Boiled Peanuts Now, that's what I like about the South

While traveling through the south, when I see a sign for boiled peanuts, usually at a road side farm stand, I get a memory flash back of sitting in the back seat of my parent’s Rambler station wagon with a brown lunch bag of juicy, wet, salty goodness!

That was Florida, a long time ago. These boiled peanuts were purchased roadside, at what usually seemed like an empty corner lot, where the seller built a fire, started boiling green peanuts and setup shop. These days with all of the food safety rules, boiled peanuts are seen at more legit type of farm stands. So much for my rural childhood boiled peanut romance.

These makeshift roadside takeout joints were often also smoking mullet, a southern fish wrapped in foil. That’s another food story I’ll need to get to in the future.

Recently we were in South Carolina and as I do when in other parts of the country, seeking out local regional food items to bring back to Boston. I got my Dukes mayonnaise, bags of Carolina stone ground grits and I also added several pounds of green raw in the shell peanuts. They just don’t sell them in markets in my part of the country. I’m driving back to Boston with a plan to boil peanuts.

It’s very simple, water, salt, raw peanuts in the shell-bring to a boil, let them cook a couple of hours, I usually go longer, I like then cooked until the shells are soft. Sometimes you’ll even be able to eat some of the shells.

What a treat. That’s one of things I miss about the south.

Crawfish Boil Party

When one of my weekly client's girlfriend asked me if I could do a crawfish boil for his upcoming birthday bash, I jumped at the chance to bring this Louisiana dish to the Boston area. All I needed was a powerful outdoor propane burner, a pot with a strainer basket larger than my lobster pots, and of course I would need live crawfish. 

The Lousiana Crawfish Company and Farm ships live crawfish just about anywhere overnight. While I was ordering the 80 lbs of crawling mudbugs, I went ahead and ordered their andouille sausage, seafood boil seasoning, and I might as well get some alligator sausage as an appetizer to add a little extra to the traditional grilled items we were also planning on cooking.

The crawfish arrived at my client's house the morning of the party. They come in netted bags inside big coolers. 80 lbs looked like alot and it was, but the birthday boy and many of the guest are big-eating professional athletes. 

We prepared the crawfish the straightforward Louisiana way by bringing the seafood boil-seasoned water to a boil, adding the crawfish, boiling about 10 minutes, strainining, putting in a large cooler, adding more seasoning and shaking to distribute extra seasoning, and just let them continue steaming in the cooler. Then add potatoes and andouille  sausage to boiling crawfish water. Cook until potatoes are almost cooked through, and add fresh corn on the cob last and cook until done but not over cooked. Add the cooked vegetables and sausage to the crawfish. We served this on a newspaper-covered table on the deck for a community feast. I and others who've eatened crawfish did a lot of demonstrating on the proper way to eat them – it is like the saying that you may have heard: Pinch tail, suck head and that's is just what you do, and of course suck out that tail meat. This is fun party food, just dig in, get a little messy and best to be eaten outside. 

This was a rolling party with people coming and going through out the day and night. We cooked up many batches, keeping the table freshly stocked. People were loving it. A great addition the the crawfish were kegs of homemade beer. Perfect!  Next time, I'll be ordering extra alligator sausage. I was surprised to find that just about everyone was willing to try it and most loved it.

If you want to have your own crawfish party let me know. Crawfish have thier seasons and we can discusss the best time to plan your boil.

If you're not sure about going the whole live crawfish route, try some of the other dishes I do using just the prepared tail meat, crawfish, shrimp and andouille  sausage gumbo and crawfish and grits, a twist on southern shrimp and grits. 

Fried Chicken and Gasoline

If you happen to be a fan of the band Southern Culture on the Skids, you may be familiar with the song Fried Chicken and Gasoline. Those two topics really create an image of a road trip.

I love road trips. We recently returned from our annual drive from Boston to Florida and back. I appreciate friends who offer funky road food suggestions, but they are usually off our route and involve driving miles from the highway. Depending on the trip, we want to get to our destination, where we can then do our food exploring. 

Eating on the road can be challenging, as we generally avoid fast food and chains but sometimes you have to bite the bullet. We've found good eats at diners and delies in Pennselvania, New York and Jersey. On any coast, you can find decent road side seafood, but we have also had not so good experiences. On a highway, like I-95 through the South, the options are limited. Over the years we have eaten at every Cracker Barrel on I-95. Putting their politics aside, it resembles real food – there are vegetables and everything is not on a bun. 

On our drive back this year, we needed gas in South Carolina, and pulled off at an exit that we've never been. Sharing the lot of the gas station was World Famous Chickin Lickin, Southern Fried Chicken. My wife and I looked at each other, and I think we said at the same time, this looks like it might be good (see pic). While filling the car, I could see and smell the smoker. We decided to check it out. It has a nice menu of all the Southern classics, but we had fried chicken on our minds. Before we could order, the woman at the window began yelling out an order pick-up. Then, she yelled it again looking at two young guys at a table on their phones, "Get off the phones, we ain't got no waitress service, you got to come get it." I thought this is the real deal and it's got to be good. It was between our lunch and dinner time so we went for two small fried chicken boxes, one with fries, one with potato salad. It was busy with travelers and locals. Although they're by the highway, they're not in a hurry, but it was worth the wait. 

This was extra great fried chicken and the potato salad was the bomb. We'll be stopping in next time we're passing through. I've discoverd I have a talent of eating potato salad while driving.

Chickin Lickin, Hardeville, South Carolina

Powdered Gold, a true story

I rescently ran into a friend, who mentioned a story that I posted on my facebook page when I was just starting up my personal chef business. I have fun makng things seem darker than they really are. 

Powdered Gold 

It’s hard to believe, I’m nearly 50 years old and I’m in The Legacy Mall parking lot’s looking for my connection. A woman friend I’ve learned to trust over the years. It all seems too sleazy like I’m playing a younger man’s game. I know the stuff she has is the highest quality. After all I am unemployed and need something to occupy my time other than red wine. I do get by with a little help from my friends.

Several cell phone calls back and forth.  I find her. It’s all too cute, her child in the back seat of the Volvo. She says she’ll drive me back to my car, you don’t want to carry the stuff through the parking lot and you did order 16 lbs. I hop in; I pull the cash out of my pocket and hand it to her. “We good?” I ask.  She smiles and nods her head.  I point her in the direction of my vehicle.  Driving home the excitement is almost too much, I smile happy to have in my possession, the powdered gold,  16lbs of high quality, organic, baker’s ground whole wheat bread flour.

Tampa's Epicurean Hotel

Every year, my wife, son and I visit Tampa, Florida, to see family during the winter holidays. This year, just before we hit the road, Tampa's new The Epicurean Hotel had started making the news. The Epicurean aims to be a complete foodie-themed hotel with food events, a teaching theater, restaurants, bars, a patisserie, spa, wine and spirit store, the rooms are decorated with food themes and even have personal pantries with wine and gourmet snacks. The Epicurean is across the street from and is co-owned by Berns Steak House, known as one of the best resturants and wine cellars around.

Whenever we leave home, we're in search of local cusine and new culinary experiences. That's how we roll, even our 14 year old son knows and enjoys the routine. So, of course we had to drop in for a visit and see what this place is all about. 

We found a super friendly and excited staff – everyone from the valet, resturant staff, check in desk seemed to really be into it. We were very welcome to take a look around. Much was still under construction but we did check out the bar, resturant and food theater. All the rooms are not yet ready but there were people checking in.

This is a place to keep an eye on, this chef is espesically curious about upcoming events. Any hotel lobby with shelves of cook books is a place I want to stay. I can already imagine sitting in the lobby sipping a perfect cocktail and cracking open some of those books. That's what I call a great vacation.

 Photos are the teaching theater.