Kevin Belton's Cookin' Louisiana

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

Today on "Cookin' Louisiana," we're making a sweet stop in sugarcane country.

Oh, yes, sugarcane shrimp to start the day off.

If you like meat, how about some short ribs on an herb potato waffle?

And finally, all for that sweet tooth, cane syrup cake.

This is so sweet, it's almost as sweet as me.

Sugar, neighbor?

Man, I am so happy you're with me today.

How sweet of you.

Welcome to my "Cookin' Louisiana" kitchen, and thank you for joining me on this tasty tour of the state's best flavors and dishes.

This time we're making a sweet trip to sugarcane country.

That's right -- sugarcane.

Sugarcane is one of Louisiana's top crops.

It was brought to Louisiana in 1751 by the Jesuit priests.

And today it's grown on nearly half a million acres in the parishes across south Louisiana.

The grass is grown mainly for its juice, which is used to make sugar.

And in Louisiana, we love our sugar.

Now we're gonna start our sugarcane salute with my traditional Vietnamese appetizer -- sugarcane shrimp.

And if you've never seen a piece of sugarcane, this is what sugarcane looks like.

And inside, that's where the sweet part.

So I remember as a kid, Dad would cut a piece and he'd trim it down.

He could just chew on it.

Oh, it is so good.

So let's get this party started with seasoning our shrimp.

So I've put my shrimp in a plastic bag.

Okay?

Now, we're gonna marinate this a little bit, so let's get in a little salt.

Let's get in a little bit of our Creole seasoning.

We're gonna do a little bit of sugar.

Now, this is a little bouillon.

This is just some powdered bouillon.

That's gonna add flavor.

And here, if you've never used this, it's one of those flavors that adds so much.

And you may not like it at first, but the flavor is so wonderful.

Fish sauce.

That's what this is, a little fish sauce.

And we're gonna close this up.

You know, one of the great things about growing up in south Louisiana, we can always tell when the holidays were getting close because sugarcane is harvested in late October.

And in November, you would see the sugarcane laying on the side of the roads.

So you knew that meant the holiday season was coming and that meant some really great, sweet desserts.

So now that we have our shrimp in our bag, look at the flavors we have in here.

Now, here's where you can get a little frustration out.

If you have a mallet -- Hey, we keep cast-iron down here.

I am just gonna pound our shrimp just a little bit because it may seem crazy, but, you know, often when we marinate something, it allows the flavors to absorb.

Well, here, this speeds up the process.

By just pounding them a little bit, that flavor is gonna go right on inside.

So let's just give a little tap here.

There we go.

That's good enough.

So now that this is done, let's start on our aromatics.

In our pan, we're gonna saut our aromatics.

So let's get a little bit of oil in.

And look at what we have here.

Diced peppers.

I have a shallot... just diced up really fine.

Oh, yes.

Well, let's put in a little bit of green onion.

And this is something you may have seen in the store and never thought to purchase -- lemongrass, okay?

And lemongrass, very similar to the sugarcane.

You see it in a stalk.

Well, when you peel that stalk away, you're left with an inside that's nice and delicate, okay?

So you trim the outside off and this is what's on the inside.

So that's another flavor that's just great to have.

Oh, yeah.

So let's get our garlic in.

And just on a low fire.

The heat is gonna cause these flavors to just come out of this.

Oh, I wish you could smell this.

That is so good.

Okay, let's go ahead and start on our pork paste.

In our food processor, we're gonna start with ground pork.

Oh, get down in there.

Come on, get on this side.

We need a couple tablespoons of oil.

About that much.

That'll work.

Now I have a little baking soda, a little cornstarch.

We have a little sugar... and a little bit of the fish sauce again.

So let's just pop this on and give this a nice little blend.

So let's get ready to put in our shrimp and our aromatics.

The flavors that we had here in our shrimp, we'll get those shrimp down in.

Everybody into the pool.

Alright, let's get in our aromatics.

Can you almost smell the flavors and can you almost taste this, how it's gonna taste?

Now, let's get all of this blended all together to make a great flavor.

So, oh, look at that.

The steam from those aromatics and the smell.

I know I keep talking about the smell, but it is wonderful.

So let's put our lid on and let's get this... ...all worked together.

So now that we have everything all ready, let's go ahead and get cleaned up and let's make our skewers because we're gonna steam them.

Now, remember I mentioned the inside of the sugarcane?

What was on the inside?

This is it.

It's such a sweet treat.

Now, we made these skewers and, of course, you'll be able to find them in a market.

Alright?

So this takes a little practice getting used to because it's a little sticky.

So it takes a little patience.

So you just get that locked in there, just get it around.

Let's pop it right there with the others, because now let's get these steamed.

We're gonna pop this on the steamer and we're gonna get these steamed for five minutes.

And after we steam them, they're gonna be deep-fried till they're nice and golden.

These are ready.

Look how beautiful they look, and they're steamed up so pretty.

Just grab it, put it on the plate.

So now let's go ahead and get them brushed with the egg yolk so we can go ahead and get them fried.

So I'm just taking a little egg yolk.

And I want to brush it with egg yolk.

Alright, we can turn it over, get both sides and you see how they firmed up?

Patience pays off because once you get them on the skewer and they steam, they are great.

So now we need to go ahead and get these in our fryer.

Now, our fryer -- I have the oil at 360 degrees.

You want to make sure your oil is hot.

So let's just lower this into the oil.

And these are gonna fry till they're nice and golden.

I love savory and sweet.

I don't know about you all.

Let's turn it back over one more time.

Oh, they're getting a beautiful color.

Now, steaming pretty much has them cooked all the way through, and that little bit of egg will give a little bit of a crunch on the outside.

Look how beautiful.

Look how beautiful.

Come on out, get right there.

And, you know, I still have a habit -- any time I fry anything, I always take just a little bit of salt and just season with a little bit of salt.

Now, I'm gonna serve this over a little rice noodle.

Let's put our skewer there and, hey, let's finish this off and garnish this with a little bit... green onion.

Little tiny touch of parsley just to give a little color to it.

So there you have our Vietnamese-style sugarcane shrimp.

Next up, short ribs, and we're gonna put it on a herb potato waffle.

For five generations, the Naquin family has been harvesting sugarcane, so let's go meet them.

-Sugarcane is the largest cash crop for Louisiana.

We farm 3,300 acres.

Of that number, we plant about 850 to 900 each year.

I remember my grandfather having not nearly as many acres farming, and it was tough job back then.

Thank goodness we have nice machines to do the work for us.

-I don't know if you've ever cooked short ribs, but I tell you what, this is a great recipe for them because, of course, they're gonna be a little sweet and savory.

So here's what we need to do.

We need some seasoning.

So we're gonna go with a good little bit of salt.

And don't worry, we're gonna season both sides.

I'm gonna do a little bit of black pepper.

And I'm gonna put just a little touch of our Creole seasoning on.

So let's get these babies browned off.

In our pan, a little oil.

And, you know, it's important to get the pan hot, so this is nice and hot, so I'm gonna place our seasoned side down.

You know, depending on the size of your pot, you may have to do this in batches.

Basically, this heat will lock in flavor.

That's why it's important to sear things off, especially with meat.

You always see a lot of recipes tell you, "Hey, get them seared off."

That is the reason.

And we have one more.

Now let's season the other side.

Little salt... little black pepper.

There we go.

Now, let's turn these babies over and get the other side seared.

Let's take these out just right here on our platter.

We'll turn our fryer down a little bit.

Now, I am gonna put in just a little bit more oil in the bottom.

And notice what I'm starting with.

I took garlic cloves and just cut them in half.

So I'm gonna put those down to sear.

Alright, a little bit of onion.

We are gonna go in with a little bit of celery.

I haven't moved that garlic yet because I want it to sear for that flavor to release out of it.

So a little bit of carrot.

Now, you see our garlic, how it has that nice caramelization to it?

When things caramelize, the sugars are released.

That's why I put that in there like that.

So now a little tomato paste.

You know, tomato paste is one of those ingredients that sometimes folks don't think about adding and, of course, some of this sweet cane syrup.

This is syrup right from that cane.

The sugar from the cane syrup helps break down the acidity in that tomato paste.

Now let's deglaze our pan with a little red wine.

And you see, I'm making sure to stir the bottom of the pan.

You know, deglazing mean you're getting any little bits that stuck to the bottom of the pan up off the bottom.

Let's get in a little bit of thyme in here.

We'll get the short ribs back in.

Then I'm gonna add some beef stock.

Most of them are bone side down.

After a little bit, I'm gonna turn them over so that the meat side is down.

So let's get in our beef stock.

Yes.

Give that a nice little stir.

And let's just get our meat flipped over.

So here we go.

See?

Bone side up.

Let's put the bone side up for that meat to cook down in those juices, in the flavors.

One more to flip over.

There we go.

You're down.

That's good.

Put the lid on this.

I have the oven preheating at 275 degrees because we're gonna cook this nice, low, and slow.

Oh, yes.

275 degrees, nice, low, and slow.

Let's get cleaned up because we're gonna put this on top of a potato waffle.

So I have leftover mashed potatoes.

Can you believe leftover mashed potatoes?

So in here, cheddar cheese... ...a little bit of green onion.

Oh, yes, yes, yes.

We'll get this mixed in.

Now, remember, our short ribs are gonna go on top of this.

Okay?

Now, I have a couple of eggs.

Let's put in a tablespoon... Actually, 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil... ...and a little buttermilk.

So we're gonna get this mixed together and get this in.

And, you know, when I made my mashed potatoes, I seasoned them with a little salt.

Look how that is coming together.

Really, really nice.

Okay, our next step.

Here we have baking powder and baking soda with a little bit of flour.

So we'll get these two in, we'll give this a little stir to get it together.

We'll get our flour mixture in and basically at this point, I just want to fold in our flour, just get that folded in.

Now, you notice I have my waffle iron heating up.

And I've sprayed it just with a little vegetable spray.

Now, we want to carefully put our mixture evenly over the bottom of the waffle iron because unlike a pancake batter that would spread itself, here we have to do it for it.

So let's put it in.

And just take your spoon and make sure it gets to all of the edges.

Oh, doesn't that look good?

Let's close it.

Now, let's get our short ribs out.

See how the meat has just pulled away from the bones?

It's cooked nice, low, and slow, and that meat has cooked down in all those flavors that we put in earlier.

Oh, let's get our waffle.

Oh, you look so pretty.

And I know you're gonna taste so good.

Yes.

Yes.

Come with me.

Right to the plate.

Look how good that looks.

Let's get some ribs to put on here.

Oh, yeah, we'll get one there.

Oh, you look pretty good.

Let's get that little baby one right there.

Oh, yes, don't you look wonderful.

Let's pop you right here.

Now, we can't leave without a little bit of this nice, nice gravy from the bottom to put on top.

That's just the natural drippings that came off.

Yeah, it's...

So I'm gonna show you how I like to finish this, okay, with a few things.

Now if I'm gonna put this on a platter...

...I can garnish the entire platter with it, but if you want to do it on a plate like this, this is lemon zest, and I find the lemon zest just -- You know, lemon always brightens everything up.

A little bit of chive.

We're also gonna do a little parsley.

Let's put a dollop of sour cream right there on the top, and last but not least, just a little cane syrup to drizzle right over the top.

Oh, yeah, doesn't that look great?

That was our sweet and savory ribs and waffles.

Now, for dessert, gteau au sirop or a traditional Creole came syrup cake.

-Sugarcane is a tropical crop, and it loves being hot.

So when it's miserable for us, it is great for the cane.

Sugarcane harvest is a 7-day a week, every day, no matter the weather conditions.

So when it's rainy and muddy, we need the tracks to get that machine through the field so that we can get the crop in.

There's sucrose in the stalk.

And that stalk is taken to the mill where it's crushed.

Juice is taken out and then made into sugar.

Gteau au sirop.

That's right -- cane syrup cake.

Who doesn't love good cake?

So here I have flour.

To our flour, we're gonna put in a little cinnamon.

We're gonna do a little bit of ginger.

We're gonna do a little bit of clove.

I'm gonna do a little bit of salt.

Now, we're just going to mix this together, just kind of get that all stirred in really nice.

You can tell recipes that come from grandmothers because things like the ginger and the clove going in, that's just an old flavor that sometimes we forget about and lose.

Now, I have some hot water here.

In our hot water, I'm gonna put in a little baking soda.

So that's just gonna go right on in.

I'm just gonna swirl that around.

Ever heard of a hot water cake?

That's what this is.

So in our bowl, we have our cane syrup.

Want to get all of that goodness out of there.

Get on in.

We have some oil.

And we're gonna put in a beaten egg.

Let's get our egg just beaten right quick.

Get that in.

And now we'll just get all of this stirred together right quick.

Oh, doesn't this look good?

So, look, we're gonna put in a little bit of the flour, and I just want to stir this until our flour gets worked in and kind of disappears in our syrup.

Now, remember, I had the water heating up.

Okay, that's good.

Now let's get a little bit of our water in.

Let's get a little more flour in.

It takes just a little patience to get this in, but it'll get there.

It'll get so smooth.

Alright, let's get... the rest of our water in and let's get the rest of this flour in.

And the only thing left to get in is this in the oven, so let's get this stirred together really well.

Now, I've prepared our pan by spraying it.

I just use a little all-purpose vegetable spray in it.

And there we go.

See?

Nothing fancy, nothing cute about this.

But I tell you what, the smell from that cane syrup is so good.

So remember, I've sprayed the pan.

Let's just get this right on in.

So I have the oven preheating at 350 degrees, so let's get this in the oven.

Now, this is gonna bake in the oven -- 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean and the top is a little spongy.

Okay, gang, let's make this icing.

Here, I have softened butter.

And I just want to cream this together.

Just a little bit, just to get that creamed just a tiny bit.

Let's get in a little powdered sugar.

I know what you're thinking.

I can hear you thinking.

You're saying to yourself, "That powdered sugar is gonna go everywhere.

This is gonna be fun to watch."

But I'm gonna put in a splash of vanilla.

Now, that'll give us a little moisture in there.

So hopefully our sugar doesn't go all over the place.

So you just have to be patient with it and work it slow and it just takes a couple of minutes, but it'll cream together really, really nice.

Okay, now that we've got this going, let's get in the remaining powdered sugar and plus we're gonna get in our cane syrup.

We'll get our cane syrup in.

Oh, yes.

Now, this is gonna get nice and smooth.

Doesn't that look pretty?

Oh, yes, let's take that out.

Now, let's take our cake.

You notice I have put parchment paper all around our cake because I find it helps when you're decorating and the icing won't get all over the platter.

So here, let's just spread our icing all over.

I just like to spread it on the top.

Some folks like more icing.

Some folks like less icing.

See, I'm getting a little bit of that icing on the side now, but that's okay.

Oh, yeah, baby, you smell so good.

And then pull off your paper.

Gteau au sirop.

Old-fashioned sugarcane cake.

What a sweet ending for our visit to sugarcane country.

Thank you so much for hanging out with me on this culinary road trip.

Now you've got to keep that party rolling.

Bring the big flavors of Louisiana to your home.

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

-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.

-Oh, how are you?

I am so glad you're here.

Thank you for joining me on "Cookin' Louisiana."

No.

Yes.

Of course.

You're gonna come out pretty.

I know you are.

I know you don't want to, but you are.

The people want to see you all purty.

Tender biscuits topped with scratch-made sausage gravy.

Now, today, I'm gonna make a cheese...cake.

I'm sorry.

Here, we can "saude" -- "Saude."

Have you ever "sauded" your vegetables?

It's much better than sauting.

You should all try to "saude."

If I cook it, they will come.

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

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