The Heart Of Texas

After experimenting with various flavors and methods the following is my conclusion to a very flavorful base mayonnaise.  Adding ingredients such as  Sriracha adds a bit of color and fire.  Homemade mayo is very easy and well worth the effort. Ingredients: 1/2 T pink Himalayan sea salt 1/2 T granulated onion 1/2 T granulated garlic 1/2 T ground yellow mustard seed 2 T apple cider vinegar The juice of 1 lime 3 C avocado oil 2 large eggs Method: Add all ingredients except to oil to a wide mouth quart Mason jar.  I use a submersible blender and I mix the ingredients.  I then continuously run the blender while I relatively slowly add the avocado oil.  I fill up the Mason jar as much as possible without making a mess.  I blend well and then I refrigerate.  The flavor is excellent!

Boiling crawfish is an annual springtime event in our family.  Typically, we buy a 35# sack of crawfish on a Saturday morning and boil them in the afternoon.  Farm raised crawfish are delicious, but the wild crawfish are far and away better!  Living in Southeast Texas has its advantages and crawfish is definitely one of them! Through the years, I have had the advantage of connections in the crawfish world.  As a kid we seined ponds and creeks for crawfish.  In the 80's we bought fresh wild crawfish for $25 per 35# sack.  My brother in law is in the freight forwarding business and we would give him an offshore cooler and he would put it on the truck.  The truck driver, as a favor to my brother in law, would stop in Crowley, Louisiana and pick up wild crawfish at cost!  We did this dozens of times and I had no idea, how lucky we were! Over the past 20 years crawfish have become Lobsters of the Bayou!  Last weekend I picked up a sack...

Paul Prudhomme popularized the blackening process.  The process of heating a black iron skillet to very hot and quickly cooking meat coated with his signature spices most of the time with butter.  The theory was the thick coating of spices would quickly caramelize protecting the meat and creating a delicious outer crust.  I have been blackening both fish and meat for many years.  I always blacken meats outdoors because of the huge smoke cloud the process created.  Recently I ordered blackened beef tenderloin at Prudhomme's restaurant, K-Pauls', in New Orleans and it was delicious! The spice mixture I used on the steaks pictured was as follows:  granulated garlic, granulated onion, freshly ground tellicherry pepper corns and pink Himalayan sea salt.  I used about 1/3 of a stick of Kerrigold butter.  Enjoy!

Paul Prudhomme was the king of blackening fish.  His blackened red fish brought the red fish to the brink of extinction!  Well maybe not that extreme, but it was bad.  If all of Prudhomme's methods are done correctly, in a residential setting, you have to do it outside.  The cloud of smoke will run you out of the house. It has been raining constantly for 4 days and I was looking for an opportunity to blacken the cod outdoors.  I needed to get them cooked, so I modified the method and it turned out great! I rinsed the fillets and patted dry.  I sprinkled granulated garlic, granulated onion, fresh cracked black pepper, pink Himalayan sea salt and sweet organic paprika. both sides.  I put them all in a black iron skillet and put the heat on low.  I put a few tablespoons of grass-fed butter in the skillet with the fillets until it completely melted. I then removed from the heat and carefully dipped the top of each fillet in the butter. I pre...

First off, you have to have a very hot fire!  I like a hardwood fire because it adds exceptional flavor. If it was not for the added depth of flavor, I'd cook my steaks on a cast iron skillet all the time! A fire suitable for cooking steaks should literally engulf the meat in fire the second it hits the grate. A couple or 3 minutes on each side and you will have a dark crust and a rare, tender, succulent steak!

I recently had the craving for coconut shrimp.  My lovely wife and I celebrated our 25th anniversary in New Orleans.  On one of our many excursions through the French Quarter, we stopped at a small local café and had their coconut shrimp.  They were delicious and the following is a close recipe we have enjoyed here at home - 1 pound of Jumbo white gulf shrimp, wild of course (18 count) 2 egg whites 1 T corn starch 1 C organic coconut a little pink Himalayan sea salt after the shrimp are fried. coconut oil I cleaned, de-veined and butterflied the shrimp.  I dried them in a paper towel.  I put 1 T of corn starch in a grocery bag and dropped in the shrimp.  I shook up the grocery bag so all the shrimp would have a fine dusting of corn starch.  I beat up the 2 egg whites and dipped the shrimp in for a good coating.  I then rolled the shrimp in the coconut and put them in a black iron skillet on a medium heat.  If it is too hot you will...

When it comes to pork spareribs quality is very important.   Butchers offer ribs in various cuts.   They can be rough cut with a lot of bone, St. Louis cut without the chine, tail and tips, back rib cut also without the tips, flap and chine.   What is sold as a baby back rib is simply a small pig with the ribs cut with a band down both sides.   The added cost more than makes up for the loss of the flap, tips and chine bone.   Years ago a fresh, rough cut 2.5LBS and down pork sparerib was my favorite product.   These days you are lucky to find 3.5LBS and down frozen ribs.   Obviously, the more bone the meat markets sell the more profit they make.   The older the pig, the bigger the rib.   The bigger the rib, the heavier the rack.   Here in Southeast Texas the Asian food market has dominated consumption.   Paying the cost of a case of 2.5LBS and down is prohibitive if you can even find them.   Custom orders are very expensi...