Kevin Belton's Cookin' Louisiana

-Funding for "Kevin Belton's Cookin' Louisiana" was provided by... Hey, cher, I've got my Lafayette Parish plate lunch, just one of the Cajun specialties today on "Cookin' Louisiana."

First up, we're going to make a down-bayou hot soft-shell crab and then smothered pork chops with wild rice plate lunch.

And finally, we're going to make mama's couscous.

So are you ready, ma cher, for some pure Cajun fun goodness?

Ma cher, I know I am.

[ Speaking French ] [ Speaking French ] Welcome to my "Cookin' Louisiana" kitchen.

Thank you for joining me on this tasty tour of the state's best flavors and dishes.

Now, today, we'll be visiting Lafayette Parish, where cooking is a way of life that goes back to the French Acadians who began arriving in Louisiana from Nova Scotia back in 1765.

Now, they pulled the freshest ingredients from the waters and harvested them from the land.

The Cajuns actually produced the authentic taste of Louisiana.

So our first dish comes straight from the bayou, deep-fried soft-shell crabs.

And if you look at them, they look like a regular crab.

Anything in a shell has to come out of that shell when it's time to grow, and it's when they're growing and they come out of that shell, that's when the shell is very, very soft and it's edible.

So in Louisiana, we have soft-shell crabs.

We also have soft-shell crawfish.

So just keep that in mind.

Anything in a shell has to molt.

So to get started, I have some eggs.

We're going to get these eggs beaten right quick.

We're also going to put in a little bit of milk.

I'll tell you what, if you've ever been to south Louisiana and visited Lafayette Parish, you might have seen the signs talking about the Ragin' Cajuns.

That University of Louisiana, Lafayette, my son actually went to there.

You know, he wouldn't let me wear purple and gold.

He said I can only wear red, black, and white, but he'll get over it.

I'mma wear my purple and gold because I went to LSU.

So now that we have this mixed in, we're going to put this in a bowl because we're going to do some dredging.

We're going to deep fry these soft-shell crabs.

So that goes there.

Now, here I have flour and cornstarch.

The reason I'm using cornstarch, cornstarch has things, when they fry, they fry up very, very crispy.

So we're going to put in a little bit of our Creole seasoning.

A little bit of salt.

And we're going to mix this together.

So if you've never fried with cornstarch, give it a shot at home.

I tell you what, it is really, really a nice, nice flavor.

So here we go.

Here's what we're going to do.

We're going to go dry, wet, dry, okay?

Now, I have the oil, and I'm using vegetable oil to fry in.

I have the oil heating up to 360 degrees.

That's one of the important things about frying, is making sure that your oil is hot, okay?

Now, I'm going to take our crab, and basically with our crab, underneath the shell, the gills run along here, and I've cleaned that off, okay?

Also, under the bottom, I've taken this piece off right here, so let's just dredge them in the seasoned flour.

Shake off the excess.

Now we're gonna go into the egg and milk.

And where's my fork?

Here we go.

We want to make sure he gets coated real nice, and then we're gonna let this drip off... and go back into the flour once more.

The reason why we do that is because that flour on the outside, that first coating then with the egg creates a glue.

So this final coating will stick on.

Now, let's shake him off.

Get rid of the excess.

Get a little flour there.

And let's gently lowering him into the oil.

[ Sizzling ] So let's do one more.

Remember, we do dry.

Get rid of any excess.

And remember, season that flour.

Then we go into the wet.

Grab our little fork, turn this over.

And now let's go back into that dry.

Alright.

Okay, there we go.

Oh, you're ready to go.

You are ready, my friend.

They take about two to three minutes depending on their size.

We want to fry them up till they're nice golden brown.

So while our crab is frying, I want to go ahead and make a sauce that we're gonna glaze on top of our crabs.

In our skillet, we're gonna get in a little bit of butter.

Okay, so we get in a good bit of butter.

You know, when something is frying, you can hear it.

It's like it's talking to you.

[ Sizzling ] He's frying up so pretty.

So let's flip him over.

Oh, look how pretty you are.

Yes, you are.

While our butter is melting, let's go in with a little brown sugar.

A little sweetness.

Now we're gonna get a little spicy -- little cayenne pepper.

A little garlic.

And a little paprika.

I know you're saying you're seeing red and you're panicking.

No, remember, paprika is dried ground red bell peppers.

So it's a nice mild flavor.

So let's just get this just stirred in.

We're gonna do a little touch of Worcestershire sauce.

In our sauce here, I'm gonna just put a little sprinkle of salt.

This is good to go.

So let's go get our crab.

Look at you, look at you, look at you!

You look so good!

Oh, look how pretty you look.

Okay, when we fry, always have to do a little seasoning on it right quick.

Now, let's go with the next one.

Are you ready?

You have to fry just as pretty as your cousin.

Into the fryer.

Nice and gentle.

There we are.

Now, let's get cleaned up, and I'm gonna show you how we're gonna plate this.

Oh, look at that.

Look at that.

Of course, remember, just a little bit on top.

Now, what I like to do, I like to take a couple of pieces of French bread, put it down.

I like to take our crab, set him right on the top.

Oh, come on back here.

Come back, lean back.

And you remember that wonderful spicy glaze that we made with all that butter goodness in?

Let's just spoon this right on over the top, you know, put a little bit on the front, put a little bit in the back, put a little bit all over.

Ah, yes.

That bread underneath is gonna help absorb all of that flavor.

Look, we can garnish it with a few little pickles.

I like to put some little pickles in his claws.

Just that dill flavor with it is just so good.

Alright.

Finish him off.

A little bit of green onion on top.

A little bit of parsley.

Wow!

That was our fantastic bayou hot soft-shell crab.

Next up, we're gonna order plate lunch from Lafayette, smothered pork chops with wild rice.

I'm at the Acadian Superette in Lafayette, Louisiana.

Since 1940, they've been serving plate lunches.

Let's go inside and meet Dr. Robert Autin.

Being a local guy from Lafayette and purchasing the Acadian Superette to keep that history alive, how does that feel?

-It feels great because everybody loves home cooking, and that's what you're getting when you're getting a plate lunch.

I mean, you're getting rice and gravy and those comfortable, familiar sides at a good price.

And you know you're not gonna walk away hungry.

-Now, I know you may not associate Lafayette, Louisiana, with plate lunches, but I got to tell you, this is gonna be a great dish.

Now, we grow a lot of rice in south Louisiana.

We're gonna make this recipe with wild rice.

So what I have, I have 2 cups of wild rice and I have 8 cups of chicken stock, and to show you how easy this is, in goes the rice.

Let's just give it a stir.

And then we're gonna cover this, turn the fire down to a nice little simmer, and this will simmer for about 45 minutes.

So while our wild rice is cooking, let's go ahead and take care of those pork chops.

Here I'll put in a little bit of oil in our pan.

In our Dutch oven, I should say.

While this heats up, we're gonna show some love to those pork chops.

The pork chops -- little bit of our Creole seasoning.

Oh, yeah, baby.

Yes, indeed.

And even though it's pork, you need a little salt.

And you know what I'm gonna do.

I'm gonna season the other side in just a second, but in our flour, let's go with a little garlic and a little chili powder.

Okay?

This is gonna add flavor.

This is gonna add some flavor to this flour.

You know, flour doesn't have any flavor to it.

So add a little flavor to that flour, okay?

So now let's turn these over... and do the other side.

And, you know, I mentioned that you wouldn't think so much of Lafayette as having plate lunches, but I tell you what, it's so popular.

Lafayette is usually associated with things like jambalaya and gumbo.

But I tell you what, the plate lunch, that fuels the people of Acadiana.

The plate lunch was likely the creation of a rural meat market which smothered meat scraps in rich gravies, then they added that local ingredient, rice, to feed the hungry workers.

So let's get these babies seared off into our pan.

Don't worry.

Your friend is coming.

Let's make sure we get both sides.

Shake off the excess.

This is going to sear just a couple of minutes on each side.

Now, we don't want to cook it all the way through like this.

Now, I'm using a fairly thick pork chop, alright?

You can use a thin pork chop.

You can use one that's off the bone.

But here we just need it to seal on.

It doesn't take long.

See how it gets nice and golden?

That's all we want, because we're gonna smother this down.

Remember, this is a plate lunch that we're dealing with, so we want this to go ahead and smother down.

And, oh, our rice is cooking so well.

You know, I tell you what, if you haven't been to Lafayette, like I said, the University of Lafayette is there.

They have a swamp on campus.

So if you've never been to a Louisiana swamp, if you don't get a chance to go outside of Lafayette, just go right there into the campus and you can actually see a swamp.

It's the heart of Cajun country -- Lafayette.

So this is done.

Look, another sear on the other side.

See, that's all we need.

Basically, we're doing this to seal in and lock in flavors.

So let's get a little more oil in the pan.

To this oil, let's get in some onions.

Come here, spoon.

Oh, yes.

And you know I have to show this a little bit of love.

A little bit of Creole seasoning right on in here.

Ah, yes.

Now, I have friends that everybody does it a little bit different.

You can saut your onions for a little bit or for a long time.

Totally up to you.

I have one buddy, when he puts his onions in, he lets them saut for 15 minutes because he wants them to caramelize.

That's when the sugars come out and they start to brown.

But you know what?

They look fine just like they are right now.

So, look, let's get in a little butter.

Now, I'm putting in -- Yes, I'm doing butter and oil because we're going to make a little bit of a roux.

Remember, a roux is flour cooked in butter or oil.

So the flour we used to season our pork chops with, we're just gonna take a couple of tablespoons of this flour to make part of our gravy.

Oh, yes.

Now, you see how that melts?

That's what we want.

It's melted.

Let's just put it in a couple of tablespoons.

Eh, a little bit more.

That's good.

Now, we'll just stir this around.

And it's not really gonna change color.

I just want this to cook long enough to get rid of that flour-y taste.

Now, the next thing we're gonna go in with is a little bit of heavy cream.

This heavy cream is going to smooth this out.

And also, I have a little chicken stock.

We're gonna put our chicken stock in.

[ Sizzling ] And hear that sizzle?

And I'm making sure to stir really well.

It's only gonna take about 30 seconds because of the fact that our pan is hot and we just want the cream and that stock to smooth together in those onions.

And notice I'm working the bottom of the pot real good in case anything got stuck to the bottom.

Now it's time.

Let's get our pork chops back in.

Come here.

You sit right there.

You sit right there.

Let's get the lid.

We're gonna turn this real low and let our pork chops just simmer in that gravy and get all wonderful because our wild rice is almost ready.

But I tell you what, I'm gonna show you how I'm gonna finish off that wild rice with some vegetables.

Let's get cleaned up.

My pan I have heating up.

Let's get a little butter in here.

Oh, yes.

Into our pan, a little bit of onion.

Now, this is going to be in our wild rice, okay?

And, you know, we grow a lot of rice in Louisiana.

And I told you that -- You hear me calling it wild rice, but did you actually know it's an aquatic grain?

So next time, if you have friends over for dinner and they say, "Oh, I see you made some wild rice," you could say, "No, I prepared some aquatic grains for our enjoyment."

Yes, an aquatic grain.

So it's not really a rice, but that's what we call it anyway.

So to this, I just put in a little bit of carrot, and I have a little bit of shaved Brussels sprouts.

See, this way we can get our veggies in, okay?

Now, we don't need to saut this too long.

I'm gonna get a little touch of salt... ...to put on our veggies.

Because they need a little love.

Yeah.

Oh, look at the colors.

You know, that's one of the things about overcooking food.

If it gets dull and starts to get limp, especially with vegetables, that means it's overcooked.

Don't overcook it.

A little touch of garlic.

Or a lot of touch of garlic.

We're gonna go in with a little Italian seasoning.

And just a touch of black pepper.

How's that?

Oh, yes.

Now, you don't think I wasn't gonna use this last little bit of butter, do you?

You know me.

You knew it was going in.

So I'm putting that butter right there.

Oh, I tell you what, this looks so good, gang.

We could eat it just like this.

But, you know, we're making a plate lunch.

So now let's take some of our aquatic grain and add to the pan.

Oh, look at that.

Doesn't that look pretty?

I think it's time.

Let's go ahead and turn this off.

Time for me to show you how we're gonna plate this up.

So let's take this lid off of our pork chops.

Oh, that smells so good.

Now, of course, in our plate, we're gonna start with a nice base of our wild rice.

With our onion, carrots, and Brussels sprouts in there.

And, you know, I'mma put a little bit right here, a little extra right there on the side.

Let's take our pork chop.

Let's put it right here on the plate.

And, of course -- of course, we have to go down and get some of this lovely, lovely, lovely gravy to pour right over that pork chop.

It's gonna drip down.

Oh, yeah, baby.

Grandma would be proud of this.

This would make you work hard to have a plate lunch like this.

So here we are.

And, of course, just because it's a plate lunch, it can look pretty.

Little bit of green onion.

Little bit of parsley.

Your order is ready.

This pork chop lunch plate looks so good.

I think I should've ordered another one.

Now, next up, we're gonna do just a simple Cajun breakfast dish -- couscous.

What are some of the different items you've found on a plate lunch -- a typical plate lunch?

-It's gonna be mostly Cajun food, but it's funny, when we do plate lunches, we usually drop the Cajun names for it.

I started calling my pork fricassee because technically it's what it is.

But people are like, "That ain't pork fricassee.

That's pork stew."

To me, it's like the rice and the gravy and the sides and how it all mixes together.

And the meat's always gonna be good on top of it, whether it's a meatball stew or a meatloaf or, you know, chicken sauce piquant.

-Now, guys, this is one of those traditional Cajun dishes that -- You've heard of a hush puppy, that they used to make the little fried cornmeal balls for the puppies, and say, "Hush, puppy, hush, puppy.

Don't bark."

Well, this is what grandma made to keep us kids quiet, alright?

Simple -- cornmeal.

Now, the cornmeal was always in the house because grandmother made cornbread, it was used as a batter on seafood, so there was always cornmeal around.

So in here, let's put a little bit of salt.

Just a little bit of baking powder.

We're gonna mix water in.

Now, look how simple this is.

Alright?

And all we're gonna do is stir this together.

Alright, that looks really good right there.

Okay.

Now, pan is hot.

Let's get some oil into our pan.

Now, what we want is a nice crust, okay?

We want this to get nice and hot, and when we pour this in, we don't want to touch it because we want it to make a nice little crust.

Oh, get in.

Now, we're gonna stir that around.

Just smooth that out like that.

We're gonna get our lid on it.

Let's turn our fire down.

Now, the thing about couscous, did you want it savory or sweet?

So what I'm gonna do here right quick, I'm gonna make an egg, just a nice over-easy egg to go over the top.

And you see what I was saying here.

We want that crust to form on the bottom.

That's why I didn't stir it right away.

We need that crust.

Give it a little stir.

Oh, yeah.

It almost kind of looks like scrambled eggs.

So in our pan here, let's go with a little butter.

One of the things we overcook more than anything else is an egg.

How simple is an egg?

But it always gets overcooked.

Eggs should be yellow.

They should be white, maybe with little tan edges.

If an egg is brown or dried out, something is really wrong.

So the pan is hot.

Let's crack our egg right on in.

And, of course, with an egg, look, let's do a little bit of salt right on the top.

You're gonna notice -- See how that white is starting to form?

That's what we want.

But don't touch the pan.

Leave the pan alone just like it is.

Now, look, gang.

Watch our egg.

See how that slides?

And all we're gonna do, give it a little flip.

And let's turn the fire off.

Boom.

Fire's off.

Over easy.

That yolk is gonna run just a little bit.

Okay.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Now let's get our plate.

A lot of times my dad would like it when it came scraping right off the bottom, alright?

We put some there, because remember, that bottom had that crust.

Alright.

Oh, this is gonna be so good.

Oh, I tell you.

Now, we have options, okay?

We can take some raisins.

Some folks like it a little sweet.

Put some raisins on it, drizzle a little bit of cane syrup over it.

Oh, there's our sweet version.

Or we could take that over-easy egg and just lay that baby right over the top.

Alright?

And, of course, on that egg, look, let's put a little bit of green onion right on there, on top of that, for there we have our savory side.

Sweet cous, savory cous, doesn't matter which one.

Couscous is pure Cajun goodness.

Y'all have to try this.

And I tell you what, thank you for joining me on this culinary road trip.

Now, keep that party rolling.

Bring the big flavors of Louisiana to your home.

So I'll see you next time for more "Cookin' Louisiana."

Oh, I'm gonna have them both.

-The companion cookbook to "Kevin Belton's Cookin' Louisiana" is available for $28 plus shipping and handling.

You can also order an hour-long DVD of favorite dishes from the series for $19.95 plus shipping and handling.

Both the book and favorites DVD are available for $43.95 plus shipping and handling.

To order these items, call 1-866-360-4928.

Or order online at wyes.org.

-Don't look.

They say a watched pot never boils.

So stop looking.

Because cream will never whip when you're looking.

Have you ever tried to do a cooking show where you can't move because the audio is saying they hear rustling?

So that's why I'm standing here like this, and I am just going to slowly try and cook without moving my arms.

Our dressing is here, and it's been sitting here, and the flavors blen blending.

[ Chuckles ] [ Stammering ] Blending together.

Oh, yeah.

Whoo!

Yee!

Behind the back.

The cream cheese.

Do the cream cheese.

Do the cream cheese.

[ Vocalizing ] Churn it, churn it, churn it, churn it.

-For more information about "Kevin Belton's Cookin' Louisiana," visit wyes.org.

Funding for "Kevin Belton's Cookin' Louisiana" was provided by...