Ancelet's on Wednesdays; Cajuns are Coming!

Ancelet’s Cajun Market makes some of the best cracklings around. The trick is to get there before they run out. Wednesday is the day to get them. If you are a big fan, I apologize for letting others know. Now you may have more competition. Treat yourself to a little paper sack full, and check out their other delicious offerings.

 

Cajun Hertage Festival – Get ready to pass a good time in the Cajun Capital of Texas. The next Cajun Heritage Festival rolls into Port Arthur on April 4. The bands, the food and the dancing is booked for the Robert A. “Bob” Bowers Civic Center and you don’t want to miss it. Cajun Sounds Internet Live is the host and they always have fun ready for the whole family, including the kids. Get your tickets at www.csir.live

 

Depression Eats

“Don’t throw it away, it’s still good!” My dad lived through the Depression and he saved bags, jars and rubber bands, just as described in a cookbook my friend Missy passed to me. “Depression Era Recipes” offers some recipes and tips that folk back in the day used to round out the budget. Some recipes sound delicious and we still love them today. Other’s sound “out of place” in a world of drive-throughs and home delivery.

Entries include: Eggs in Prison, How to Render Lard, Oatmeal Sticks, Good Cake Without Frosting, Prune Whip and Dyspeptic Bread.

 

Surprises included:  

·       Stuffed Roast Racoon started with ingredients of sweet potatoes and raisins and apples. The final ingredient was really a “young racoon.” It’s not a dessert. It’s stuffed and sewn shut.

·       Stuffed Calf’s Heart includes pineapple juice. Tropical touch?

·       Oysters and oxtails were considered budget items. Now they high-dollar delicacies!

·       Liver Pudding. Not going there.

Finally, here are some tips that you may not find on Pinterest!

 

Hair setting Lotion

1 cup flax seed

3 cups water

Simmer seeds and water together for a few minutes. Strain and thin to desired consistency.

Vinegar Hair Rinse

1 tablespoon cider vinegar

1 quart water

Mix together. After shampooing, use as a final rinse to make your hair shine.

 

Darragh Doiron is a Port Arthur area foodie savoring all things Cajun. Share your family faves with her via panews@panews.com.

Port Arthur is officially Cajun and we have the "real gumbo book.

 

Port Arthur is now the official Cajun Capital of Texas and we’ve got the goods to celebrate. Gumbo is one of our favorite foods and Jim LaBove has a new book about it. No matter how much you already know, you’re sure to learn something new from the man who grew up harvesting seafood out of Sabine Pass waters with his dad. Cotton’s Seafood fed the area. LaBove’s many books and drawings, which often pop up at farmers markets and craft booths, share his “Cajunisms.” Look for talkative Jim and his ever-smiling and friendly wife, Dodie. You’ll leave as friends.

               His latest release is “The (Real) Gumbo Book,” offering “A Deep Dive into the Lifeblood of Cajun Culture.”  If you’re lucky enough to have met LaBove, you know that his writing is just like having a conversation with him. Drawings of local ducks, boats, musicians, kitchen tools and even the plant that gives us file help complete the feeling of being down on the bayou.

               I always say everybody should think their own grandma’s gumbo is the best. There’s room for plenty of good recipes, though. I’d love to try all the different duck and seafood ones discussed in this book. Just follow the recipes.

               Here’s what LaBove says: “Gumbo is an evolving dish that seems to be in a constant state of evolution. Her opinion aside, my Mama would be the first to tell you to make gumbo the way you like it and make the final recipe your own.”

In “The (Real) Gumbo Book,” Get the basics on the components of what makes various types of gumbo sing:

·       *  Roux? Basic and important.

·        * Eggs? Sometimes.

·        * Sausage? If you like.

·        * Holy Trinity? We need that.

·        * File? A thing unto itself.

Lagniappe:

·                Okra and the Cajun Diaspora is a chapter title that makes our bowl of gumbo seem legendary.

·        Learn about dried shrimp and water gumbo

·        The glossary includes words such as lapin, La PAN, Cajun French for Rabbit and

poisson rouge, as in redfish.

Flagship Mailroom and Emporium features some of LaBove's oeuvre. You can shop online at www.cottons-seafood.com. Now as for me, I gotta go get some gumbo.

Darragh Doiron is a Port Arthur area foodie already awaiting the next crawfish season in Port Arthur. darraghcastillo@icloud.com