Cooking, The Meal of the Month

While it is true everything, I write about I enjoy, I think my favorite is cooking. You see when you cook for someone you are giving them an original. No matter how many times you cook the same thing, it is never the same and thus, it is a piece of you no one else will ever get. Cesar Chavez was quoted saying, “If you really want to make a friend, go to someone’s house and eat with them. The people who give you their food give you their heart.”

My love for cooking began at an early age by watching my mom. We ate a lot of chicken and ground meat when I was young.  As a matter of fact, until I went to a real steak house, I thought Filet Mignon was ground beef wrapped with bacon. As I said in the Thomas Shaw biography, we were never rich with money, but we did not know that.

My mom always had ways to make leftovers look like new. Left over red beans and rice began Mexican Tostadas and left-over turkey became Turkey Gumbo. Whatever we had left over she would re-invent it and make it knew. Besides, there were so many kids starving in China we never wanted anything to go to waste.

It was her who taught me to experiment with things and tastes I enjoy. When I go to restaurants and find something I like, I try to replicate at home. In high school we would skip out and see who could make the best burgers. Cooking is in my DNA just like it is for all Louisianans.

What you will find in this section, I never fully follow a recipe. I use it as guidance initially then make it to be exactly what I like. While I know it may not be the healthiest way to cook, but bacon grease and butter are two of my favorites. I also use a lot of garlic. I figure the added benefit of garlic reduces the bad effect of butter and bacon.

In this section it will be everything from what to do with the left-over French Fries from the Brothers Fried Chicken or the left-over pizza after coming in from a late night on Bourbon Street.

Every month we will add a new menu.

 

So, let’s have some fun or as Julia Child would say, Bon Appetit.

Meal of The Month – March