BBQ Shrimp
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. If you are unfamiliar with RSS feeds, click here. Thanks for visiting!
BBQ Shrimp are another decadent New Orleans dish, as well as an example of the odd lexicon of New Orleans. There is nothing barbeque about this dish, at all. The star here is butter. Think shrmip scampi to the extreme. A friend of mine invited me out to Pascal’s Manale, an institution on Napoleon, a few blocks from St. Charles. You will see on their website that there is a tab for “Location”, with no (s). These guys could have franchised years ago, but instead focus on what they do best: serving Italian-Creole food. Not that the Grub Blogger knows anything about their Italian food. Memories of PM’s focus on eating some the bet raw oysters in the city while while waiting for your table; being humbled as your waiter puts a paper bib around your neck, and gorging on one the least health-conscious seafood dishes around. My waiter told me not to worry, though, as long as I went our and drank beer all night, the cholesterol would wash away. Read more…
Red beans and rice is a classic New Orleans dish, traditionally made on wash days (Mondays), where it could simmer all day as the chores were being done. Red kidney beans are slowly cooked into a creamy paste with plenty of pork to lubricate the lot. Typical Cajun seasonings give flavor, depth and spice to this lovely dish. While at Tulane in New Orleans, the Grub Blogger took a class on the literature of the Vietnam War with an adjunct professor. The class met every Wednesday evening, so he told us that instead of having our normal class the day after Mardi Gras, we were all invited to his (swank) place to chow down on red beans and rice and watch Apocalypse Now on his huge projection screen television. 
Pickled Pork. It just sounds hardcore - and almost oxymoronic. It took me long enough to get used to pickled anything other than cucumbers. But, this is just another way that pork takes on a new flavor as it is being preserved. This is definitely a Southern thing, and the pickled pork the Grub Blogger made is Cajun style, taken directly from Chuck Taggart’s awesome site, 
Catfish are pretty ugly creatures, but good, and usually cheap, eating. I had forms of catfish growing up in our fish tank, but never saw the real thing until I got to New Orleans. We used to drive out to 
Blackened fish fillets has become the prototypical Cajun dish, served as restaurants across the country trying to get a little bit of the New Orleans spirit onto their menu. The Grub Blogger sees nothing wrong with this, but none of those places are serving the real deal - a red fish fillet, doused in melted butter and quickly sauteed on a screaming hot cast iron pan. This is always done outdoors, because of the smoke that comes from the quickly seared fillet. Still, that is really hardcore, and finding red fish is not that easy. Here, I hope my recipe falls somewhere in between the outdoor Cajun cook and what you’d find at a pretty good restaurant making an honest try at it. One thing I do use is cast iron. If you don’t have one, these are great pans. With a little work, you end up with a pan that can be used for many years, with a non-stick surface that no DuPont scientist could match. This happens when you season the pan, which means greasing it up witht a little oil or manteca when clean, and hopefully still a little warm, and wiping it down so only a very thin layer is left. That is what folk mean by a well-seasoned pan. I like to say that I boughy my pan for my grandchildren to use, I am just seasoning it up for them. Cast iron is great for blackening, because the heavy-duty pan holds the heat well, with out burning the flesh. 
Trout Meuniere is a classic French dish, that gets a few tweaks in Lousiana. Meuniere translates into English as “the miller’s wife”, so flour plays an important role in this dish. For my attempt, I used Chef Frank Brigsten’s suggestions on this great video from a series called 
Oysters Rockefeller is the dish that put escargot to shame for the Grub Blogger. I had always thought that snail drenched in hot garlic-parsley butter was as decadent as seafood could get, but oysters brolied in butter flavored with aromatics blew me away when I had them at some of the fancier spots in New Orleans. I love oysters raw, and usually hit them with a whiff of lemon juice and hot sauce, if anything. But this dish, which is supposed to be as rich as a Rockefeller, is the best way I have eaten oysters. When I fed these to my lady, I told her that what she was tasting was a better explanation as to what New Orleans is like than any stories I could come up with. The decadent flavor of the oyster and butter, mixed with the vibrance of the fresh greens, bite of Tabasco sauce and the licorice-flavored tarragon and absinthe had me back at 
