other cooking (gumbo)

[a non-amos]

I did bring the jambalaya to the pub, but not on the day originally planned.

The state of Virginia is rather strict regarding the proportion of food sales compared to alcholol sales.  I really don't want to cause problems for the pub, so this minor event needed to be mostly unannounced and on a day with low food sales.

The jambalaya was the best I have ever made, and I believe better than any we had in the FQ.  My friends from NOLA agreed that it was better than what they remembered, be it from the FQ or from their families.

This is not a "cajun" (really Arcadian) red jambalaya.  It is a traditional brown Creole jambalaya.  There is a big difference.

Some of the younger crowd thought they knew something about jambalaya, since they picked up a box of the instant stuff and added some other stuff to it, but they came to realize that a real jambalaya can also be a form of art.  Enlightenment is possible.

I cannot walk into the pub without slaps on the back and hollered compliments.  The wait staff were among the first to try it, so I tend to get really good service these days.

This February might get interesting.  Oddly enough, Mardi Gras happens to fall on a Tuesday this coming year.  Go figure.  The pub is always dead on Tuesdays.  I intend to bring in a boatload of both the gumbo and also jambalaya, and maybe some pralines if I have some extra time.

Of course, the pralines will need further experimentation and testing . . .

[birdy]

Pralines!  Now you're talking my kind of food - sweet!  Hmmm, you're only about4 or 5 hours away...

[a non-amos]

The first time Mrs. A and I went there, we bought a selection of pralines from a selection of praline shops.  We were uniformly unimpressed.  Actually we were impressed, but not favorably.

The last time we were there I went to a cooking school.  We made pralines (among other things).  They were wonderful.

I came back and did some cooking for Mrs. A, which she seemed to like rather well, then mentioned that I needed to make her some pralines.

She responded to the effect that she does not like pralines, but she would humor me.  She had not had these pralines.

Fresh pralines, right out of the pan, are "just wicked good" (quote from Mrs. A.).

Cheers!

- A

[birdy]

So you've given us a hint - Mrs. A is from New England!

[a non-amos]

No, she is not.  I'm sorry to disappoint.  She was from Ohio and Kentucky, and I was from Indiana and Illinois.  We met in a physics lab.

I am told that our publican would like to have a jambalaya competition.  He has also made a jambalaya.

I recommended that they publicise the event, and that they open the competition to all comers.

I wish them well, really.  I want them to succeed.  One way for them to succeed is having really good food, but they also need to advertise it.

Cheers!

A

[birdy]

Oh dear, I thought the "wicked good" was a dead giveaway!

[a non-amos]

No, 'fraid not, birdy.

This weekend I took a day off of work and cooked Mrs. A a big pot of the potato soup.  The weather is starting to hint at being chilly, so it's best to stave off the chill with some nice home cookin'!

 

- A

[a non-amos]

Today our local publican made his jambalaya and brought it in for a tasting.

He immediatley challenged me to a jambalaya competition.  That raised some eyebrows.  He was absent when I brought mine into the pub.  Father, forgive them.  They know not what they do.

We still have the selection of judges and all that mess, plus the actual cooking (yet to be scheduled).

More news later, unless you would rather not hear anything further from this.

- A

[birdy]

One nice thing about hearing about your cooking is that I don't gain weight and I don't have to wash the dishes - keep it coming!

[Steadyguy]

Yes, keep the details of the this dishy battle coming in please!

[a non-amos]

There is some news on this, but I can't say much about this quite yet.

The judges have been selected, and the ground rules have been established.

As of this evening, the date has been (very) tentatively agreed upon, but not even the judges know about the date quite yet.  The publican needs to confirm that this date is possible before we finalize scheduling of the judges.  Their schedules are already rather busy, but they like jambalaya.

 

[Steadyguy]

The ground rules would be interesting in all this. Will there be a time limit? A financial limit? Must there be a witness to the fact that the dishes were presented by the competitor and not Hester Blumenthal?

[a non-amos]

Time limit, more or less.  Food is presented at approx 6:00.  Financial limit, not so much.  How much can you spend making a pot of jambalaya?  Witnesses?  How many do you want?  A large amount of prep work is allowed, but the final stages of cooking are to be done at the pub.

Competition is heating up, but not everything is falling into place.  The judge I requested has not yet confirmed.  He might or might not attend.  Is there anyone out there who knows jambalaya?

[a non-amos]

The jambalaya competition is confirmed for the day after tomorrow.  The judge I first picked has not yet responded, so I have appointed another.

My competition tried to "postpone" the event, due to (irrelevant) circumstances on my side of the competition, but that did not play well.  The competition is on, whether he shows up or defaults.

He has worked hard on his jambalaya, and it has improved much in the last few weeks.  He has a very long way to go, but I applaud his efforts.

I look forward to Sunday, as do many of my friends.

[Steadyguy]

I await the results moreso than the sports results on uk tv!!!! And the recipe will no doubt be posted, or is that a secret??