."... read more

The First Crayfish Farm
Jane said..."Thanks for sharing this with us. I could almost feel the heat and smell the crayfish."... read more

A Cajun Boucherie
Elissa Benoit said..."My husband is Cajun and we love boudain ... and a lot of the other recipes that you have on here"... read more

Petite Shrimp-Pies
Kitty said..."I feel like I have hit the jackpot! My husband and I love Cajun cuisine."... read more

Cajun Red Sauce
Anonymous said..."I have been looking for this. I grew up eating seafood and it was served with "red sauce" which to my surprise, not many restaurants" ... read more

Chicken Fricassee
Broussard at heart said..."This website is a real find! My dad is Cajun, but my mom is from the north, so she doesn't know how to make" ... read more

Cajun-French Toast (Pain Perdu)
Texasmama2boys said..."These are delicious - we had them prepared by no other than the author himself!! My boys loved them so much" ... read more


In conclusion, I think the one comment that said it all consisted of three little words under the recipe "Gumbo" which came from my oldest son: "I love gumbo", he said. This is not surprising because I think gumbo flows through our veins.

If you have something nice to say about any of these recipes, podcasts or short stories, please leave a comment, okay? We would love to hear from you.

Thanks you so much. Ahheee!!

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Monday, July 06, 2009

Petite Shrimp-Pies

I learned through the grapevine that some folks like to use Pillsbury Crescent rolls laid-out in muffin tins and filled with goodies (mostly fruit fillings) to make fantastic tasting mini-snacks, so I decided to try my hand at it, too ... but with something a little different like using fresh gulf shrimp in a light etouffee sauce as the filling. Here is a list of what you will need to prepare your Petite Shrimp-Pies:

  • Large heavy skillet
  • 12 cup Muffin pan, oiled (8 tins)
  • 1 lb. shrimp, cleaned & deveined
  • 1 tube Pillsbury Crescent Dinner Rolls (garlic-butter flavor)
  • 1 cup onions, finely chopped
  • 1/2 cup celery, finely chopped
  • 1/2 cup bell pepper, finely chopped
  • 3 heaping Tbs all-purpose flour
  • 3 cups stock or water
  • salt, cayenne & black pepper

I peeled and deveined 1 lb. of Gulf of Mexico white shrimp (21-25 count), that means there are 21 to 25 shrimp per pound, and cooked them in much the same way I do my regular shrimp etouffee, except I did not cook the shrimp all of the way knowing that they will finish cooking with the dinner rolls inside the oven.

It's really simple. All that I do is scoop some of the mixture, along with 2-3 shrimp, into each muffin tin on top of the laid-out dough. Then I close the dough-flap, tuck it into the side, cook them in a pre-heated 350 degree F. oven for 20 minutes, let cool, and serve.

Visit http://realcajuncooking.com for the video version of this recipe.

KT
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Sunday, July 05, 2009

Petite Shrimp-Pies (video)



You can also read the text version of this recipe in the next post or by visiting http://realcajuncooking.com and clicking on to Petite Shrimp-Pies.

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Thursday, July 02, 2009

Self-rising Flour for Gumbo Roux? NO WAY!

All our lives we Cajuns were told never to use self-rising flour to make gumbo roux. Many misinformed beginners became the brunt of jokes for unwittingly using this type of flour to make gumbo roux instead of traditional all-purpose flour.

Yesterday, before credible witnesses, I demonstrated that you can use self-rising flour to make gumbo roux (using no oil) as long as it is cooked in the microwave oven and not on the stove-top. I tested the roux by preparing a small stew with a couple choice meats and seasoning including the trinity vegetables (onions, celery & bell peppers). I added about 6 Tbs of the self-rising gumbo roux powder to the test-stew and it came out great.

I think I've figured out why it works in the microwave using no oil and why it doesn't work doing it the traditional way. The trick is not to get the self-rising flour 'wet'. The brand that I used (Gold Meadow) contained, among other ingredients, leavening ( baking soda, sodium aluminum phosphate and monocalcium phosphate). I believe the double-acting agents in self-rising flour will not work unless they come in contact with a liquid (like water or oil) and heat.

What I did was to apply heat to the self-rising flour in the same manner as I did with the all-purpose flour formula for the Easy Microwave Gumbo Roux ... and it worked like a charm.

I should mention that when you add the roux to the stock or liquid in your gumbo it will have a tendency to fizz upward and boil over if you do not remove it quickly from the heat source. This action will eventually cease as you stir and cool it down.

So, you see. Never say never! Ahheee!!

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