Yesterday morning started with a tour of a crawfish pond (I’ve got video of that but can’t edit it until I get back to Memphis), then we headed over to Vermilion Ville for a cooking demonstration with Mama Redell. What a charmer! She fed us crawfish first, since many of the writers on this tour with me have never been south, and told us how in the old days the yellow fat was separated and sold in containers at country stores. And THAT was what folks used to make their roux for an etouffee. No more, though–the department of health stopped that years ago, though the fat is still saved in homes.

While we feasted on crawfish etoufee Mama made earlier in the day, she cooked jambalaya, corn maquechoux and gumbo–and she did it the way she learned from her Maman, her grandmother. She didn’t make a roux for her gumbo, but instead browned a pan full of cut okra as her base. (They use these great spoons with flattened ends for scraping the fond from the pans to get the brown flavor in everything; I’ll be bringing some of those home.) Watching her, I picked up my first tip: To keep the okra from getting slimy, add a few tablespoons of vinegar.

I was reminded of a woman I met in a cooking class who told me she learns one thing in every class she goes to. But I learned two: When Mama browns meat, she doesn’t use oil (”I tease people. I tell them you can look at me and tell it’s not for health reasons. It’s for flavor.”). Instead, she puts water in the bottom of the pan, adds the meat, turns the heat up and when the water is gone, the meat has rendered its fat and that’s how she browns it.

More on Mama–her cooking classes are open to everyone–later. Right now it’s time to get going again. We roll to Avery Island in 30 minutes and I’ve got to get a move on. I’ll post later today and by tomorrow afternoon, I’ll have my car parked and will be traveling in the van so I can post along the way.