Mudbugs.... They're what's for dinner

This edition of the infrequent Wannabe Foodie includes mudbugs, the proper way to eat these wonderful creatures, a barbeque dish that pushes the limits of ‘barbeque’, and what may be the coolest bar in US.

The WF and the Red in the Big Easy. The Red and I recently celebrated a big wedding anniversary in New Orleans.  Yes, the Big Easy has a definite seedy underbelly, and yes there are many areas where tourists simply shouldn’t wander.  It’s one of those cities where if you wander somewhere and wonder if you should be there, the answer is probably no. 

It is also home to some of the country’s best restaurants.  We ate at Commander’s Palace, Cochon, and Luke.  Each is in its own right a fabulous restaurant and in the case of Commander’s Palace, one of those restaurants that should be on your restaurant bucket list.  We had some fabulous food (mmm..   soft shell crab…) at Commander’s, but it’s such a classy place that even I, the WF and food porn connossieur, just didn’t feel right taking photos. 

The Big Easy is also the home of what I consider to be the only truly American cuisines – Cajun and Creole.  I love everything about each of these cuisines, but I particularly like their use of the seafood I love – shellfish, bi-valves (oysters and clams), and white fish like catfish.

Rather than give restaurant reviews, I’ll just describe a couple of my favorite dishes and places in the Big Easy.

Mudbugs. The seafood you’ve probably neglected.  Yes.  I’m talking about crawfish, or if you grew up in Mississippi like I did, crawdads.  They’ve lovingly also called mudbugs because, well, they live in the mud in the swamps.  And eat stuff off the bottom.  So……

They look like small lobsters and frankly the tail meat tastes like lobster, though sweeter if they’re fresh. 

The proper way to prepare them is to boil them live in a spicey boil, often along with corn or potatoes.  Not quite a low country boil, but similar.  For the connossieur, the correct way to eat them is the pull them apart where the tail meets the head, suck the fatty and spicey goodness out of the head, and pop the tail out.  Repeat as necessary.

You read that correctly.  You suck the stuff out of the head, and it’s good.  Like mana from heaven good.  It’s rich and loaded with the flavor of the boil.  Awesome.  The Red even jumped in like a native. 

As you can see, you throw the carcasses into the tray at the bottom.

Too much for you?  Buy the tail meats in the frozen foods section, and give me your foodie/man/woman card.  You clearly have no use for it. 

Seriously.  These bugs are awesome. 

“Barbecue” Shrimp.  In case you don’t know, this dish is a cherished staple of New Orleans cuisine. 

Here’s the thing.  It’s not cooked on a barbeque or a smoker and, frankly, it bears no resemblance to anything barbecue.  I have no idea why it’s called barbecue and I’ve asked around.  I’ve yet to get a coherent or understandable answer.

Here’s what I do know about this dish:  It’s frickin’ awesome, though nothing about it resembles “healthy,” “lowfat,” or even “advisable to eat on a regular basis.”

It’s a simple dish – a mess ‘o head on big ass prawns,  a half cup or more of various dry spices, and about a ½ pound of butter.  The prawns  are really just poached in the buttery, spicey goodness.  Check ‘em out:  

Like eating mudbugs, this dish is not for the feint of heart.  You wear a bib (I’d prefer a trash bag) and you dig your bare hands into the pot to pull out the prawns.  And then you rip them apart (don’t forget to suck the goodness out of the prawn’s head), whilst sending showers of butter everywhere and slowly prying the wonderful tail meat out. 

Seriously.  This makes real barbeque look like a downright neat and tidy meal.  There is truly no way to eat this dish in any way which resembles neat, tidy, or generally socially acceptable.

But it is fabulous.  The spicy butter brings out the natural sweetness of the prawns, while infusing them with the spicey goodness.  It’s also served with a loaf of bread for dipping, just in case you didn’t’ get enough butter.  And I didn’t.

Truly one of my favorite dishes.  I’ve salivating while writing this….

The Sazerac - The Coolest Bar in the US.  The Red and I were fortunate enough to stay at the Roosevelt while in New Orleans.  The Roosevelt is a Waldorf Astoria and one of those old grand dame hotels that are scattered across the U.S.  If you like old school luxury, this is your place.   I won’t ever stay anywhere else in the Big Easy.

Perhaps more importantly, it’s the home of the Sazerac Bar.  You can guess what their signature dish is – the Sazerac, and it's made like god intended it, with Sazerac Rye.  And they’re doing the Lord’s work when they’re making it. 

However, the cocktails and their awesomeness aren't necessarily the best part of this bar.  It's the ambience and decor.  Check out the photos. It’s old and cover in wood paneling.  Actually, the whole bar is made from one large African tree that was imported in the early 1900s.  

It’s also got 4 hand painted murals on the wall, which apparently depict the growing of the ingredients for the sazerac.  Check ‘em out. 

If you don’t like this bar, I can’t help you.  I can’t wait to go back.  

New Orleans is truly one of the best food cities in the country.

Happy cooking.

WF

Piggly Wiggly

Let’s try this food blog thing again….

This blog includes another edition of the Wannabe Foodie going to school, the best *&%$ pork bbq I’ve ever had, “please pass the pig brain,” and competition bbq’s dirty little secret.

BBQ School.  Rumor has it that I’ve been known to eat bbq and cook it, sometimes prolifically.  The same rumor says that I have been known to harshly judge bad bbq.

Let that sink in.  I know.  That rumor shocked me as well.

Recently the Red and I had a big wedding anniversary.   She got jewelry and I got, wait for it, another cooking school.  Last time it was a week at the CIA in California.  This time is was bbq school at Myron Mixon’s house in Unadilla, Georgia.

Needless to say, I was a happy man. 

 

Who’s Myron Mixon, you say?  He’s is the winningest man in competitive bbq.  He’s been on various bbq tv shows and is one of the hosts of BBQ Pitmasters.  Here’s a picture with him.

If you want to get better at bbq, what better way than going to the house of the self-proclaimed king of bbq for a bbq school?!  For those of you that watch his shows, he is just as loud and boisterous in person as he is on tv.  However, he and his family were also warm and inviting hosts, which is what you would expect at someone’s house in southern Georgia.

So we show up on Friday night for dinner to get an overview of the weekend.  Thankfully, there was a keg of beer on ice.  Did I mention that I was in southern Georgia in June?!  For a boy who lives in the west, the heat, humidity, and bugs were almost unbearable.  Good lord. 

But, we soldiered on, bug bites and all.  Here’s an overview of the weekend’s festivities:

First thing Saturday morning, the Mixon clan shows how to prep a hog for the bbq.  And for the record, we’re not talking about some suckling pig.  This was a 160 lb (dressed) hog.  Check it out. 

 It wasn’t possible for all of us to prepare a hog (they’re not cheap), so we watched them prepare the hog.  Naturally, I snagged a seat up close to the front.  If you’re squeamish at all, don’t watch someone prep a hog for the smoker.  There’s the sound of the spine cracking as it’s opened up, and, oh yeah….  Do you know what a rib saw is for?  Not for the vegetarians in the crowd.

Which is probably why when Mixon started he said “If there are any vegetarians in the crowd, y’all need to getcha ass up and get out of my yard.”  A master of subtlety.  I like it. 

So the hog was rubbed and injected.  And I don’t mean a little injection.  I can’t tell you what’s in the injection or else team Mixon will come after me, but let’s just say it’s fruit juice based and gallons go into Hogzilla.  He was wrapped up in aluminum foil and slipped into a big ‘ol smoker for … wait for it… 17 hours. 

Here he is going into the smoker.  

Onto the rest of the day and Sunday….

Mixon and crew demonstrated how they prepare baby back ribs, spare ribs, pork shoulder, brisket, and chicken.  Mr. Mixon would demonstrate each protein, and then we would break into groups and prep that same protein.  The school prepared approximately 1500 pounds of proteins that weekend.  1500 pounds!

Some notes:

Ribs.  Nothing tricky about his ribs, other than they are rubbed and sit overnight.  We ate the ones that the students made and, frankly, they were salty. Quite salty, actually.  I tried one of the ones he made and it was also a bit salty, but more on that later.

Pork shoulder.  Good.  I love his injections.

Brisket.  Let me say that it’s weird getting brisket lessons from a Georgia boy.  I am certain that 10-15 years ago, you never saw brisket in Georgia.  Only pork, and maybe a little beef.  He prepared it odd in my opinion, but he’s won a lot of contests, so what the hell do I know?!  He showed us his technique for making burnt ends off the point, which I will use. 

Chicken.  Very interesting to see how the competition guys do it, particularly to make perfect looking chicken with bite-through skin.  Totally using some of those techniques. 

Preparing competition boxes.  This was one of the cooler things to watch.  These guys are judged partially on appearance, so they are meticulous about their presentation.  There’s a guy on Mixon’s team, Bill, who uses tweezers and other tools to make the boxes perfect.  Check them out.

The Star of the Show.  Not even close.  The whole hog.  Check it out when he came out of the smoker:

It was cooked skin side down, so all of the fat, rub, and injection rendered down and stayed in the cavity and meat.  Michael Mixon (Myron’s son) got some heavy duty gloves on and proceeded to pull the entire hog by hand and hand out portions to everyone. 

I held my bowl out like a starving man receiving alms for the poor.  I don’t know how many helpings I had, but it was a lot.  I tried every piece of the pig, including some interesting ones like the belly, jowls (damn those are like butter), and the tongue (tastes like pork). 

And then Michael said “Anyone want to try the brain?”  My friend D and I looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders, and decided we should probably check that off the list.  So, Michael cracked open the head and gave us portions of the brain.  It was creamy and had a strangely seafood flavor, almost like uni for you sushi eaters.

So I checked that off my list.  Not sure I need that again.   I respectfully declined one of the eye balls, though I would eat one. 

Notwithstanding my foray into pig nasty bits, that whole hog was by far the best piece of pork bbq I’ve ever had, and it’s not even close.  The unctuous nature of the meat coming out of the cavity, offset by the fruit juice, with a backdrop of smoky.  Damn.  That’s all I can really say.  Damn.

Notice that I said best piece of pork bbq, because I’m not sure it’s better than Aaron Franklin’s brisket.  But, it might be.  The fact that I even put it in the same sentence as that brisket should tell you all you need to know.

Now I just need a smoker big enough to let me cook a whole hog.  Did I mention I wrote down his injection recipe?

Competitive BBQ’s dirty little secret.  Team Mixon can’t get mad at me for sharing this, since it’s listed as one of the ingredients in his rub.  But, MSG is very prevalent in competitive bbq.  Someone in the know told me that they’ve seen competitors sprinkle it on bbq before they close the box.

MSG.  That’s why the ribs tasted salty to my palate.  You know MSG when you taste it.  I know why they do it.  They’re competing for a lot of money and they usually have one bite to impress the judges.  Better make it the best damn bite they’ve had. 

Still, not my thing.  MSG won’t be added to my bbq any time soon.

Happy cooking.

WF.