Shrimp Etouffee

I’m a fan of good food. It doesn’t always have to be a beautifully constructed dish of 40 exotic ingredients with many polar opposite attractions. Sometimes down n’ dirty cooking, simple technique, big flavor is what is needed.

This recipe came from my friend Tarpon, NW of New Orleans. This is the family recipe handed down from generation to generation on his wife’s side. This recipe is so old I told my daughter that one of Tarpon’s relatives is actually a gator (may be true). This is exactly what the doctor ordered!

Usually this is served on a bed of rice, but Tarpon confessed that Mrs Tarpon will sometimes put the rice and etouffee in a flaky crust pie (Mad genius). Will try that next.

·         2 lbs. shrimp, peeled and deveined

·         Stick butter

·         2 large onions, diced

·         2 stalks celery, diced

·         2 cloves garlic, minced

·         1 green bell pepper, diced

·         2 tsp. salt

·         ¼ tsp. black pepper

·         ¼ tsp. pink peppercorns, crushed

·         ½ tsp. garlic powder

·         ¼ tsp. onion powder

·         1 Tbl. Oregano

·         4 Tbl. Flour

·         2 C chicken stock

·         2 stalks green onion, sliced

·         8 oz fresh mushrooms, diced

·         ¼ C fresh cilantro, chopped

Melt butter and slowly cook the trinity (onion, celery, and bell pepper) until the onion is translucent.

Add all of the spices and cook for 1 minute then add the shrimp.

Stir in the flour and cook for 3-5 minutes

Add the chicken stock (slowly while stirring to avoid lumps), mushroom, cilantro, and green onion

Simmer for about 10-15 minutes; just until it is thickened.

Serve in a bowl on white rice and top with all the Louisianna Hot Sauce you can handle. 

Life is good.

Glazed Ham

The best tasting animal, in my opinion, is the duck. However, aside from pan roasted breast with crispy skin, foie gras, Peking from Chinatown, and confit of leg, there isn’t much. Now a pig, that’s a whole other ballgame. Endless cuts, cooking techniques, and textures. Who can argue the greatness of a ham, whether it’s boiled and sliced and served with braised shoulder, pickles, and mustard in a Panini press, or artery clogging bacony goodness? Pork is king.

This was my glazed ham from this year’s Christmas Eve dinner; a true labor of love.  Here is the overview:

1. Make the brine
2. Cool the brine
3. Brine for 3 days
4. Inject brine into ham and brine again for 7 more days
5. Air dry for 1 day 
6. Smoke
7. Glaze (Prepare it the day before)
8. Feast

For the brine:

• About a 9 lb, bone-in, fresh uncured ham (shank end if possible), with most of the fat trimmed 
• 1 C dark brown sugar 
• 1 C Morton Canning and Pickling Salt 
• 1 oz “pink salt” (Prague Powder #1) 
• 1 Tbl. Whole cloves 
• 1 head garlic, sliced in half 
• 1 Tbl. Black peppercorns 
• 6 bay leaves

Combine everything with about a gallon of water and bring to a boil stirring to dissolve. Let cool. Place in refrigerator overnight. Add the whole ham to the pot of COLD brine. Add a little water if needed until it is fully submerged. TIP – you can add a plate or two on top of the ham to help keep it under. Cover the pot and place in the fried for 3 days. After three days, pull the ham out of the brine and use an injector to generously inject brine directly into the thickest part of the ham. Make sure to inject all along the bone. When you got everything, place the ham back in the pot, cover the pot, and return to the fridge for another 7 days.

Air Dry:

After a total of 10 days in the brine, pull the ham out and place on a clean towel, in a pan, and let it sit uncovered in the fridge for 24 hours. The purpose of this is for the skin to dry out so the smoke can better permeate the meat.

Smoke:

Set up your smoker for about 150 degrees. I used lump hardwood with a nice log of green apple wood for smoke. If the fat was nicely trimmed I don’t think a drip pan is needed, but a water pan may help to regulate the temp. You know your smoker (hopefully). You want to aim for a temp of 130 degrees to start basting on the glaze, and a final temperature of 140 degrees.

The Glaze (prepare the day before):

• ½ C Inner Beauty Hot Sauce (see proceeding entry)
• 1 Tbl. Brown sugar
• ¼ C buckwheat honey
• ¼ C orange juice

Bring to a boil while stirring just to dissolve the sugar. Let cool and let sit overnight.

Baste the glaze onto the ham about every 10-15 minutes from 130 to 140 degrees. When the finished temp is reached pull the ham and let it rest UNMOLESTED for at least 20 minutes. Slice and bask in the glory that is ham.

Authentic Inner Beauty

While this is not an original recipe, I feel the need to document it here since it is the original, and no longer made, version of Inner Beauty hot sauce. Inner Beauty was a mustard base Jamaican style hot sauce that I use to buy by the case. When it was no longer available in stores, I purchased every bottle I could online.

Then the dark ages came, no Inner Beauty anywhere. I scoured the Internet with a handful of dedicated fanatics for years. One day, I found an interview online with the original maker Chris Schlesinger (mad genius!). Attached to the article was a picture, snapped with a cell phone, of the original hand written recipe that was framed on the creator's wall.

Here is the original version, followed by a scaled down version.

The Historic Original Inner Beauty Hot Sauce Recipe
(courtesy Chris Schlesinger, East Coast Grill)

• 5 lb scotch bonnet or habanero peppers
• 1 gallon yellow mustard
• 1/2 lb brown sugar
• 1 quart orange juice
• 1/2 gallon white vinegar
• 1 cup honey
• 1 cup molasses
• 46 oz. papaya juice
• 46 oz. pineapple juice
• 1/2 gallon peanut oil
• 6 oz. each of cumin, chili, curry, tumeric
• 2 oz. all spice
• salt and pepper

The Home Style Inner Beauty Hot Sauce Recipe
(courtesy Chris Schlesinger, from Big Flavors of the Hot Sun)

• 12 to 15 scotch bonnet or habanero peppers, roughly chopped
• 1 ripe mango, peeled, pitted and mashed
• 1 cup cheap yellow prepared mustard
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white vinegar
• 1 tablespoon prepared curry powder
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 cup molasses
• salt and fresh cracked black pepper to taste