Granny Goes Cajun

Granny Goes Cajun Ruth Trimble Those television commercials that show Cajun folks in Louisiana whooping it up as they consume great pots of all kinds of vegetables, liberally laced with creepy-crawlers, made me curious. Curious enough to hop on a tour bus to visit our southern neighbor. No way was I going to drive all over that bayou-covered country. Can you imagine? A place with no hills a-tall! What I found out was that their cuisine is not all that different from ours. Their gumbos and jambalayas correspond to our stews. You know, just open up the refrigerator and clean out whatever is in there. They toss everything into a brown roux which is a thin brown sauce. Well, honey, that ain't a thing but our pot likker except they make theirs first instead of last. Ifthey think the flavor is a little flat, they douse it with Tabasco sauce. For the meat they use everything that moves, swims, or flies, just like we do, except we usually serve only one kind ofmeat at a time. On one plate I had crayfish, oysters, alligator, shrimp, and some unidentifiable fish. To me that would be like combining chicken, squirrel, rabbit, catfish, and turtle with a slab of beef. You probably know that some bus tour meals are prearranged, but I was amazed that during one week, bread pudding was served three times for dessert. However, they varied the recipe by using different brands of spirits for the sauce, one of them our own Jack Daniel's. Huh, I bet we could equal that by using a little mountain dew, or what we call white lightning in East Tennessee. Now, I'm not sure ifit was the Tabasco sauce or maybe the free use of spirits, but la, honey, that tall dark French Canadian made this granny's head spin when we did the Cajun waltz. Now that was what they would call "lagniappe," or as we would say, a mort offun! Ruth Trimble says, "I am a life-long resident ofKingsport, Tennessee. Since my retirement, Ihave been active in the study ofwildplantfoods and herbs at my Scott County, Virginia, hillsidefarm. " 42 Bread Pudding 6 medium-sized leftover biscuits 2 cups milk, scalded 2 eggs 3/4 cup sugar 1/2 teaspoon vanilla 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg Crumble biscuits into mixing bowl. Soak bread crumbs in the milk until soft. Beat eggs until light. Add sugar, nutmeg, and vanilla. Add to bread mixture and blend thoroughly. Pour into greased baking dish and set in pan ofhot water. Bake in 350° oven 45-60 minutes, or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Serves 6 to 8. Mountain Dew Sauce 1 cup confectioners' sugar 2 teaspoons cornstarch 1 cup cold water 1 tablespoon moonshine Combine sugar and cornstarch. Stir in water until smooth. Boil mixture 2-3 minutes until thickened to your liking. Remove from heat and add moonshine. Spoon the warm sauce over scoops or slices of the bread pudding. 43 ...