Author: Ernie Seals

So I was down in New Orleans a few weeks back to attend a good friend’s 50th been-here-another-year gathering, a nice surprise get together organized by his wife at the Bulldog Uptown on Canal, and on the advice of another friend I stopped off for an early dinner at Shaya before the party. It was superb. The servers were bright and knowledgeable, the food was perfectly executed, but by far the star of the evening was the fresh pressed mint tea. I opted for the hummus and haloumi, both of which were outstanding.

Also stunning was the puffy pita they served with the hummus. It was my first time encountering the not so unleavened version of this flat bread and it was very good. The ambiance was very nice as well.

All in all  I would definitely recommend a visit, then an after lunch or dinner stroll down Magazine St. On this particular evening, I stumbled across the new location of Ms Mae’s bar and grabbed a pint of Gnarley Barley’s Jucifer and went down that old rabbit hole of memory lane, New Orleans style and stumbling out of the old Ms Mae’s at eleven am very much the worse for wear and tear. I was also struck again at how foolish it is for the Baton Rouge city council to believe they can turn Government St into Magazine St. Worth a shot, but not going to happen. Magazine is an organic occurrence that took 200 years to grow into that kind of  funky neighborhood. I just don’t think you can purpose build something like that. It has to come together on it’s own. I may be wrong, I hope I’m wrong, but while there are a couple of stretches on Government that come close (most notably the Bedford/Ogden area that houses Elsie’s Plate and Pie, Radio Bar, Simple Joe’s and Time Warp, and the Jefferson/Goverment sector with Brew Ha-Ha, Mid City Craft Wine and Brew, Serop’s, Reginelli’s, coming soon Ned’s, Superior Grill, Anthony’s Deli and the magnificent Fleur di Lis pizza) there are still too many pawn shops and un-gentrified strip mall sections to produce that overall feel of Hey, we’re here, and it’s time to throw down that is central to Magazine. So do check out Shaya if you get a chance. An excellent excuse to cruise Magazine St. 

I find breakfast to be a good way to incorporate leftovers into the meal plan, and nothing is easier than instant ramen. Today it was leftover roast duck and pork ribs. I pulled the duck and rib meat and tossed them in a pot with 2 cups of beef broth and brought it to a boil. You can use plain water and rely on the extract in the packaged ramen, but why bypass a chance to add flavor and intensity? And that is the beauty of ramen, you can just add the meats and follow the instructions on the packet, or you can continue to upgrade as you go.  Since it is breakfast, I like to add some eggs, scrambled and rolled tamogoyaki style, basically an omelet, just folding it over and over in the pan. I’m also big on adding seaweed snacks, roasted nori, that is so much easier to keep around than the big flat packs of nori.

Every now and then I will juice it up with a little extra sesame oil or wasabi, and I always finish with green onions. Makes for a very hearty breakfast when you have a little time to put into it, and it is especially rewarding when it is cold outside.

Slow cookers are perfect for beans. Like Ron Popeil used to tell us in his Ronco ads “Set it and forget it.” It’s a little easier to do that with red beans than white beans as you can start the red beans at breakfast and they will be ready when you get home from work, but white beans are more of a five or six hour haul and will overcook. I like to keep it really, really simple since the onion and beef broth and smoked ham hocks bring all the flavor you need to the beans. If you can find a good lean sausage to cook with the red beans that will stand up to eight hours cook time, go ahead and throw that in the pot as well. I get mine from the Cutrer booth at the Red Stick Farmers Market at Fifth and Main on Saturdays. Otherwise, cook the sausage separately on grill or stovetop when the beans are done. Richard’s Pork and Beef is a good one, but I’m sure you are already sold on a favorite. Here’s the plan for red beans:

½ lb Camelia red beans

1 quart Swanson’s Beef Broth

1 baseball sized yellow onion diced

1 baseball sized smoked ham hock

1 lb smoked sausage sliced

That’s it (I know you can handle the rice and corn bread and green onions advice free)

Almost the exact same plan for white beans and ham:

½ lb Camelia Great Northern beans

1 quart Swanson’s Chicken Broth

1 baseball sized yellow onion diced

1 baseball sized smoked ham hock

1 lb package of diced smoked or cooking ham

The white beans will be ready a couple of slow cooker hours ahead of the red beans. Now I’ve heard a lot about Insta-pot pressure cookers,but it’s a toy I’ve not played with or feel much of a need to. Like the “airfryer” convection ovens for broasting, I really don’t see the advantages myself. I could be wrong, I often am, but being in a hurry for beans just seems like poor planning to me. And if you want fried food without oil—Shake’N Bake.

So let’s start with these. Country style pork ribs, bone in or boneless, whatever you can get your hands on at a good price, thick cut bacon, and a sweet apple. I’m really fond of honeycrisp, but granny smiths or even red delicious will do. The real trick to these sticks is to prep the apple and pop it in the nuke for a minute just to take the edge off so it doesn’t snap when you go to skewer it. That works for onion and bellpepper as well if you decide to dress these up a bit. I like the simple, straightforward style of bacon apple pig, but I confess, I am also somewhat taken by the name. I like to use the seven inch bamboo skewers pictured because one makes a good app, and two or more can serve as a main.

Once you have them on the stick, I apply my basic meat seasoning. Roasted garlic olive oil, Lea & Perrins, Tony’s, black pepper. Toss them on the grill. If you can generate a little pecan smoke, all the better. I do a grill finish with Tiger sauce, and by that I mean before I flip the stick, I hit it with the sauce so it has a chance to cook into the meat. You can try a plate finish if you want (wait until it is off the fire to paint it), or even play around with both, hit it on and off the grill. Once you fire it up, it is your baby to do with as you please. These are just ideas that have worked really well for me.

Now I always think of these as a party food. Easy to prep ahead and bring with you—seasoned sticks in a zip lock in a cooler with a few bottles of Tiger sauce—if you are going to a friend’s house. A good start on a mixed grill at your house. Maybe some shrimp and steak and veggie sticks to go with. As straight barbecue they do pair well with potato salad, baked beans, green salad or coleslaw and garlic bread, Lots and lots of garlic bread. But you can always take it upscale or sideways with the addition of rice. Jambo, rice pilaf, dirty rice and grilled or steamed or stewed veggies. The uber-popular brussel sprout would not be a bad call, and the stick is light and lean enough that you could dress the sprouts with a creamy tasso gouda sauce without really over doing it. Food for thought

• 

• 

•