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.
Eating adventures
This week Marne Anderson is the expert for our online wine tasting. She’s chosen a Chilean white, Casillero del Diablo Sauvignon Blanc from Concha y Toro. Peggy Burch, the CA’s Arts & Entertainment editor, is hosting.
From 7 to 8 tonight, Marne Anderson will guide us through a tasting of Casillero del Diablo Sauvignon Blanc from Concha y Toro. Marne, general sales manager for the Victor Robilio Wholesale Wine Co., is a member of the Society of Wine Educators. We’ll tell you more about her wine background when we get started tonight, but for now, here are some dishes she says will go well with her wine pick. 
Chilean Hass Avocado Soup with Shrimp Ceviche
Ceviche:
32 small cooked shrimp, peeled
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 cup freshly squeezed pink grapefruit juice
Sea salt
3 tablespoons minced red onion
1 tablespoon each of finely chopped red, green and yellow bell pepper
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
1 tablespoon seeded and finely chopped jalapeno pepper
1 tablespoon corn oil
In a non-reactive bowl, marinate the shrimp for 30 minutes in the lemon and grapefruit juice. Season to taste with sea salt. Add the remaining ingredients, mix to combine and reserve.
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I know it’s not May, and I know it would make sense to hold the best barbecue forum until then. But I’m heading out on a culinary tour of Louisiana tomorrow and I’m going to take a week off from the “Best of” lists. I’ll be posting about my trip, the Thursday night wine tasting will proceed without a hitch, but I’m going to be working 16-hour days and something’s gotta give for a bit… So enjoy this week to discuss barbecue, from your favoriute sandwich to the best chicken. Barbecue bologna. Best sauce. Best beans. Pulled or chopped. Ribs. Go crazy if you want to and talk brisket. But keep coming back, because like I said, I’ll be sharing Louisiana stories and pictures with you.
(Photo credit to our own barbecue guru Dave Darnell for this plate at Ray’s World Famous in West Memphis)
Every now and again someone will call and want to know where they can get a nice piece of pie. Not something whipped a mile high in a factory and stored in a restaurant freezer, but a piece of pie like mom made. Let’s start this week sharing what we know about good pie in and around town.
I don’t know if it’s my upcoming trip through Louisiana or just the change in weather, but I’m craving seafood and feel a trip to Costco for king crab legs in my immediate future. I’m confined to my house taking care of my recovering dog, so I won’t be eating out this weekend. But tell me where you’d go for the best seafood–and what you’d order. Best oysters? Best grouper sandwich? (Pearl’s has a mighty good one). We know the sea bass at Tsunami is hard to beat. Let’s leave sushi out, and clearly we can’t even begin to address catfish here. Seafood only; we’ll find a place for sushi and fresh water fish down the road.
Tonight at 7 Bill Huddleston is going to guide us through our 13th tasting of the year. Yep–we’re a quarter of the way through our 52 wines (but since we did beer one week, we might have to double up on another occasion or hold a special tasting to make it 52). I’ve got beef tenderloin marinating and we’ll get the grill going in a couple of hours. See you all back here at 7. And remember: To participate, click on the live blogging box below.
Ah, the steak. We know the outrage of ordering medium rare and getting well done, but there are places that can serve up a fine cut of meat. Tonight we’ll be eating beef (or grilled sausage–I’m going to call around today and see if I can find lamb sausage), so let’s salute the good–and great–steaks around town. And while we’re at it, tell me where you buy your beef.
I know I’ve promised a few things that haven’t come to pass, like an account of my Chicago trip, a place for you to post your food/trip pics, and an update of Eat Every Bite. In the middle of rescuing a dog–and god bless the folks who do it everyday, because that is hard–one of my dogs tore not one, but BOTH of her rear ACLs and it’s been a little crazy around this place. She’s home and recovering now (and the other animals are driving us crazy because we’re having to keep her isolated). Good lord willing and if the creek don’t rise, I’ll get everything done tomorrow. I’m going to be working from home so, in theory, I should be able to catch up. Bear with me, and the wine tasting for tomorrow is on as scheduled.
That’s the title of Eric Asimov’s column “The Pour,” in The New York Times this morning (here) and repeated on Asimov’s blog on 
the Times’ website (here). Asimov is probably the most visible commentator in the country about wine, spirits and beer and the industries and cultures that surround them. I have been following “The Pour” online for several years, and I have never seen a post stir up so much controversy and response — at 2:45 this afternoon more than 260 responses.
The question is whether exposing teenagers gradually to alcoholic beverages, beginning with occasional sips of wine or beer at home and proceeding with perhaps a half glass of wine with dinner will teach them moderation and prevent the binge drinking in which too many college students indulge. American collegiate life tends to promote the orgiastic consumption of immense quantities of alcoholic beverages for the sake of drunkenness. Asimov and many of the responders to his post assert that the sensible introduction of alcoholic beverages will encourage young people to be sensible about their choices of when, where and how much they drink. It’s the principle that a forbidden object becomes a focus of fascination, while knowledge brings a sense of familiarity and comfort.
Quite vehement, however, are the posters who disagree and say that the only way to prevent binge drinking is never to allow teenagers exposure to alcohol at all, that only complete abstinence will avert binge drinking in college and an inevitable life of degredation bound for the gutter.
I’m inclined to think that the issues are more complicated than are stated here and that all sorts of familial, generic and personal influences, as well as the circumstances of time, place and peer pressure, dictate how teenagers and college students react to alcoholic beverages and their consumption. Whatever the case, Asimov touched a cord that resonates in American culture, a cord that begins in our Puritan heritage, flows through our whole history of ideological, individual and religious conflict and washes up in our present evangelical and political climate that uneasily confronts the influence of an increasingly permissive media.
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