Beignets (recipe)

Can you believe we saw a Café du Monde in Japan? True. About two days into that trip I told everyone (over and over) that everything works as it should in Japan. Or that everything is as it should be. Yeah. That’s what I said.

You going to have donuts? Then they should be the best in the world. Beignets. They got ‘em in Japan.

Proof:

No, I did not see Krispy Kreme or Dunkin’ Donuts there.

So today, for Mother’s Day, I’m missing my mom who is too many miles away. She often cooks beignets and uses several recipes. I’ve blogged about it :::here::: with easy recipes for when you want to make them in a hurry. If you set out a day ahead of time, or maybe just a few hours early, you may want to try the following recipe which I find tastes identical to Café du Monde’s.

New Orleans Doughnuts

1 package active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup undiluted evaporated milk
1/4 cup soft shortening
7 cups all purpose flour
oil for frying
confectioners sugar

In large bowl, sprinkle yeast over water; stir to dissolve. Add sugar, salt, eggs and milk. Blend with rotary beater. Add 4 cups of the flour; beat smooth. add shortening; beat in remaining flour. Cover and chill overnight.

You don’t really have to chill it overnight, but at least let it rise for an hour and then punch down the dough once before rolling out. To store in fridge, I put a chunk of butter or shortening in a gallon Ziplock bag to grease the inside then put my dough in there.

Roll out on floured board to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut into 2 1/2 inch squares. Deep fry at 360 degrees 2 to 3 minutes or until lightly browned on each side. Drain on paper towels. Sprinkle heavily with confectioners sugar. Makes about 5 dozen – Dough keeps well in refrigerator for several days. Cover bowl with Saran Wrap and punch down occasionally.

(recipe credit Marguerite Lyle, pg 44, Talk About Good! (Le Livre de la Cuisine de Lafayette).

I have to use a thermometer or I burn the oil.

They taste and rise better if you can make this dough a day ahead of time. Also, it is easier to take about 1/4 of the dough from the fridge and roll that out instead of working with all of it in one go. Seven cups of flour makes one gigantic hunk of dough.

Serve with café au lait (coffee milk: 1/2 cup coffee mixed with 1/2 cup warm milk). Put on some jazz, dip your beignets in the coffee and wish your mamma was Cajun.

Accusé

Have you ever left a comment on a blog and just seconds after hitting “submit” regretted it and wanted to take it back because you felt like you might have made a complete fool of yourself?

I have.

Now I’ve been accused of a lot of things in my life, but today was the first day anyone ever accused me of not being a Cajun.

And they did it here on this blog.

Here’s the comment someone left on my “About Me” page:

I’m sorry but i have grown up Cajun AKA coonass and I believe you’ve grown up somewhere in Shreveport LA, Which is not Cajun . Your video of the Cajun viral video of the guy that sounds more like a Mexican is freaking stupid. Please before you call your self Cajun please make sure you really are one.

Thanks
Dustin Bordeaux

While I found that completely hilarious, I got all fired up and responded:

You must be talking about Poo Poo Broussard who is just about the hottest thing in Cajun Country right now.

I did not grow up in Shreveport, I grew up near Lafayette. And a little down Bayou Lafourche. I can cook gumbo, catch and boil crawfish, fish oysters (and eat them raw), let’s see… skin a nutria, you better watch out boy, I can give you a good ass whuppin too.

Now behave on this blog, I know yo mamma didn’t raise you to talk like that.

Later I got to thinking that maybe someone was pulling my leg to get a reaction from me. OhmyGod, have I made a fool of myself? Come to think of it, someone had left a comment very recently over at Clair’s blog, something about her not being a Cajun (she is).

Then I thought, maybe it is the same person going all around the internet targeting Cajuns and questioning their roots to start some kind of flame war?

And that just totally cracked me up. If you want to start a riot, go try that. See if you come out of that with your skin intact.

Turns out it wasn’t the same person. The video he’s referring to is probably the one in the post “My Sorry Ass Cajun Christmas.” My sleuthing skills tell me the commenter landed on my blog by looking up “how to debone a turkey.”

Been dere, done dat.

Are You Ready for Some More Parade?

Okay, let’s go. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you have missed this, this, and that.

Again, since so much of our culture is music related, we have lots of floats with musical themes.

Even the elderly musicians get to ride and perform on a float. The sign the Boy Scout is holding reads “Acadian Music.” You always hear that at any festival you go to in Louisiana. You can’t see the accordian in the above band, but I promise you, it’s there. So is the fiddle. And maybe a washboard.

I like the way you can see the other floats that are coming if you looked down the road in this photo. I also like the pretty gowns these visiting queens are wearing. And the tiaras.

But this one… The ballerina outfit with the cape so fits into my dreamworld.

Tomorrow will be the grand finale as I am running out of photos.

Living Color

First some music from the Yamettes.

On a musical themed float. Music is a big part of our heritage. And look, it’s not just girls who get to ride in parades down here. 

I am almost positive that is my dad in the lower right corner of the above photo.

This was taken during the Vietnam War days. Notice the soldier beside the float.

You might be wondering how these things move around. Let’s back up.

Check out the old tractor. 

To give you an idea of how much restoration I did on the above photo, it was torn and very fragile. I puzzled and taped the photo together before scanning. Here is how it looked after scanning:

Not all the photos are in bad shape, just a few. I actually enjoy doing this, it’s relaxing.

More fun stuff tomorrow, and if you missed the the first and second parts of the parade, it’s not too late. Here are the links:

The beginning: I Love a Parade

Part Two: Then Come the Floats

Then Come The Floats

After the clowns with shopping carts selling balloons and cotton candy, the police on motorcycles, the scouts, a marching band come the cars carrying visiting royalty and other important people of the town,  such as the mayor.

They always ride in convertibles, but if it is a sports car, so much the better. 

What makes this part a hit with the crowd is they always throw candy. Free stuff, Yay! I’ve been in parades where I’ve had to sit in a car and trust me, if you do not have a sack of bubble gum or Sweetarts to throw, the only people who will give you any attention are the little old ladies who clap for everyone.

 

Floats. Love ‘em. The one above is a beach scene. The girl in the gown would most likely be a visiting queen from another festival such as the Crawfish Festival. Visiting royalty are spread out over the rest of the floats. 

The above is so badly damaged (a Polaroid), I almost didn’t put it up here, but I like the queen waving with her gloved arm. And that clown riding the unicycle beside the float just rocks. 

And wow, look at those seahorses.

If you missed the beginning of the parade, you have to go see it, that’s where the crazy cars are.

Come back tomorrow, I’ll have some floats in color.

Stuff Cajun People Like

Okay, to make up for sending you all to that other site, I discovered this:
 
StuffCajunPeopleLike

That guy knows what he’s talking about. He grew up not too far from where I did. Go see, go see.

That site makes me laugh.

That site makes me hungry.

That site makes me talk funny.

That site makes me homesick.

At least I’m going to another crawfish boil tomorrow.

Save The Kransekake! (with recipe)

Liv is my friend in England who is Norwegian. When her son got married, he had one request:

Kransekake.

Kransekake I think means Norwegian Wedding Cake. If you have ever had it, call yourself lucky. It is not a cake like we are used to eating here, more of a… Hmmm. Cookie? Tart?

Special pans are used to make 18 rings, all different sizes. They stack one on top of the other with the smallest one on top. Reminds me of one of those Fisher Price toys the kids used to play with when they were babies.

Here’s a photo of her set of pans she uses to make it.

Anyway, Liv made these rings and on the day of the wedding she assembled it but it was too tall to bring without falling all over the place. We had to take the top part of the tower down and bring it in two parts to the reception hall.

She gives me the cake and makes me sit in the back. Carefully. These things are fragile. Then she drives like a maniac through town because we are running out of time. We still need to assemble and decorate the thing once we get there. Then go back home and get ready for the wedding.

We go down that crazy narrow road with the brick wall that always makes me scream if another car is coming at us.

And it seems as if cars are purposesly trying to hit us because I have this fragile thing in my hands. We’re dodging cars, making sharp turns on shortcut paths and I keep hearing our wheels squeal. I may be swaying from side to side, but dammit, that kransekake is safe.

If you are in England and see this sticker on the back of some blonde’s car, I’ve warned you. I’m just kidding. Liv is a great driver.

We made it alive and the Kransekake survived without a blemish. I got to decorate it with the ribbons and flowers.

Is that special or what?

Here is how to make it:

For the Cake Mix:
1/2 kg of almonds (ground)
1/2 kg of icing sugar (this is powdered sugar)
4 eggwhites

Yes, I am too lazy to type that up, plus Liv has this ancient recipe and I think it’s too cool not to show the real thing.

So here is how it looks once the dough is rolled out like a snake and you put it in the pan. Liv dusts the greased pans with semolina flour, or something like that.

Then she takes the top of the dough rings and makes these peaks, like so:

While that is baking I go around and get a few snapshots of stuff I like in her house:

A little bottle of Scandinavian booze.

The only brand of butter Liv ever buys (Scandinavian).

And proof, PROOF that Diet Dr. Pepper is sold in England. Spanky and Sweetpea said I was nuts looking for that stuff over there last summer.

Okay. The moment these cakes are done in the oven? You smell them. It is like magic. You don’t even really need a timer, just a nose. It is that reliable.

This is what it looks like coming out of the oven.

Here is how to make the icing to drizzle over the rings.

ingredients:

1 egg white
100 gr. (2dl) of icing sugar (powdered sugar)

You do not assemble them in a stack until the icing has hardened. Liv iced hers the night before.

Now here is the happy couple, Klaus and Leanne.

The bride is a singer and has a bunch of very talented singer friends who sang some amazing karaoke at the reception. I was just amazed at the entertainment there by guests. She kicked it off with an incredible cover of Cabaret. I had forgotten she was a singer, so when these people kept coming up and performing these difficult songs I was wondering, is this real?

It was.

One of the best parts of going to visit friends from different cultures is cooking with them, celebrating things with them, dancing, laughing, singing (okay, i did not dare sing with that lineup of talent, no way), driving with them, or just going grocery shopping together.

Now here is a little test to see how well you know me. Guess which one of these things I did not do while in England:

Clean Liv’s oven
Drink tea
Spend the day in London by myself
Wake up at 8 AM