ATX FOOD NEWS | Eating our way through Austin, one delicious bite at a time.

Laissez le bon temps rouler with Stuffed Cajun Meat Market

Posted on September 12, 2014 by Kay Marley-Dilworth

Y’all, I lived in Louisiana for many years, much of it formative years for my cooking skills. I’ve been in Austin for 25 years, and had never found a local restaurant that could satisfy my yearning for genuine Cajun food. Yes, I know what you are thinking. There’s that one acclaimed spot, and then there’s that other cafe with great reviews. They throw parties at Mardi Gras (although only on Mardi Gras day, not for weekends throughout the season), have an occasional Zydeco band in house, and have so much purple, gold and green decor that you think, just for a moment, that you’ll be served up a platter of food so authentic that after one bite you suddenly begin speaking like a Yat. You all know the ones. And let me tell you that although I’ve had a few dishes from each that were spot on, so many items served under the guise of Cajun fare were just mediocre representations. It’s disappointing when I’m paying for the restaurant experience, but can whip up a better dish at home. Folks, that has all changed.

Fried frog legs and a col’ beer, now that’s what I’m talking about!

I’d been meaning to try Stuffed Cajun Meat Market & Specialty Foods mainly to load up on hard to find ingredients, like Cajun Power Garlic Sauce, but a twist of fate found my husband and I out on date night without a plan. We stopped in at the Brodie Lane location, and fell in love. Y’all, this is it. The real deal. Cajun flavors, well-executed, and staffed by friendly folks. We ordered fried frogs legs because Mr. ATXfoodnews had never tried them. They had a light, crisp and well-seasoned breading, and juicy, tender meat. They’re served with your choice of a sauce, and we went with a classic rémoulade. Delicious!

Seriously huge oysters on my poboy.

I ordered an oyster poboy, dressed. For those of you who don’t understand that qualifier, when you order a poboy dressed, you are asking for it to come with lettuce, tomato and mayo. I asked for another side of that tasty rémoulade sauce, too. In Louisiana lore, an oyster poboy is called a “peacemaker” because when a husband was late coming home for whatever reason, usually carousing with his buddies, he’d pick up a poboy to bring home to his wife, soothing her anger with comfort food. Poboys are served on French bread, and mine was pushing 8′ long, qualifying it as a quarter-loaf sandwich. At first bite, I knew this was a little bit of La Louisiane, transported to Austin. The bread wasn’t chewy or tough, and the crust didn’t cut the roof of your mouth. I suspected that Stuffed imports their bread from one of the most famous of New Orleans’ bakeries, so I asked them. Yes, indeed, they do, and I am ever so grateful. Go get this poboy. Get it this weekend. Then send me an email thanking me for introducing you to it.

The fried shrimp basket. Please excuse my odd focus, as my hands were full of poboy.

There’s plenty of options if you don’t care for oysters, such as the fried shrimp basket, jambalaya, gumbo, boudin and more. Their specials change daily, too. In their frozen section you’ll find deboned and stuffed chicken, turduckens, housemade sausages and all kinds of things. Want a super thick pork chop stuffed with boudin and jalapeño? Find it at Stuffed. They carry spices, coffee and canned goods, too. The store stocks a cooler with sodas, craft beer and also has iced tea. You can eat there, or take your goodness to go. No matter what, if you have been searching for true Louisiana flavors, you’ll find it at Stuffed.

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Categories: Dinner, Family Friendly, Local, Lunch, Northwest Austin, South Austin | Tags: Cajun, frog legs, oysters, poboy, shrimp | Comments Off

An Open Letter to TX Ag Commissioner, Todd Staples

Posted on September 9, 2014 by Kay Marley-Dilworth

Dear Mr. Staples,

In your opinion piece in the Austin American-Statesman, you state that you believe Meatless Monday is a “carefully orchestrated campaign” to turn us all into full time vegetarians. You believes meat, specifically beef, is “a critical part of a balanced diet.” Austin has a large vegetarian and Vegan population, yet our health department hasn’t issued any warnings of vast numbers of veggie-lovers dying of malnutrition. As for agendas, why isn’t aren’t you supporting our Texas produce farmers instead of creating hysteria over a non-issue? A better way of dealing with your obvious lack of enthusiasm for vegetarian meals is simply to tell the Texans (including school districts) who choose Meatless Monday as a healthy eating option this: Buy local produce.

Anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of nutrition knows you can obtain protein from sources other than meat, and achieve a balanced, healthy diet. If you don’t quite understand how, do some research. Or visit the vegetarian diet section of nutrition.gov, which is partially funded through the United States Department of Agriculture and contains guidelines for healthful vegetarian eating habits. Your blatant ignorance of vegetarianism, and conspiracy theorist paranoia paint an unflattering picture of a politician with his own agenda: continuing the flow of money from the beef & ranching industry into your campaign coffers. I suppose alienating Texas fruit and vegetable farmers, and dairy producers is okay, as they must not contribute as large of an amount to your re-election.

We’re facing a crisis in Texas in the form of both childhood obesity, and childhood hunger. We need to be more mindful about our food, and making healthy choices. Why aren’t you focusing on the fact that low income Texans are struggling to feed their families nutritional meals? We have 1.9 million Texan children who are food insecure. You should be outraged that low quality foods with little nutritive content is cheap while healthy, nutritionally-dense foods are often costly. You should be using the power of your office to educate Texans on balanced diets, whether those are vegetarian, Vegan, or an across-the-board omnivore. Mr. Staples, you should be channeling righteous anger into the fact that Texas children often are fed inferior food products because their parents and some school systems cannot afford better. Attacking a school district for replacing one day’s meal choices with healthy, nutritive vegetarian options is not righteous.

If you truly want to influence Texans toward more healthful eating, please increase support for buying local produce and dairy products for that one meatless meal a week, and Texas beef, poultry, lamb, pork and other meats for other meals. Use the power of your office to encourage Texans to buy more locally raised foods. Talk to school systems about where they source their meats, and offer some type of benefit if they change from an out-of-state supplier to a Texas one. Surely something like printed food & nutrition educational materials are readily available within the Department of Agriculture? Give those to schools who make the switch.

I’d encourage you to start a dialogue with the organic ranching and farming industry in our state, to learn what your office can do to help their products become more affordable. And why aren’t you shouting from the rooftops how farmers’ markets in our capital city participate in SNAP, WIC and Double Dollar Incentive Programs?

The issue, Mr. Staples, isn’t an agenda to deprive anyone of protein, or meat, especially not on a full-time basis. The problem is not school districts espousing one vegetarian lunch out of five. The heart of the matter is that we need to teach our children to eat healthier, and to exercise more. You can influence that, Mr. Staples. You can facilitate change for the better, in so many growing children. I challenge you to meet with a panel of Registered Dieticians, Registered Dietician Nutritionists, pediatricians, and members of the Texas Department of Health’s Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity Prevention (NPAOP) program and learn more about healthful eating, and healthy lifestyles for our Texas school children.

Best regards,

Kay, an average Texas mother who tries hard to ensure her child eats healthfully.

Categories: Uncategorized, Vegetarian | Tags: Meatless Mondays, Todd Staples | 7 Comments

Smokin’ hot in September: Pulled Pork

Posted on September 7, 2014 by Kay Marley-Dilworth

Pork blade roast, slow smoked to porktastic perfection.

I decided that my husband’s smoker has gone unused too long, so last weekend I pulled a pork blade roast out of the deep freeze (I like to shop sales) and put Operation Pulled Pork Sandwich into action. I came up with a rub, a mop sauce, and a time-frame. Mr. ATX Food News manned the pit for most of the cooking time except for the short nap he took from which I woke him screeching about the fire going out. In my defense, it was my first experience smoking pork, and I tend to be excitable.

Y’all, it was amazing. We had pulled pork sandwiches topped with my homemade Sriracha cole slaw (in fairness, I also used a bit of Yellowbird Sauce) that night. The tender and flavorful meat with sweet, slightly vinegary and spicy crunch of coleslaw was a huge payoff for the time spent tending to the smoking temperature. If you’ve been thinking of smoking a pork roast or shoulder, do it. And make sure you have plenty of people waiting to eat it, or else do what I’ve done and re-purpose it into the week’s meals and/or freeze some.

I ended up freezing a batch of meat after enjoying pulled pork a variety of ways. That first night was sandwiches, another dinner was tacos of pulled pork, sauteed onions and red bell pepper topped with Oh Kimchi’s Vegan Daikon kimchi. My husband loved his chopped pork quesadilla, and it was quick and easy to fix. For breakfast one morning, I scrambled eggs, pork, onions, and cheese, and served it with toast. It’s a versatile meat, for sure.

I spent a lot of time researching how I was going to turn this raw roast into delectable deliciousness. I know I was overthinking the process, but in the end, I kept it pretty simple. I prepped the roast by slathering it with a combo of yellow mustard and black pepper, and bringing it to room temperature by letting it rest on my kitchen counter for around an hour. Then I carefully pressed my rub mixture onto it, deposited it into our smoker, and said a quick prayer to the God of Smoking (no, not Aaron Franklin). After a few hours, I began a ritual of spraying my mop sauce on it with a plastic spray bottle, just to add some moisture and, of course, more flavor, once an hour. Whether it was beginner’s luck or not, this was a mighty fine pulled pork, and while pulling it, I ate way more than I’ll admit in a court of law. The bark was salty, sweet, garlicky divine. Please don’t ever skip trying the bark on smoked meats, ohmahgawd it is the best! Don’t be scared off by the look of it, don’t think it will only taste burnt, just close your eyes and nibble. You’ll thank me later.

I cobbled together my rub and mop sauce from about ten different sources, both offline and online. Below are my recipes if you’d like to try them out. If you do, please let me know how it turns out.

Kay’s Rub

1/4 c. dark brown sugar

scant 1/4 c. kosher salt

2 tsp. smoked paprika

3 Tb. garlic powder/granulated garlic

2.5 tsp. onion powder

3/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

Combine all ingredients well. I’ve found using a whisk to mix them together works quite well.

Kay’s Mop Sauce

12 oz. Guinness beer or other stout brew

1/4 c. apple cider vinegar

1/4 c. vegetable oil

1/4 small onion, quartered

3-4 clovers garlic, smashed or chunked

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and let rest for at least an hour, and up to 4 hours. Strain, pouring liquid into a spray bottle. Spritz pork roast once every hour, starting a few hours after smoking has begun.