As I promised in my previous post I am continuing my story about the Tortoise and the Hare inspired more by our evening walk and sightings of both rabbits and a turtle in our neighborhood than the famous fable attributable to Aesop. Our sightings of both have inspired me to pull out a few recipes that feature them individually and most famously of the two is Turtle Soup.  The soup is still served today in many of the old school New Orleans restaurants such as Brennan’s and Galatoire’s. This recipe is adapted from one that I prepared at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in New Orleans when I slung around in the Saucier position of the main kitchen. For those who are unaware, the Saucier is a part of the kitchen brigade staff and has the sole duty of preparing all of the stocks, soups and sauces for the restaurant or hotel kitchen. Being the saucier was the most exciting position for me during my apprenticeship. The original recipe at the Hyatt yielded about 16 gallons of this fine soup, and which called for 60 pounds of turtle meat and 20 of ground beef. I have rewritten the recipe for a modest yield of around 2 gallons. This is a hearty recipe where each serving contains about 4 ounces of protein, if you want to lighten up the recipe you could cut the turtle meat and ground beef by 1/2 the amount. To make a “Mock Turtle Soup” eliminate the turtle meat and substitute it with ground turkey meat. Today turtle meat is obtained from the Chinese Soft Shelled Turtle.¹

 Turtle Soup

 Procedure Steps

1. Heat margarine until hot and sauté the garlic until aromatic then add the onions, celery, and bell peppers and cook until soft.
2. Add the turtle meat and ground beef and cook out the fat then drain.
3. Add the spices and stir well then add the beef stock and bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer and allow this to simmer for 1 hour.
4. About 15 minutes before service add the chopped egg, the ground lemons for garnish and then the sherry and stir well.

References

1. Forest Soft-shell Turtle (Dogania subplana)

Good Morning!

How about some Orange & Pecan Rolls with Orange Whipped Cream and Pineapples and Mandarin Oranges on top! Yeah, I can’t stop thinking about that recipe from the Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest. Going to try my modified version of that one this weekend.

Monique and I went on our evening walk again last night and saw more rabbits than usual jumping and scurrying around, they really come out around sunrise, but sunset time is really spectacular. And then on the last loop of the walk around we saw a turtle crossing the road, first time seeing one in the street. Just about the same time we approached the 5 pound tortoise the neighbors kid was looking at it, we gave him instructions for how to pick him up and then placed him out of harms way. That reminded me of the ole Tortoise and Hare story, seems true still today. But, then again, don’t be surprised if you hear me telling stories about Turtle Soup and Rabbit Au Poivre…in the corner booth…..of the local diner that is!

…to be continued!

Years ago, 1992 actually, I threw a Halloween party at the old house in New Orleans and it was fun even though my birthday is the same day it was not a birthday party really, just a fun time for costumes and great food. I had made a large batch of Duck and Andouille Gumbo with rice on the side and also made some Shrimp Imperial, which is a jumbo shrimp stuffed with crabmeat and baked in the oven with a garlic butter sauce. I had other culinary delights, but cannot seem to remember what they were 16 years ago. At the time my yet to be bride told me that I could make them for her anytime, my immediate response was “Well…you know, there is a price for everything!” It was a cute joke at the time and we still laugh about that flirty exchange today.  Well, I did make the shrimp preparation again, but she was already sold on me, and eventually a few years later we would become happily married. We have shared our traditions and created new ones together for almost 15 years now, so I’d say it was worth the price!

Name your price.

Yesterday it was announced that Anheuser-Busch, brewer of Budweiser beer agreed to sell it’s interests to the Belgium based brewing company InBev for $52 billion, ending a 150 year history of the Saint Louis, MO based American owned legacy. NPR devoted almost 3 minutes of air play to the story by Adam Allington and printed an excerpt on their site (linked above). Once approved by both organizations shareholders the merger would create the largest brewing company in the world, with an expected production of 12 billion gallons of beer annually. That’s a lot of beer! I don’t even like Bud, but the company brewed 75% of the domestic beer sold in 2007 with $16.9 billion in revenues the same year with an 8.74% profit margin.

Many of the proud Anheuser-Busch workers may have their heads hanging low now because the American based company with many generations of steeped history will soon be owned by foreign interests. The trend towards global ownership appears with increasing regularity and is gaining more ground as it seems American owned interests are being bought up by Japanese, Chinese and European organizations. Is this a good thing for the American economy? Will this trend allow the continual sell off of all that is American? Will “American Made” be a thing of the past? Does the global economy dictate that this trend continue for American economic success in the future?  What is “Made in America” anymore and does it really matter?  Are we willing to sell off our American heritage for a short term $70.00 per share profit?  Anheuser-Busch will!

“There is a price for everything!”

What is your price for happiness and success?

We were watching the Food Network again last night and caught up on “The Next Food Network Star” then we watch “Food Network Challenge” and this segment was all about the 43rd Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest which was held on April 14, 2008 in Dallas, TX to win the million dollar top prize. The top 100 finalists were given 3 hours to make 3 attempts at preparing their recipe and then submitting it to the judges. Each contestant had to use a product from the Pillsbury line in one of five categories. The winning recipe for the $1,000,000 prize went to Carolyn Gurtz of Gaithersburg, MD for her Double-Delight Peanut Butter Cookies, she entered this recipe in the Sweet Treats category.

Another contestant that was featured in the segment was Edgar Rudberg from Saint Paul, MN who submitted his recipe for Salmon Pastries with Dill Pesto which we really thought looked very good. He won the $5,000 prize for best Entertaining Appetizers Category. This recipe is very easy and quick to prepare using a Pillsbury Pie Crust product and a nice pesto of fresh dill weed and salmon, which is always a winning flavor combination. He was one of only two contestants who entered a recipe that included salmon. It was a risky entry, but he did win in his category!

One other contestant that the show highlighted but did not win in her category but seemed very deserving of an award was Audrey Madyun of Toledo, OH who was a 2008 finalist. She submitted her recipe in the Breakfast and Brunches Category for Tropical Sunshine Flatcakes with Orange Cream. We really liked the idea behind this recipe, Audrey used the Pillsbury Orange Rolls product, and then flattens them out with a rolling pin while adding some chopped pecans into them before baking. Then she serves this with some orange cream made from the orange icing and some whipped cream and also has pineapple and mandarin oranges to serve on top of them.  We are going to try these out soon!

Watching this show reminded me of a food challenge that I participated in as an apprentice back in 1986. It was an American Culinary Federation Food Show Competition for cold food display held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in New Orleans.  I submitted two mirror displays, one was a Ham Mousseline and Vegetable Terrine, and the other was a Pork Loin with Farci Meat Display. I won a Bronze Metal in the Apprentice Category, and this raised my stature among chefs that I worked with at the time. The event was not televised nor did it draw any media attention, but it was a fun event in any case.

I wonder what it would have been like if the Food Network was around back in the heyday of my young culinary career? It is interesting how few celebrity chefs there were then and how prevalent food and the restaurant industry is on television today!