What can you expect in the Food Thread on PF?

[Astronuc]

It's not gumbo without okra, it's just stew. That was our chat debate today. Gumbo derives its name from the West African word for okra, which is where the plant came from.

I have to go with Moonbear on this. We always had okra in the gumbo we made, and it had shrimp and andouille sausage or chicken or both depending, and seasonings, and certainly filé powder.

I'd have to add the hot peppers or hot sauce to my own since the rest of the family didn't particularly care the spiciness.

Nevertheless, I approve of Evo's dad's recipe.

 

[wolram]

Thats a keeper Evo.

 

[Astronuc]

I just made a normal cake mix and added, 1tsp ginger, 20 finger chilies chopped, and 4 pieces of stem ginger chopped (about a 1/4 cup), as you can see the cake caught a bit on the top, i left it a tad to long.

What the heck is 'normal' cake mix?

After I tasted this, I had to have the recipe.

3 cups buttermilk cornbread mix (she uses Aunt Jemima)
2 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup olive oil
3 eggs, beaten,1 cup chppoed onion
2 tablespoons sugar
1 can cream style corn
1/2 cup finely chopped jalapeno peppers (8)
1 1/2 cups grated Mexican Blend cheese (Monterey Jack, Mild Cheddar, Queso Quesadilla and Asadero cheeses)
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup of flour

Combine cornbread mix and milk in a large mixing bowl. Add remaining ingredients in order. Pour into three greased 8-inch square baking pans, or one 9x13x2 inch baking pan and one 8-inch square baking pan.

Bake at 350 F for 35-40 minutes.

She used a cast iron skillet and poured a little olive oil on the bottom to fry the cornbread a little while baking (that's my favorite way except I use the traditional bacon drippings if I have any). After the bread is done, she pours melted real butter over the top.

Now I could go for that. I was thinking of jalapeño cornbread when I first saw Woolie's recipe.

We used to make hush-puppies, which are fried cornbread, which are even better with cheese and jalapeños.

 

[Evo]

The footnotes on my Dad's recipe call for a ton of tabasco and fresh chiles from his garden. He couldn't eat anything unless he had a pile of chile peppers and tabasco.

Also, you use either okra or gumbo file, but not both. If you don't believe me, look it up.

 

[turbo]

I don't think about taking pictures of meals-in-progress, but the hot chili relish/salsa stuff is an exception, partly because I love them, and I don't think that people have a decent connection with the foods that they love. If people have to go to a store to buy salsa, they are trapped. If they can grow some of the ingredients, they have some freedom, and if they can harvest their own chilies, tomatoes, herbs, etc, they are free.

 

[Evo]

I don't think about taking pictures of meals-in-progress, but the hot chili relish/salsa stuff is an exception, partly because I love them, and I don't think that people have a decent connection with the foods that they love. If people have to go to a store to buy salsa, they are trapped. If they can grow some of the ingredients, they have some freedom, and if they can harvest their own chilies, tomatoes, herbs, etc, they are free.

You and my Dad would have gotten along just fine. He had my mother put up all of the home grown chiles so he had them year round. He had some teeny ones that were like fire bombs in your mouth. Since he had traveled all over the world, there was no telling where some of these came from. I can't find pictures online.

 

[Moonbear]

The footnotes on my Dad's recipe call for a ton of tabasco and fresh chiles from his garden. He couldn't eat anything unless he had a pile of chile peppers and tabasco.

Also, you use either okra or gumbo file, but not both. If you don't believe me, look it up.

Okra tends to be more popular in restaurants, do to the Original factor. although you can mix okra and filé is it is not a common practice in Louisianan cuisine, as filé was originally an okra substitute when okra was not in season; although some cooks do this.
The traditional practice of using okra in the summer (in season) and filé in the winter has played a role in defining the kinds of gumbo typically associated with each. These associations are not hard and fast rules, but more of a general guide. For example a purely seafood gumbo is typically not thickened with filé, while one that is purely meat and game would typically not have okra. This reflects traditional practices of fishing and crabbing in warmer weather and hunting and butchering in cooler weather.

http://www.gumbocity.com/

Okay, I use both, but yeah, it seems both isn't typical. File is a substitute for okra when okra isn't available (but with these newfangled freezers, we can have okra year-round now ). I like the taste of the file added.

 

[Evo]

I love the file taste also.

What they fail to mention is that oysters are not available in summer months, or weren't back then. The rule is you do not eat oysters in months without an "R", which makes the seafood version a winter dish in the warm gulf waters, which are fished year round. So, who would write that seafood was a summer thing in Louisiana? Damn Yankees.

My Dad's seafood gumbo was a fall-winter dish.

 

[Moonbear]

I love the file taste also.

What they fail to mention is that oysters are not available in summer months. The rule is you do not eat oysters in months without an "R", which makes the seafood version a winter dish in the warm gulf waters, which are fished year round. So, who would write that seafood was a summer thing in Louisiana? Damn Yankees.

All the OTHER seafood perhaps? Like crawfish? I don't eat those nasty oyster things (actually, it's the only seafood I've encountered that I can't eat, and I'm even the one who will eat Uni and lobster liver...but oysters, nope, especially if they're cooked ...I don't see any point in raw oysters, since everyone who eats them tells you the point is to swallow them quickly with enough cocktail sauce you don't even taste them ).

 

[Evo]

I'm going to milk this

That one old hen and a couple of pounds of sausage can make a big pot of filé gumbo that will feed 20 people. So that to me is the heart of Acadian cuisine. It’s—it’s a cuisine that’s in a way born out of necessity: very humble ingredients, no caviar, foie gras, or truffles; very humble ingredients that are turned into a very satisfying meal, and that’s done with seasonings but mostly with technique. And the technique of a filé gumbo is totally unique, and it’s something that I find still today—I’m very proud to make filé gumbo. We make it everyday here at Brigtsen’s.

It actually goes on to discuss the heated disputes between okra and file powder. That's how fight's get started.

http://www.southerngumbotrail.com/brigtsten.shtml

 

[wolram]

Chili varieties

http://www.chillisgalore.co.uk/pages/varietys.html

 

[Evo]

All the OTHER seafood perhaps? Like crawfish? I don't eat those nasty oyster things (actually, it's the only seafood I've encountered that I can't eat, and I'm even the one who will eat Uni and lobster liver...but oysters, nope, especially if they're cooked ...I don't see any point in raw oysters, since everyone who eats them tells you the point is to swallow them quickly with enough cocktail sauce you don't even taste them ).

The mistake is when people don't know oysters and try to eat those huge honking soup oysters raw. When you eat a raw oyster, you want a small one. And it should taste just like fresh seawater, and a little lemon and horseradish cocktail sauce can only help. I can eat those until I go into a coma. Also, up on the Chesapeake, we would have crab feasts and oyster roasts. We'd go out in the woods along the bay and roast oysters over wood fires. To die for.

Unfortunately too many people tried eating soup oysters raw and bit into that green gunk in the "stomach". Even I won't do that.

Every Christmas I make Oyster stew. I don't eat the oysters, I just drink the broth.

And you haven't lived unil you've eaten my Oysters Rockefeller. :!)

 

[scorpa]

I love seafood but I once made the mistake of trying an oyster, it was quite possibly the absolute WORST taste I have ever experienced. It was deep fried in batter and I bit into it and something green and snot like in consistency started oozing out, it tasted horrible, I actually had to spit it out it was so terrible. Never again. I still get the shivers even thinking about it..it was that disgusting!

 

[Evo]

I love seafood but I once made the mistake of trying an oyster, it was quite possibly the absolute WORST taste I have ever experienced. It was deep fried in batter and I bit into it and something green and snot like in consistency started oozing out, it tasted horrible, I actually had to spit it out it was so terrible. Never again. I still get the shivers even thinking about it..it was that disgusting!

That's exactly what I'm saying. People are cooking and serving oysters that don't know one oyster from another. They're ruining the reputation of oysters! <cry>

But, then, that means more oysters for me...

Yeah, oysters are BAD, DON'T EAT THEM.

 

[Astronuc]

For example a purely seafood gumbo is typically not thickened with filé, while one that is purely meat and game would typically not have okra.

Okray!

We'd put seafood and sausage or chicken in the same pot, and it would have okra and filé. It tasted fine.

I happen to like okra fried or otherwise, and zucchini, various squashes, and egg plant.

In fact, I don't believe there is a food I don't like, or at least that I wouldn't eat.


Even strange little fish straight out of the river in the back country up in the hills of Ehime prefecture, Shikoku, Japan. That was definitely one of the most interesting dinners I've ever had.

 

[Moonbear]

The mistake is when people don't know oysters and try to eat those huge honking soup oysters raw. When you eat a raw oyster, you want a small one. And it should taste just like fresh seawater, and a little lemon and horseradish cocktail sauce can only help. I can eat those until I go into a coma. Also, up on the Chesapeake, we would have crab feasts and oyster roasts. We'd go out in the woods along the bay and roast oysters over wood fires. To die for.

Unfortunately too many people tried eating soup oysters raw and bit into that green gunk in the "stomach". Even I won't do that.

Every Christmas I make Oyster stew. I don't eat the oysters, I just drink the broth.

I've never seen very large oysters served raw. I've also never known anyone who dared order them other than in a coastal town (I would NEVER even contemplate eating oysters in this land-locked state, for example). But, I don't know, nobody I know has actually chewed an oyster, they just swallow them whole, the way you do a shot of something that tastes nasty. I've never tried them. I watch this process and can't see any reason to do it. I've tried clams raw...nobody told me to just swallow, so I chewed...and chewed...and chewed...did I mention raw clams are very chewy? The taste didn't bother me (I ate it raw because we went clamming and I was the only one to find any clams, and my mom wasn't going to boil up water to cook the few clams I dug up, but I insisted on eating the clams I dug, so she told me to eat them raw if I wanted them so badly...so I did ), they were just chewy. Nothing bad about it, just nothing to compel me to want more of them. I imagine oysters are likely the same. I HAVE eaten cooked oysters, and had to spit it out. It was in some sort of oyster cake (like a crab cake, but with oysters). Oh, that was just horrid. I didn't expect it to be so bad. I had never encountered seafood I didn't like before then, and never since either.

 

[Moonbear]

I love seafood but I once made the mistake of trying an oyster, it was quite possibly the absolute WORST taste I have ever experienced. It was deep fried in batter and I bit into it and something green and snot like in consistency started oozing out, it tasted horrible, I actually had to spit it out it was so terrible. Never again. I still get the shivers even thinking about it..it was that disgusting!

Oh, that sounds bad. I didn't even encounter any green goo, and still didn't like the beasts.

I did make the mistake of dissecting a clam before eating it though. I was still in high school, and we were studying bivalves in biology, so I just *had* to dissect a clam when we got them for dinner. Caution to others: don't try dissecting your food before eating it. I had to eat a lot of clams to get over the disgust of seeing what is inside them that I'm eating. (Okay, clearly it didn't deter me much, but it was a bit hard to eat the one I had just dissected...my mom didn't look favorably upon wasting food for biology experiments. )

 

[Evo]

I've never seen very large oysters served raw.

Oh, I have and I walked away. <shudder>

I've also never known anyone who dared order them other than in a coastal town (I would NEVER even contemplate eating oysters in this land-locked state, for example).

I can't get raw oysters here either. Except in a jar, no telling how old they are.

But, I don't know, nobody I know has actually chewed an oyster,

Scorpa did, a lot of people do, unfortunately.

I HAVE eaten cooked oysters, and had to spit it out. It was in some sort of oyster cake (like a crab cake, but with oysters). Oh, that was just horrid. I didn't expect it to be so bad. I had never encountered seafood I didn't like before then, and never since either.

Oyster cakes sound gross.

My oysters Rockefeller made with teeny tiny oysters is so good, you won't even know what's in it. Even my kids loved them because I didn't tell them what was in it and they HATE oysters.

 

[lisab]

I love raw oysters :!) and I freak people out because I chew them!

Cooked ones can be OK, but I prefer them raw.

What does lobster liver taste like?

 

[Moonbear]

What does lobster liver taste like?

It's very sweet. You wouldn't expect it, and it was a long time of watching my grandfather eat the "green goo" in the lobster before I finally dared it, like a sugary pudding. I'll eat the roe too if I get one that has some (they aren't allowed to be caught if they have roe visible externally, but you still get some with it embedded along the tail meat internally). That is more like a firm cheese texture once it's cooked, but not a lot of flavor. My grandfather's family were all lobster fishermen, so when they kept lobster to eat, you didn't waste any of it. My grandfather would suck on every leg to get the last bit of meat out of those too. I did it a few times, but it wasn't worth the effort. Sometimes it seemed like the only thing he didn't eat was the shell and the gills. But, we'd break those up and toss it into the compost heap for the garden, so even that got used.

 

[Moonbear]

My oysters Rockefeller made with teeny tiny oysters is so good, you won't even know what's in it. Even my kids loved them because I didn't tell them what was in it and they HATE oysters.

Okay, if you make me oyster's Rockefeller, maybe I'll try them one more time. I'm just not eating them raw (when I'm told I can't chew my food, I'm sure it's not good). I'll give it the benefit of the doubt that the things I got were prepared by an incompetent cook.

 

[Evo]

Crab Brains.

I had the good luck while I was in Japan to eat at the Hotel Okura which had 4 stars. The chef actually competed on the ORIGINAL Iron Chef Japanese. That's the sushi I had to spit into a nearby potted plant it tasted so bad. I guess it's what you are used to.

 

[lisab]

Crab Brains.

I had the good luck while I was in Japan to eat at the Hotel Okura which had 4 stars. The chef actually competed on the ORIGINAL Iron Chef Japanese. That's the sushi I had to spit into a nearby potted plant it tasted so bad. I guess it's what you are used to.

As I read your post, I had a funny visual of a potted plant with piles of spitted crab brains in it...

 

[~christina~]

Crab Brains.

I had the good luck while I was in Japan to eat at the Hotel Okura which had 4 stars. The chef actually competed on the ORIGINAL Iron Chef Japanese. That's the sushi I had to spit into a nearby potted plant it tasted so bad. I guess it's what you are used to.

shall I mention the worms that may have been in that crab brain?

Was it cooked?

 

[~christina~]

I've never seen very large oysters served raw. I've also never known anyone who dared order them other than in a coastal town (I would NEVER even contemplate eating oysters in this land-locked state, for example). But, I don't know, nobody I know has actually chewed an oyster, they just swallow them whole, the way you do a shot of something that tastes nasty. I've never tried them. I watch this process and can't see any reason to do it. I've tried clams raw...nobody told me to just swallow, so I chewed...and chewed...and chewed...did I mention raw clams are very chewy? The taste didn't bother me (I ate it raw because we went clamming and I was the only one to find any clams, and my mom wasn't going to boil up water to cook the few clams I dug up, but I insisted on eating the clams I dug, so she told me to eat them raw if I wanted them so badly...so I did ), they were just chewy. Nothing bad about it, just nothing to compel me to want more of them. I imagine oysters are likely the same. I HAVE eaten cooked oysters, and had to spit it out. It was in some sort of oyster cake (like a crab cake, but with oysters). Oh, that was just horrid. I didn't expect it to be so bad. I had never encountered seafood I didn't like before then, and never since either.

Hm...I love oysters...the problem is they taste like fish.

Cure? ginger slices and black beans crushed on the top will get rid of it all right. Then steam them of course.
(got the idea from a asian restauraunt)

and did you see paula dean eat a raw oyster?
(problem with that was she didn't even wash it, she was in the marshes and just took one off the bank and sliced it open and well...)

 

[Moonbear]

Except that crab brains aren't the brains, they're the liver and other guts (what I was talking about in lobster). I haven't tried it in crabs though, so don't know if it tastes very different, or if it's the preparation, or the addition of stuff other than just the liver. I think we talked about that way back in this thread somewhere.

 

[Moonbear]

and did you see paula dean eat a raw oyster?
(problem with that was she didn't even wash it, she was in the marshes and just took one off the bank and sliced it open and well...)

I wish I had seen that! She's such a ditzy idiot, I'd have loved to see her get some mud in her food!

 

[Evo]

Okay, if you make me oyster's Rockefeller, maybe I'll try them one more time. I'm just not eating them raw (when I'm told I can't chew my food, I'm sure it's not good). I'll give it the benefit of the doubt that the things I got were prepared by an incompetent cook.

YAY!

The problem is finding fresh baby oysters. It seems that they tend to send those nasty huge honking oysters to market because I guess Americans think if it's bigger, it's better. I guess they get more money for them. DON'T EAT THEM!

 

[Evo]

Crab Brains.

I had the good luck while I was in Japan to eat at the Hotel Okura which had 4 stars. The chef actually competed on the ORIGINAL Iron Chef Japanese. That's the sushi I had to spit into a nearby potted plant it tasted so bad. I guess it's what you are used to.

Sorry clarification, the sushi I had to spit out was some kind of eel that something terribly wrong had been done to. I'm sure it was a delicacy.

 

[Moonbear]

YAY!

The problem is finding fresh baby oysters. It seems that they tend to send those nasty huge honking oysters to market because I guess Americans think if it's bigger, it's better. I guess they get more money for them. DON'T EAT THEM!

I guess if they sell them by the pound, then yeah, the bigger oysters mean they can make more profit for the same number of oysters. Our only real fish market here closed recently, and even that wasn't much of a fish market, so when the only place you can get seafood is the grocery store, you tend to get really lousy seafood. Maybe sometime when I visit my boyfriend in NYC, I'll find a fish market and try to cook some oysters at his place. Though, I'm not even sure what I can get there. The raw oyster bars I've been to have all been on the Jersey shore, but they are just bars, not someplace to buy oysters for cooking. If I feel inspired to do so, I'll have to request a recipe. It's possible that you just can't get the small ones anymore...it's been a LONG time since I've even been to an oyster bar. The small ones might be sold at a premium to high end restaurants.

 

[~christina~]

YAY!

The problem is finding fresh baby oysters. It seems that they tend to send those nasty huge honking oysters to market because I guess Americans think if it's bigger, it's better. I guess they get more money for them. DON'T EAT THEM!

hm...I like the large oysters.

IF they are steamed with blackbeans AND ginger to remove the fishy flavor and I guess I'm the only one that doesn't just swallow it hole then based on what everyone is saying.

 

[Moonbear]

Sorry clarification, the sushi I had to spit out was some kind of eel that something terribly wrong had been done to. I'm sure it was a delicacy.

Ah, I thought you meant the crab brains. I haven't tried eel. I wonder how different different types of eel taste? When I was a kid, the people in the boat slip next to ours used to catch eels. For some reason, I never tasted them (I think my parents had an aversion to eating eel...I was game to try anything). Those people also taught us about cooking and preparing other fish that most people just threw back...tails from pufferfish (not the kind that will kill you with tetrodotoxin) and sea robins (some people know them as "croakers" because of the sound they make). Both are VERY yummy, and usually tossed back as "junk" fish. I miss catching my own fish...there is NOTHING better than fish cooked up right on the boat!

 

[wolram]

Razor clams, dig em and eat em
http://www.channel4.com/food/recipe...ll/razor-clams-with-chorizo-07-11-15_p_1.html

 

[Evo]

I think one of the most inedible things I've had was at my Aunt's house in Paris. The two of us were alone and she spoke very little English and I spoke very little French. She was trying to figure out what to make me for lunch and we were staring into her refrigerator. We both recognized the words "pain, fromage, and jambon". I thought, ALL RIGHT, a ham and cheese sandwich!

What I got was two slices of a baguette about the size of my thumb and harder than a rock, with a thick slice of camembert (aka vomit) and a thin piece of ham.

 

[Moonbear]

We both recognized the words "pain, fromage, and jambon". I thought, ALL RIGHT, a ham and cheese sandwich!

What I got was two slices of a baguette about the size of my thumb and harder than a rock, with a thick slice of camembert (aka vomit) and a thin piece of ham.

Stale bread is definitely no fun (and it sure doesn't take long for a baguette to go stale). I like camembert cheese, though have never had it in France, so it may taste different there than what they are allowed to sell in the US. A single slice of meat on a sandwich is what I grew up with. I don't like sandwiches made that way, but it's very "old-fashioned" I guess is the way to put it. I think a lot of my grandparents' generation made sandwiches that way, and a lot of that might have come from the Great Depression and learning to make do with very little...a slice of meat, a slice of cheese, and some stale bread. I think I've have tried to find some way to soften the bread, either by grilling it with the cheese on it, or finding something to dip the whole thing in.