Cajun Potato Salad

Potato Salad must be one of America’s favorite dishes, and when it comes to Cajun cooking, potato salad fits right in. Cajun’s add a little flair to everything they cook, and Cajun Potato Salad is right up our alley.

You already know that potato salad is a must for parties and all holiday meals, but did you know that many Cajuns add a scoop of potato salad to their bowl of gumbo?

Anyway, this potato salad recipe is one my husband perfected at his fishing camp out of Golden Meadow, Louisiana. Mike and his buddies would fish and shrimp and catch speckled trout and redfish and come in mighty hungry after a day on the water. There’s be a feast at supper time, with boiled shrimp and crabs, fried trout and redfish, and rounded out with Mike’s famous camp-style Cajun potato salad.

So here’s the recipe, published for the first time right here on Cajun Cooking TV.

Serves 6-8 people…

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Equipment Needed to Make Cajun Potato Salad –

•Large pot

•Small saucepan

•Large mixing bowl

•Medium mixing bowl

•Cutting board

•Knife

•Colander

•Mixing spoons

Cajun Potato Salad Ingredients –

•8 medium sized red potatoes (peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes)

•1 cup mayonnaise

•1/2 cup yellow mustard

•1/2 cup sweet pickle relish (dill is okay too)

•1/2 cup chopped green olives

•1 cup finely diced purple onion

•4 stalks chopped green onions

•1 cup finely dices celery stalks

•4 eggs

•Cajun Seasoning (like Tony Chachere’s)

•Salt

Shrimp and Crab Boil or substitute a teaspoon of cayenne pepper

•1 Bay leaf

How to Make Cajun Potato Salad

Prepare all your vegetables: peeling, chopping and dicing and have ready to go at mixing time.

Fill the small saucepan with water (enough to cover eggs).

Place the 4 eggs in the pan and turn your stove on High.

Once your water is boiling, put the lid on the pot and turn your stove on low (#3 or #4).

Cook for 20 minuntes undisturbed.

Meanwhile, rinse your peeled and cubed potatoes in a colander.

Pour the potatoes into the large pot and fill with water (enough to fully cover the potatoes).

Turn your stove on High.

Bring the water to a boil.

Turn stove down to #7 or #8 to prevent water boiling over.

Cook for only 10 minutes.

Drain in a colander and set aside for later.

The eggs should be done now.

Pour out the hot water and refill with cold water.

Add a few ice cubes to help cool the eggs enough for you to peel.

Peel your eggs by holding an egg upright on the larger bottom side tap on the counter to release the bubble and the egg with peel easily.

Place back in your cool water to wash off any small shell left.

Next, cut the eggs in half and remove the yolks.

Place the egg yolks in a medium mixing bowl.

Chop the egg whites for use in the blended process.

Putting It All Together:

With a small wisk or a fork chop up the egg yolks.

Stir in the mayonnaise and mustard.

Add one by one all the chopped celery, onions, olives, relish and egg whites.

Mix well.

Pour the cooked and drained potatoes into a large mixing bowl.

Using a large wisk, chop up the potatoes to your desired consistency.

We like the potatoes chopped well leaving small lumps.

Some people like a chunky potato salad.

So whatever you like.

Now mix in the egg and vegetable mixture.

You’ll need a big spoon.

Man that is looking good enough to eat – cher!

Pour into a serving bowl and enjoy.

Using 8 medium potatoes will feed about 6-8 people.

If you need more, just double the recipe.

Also remember – food with mayonnaise and eggs should stay out no longer than 1 hour.

Refrigerate promptly after everyone has eaten.

Now wasn’t that easy. Bon Apetite!

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Top 10 Grilling Tips

How to grill on a charcoal fire is one of the questions we get most often, so we’ve put together a Grilling Tips video for you.

There’s nothing like grilling on charcoal, your food is so much better than if it was cooked on a gas grill that there’s no comparison at all.

Charcoal grilling is the real thing!

We’ve listed 10 grilling tips that should make you the envy of your neighborhood when it comes to barbecuing and you’ll surely be invited to everyone’s cookout for your grilling skills.

These tips are for beginners and long time veterans of the back yard barbecue, so let’s get started with our top 10 grilling tips …

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Grilling Tip #1: Purchase a quality charcoal grill. We recommend an Old Smokey Charcoal Grill. They are available in three sizes: small, medium and large. We also purchased the optional long legs to help make the grill high off the ground.

Grilling Tip #2: Charcoal is an essential part of grilling. We are using real hardwood charcoal instead of the regular square briquettes. Real hardwood charcoal is actually made from real wood.

We purchase a bag from Whole Foods that is made from scrap wood from furniture makers. Do you even know what charcoal briquettes are made of? I don’t want chemical laden products cooking my food.

Grilling Tip #3: Charcoal Chimney – is a cylinder made of sheet metal with a grate a couple of inches from the bottom to hold the charcoal. You actually start the charcoal by placing one or two sheets of newspaper loosely crumpled in the bottom of the chimney. Then, light the newspaper.

The charcoal ignites and begins to smoke and heat up. Imagine not using chemical laden charcoal lighter fluid – you know a lighter form of gasoline.

Grilling Tip #4: Smoking Chips give grilled beef, poultry and fish a great flavor unlike just grilling with only the charcoal. There are many varieties of wood chips or chunks: hickory, mesquite, cherry and apple are just to name a few.

We soak a handful of chips in a bowl of water. Once charcoal is ready, we drain the chips and toss evenly over the fire. Soaking the chips prevents them from burning up too fast.

Grilling Tips #5: Spray the Grill. Spraying the grill with a cooking spray oil like Pam helps prevent your meat from sticking. Never spray the grill placed directly over the fire. Remove the grill and spray away from the fire.

Grilling Tip #6: Meat Preparation and Seasoning – place your raw meat on a platter lined with wax paper. We sprinkle on all our meats: sea salt, Tony’s Creole Seasoning and granulated garlic powder.

Grilling Tip #7: To Grill or To Smoke? That is the question. We grill steaks and hamburgers by place the charcoal evenly in the pit. We smoke pork tenderloin and chicken by placing the charcoal on one side of the pit and the meat on the other. Smoking enables a longer, slower cook.

Grilling Tip #8: Use tongs or a flipper; not a fork – tongs allow you to turn meat without piercing the meat and letting the natural juices escape. So use tongs or a flipper to protect your flavorful meats.

Grilling Tip #9: Meat Thermometer – invest in a good quality meat thermometer. There is nothing worse than serving undercooked meat at a dinner party. Meat should at least be 150 to 160 degrees. Eating undercooked meat can be dangerous and unhealthy.

Grilling Tip #10: Let meat sit when done – once you bring in the meat on a clean platter, let it sit for 5-10 minutes in order to seal in the juices. Then slice and serve. Yummy!

How To Grill Steaks

Want to learn how to grill steaks and make mouth-watering baked potatoes?

Grilled steaks are the All-American meal, especially for the men! Well, All-American includes Cajun in my book!

Cajuns love grilling steaks almost as much as boiling crawfish. The great thing about grilling steaks is that it is a year-round thing, whereas crawfish boils are seasonal.

We have some grilling tips, plus we’ve included our “skin-eatin’ good” baked potato recipe because baked potatoes go with grilled steak like white on rice.

We’re grilling a Porterhouse steak tonight, which is our favorite steak.

A Porterhouse steak has the filet, or tenderloin, one one side and the New York strip on the other side, with the “T-bone” in between.

A Porterhouse steak is similar to the T-bone steak, except that the filet (or tenderloin) side is much bigger.

Usually we’ll buy the biggest Porterhouse in the market, and split it, with Beryl getting the filet side and Mike getting the New York strip side.

(If you need some grilling tips, be looking for our Grilling Tips .)

How to Grill a Steak

Simple and Easy Dinner for Two (guys this can be very impressive for ladies)

You will need:

1 Porterhouse steak (look for good fat marbling and at least 1 inch thick)
2 large Idaho baking potatoes
Sea salt
Tony’s Creole Seasoning
Garlic powder
Spray oil

Grill (we use Old Smokey Grills)
Hardwood charcoal
Mesquite or hickory chips
Grilling tongs

Aluminum foil
Meat thermometer
Baking sheet

Toppings: Butter, sour cream, finely grated Cheddar cheese, and chopped green onions (crumbled real bacon is also a good option).

Let get going!

Step-by-Step Instructions

First: The Potatoes

About 1 ½ hours before your serving time, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Rinse your potatoes off with cool water.

Cut 2 large enough pieces of aluminum foil.

Place a potato on the foil and spray with vegetable or olive oil spray.

Then, sprinkle on sea salt and/or Tony’s.  (I just use Tony’s)

Wrap in the foil tightly.

Place a baking sheet to prevent splatter in your oven.

Bake about 80 minutes, or until done.

(You can tell they’re done by putting on an oven mitt and squeezing the potato. If it’s soft, it’s done.)

Meanwhile…The Porterhouse Steak

To prepare the Porterhouse Steak for grilling, place on a platter.

Spray with cooking oil spray. (We use olive oil)

Sprinkle sea salt, Tony’s and granulated garlic . Repeat on other side.

To the Old Smokey Grill –

For complete details on preparing your charcoal grill, please see either How to Grill Hamburgers or Grilling Tips.

Drain your Hickory Chips and sprinkle across the coals.

Away from the fire, spray your grill with cooking spray to prevent sticking.

Place the steak in the middle of the grill.

Sear on each side about 1 min each.

Place the grill cover on.

For a medium steak, turn after 5 – 6 minutes. Cover and cook another 5 – 6 minutes.

Check the meat temperature with the meat thermometer.

The temperature depends on your desired doneness.

We like medium (which is just a little pink) – 155 degrees F.

Carefully remove with grilling tongs and place on a platter.

Add a pat of butter and let sit a couple minutes before serving so the butter will melt and the juices fully distribute.

Servin’ It Up

The Skin Eatin’ Good Baked Potatoes are done if you give them a squeeze and they feel soft (use an oven mitt, of course) they are done.

Split open with a knife and squeeze to loosen the potato.

Top with all your favorite toppings.

Note: If we have some other side items like steamed broccoli or asparagus, we will split a big potato.

Serve the desired portion of the Porterhouse steak and a baked potato.

Bon Appetite!

See You Next Time!

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Spaghetti Sauce Recipe

How to make spaghetti and meat sauce, Cajun style.

You probably weren’t expecting to find a spaghetti sauce recipe on a Cajun cooking website, but since spaghetti is such a basic menu item for most families we decided to put up our family spaghetti and meat sauce recipe.

This is a very quick and easy recipe that the whole family with love.

We have the complete recipe and a video showing step by step exactly how we make it.

How to Cook Spaghetti Sauce – Cajun Style

Utensils needed:

Large pot
Medium saucepan
Colander
Measuring cup
Measuring spoons
Cutting board
Knife
Wooden spoon

NOTE: The ingredients to this recipe has changed a little bit from the video, since Mike has started cooking the spaghetti sauce.

Otherwise, the video cooking directions still apply.

Ingredients Needed:

2 lbs fresh ground round or ground beef of your choice

1 (29 ounce) can of tomato puree or tomato sauce
1 (29 ounce) can or crushed tomatoes
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
1 (14 ounce) can of tomato sauce or puree
4 cups Cajun Trinity (chopped onion, bell pepper, celery, garlic & parsley)
(or 1 bag of seasoning blend)
1 tablespoon olive or canola or vegetable oil
1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning (like Tony’s Creole Seasoning)
2 tablespoons Italian seasoning (oregano, basil, and thyme)
3 Bay leaves
2 cups Rotini pasta or whatever pasta you like (cook 1 cup per person to be served)
Parmesan cheese

How to Cook Spaghetti Sauce – Cajun Style

First have all of your ingredient ready to go before you start cooking.

Chop your Cajun Trinity. (Or use a bag of seasoning blend)

(See How to Make the Cajun Trinity if you need help with this.)

In the large pot and medium-high heat #7, place 1 tablespoon oil.

Toss in the Cajun Trinity and sauté 5-10 minutes.

Add the ground beef.

Chop and stir often cooking thoroughly for about 15-20 minutes, until done.

Add the tomato puree, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, Italian seasoning, bay leaves and water.

(If your sauce still need more liquid, you can add another 14 oz can of tomato sauce.)

Stir well.

Cover.

Lower the heat to #3 and simmer for 30-45 minutes.

Stir occasionally.

(Mysteriously added to my sauce was chunky salsa, ketchup and no telling what else.)

Fill the medium saucepan with water about 2 inches from the top.

Sprinkle in salt (optional) and a little bit of olive oil (or other oil) or butter.

Bring the water to a boil and stir in the pasta.

Lower the heat to #8 to prevent water boiling over.

Cook according to package directions.

Turn off the heat.

Drain in a colander in the sink.

No need rinse.

Bring back to the stove.

To serve Spaghetti Sauce at the table, spoon pasta in a deep platter and cover generously with spaghetti sauce.

Grate fresh Parmesan cheese and sprinkle over the dish.

Spaghetti Sauce serves 8-12.

We typically cook and freeze containers for quick suppers during the busy workweek.

Hope you enjoy!

Beryl

P.S. – If you have a question or comment about this recipe
(or any other recipe) please post your question or comment
in the “Comments” or “Leave a Reply” section below this
recipe.

P.S.S. – You can get these recipes emailed to you once
every two weeks by joining our FREE Cajun Recipe Club.

Simply enter your first name and email and click “submit”
on the form in the upper right hand corner of this page.

How To Make Crawfish Pie

This crawfish pie recipe was a divine inspiration when we had some crawfish etouffee left over after supper.

(Which doesn’t happen often enough to have much experience with leftovers!).

We call that lagniappe (pronounced “lan-yap”) here in Louisiana – something “extra”.

So, with a little leftover crawfish etouffee, we created a dish that was even more awesome than the original dish!

So watch the video and you can make this fast and easy dish and amaze your family and friends.

This is a Cajun recipe that you’ll want to remember, so be sure to bookmark this website.

Or better yet, subscribe in the box to the right, and you’ll get an email every time we publish a new Cajun recipe like this crawfish pie recipe.

What You Need to Make Crawfish Pie

2-3 cups Crawfish Etouffee
1 cup cooked rice
2 prepared pie shells – thawed

Paring knife
Fork
Wax paper

Preheat your oven 375 degrees.

Take one of the pie shells and carefully cut around the inside edge to remove the thick outer crust.

Remove crust and discard.

Turn the shell over onto a piece of wax paper.

If it doesn’t fall out, carefully pull out and place flat on the wax paper.

Set aside.

Mix together the Crawfish Etouffee and the rice.

Pour the mixture into the second pie shell.

Spread around.

Take the top shell and place on top of the etouffee mixture.

With the fork, smash the top crust to the bottom shell to seal.

You may need a little bit of warm water to seal.

Go all the way around.

Important Tip: You should cover the crust (the thick edge of the pie shell) with either folded aluminum foil or place the empty pie tin on top of the Crawfish Pie to prevent the crust from burning faster than the pie bakes.

Place in the oven on a baking sheet in case of spillage.

Bake for 50 minutes.

Remove and let set 5 minutes.

Cut into wedges and enjoy.

Um Um – now that’s some good stuff cher!

Serves 6

Great with a green salad.

Beryl

P.S. – If you have a question or comment about this recipe
(or any other recipe) please post your question or comment
in the “Comments” or “Leave a Reply” section below this
recipe.

P.S.S. – You can get these recipes emailed to you once
every two weeks by joining our FREE Cajun Recipe Club.

Simply enter your first name and email and click “submit”

.

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How To Make The Cajun Trinity

The Cajun Trinity is a mixture of chopped onion, bell pepper and celery.

Most Cajuns also add garlic and parsley too.

You can’t hardly cook anything Cajun without the “Holy Trinity” of Cajun cooking.

It is a basic ingredient to just about every Cajun dish.

Cajuns don’t say, “Add onion, bell pepper and celery”…

They say, “Add a cup of “the trinity”.

The Cajun Trinity is also a basic ingredient in spaghetti sauce, stews, and many more recipes.

Cajun Trinity Ingredients:

1 large sweet onion
1 green bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
6-8 stalks celery
5 gloves garlic
2 handfuls of fresh parsley tops

Note: Any color bell pepper will do, using different colored bell peppers just makes your Cajun Trinity prettier.

Wash bell peppers, celery and parsley thoroughly and pat with paper towels to remove excess water.

Slice them up.

Dice them up.

Chop them up.

Mince them up.

Throw it all in a large mixing bowl and stir to mix evenly.

Four cups of the Cajun Trinity mixture is sufficient for a stew, gumbo or etouffee.

To store for later use, place four cups mixture in freezer safe zipper bags and label with the date prepared.

Place flat in the freezer.

P.S. – If you have a question or comment about this recipe
(or any other recipe) please post your question or comment
in the “Comments” or “Leave a Reply” section below this
recipe.

P.S.S. – You can get these recipes emailed to you once
every two weeks by joining our FREE Cajun Recipe Club.

Simply enter your first name and email and click “submit”
on the form in the upper right hand corner of this page.

How to Grill Hamburgers

Grilled hamburgers. I can’t think of a more American meal.

Us Cajun’s love grilling hamburgers almost as much as eating crawfish.

There’s not many things better than a grilled hamburger cooked over a charcoal grill. We’ve been grilling hamburgers for 40 years or more, and I’d like to think that we’ve gotten pretty good at it.

So here are some grilling tips and complete step by step preparation and grilling directions by Cajun cooking star Beryl Stokes along with her husband Mike.

There’s really nothing quite like a good hamburger. And a grilled hamburger is the best of all.

For many years we used regular briquette charcoal and lighter fluid. What a blessing to get a natural food supermarket in town. We discovered real hardwood charcoal that is made from the scraps of wood from furniture makers.

Natural hardwood charcoal is so much lighter than pressed together charcoal briquettes and much better for the environment and your food.

Another change we made, we stopped using lighter fluid. Think about it. You’re putting lighter fluid on chemically made briquettes and then cooking your very expensive steak on something you use to light a candle or cigarettes. Gross!

We started using a charcoal chimney instead of lighter fluid. With a charcoal chimney, you light your charcoal with two sheets of newspaper instead of a toxic petroleum product similar to gasoline.

A charcoal chimney is a piece of sheet metal formed into a cylinder with a handle and disk with holes to hold the charcoal. The charcoal is poured into the cylinder and two pieces of newspaper is placed in the bottom of the chimney. The crumpled newspaper is lighted, which in turn lights the charcoal.

In about 20-30 minutes, you’re ready to cook on a natural hardwood fire.

It’s kind of like cooking on a campfire, but it is much more convenient. Who wants to eat food off a gas grill? You’re just gassing your food. I don’t cook my broccoli directly over the gas stove burner. I put the broccoli in a pot.

I’m getting hungry. Come on and let’s get to grilling!

Grilled Hamburgers Recipe

•    1 quality grill (Old Smokey is our favorite)
•    1 bag of All Natural Hardwood Charcoal
•    1 bag of mesquite or hickory chips
•    1 charcoal chimney (available at any store selling grills or grilling supplies)
•    2 sheets of black & white newspaper, 1 long grill flipper, 1 grill brush (for cleaning the grill)

Hamburger Ingredients:

•    1 – 2 pounds lean ground round or sirloin (about ¼ lb per person)
•    1 bottle Smokey Maple BBQ sauce (whatever BBQ sauce you like)
•    1 sweet onion
•    1 ripe tomato
•    Cheddar cheese slices, dill pickle slices or relish, shredded lettuce, ketchup, mustard, and mayo
•    Seasoning – salt, Tony’s Creole Seasoning, and granulated garlic powder

Start preparing your grill about an hour before you want to eat.

Scrape the grill with a grill brush to remove any residue from prior cooking.

In a small bowl, soak a handful of mesquite or hickory chips until ready to start cooking.

Loosely crumple 2 sheets of newspaper (the black & white section) and place under the Charcoal Chimney.

Place the charcoal chimney on the grill surface. Fill will charcoal.

Light the newspaper through the holes on the bottom of charcoal chimney.

Wait for charcoal to catch onto the flame.

(If the flames do not catch on the charcoal, repeat the newspaper step.)

In about 15-30 minutes the coals are ready for cooking.

Pick up the charcoal chimney using the handy handle and be sure to use an oven mitt (that handle gets hot).

Carefully remove the grill and set aside.

Pour the charcoal into the well of the grill. Spread around if needed with grilling tongs or spatula.

Spray your grill with cooking spray (away from the flame) to prevent the meat from sticking. Place back on the grill base.

Prepare the hamburger patties by evenly dividing the meat.

Either form the patties by hand or use a hamburger press. (I’ve had Tupperware hamburger press for 20 years.)

Do not overly handle the ground meat to prevent your hamburgers from being tough.

Season with sea salt, Tony’s Creole Seasoning, garlic powder and top with your favorite sauce.

Place your prepared meat evenly around the grill surface. Close the damper and put the top on.

For ¼ lb hamburgers, cook on one side for about 5 minutes.

Remove the cover and flip the hamburger with a grilling spatula. Drizzle on BBQ sauce.

Cover and cook again for about 5-8 minutes.

For melted cheese, place slices directly on the hamburgers and put the grill cover back on for about 1 minute.

Remove the cover and place the hamburger patties on a clean platter.

(Never use the same platter as used for the raw patties without a thorough cleaning.)

Add burgers to a toasty bun and pile on your favorite condiments.

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