Ragin Cajun!

I did my undergrad in the dirty south (Go Trojans!) and ran a conference in New Orleans (pre-Katrina) and fell in love with that area. Ever since, I've been dabbling in Creole/Cajun cuisine. Recently, I stumbled upon

Loovvveee the LA trees. Such character!

some boxes of Tony Chacere's (yay!) Gumbo at the 99 cents only store and hadta pick it up since I never made gumbo yet. I used two boxes which makes about two cups and added another two cups extra long grain rice and double amount water and threw all that in a rice cooker. Turned out well. I'm glad I threw in the rice to cover up that insane amount of seasoning/salt. Made it that much more edible and not overly salty.

As I mentioned before, Louisiana cooking can be either Cajun or Creole. For gumbo, Creoles will do it as a soup while Cajuns will do it as a stew. I actually ended up doing it my own way, by cooking the ingredients seperately and piling them together. I wanted the flavors to meld together in the bite you form on the fork and evolve the flavors separately. I haveta admit though, because I didn't do a considerable background study on how to cook gumbo I didn't know about the difference in cooking styles. I did this mainly because I like to adhere to my improv rules and also add my own flair. For my dish, I ended up organically making a rice dish, pan fried catfish, a veggie/sausage platter, and a sauce. As a side note, for any Creole/Cajun cooking you must utilize the Holy Trinity: celery, onions, and bell peppers. I exchanged onion with shallot only because I have an insane amount and I really like them because they blend onion with garlic - yum!

When you make a gumbo, you will most likely top it off with a sauce called roux. There are two types of roux: Creole or Cajun. The former is with butter and flour and the latter with lard/oil and flour. I cooked Creole by melting the butter first (my roomie gave me a great tip: you can also roast the flour by itself first until it gets dark and then add the fat) and added equal portions of flour. You need to cook fairly low heats and stir constantly. I had to bounce back and forth and add more butter/flour. I should've added more butter (although I did end up using about a 1.5:1, fat:flour ratio) because it was still too floury. I also tossed in some Cajun seasonings to add flavor. You will see as you cook it that it moves in stages (as shown in the pics) and evolves into a burned black goo. Which is what you want, the roux needs to be burned like it's damned! At some point, when it reaches the brown stage it'll smell like popcorn. It stayed brown for me until I added celery and then it instantly turned chocolate black. That might be from the water in the celery? It still tasted funky so I added a load of honey. It ended up tasting tolerable (too thick and floury, but a tinge of sweetness and barely any spice except for a lingering aftertaste), but I want to make it much better the next time I cook it. Not bad for my first time, however and tastes fine with everything else, but still brings the dish down a little bit.

Since I can't cook without drinking, I had to make myself a thematic drink (to accompany my New Orleans jazz playing on Pandora). Since I couldn't find an appropriate Southern beer and none of the whiskeys caught my fancy I just did a mix I was turned on by a friend awhile back...Seagram's Sweet Tea Vodka mixed with Arnold Palmer's Sweet Tea and Lemonade. It's quite good although may need tonic to lighten it up. Be careful, it'll sneak up on ya!

It had a bizarre cascade effect after blending with ice.

For the main meat I chose Louisiana-borne catfish from a local Asian market. When choosing a catfish, I was told this great tip: pick the scumsucker with a small head (very key!) and a fat (wide) body. Catfish are notorious for having long slender bodies that offer little meat so you want a small head/big body so you get more meat. As with all fish, check the gills to make sure they look healthy (rich red not faded brick) and the eyes aren't cloudy. Make sure the skin is metallic and shiny and it smells like clean water, maybe faintly cucumberish. I had mine gutted (another tip: you may want to keep the guts because there may be eggs, but I'm not pro enough to know how to cook fish eggs) and cleaned (de-finned, but head left on) and cut in steaks. I prefer this method (steak) because all you have to do is cut on either side of the central bone and

From bottom left, clockwise: catfish steak that can be cut in half on opposite sides of the central bone; cubed portions of the steak; fish steaks that have little to no meat that can still be cooked but not for this dish.

you get chunks of meat to work with. But I'm getting ahead of myself (spoiler alert), I marinaded the fish steaks in an insane amount of olive oil, salt/pepper, american and chinese okra, shallots and garden fresh tomaters, green bells, and basil for two hours in the freezer. Then I chopped the steaks into cubes. I found

Okra! Chinese (left) American (right)

there were parts of the fish that were way too much work to cut (and had those notorious bits that weren't that fleshy) so I saved them to cook with at some later date. I pan fried the cubes. Now, thankfully since I

From left to right: Tomaters, basil and green bells fresh picked from my garden; shallots and okra added; Catfish added; Oil, salt/pepper added and massive shaking!

marinaded them for so long they were so tender that I needn't worry too much about overcooking them. You can cook them with pink bits if you want, but I prefer white all the way through which ended up making them very juicy and hella fluffy. With the soaking, they smelled like marinade but tasted like fish which I was totally surprised by. One of the great things about improv cooking. I marinaded to push out the fishy flavors, but the reverse happened and I turned out to like the unlikely. There were flaky bits left in the oily mess in the cast iron so I burned all that off into vodka (there's a *term* for this but I can't recall what it is! please comment if you know!) and poured the flavorful liquid goodness over the fish.

Since there were obviously some left over oily veggies I simmered them (covered) with chopped Johnsonville smoked beef hot links that had jalapeno and red pepper. Those added a nice heat to the dish as I didn't end

up using any hot sauces or spicy seasonings. Surprising, right!? That completed the gumbo cooking adventure. I made a rice bed and covered it with the veggie/sausage spread and topped it with the fish and then the roux. The final mixture was quite delish! A unique blend of flavors and textures which is why I cooked them separately. I'm glad it ended heterogenous and not homogenous which I think might've happened with a soup or stew.

"All animals are equal but some are more equal than others" A Review of The Salted Pig

I can't abide anyone taking a two hour lunch break on jury duty that doesn't require an alky break. 
"It's surprising how people either do or don't want beer," my gracious Salted Pig host explained as I reclined from the courthouse, "And they both profess jury duty as an excuse." 
The latter would be lacking a unique drinking experience as the best regional beers are served exclusively on bottle at this culinary improvic gastropub. For those beer drinkers in the crowd, they have a diverse array of beers scribbled on an assortment of chalkboards. Among many fan favs you can find 'guest' beers that are off-menu and like all beers on the menu will range from 6 to 30 bucks a bottle and in each of their own right accompany your specific mood or dish. Don't come here for domestics on tap, but do expect an appropriate craft beer. I finally dipped into Autumn Maple, a higly rated reserve outta the Bruer (http://www.thebruery.com/) which surprised me with it's drinkability admist it's heavy sugar ingredients.

Long time readers would appreciate my obsession with bacon so I had to holler at their bacon fat-buttered popcorn. This is only three bucks and will serve 2-4 people easily. Although the bacon fat is a cute little appertif, the thyme and pepper enter center stage. The pepper lends a zesty bite amongst the earthy after flavorings punched in with the thyme. The thyme on the popcorn was an honest surprise. It makes sense since thyme and pork accompany each other so well. I especially love to accompany these flavors with dried apricot.

The restaurant was broken up in half where one portion was the primary bar and a collection of four seaters. In the equally large opposite section you find a 

sushi-esque bar that is appropriately heightened up to prevent awkwark leanings from customers but still allow for culinary conversations. On a relatively slow day I was able to snag the basis of their recipe for pork bellies. Along the three day process, the bellies are primarily soaked in brine for a day and then fried in their own fat. The crispy pork bits are then roasted on a bed of veggies for four hours and stored overnight in the fridge only to be cooked to a tender and juicy perfection.

On this particular night, Thursdays, they will make three pork belly tacos for only ten bucks. And amongt the variety of salsas, tonight's chef opted for a pineapple salsa based on its acidity. I highly recommend this as a mango salsa (something the chef alternates upon) would combat texturally with the manicured pork belly. (They serve this with parsley and diced onions, but they will easily replace onions with tomaters or avocado.) To finish off the meal I was served a pork-infused ice cream. The vanilla and bacon fat flavors came out first, then I tasted the chunks of bacon bits and lastly the saltiness. I balanced it with a playful little cider they had (the Scrumpy).  

I haveta say, I was sufficiently impressed by this unhealthy addition to Rside's downtown. They are both affordable and versatile. If you desire solid craft beers and flavorful pork-based meals, the Salted Pig is your destination!

http://www.saltedpigriverside.com/