Month: February 2021

What am I Drinking Tonight? Raise a Glass to Sazerac!
Top Shelf

What am I Drinking Tonight? Raise a Glass to Sazerac!

/ /

Welp, today is Mardi Gras and I am raising a glass to toast Sazerac and NOLA because they are not letting a pandemic shut down a centuries-old tradition. NOLA! Things are looking a little different this year for sure, but nothing stops Mardi Gras! It’s gonna be a cold day in NOLA today.  There will be no parade floats and there will be no overflowing crowds lining the streets all over the city dancing for beads. The bars are ordered to be closed. Krewes will still have their celebrations but the parties will tend to be more private.

That sounds depressing, but people are very creative and I have little doubt that people will still find a way to celebrate Mardi Gras in grand style.

The Darling of Mardi Gras

Though there will be more private parties this year and in observance of Mardi Gras, the drinks will still flow as they’ve done since forever in celebration of the end of Carnival although much of it will be carry-out. 

Carry-out, dine in, drink in, or at home, New Orleans has a proud reputation for interesting cocktails. Many of these iconic drinks; Sazerac, King Cake shots, Ramos Gin Fizz and Frozen Milk Punch, one of my favorites, to name a few, have been around for many decades but, during the season of Carnival and Mardi Gras is when they take center stage. But, of all these cocktails, the Sazerac wears the crown as the official drink of New Orleans and the darling of Mardi Gras.

Sazerac was made popular around 1830 and then went through a period of evolutionary rejiggering. A cognac shortage in France made it necessary to substitute with rye and then the banning of  absinthe, as a poison, was replaced with Herbsaint. Sazerac finally found its groove and in 2008, the Sazerac took its place as the official cocktail.

 I use the recipe for Sazerac from Liquor.com.  There’s also a little interesting history about the drink and alternative Sazerac recipes at Liquor.com.

Sazerac

Print Recipe
Prep Time 5 minutes
Total Time 5 minutes
Course Drinks
Cuisine American
Servings 1

Equipment

  • Mixing glass, muddler, bar spoon, hawthorne strainer, 2 rocks glasses

Ingredients
  

  • Absinthe to rinse or spritz inside of glass
  • 3 dashes Peychaud's bitters
  • 2 dashes Angostura bitters
  • 1-1/4 oz. Rye
  • 1-1/4 oz, Cognac
  • 1/2 tsp Cold water
  • 1 Sugar cube
  • Lemon peel for garnish

Instructions
 

  • Rinse and discard excess or spritz glass using a fine mist sprayer with Absinthe.
  • In a separate mixing glass, muddle sugar cube, water, Peychaud's and Angostura bitters.
  • Add rye, cognac and ice into mixing glass and stir until chilled.
  • Strain into Absinthe-prepared glass.
  • Squeeze lemon peel into glass to extract the oils and garnish with the peel.
  • Sip slow!
Keyword absinthe, rye, sazerac
There Are Still Mardi Gras Celebrations This Year and Here’s a Crab Cake Recipe to Get in on the Fat Tuesday Fun!
Recipes

There Are Still Mardi Gras Celebrations This Year and Here’s a Crab Cake Recipe to Get in on the Fat Tuesday Fun!

/ /

Mardi Gras has been celebrated in Louisiana longer than the state has been in the Union. My plan this year was to visit there for Mardi Gras and do a little restaurant and bar hopping, particularly Sazarac House on Magazine Street. But as we all know, travel is not the smartest idea during these times.

I love the idea of Mardi Gras and pledged that we would celebrate it on Retta Cooked It every year.  This is the second year and here are some of last year’s Mardi Gras recipes you might be interested in trying.   

Mardi Gras is celebrated on the last day of Carnival, the day before Ash Wednesday ushering in the season of Lent. Mardi Gras in Louisiana will be celebrated, albeit a little differently this year. There will still be lots to do and the krewes are still putting it down NOLA-style for residents and visitors alike. Folks are encouraged to deck out the outside of their homes to resemble Mardi Gras floats and celebrate “Yardi Gras” to continue to observe the health and safety measures put in place for COVID.

This year as with every Fat Tuesday for the past few centuries, the drinks and food will still flow in abundance without a break in that tradition. With the upcoming season of Lent, what better place is there to load up on rich foods but New Orleans. And, if you are not in NOLA and want to do a little something to give Fat Tuesday some love, here’s a crab cake recipe that pays homage to the annual celebration like no other. 

Along with the official drink of New Orleans, the Sazerac, crab cakes are standard fare in Louisiana and are a Mardi Gras favorite. Also as with most southern dishes, there are as many varieties as there are people. As far as Mardi Gras celebrations go, many crabs gave their lives in service to the last day of Carnival! 

I’ve researched many crab cake recipes and tried out a few. Each of them seemed to have been missing something. This recipe is a marriage of a few recipes I’ve tried and it might be one of the best crab cakes you’ll ever put in your mouth.  These crab cakes have a little bit of everything that makes a crab happy to have sacrificed its life.

Crab Cakes

Print Recipe
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Course Main Course
Cuisine American
Servings 4

Ingredients
  

  • 1 lb lump crab, picked for shells
  • 2 tbsp Panko bread crumbs
  • 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
  • 2 tbsp fresh dill, chopped
  • 1 egg
  • ¼ cup mayonnaise
  • 2 tbsp spicy mustard
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 2 tsp green onion
  • 2 tsp Worchestershire sauce
  • 1 tsp Old Bay seasoning
  • 4 tbsp butter
  • salt and pepper to taste

Instructions
 

  • Add bread crumbs, egg, mayonnaise, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, parsley, dill, green onion, lemon juice, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper, and Old Bay seasoning ™. Fold in ingredients gently with a wooden spoon or spatula being careful not to break up the lumps of crabmeat. Form into patties; this should make about 5-6 crab cakes.
  • Let formed crab cakes rest in the refrigerator for about ½ hour.
  • To cook on the stovetop, heat 2 tablespoons of butter in a skillet and fry crab cakes for about 4 minutes each side or until golden brown on both sides.
  • A note of personal preference: Although it's perfectly fine to fry these crab cakes, these crab cakes can be baked as well. 
  • Crab cakes can be baked in a 475 degree oven for 8 – 10 minutes. Place crab cake in a shallow pan that has been sprayed  with a non-stick cooking spray. Crab cakes do not need to be turned over.
  • Enjoy with a roumalade or tartar sauce.
Keyword baked crab cakes, crab patties, fried crab cakes, lump crab
What am I Drinking Tonight? B-52 Shots!
Top Shelf

What am I Drinking Tonight? B-52 Shots!

/ /

The question behind this drink was whether it was named for the B-52 bomber or the B-52s, the 80’s/90’s alternative rock band (Love Shack, Rock Lobster).  Personally, either one would be awesome. The B-52 shot was however, named for the band by Peter Fich the head bartender at Banff Sprigs Hotel, Alberta, Canada in 1977. Does it matter really how it got it’s name, though? I’m glad it’s here so thank you, Pete!  I do like the B-52’s though, the group, and Love Shack is one of my all-time favorite songs.  

The B-52 shot is now a part of my drink repetoire! I have to admit, the idea of mixing Kaluah and Grand Marnier weirded me out a little at first. Orange liqueur isn’t my thing, but the marriage coffee, cream and citrus is a celebration of flavor! It’s only a shot, and until you master the layering of each liqueur it can be a little tricky to make, but it’s so easy to get a little carried away and drink a few of them before you know it. It’s very delicious.

This Is How You Start the Party!

The B-52 has only three ingredients. They each stand very well on their own strength. Together, they hit the “damn that’s good” trifecta of well…goodness. The hook, the thing that makes this such a great party drink and makes you look like a bartending wizard is the layering, the alchemy that makes it so f’n cool. It’s all about the specific gravity of each liqueur. Cocktail Hunter has a useful chart that gives a brief explanation and a specific gravity chart chart that’s helpful if you’d like to experiment and create your own layered drink.

The New York Sour is another layered drink that floats red wine on a sour cocktail. This classic cocktail is awesome in its own right, but it doesn’t have that same vibe you get from the B-52.

Flaming B-52 layered cocktails

There are many variations of the B-52 using a variety of swap outs, the B-53 calls for replacing Bailey’s for Sambuca, or the B-54 switching out the Grand Marnier for Amaretto. Or, you could set the B-52 aflame in which case, it is now called appropriately a Flaming B-52.  Though I would venture a guess that by the time you’re ready to start putting fire to the B-52, you’ve probably already had too many.  So, don’t try that.

How to make a B-52 Shot

The B-52 is a layered drink, but it’s not rocket science and it’s fun getting there. It tastes better cold, so I recommend chilling the liqueurs.

Ingredients

⅓ oz Kahlua
⅓ Bailey’s Irish Cream
⅓ Grand Marnier

You’ll also need a shot glass and a spoon.

Pour Kahlua as your first layer.  For your second layer using  a bar spoon, if you don’t have a bar spoon, any spoon will do. Place the spoon in the glass, bowl side facing down and close to the glass, slowly pour the Bailey’s Irish Cream over the spoon. The Bailey’s Irish Cream should lay on top of the Kahlua creating the second layer.  Finally, repeat the process topping off the shot with Grand Marnier slowly pouring it over the spoon. Click here to visit Tip Hero’s You Tube video to see it done.

Enjoy and sip slow!

Hoppin’ John, Skippin’ Jenny and Fat Pockets
Frugal Foodie Friday

Hoppin’ John, Skippin’ Jenny and Fat Pockets

/ /

As far as Southern dishes go, Hoppin’ John is about as due south as it gets.  Originating from the South Carolina lowcountry and coastal Georgia, Hoppin John is said to have been introduced to America by West African slaves. Many of the southern dishes we enjoy today are rooted in the cooking techniques and traditions of West Africa. My mom’s people come from Georgia and her father was native to South Carolina so it’s no mystery how Hoppin’ John landed on our plates.

It’s history runs deep into America’s DNA. The earliest known reference to Hoppin’ John  in the U.S. comes from the Carolina Housewife cookbook by Sarah Rutledge, published in 1847.  Hoppin’ John has been further traced to similar foods in West Africa, in particular the Senegalese dish thiebou niebe according to acclaimed chef and culinary historian Michael Twitty in his book,  “The Transnational Dish of the Motherland: The African Roots of Rice and Beans”. Many iterations of bean and rice dishes originating in West Africa, migrated to the colonies along with Africans that were captured and brought here.

Traditionally, Hoppin’ John is served on New Year’s Day. This guarantees the person eating it good luck and fortune throughout the year (except apparently 2020!). Growing up, it was definitely a staple in our home.  My mom served it with smoked ham hocks, collard greens and cornbread. She was adamant about serving it every New Year’s Day. If you’re not familiar with what the meal represents: black-eyed peas = coins, collard greens = dollar bills, cornbread = gold.

Hoppin’ John is quite simply just rice and beans. That’s it! Couldn’t be simpler! My mother, Ms. Humphrey made them taste sooo good though, and while you could bet on seeing Hoppin John on our New Year’s Day dinner table, they weren’t reserved just for New Year’s at our house. It was very often a go-to everyday meal that included a few big juicy ham hocks. And, if you cooked enough for the next day well, Hoppin’ John becomes Skippin’ Jenny! How funny is that?

Skippin’ Jenny is the counterpart to Hoppin’ John. Gender-bending Jenny symbolizes frugality and is supposed to provide more luck for the new year than John (I guess). So, eating your Skippin’ Jenny will bring you greater prosperity for the year. She’s a budget-friendly leftover meal to help save some dollars and get your pockets fat! She’s a badass!

Hoppin John is the kind of meal that you think you’ve outgrown once you get a little older. At some point as your tastes mature, you rediscover the foods you grew up eating and remember how much you really love them. It’s funny that some of these foods we grew up eating have now been elevated to ” high-end cuisine.” Now, it almost impossible to buy things that were almost free years ago, like ox tails that are now crazy expensive. But, I digress.

So, here is a simple, delicious and inexpensive meal that takes very little culinary heavy lifting. While I prefer soaking my beans, usually overnight, there’s absolutely no shame in using canned beans.  Many people swear by Carolina Gold rice as the best rice to use. If you find it the good for you. Finding it online is a little easier than trying to find it at your local grocery store but, you may find it a Whole Foods. Here is one location you can find Caroline Gold online at Anson Mills. And here’s a tip, save your Christmas ham bone and toss it in the pot to season your black-eyed peas, OMG, nothing better!

Hoppin’ John

1 lb bag of dried black-eyed peas, sorted, soaked and rinsed
2 med. smoked ham hocks
1 med. diced yellow onion
1 rib diced celery
1 – 2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbsp bacon drippings or cooking oil
2 bay leaves
1tsp thyme
salt to taste
pepper to taste
dash of cayenne

In a heavy pan, cover ham hocks with water and cook on medium, topping off as needed to keep water covering the ham hocks. Cook the ham hocks until the meat falls away from the bone. That might take about 3 to 3-1/2 hours.

At this point, ham hocks can taken from the cooking liquid and pulled from the bones . Return the meat to the cooking liquid.

In a heavy medium sized pan, sauté onion and celery in bacon drippings or other cooking oil until translucent (about 4-5 minutes). Add minced garlic and let cook for another minute or so.

Add sautéed onions, celery and garlic, black-eyed peas, bay leaves, thyme and seasonings to the ham hocks and let the pot come to a boil. Lower heat to medium low to simmer for about 45 minutes to an hour until peas are soft but not mushy.

Steam rice in a separate pan according to cooking instructions.

Serve beans over steamed rice, garnish with parsley. Serve with collard greens and cornbread.