Who remembers A.
J. Judice’s “cheer” as a crawfish ambassador?
Hot boudain and
cold cush cush.
Come on crawfish,
push, push push.
My grandma loved
cush cush. Whenever she made cornbread, she would save some crumbles in the lid
of the rice pot by the stove for her supper. She’d simply add them to a bowl of
milk, with sugar, I guess. I was NOT interested.
I’m also told
this is not exactly authentic cush cush, couche couche or coush coush. There’s
more ways to spell this dish than boudain/boudin.
I know this staple
is part of the Cajun heritage. I’ve never had the occasion or particular desire
to try it. Yet, I love hearing stories about it.
Charlene, a
reader from Port Neches, shared some Cajun foodie memories, because “that’s
what Cajuns do.” As a kid she hated the smell of roux and had to go outside
when her momma made it, which was pretty often.
“My mom used to
make cush cush for me,” she continued. “She would fry cornmeal and maybe a
little salt, in a cast iron skillet. I had my bowl of milk, and the cornmeal
was hot and crunchy and would sizzle when it hit the cold milk. You had to eat
it quickly before it got soggy. I was never a fan of cornbread and milk... too
mushy.”
Wait,
there’s more!
“My dad would get
a slice of fresh white bread (Evangeline Maid was sooo good), put cracklins on
and top it with syrup for a fold over sandwich.”
“So many other
memories, like fish courtbuillon (coobeeon), jambalaya and gumbo. When I was in
elementary school, my mom started making boudain and selling it from home now
and then, just to make a little extra money. I remember thinking it was a lot
of work for not much profit,” Charlene shared.
“My daddy would
get sacks of oysters and the men would sit outside with gloves and paring
knives to shuck them to be cooked. Cocktail sauce, crackers and beer was
involved. I think less than half the oysters made it to the house to be cooked.
I can remember my mom commenting that that big bunch of oysters didn't yield
very many to cook.”
The secret is out
about those oysters, Charlene. Now, I have GOT to try that fold over sandwich.
She ended her
memory with this:
“I didn't mean to
make this so long, but I guess my whole childhood was lots of food memories.
That's what Cajuns do.”
Area author Jim
LaBove, a Cajun artist and ambassador hailing from Sabine Pass, stresses cush
cush is not simply cornbread in milk. He spells it couche-couche and pronounces
it coosh-coosh.
“In Cajundom,
couche-couche is a cornmeal batter cooked in a cast iron skillet, often with a
lid. It seems like this was kinda used as a breakfast meal, but I’m sure others
have served it at other times,” he said.
I figure he’s a
good source, having written a whole book on gumbo, available from www.cottons-seafood.com.
On my mother’s
bookshelf, I found a copy of “Simply Cajun,” a hand-written book by Judi Benoit
of China, Texas. She included the following three-line recipe:
Coose
Mix a tiny bit of
water with 2 cups of corn meal. Fry in an iron skillet ‘til crisp. Serve with
cream and sugar!
What’s your cush cush story?
Cush Cush is another open debate. Variations I’ve heard about include crumbling
up your cornbread mush into a bowl of coffee milk… This one is very new to me.
Keep those memories
flowing.
Darragh Doiron is
a Port Arthur area foodie who would can’t decide if she likes seafood or
chicken and sausage gumbo best. Share with her via panews@panews.com
