Umami, Ooh My! Beef Brisket - Southern BBQ Sauce Contest

The winning recipe for Brisket in the Southern BBQ Sauce/Matherne's Supermarket/Bite and Booze contest went to Jeremy Wells, author of the blog Faire Les Courses, for a truly unique and equally intriguing creation.  I wasn't sure how this would turn out, but it was certainly worth meeting up with Jeremy on campus to try it out!

Jay Ducote presents a Southern Bar-B-Que Locker to Jeremy Wells

Well, let's get to it.  This is how Jeremy described his Brisket:

"I call this Umami, Ooh My! Beef Brisket. Umami, from the Japanese word for delicious, is savoriness, the fifth basic taste after sweet, salty, bitter, and sour. While sweet tastes often accompany pork and chicken well, beef is better paired with more savory flavors, which is why steaks are paired with red wines. The injection/marinade combines the savoriness of umami with some Asianeque flavors associated with the term's origin.

Two parts fresh pineapple juice
One part soy sauce
One part fresh-brewed green tea
One-half teaspoon Southern BBQ Cajun Seasoning
Dash of cayenne pepper

Pineapple juice, despite being sweet, soy sauce, despite its saltiness, and green tea, despite its mild flavor, actually have high levels of umami flavor. The flavors combine well and aren't overpowering, so inject the mixture liberally throughout the brisket.

The rub combines Southern BBQ's Louisiana Sweet Mesquite rub with another food high in umami: grated Parmesan cheese. About three parts rub to one Parmesan should work. After the whole brisket is liberally coated, smoke it for 1.5-2 hours per pound.

Unlike the other four tastes, umami from different ingredients produces a synergistic effect; in other words, a fifty-fifty mixture of two umami flavors can produce as much as eight times the flavor of either ingredient alone! So grab a beer, play a game of flip cup, and enjoy this "Absolutely Cajun, Positively Delicious" umami experience!"

Jeremy's "Umami" Brisket

Special thanks to Matherne's on Highland at Kenilworth for supplying the meat!

Smoked Cajun Carolina Pulled Pork - Southern BBQ Sauce Contest

Our second winning recipe in the Southern BBQ Sauce Bar-B-Que Locker Contest came from Lawrence VanZomeren with SOLA Tailgating.

Lawrence VanZomeren receives his Southern Bar-B-Que Locker from Jay Ducote

Here is Lawrence's recipe for Smoked Cajun Carolina Pulled Pork:


Smoked Cajun Carolina Pulled Pork
Prep:
The pork shoulder will start early Friday evening by being placed in brine.  The purpose for the brine is to seal the juices into the pork shoulder while it is on the smoker.  The recipe for the brine is
2 gallons distilled water
1.5 cups of molasses
1 cup of brown sugar
1.5 cups of salt (no iodine) or sea salt
1 cup of southern Bar-b-q seasoning salt
The brine and the pork shoulder will be kept refrigerated overnight for no less than 8 hours. I will use the process of smoking the shoulder to cook the meat. Once done brining I will dry the meat with paper towel and apply the Southern Cajun rub extremely heavy.

Cooking:
Once at the tailgate party I will fire up the smoker and get the wood chips smoking. The best way to cook the shoulder is to do it keep it smoky and cook it for a long time and at a low temperature.  I will use apple wood chips for the flavor.  Smoking the shoulder will last the first ¾ of the time and then it will just cook the last ¼ this all depends on my experiences and how I feel the shoulder is cooking up

After the meat is removed from the smoker it will sit and not be touched for 30min in a pan covered with tin foil.  After the resting period the pork will be pulled and the southern bar-b-q sauce will be added.  The flavors of the brown sugar in the brine and the brown sugar sauce will come together very nicely.  

The Cajun Carolina Pork Shoulder rests before getting pulled apart and mixed with sauce

Special thanks to Matherne's on Highland at Kenilworth for supplying the meat!

Mongolian Chicken Thighs - Southern BBQ Sauce Contest

The first winner of the Southern BBQ Sauce Bar-B-Que Locker contest is Alan Manda and his Southern Mongolian Chicken Thighs.  Alan took home the prize for the chicken category and grilled up his recipe prior to the LSU vs. Alabama football game.

Jay Ducote hands the Southern Bar-B-Que Locker over to Alan Manda

Alan submitted the following recipe for the contest:

12 Boneless Chicken Thighs
Southern Cajun Seasoning
Hoisin Sauce
2 Bundles of Green Onions
Southern Smokehouse Brown Sugar Grill-N-Que Sauce
Southern Cajun Basting Spray
4 cloves of Garlic (minced)

-Marinate Chicken Thighs overnight in 1 cup of Hoisin Sauce and 1 cup of Southern Smokehouse Brown Sugar Grill-N-Que Sauce, garlic, and 1/2 bundle of chopped green onions.  Add more in equal parts if needed to cover chicken.

- Remove chicken and lightly sprinkle with Southern Cajun Seasoning to desired spice level

- Grill chicken, while spraying with Southern Cajun Basting Spray as needed.

- Chop up the remaining green onions.  After chicken is done and put onto a serving dish, top with the green onions.  In a bowl on the side, have 2 cups Southern Grill-N-Que Sauce, 3/4 cup of hoisin sauce, 1 teaspoon of Southern Cajun Seasoning, available is anyone wants to add extra sauce.

-Makes a perfect tailgating food that people can grab for a quick bite, or put on a bun to enjoy.  Southern BBQ with an Asian twist.

Chicken on the grill gets a light dusting with Southern's Cajun Seasoning

Mongolian Chicken Thighs with the Southern Bar-B-Que Locker ingredients

Special thanks to Matherne's on Highland at Kenilworth for supplying the meat!

Indulge in Gourmet at Sweet Wishes Café

This article has been published in the November 2010 issue of Town Favorites Magazine. You can visit the Town Favorites website at http://www.townfavorites.com/, follow them on Twitter @TownFavorites, "Like" them at Facebook.com/TownFavorites, and find their magazines at over 150 restaurants and businesses around Baton Rouge! Pick up a copy today!

Indulge in Gourmet at Sweet Wishes Café
by Jay D. Ducote

In November 2007 Rhonda Weeks and Sheetal Bueche opened Sweet Wishes Café on Perkins Road. They wanted to open a business, Rhonda liked to bake and decorate, and gourmet cupcakes were an up and coming trend in big cities around the country. Thinking the idea would fit in well in Baton Rouge, their shop opened its doors for cupcakes to go or as a place to relax with their delicacies, coffee, and free wireless internet.

Rhona Weeks and Jay Ducote pose with cupcakes at Sweet Wishes

Sweet Wishes keeps eight to ten flavors available each day on a mostly rotating basis. While the Red Velvet, Heavy Duty Chocolate, Plain Jane, and Chocolate Chip are the regulars on their menu, other assorted cupcakes will come and go with the seasons or with requests from customers. The café owners pride themselves on their level of customer service. If you give a couple days notice they can have any flavor on the menu, not just the eight to ten that are available at the counter. They do custom cakes, are willing to do last-minute jobs, and also specialize in wedding cupcakes and corporate gifts with company logos screen-printed onto the frosting. According to Rhonda, the logo sweets make great holiday presents or “thank you” items for clients.

Delightful Gourmet Cupcakes on display at Sweet Wishes Cafe

The ladies at Sweet Wishes Café played with different flavors a lot more when they were first getting started than they do now. Still, every once in a while they invent something new. Their most recent flavors play with fruit fillings like apple, blueberry, and apricot. Rather than stuff their cupcakes with a blob of fruit filling, they insert multiple columns of fruit throughout the cake, allowing the eater to taste some in every bite without ever getting an overload. I found the Blueberries & Cream cupcake to be tantalizing to the taste buds with just the right amount s of cake and filling in each bite.

Pupcakes also highlight the menu at Sweet Wishes. These gourmet dog treats are made with oatmeal, cheese, whole wheat flour and other ingredients that are ideal snacks for your puppy. They also serve ice cream from the LSU Dairy Store, making them one of the few places on earth to get LSU ice cream. Rhonda and Sheetal proudly brew Baton Rouge’s own Community Coffee. However, it isn’t a one way relationship. During the holidays, CC’s Coffee Houses dish up Sweet Wishes’ Chocolate Mint cupcakes. Sounds like a great way to celebrate to me!

Geaux Tigers!

In the end though, a gourmet cupcake doesn’t actually do any good unless it tastes fantastic. Fortunately for Sweet Wishes, their cakes live up to the billing. I sampled quite a few cupcake varieties including each of their four regular flavors as well as Toffee Temptation, Blueberries & Cream, and Chai. I found the Chai cake to be particularly interesting and a great flavor for a cupcake. Sweet Wishes flavors are found in the cake, not loaded in the frosting. The cake itself is slightly heavier and denser than a typical cupcake while still delivering the necessary moistness, which appealed to my palate. The frosting is the same on all cupcakes. Sweet Wishes uses a cream cheese based frosting that is far more inviting than most completely sugared cupcake toppings. The cream cheese base allows the frosting to highlight the flavors in the cake while providing a great balance between sweetness and substance at the same time.

Jay Ducote takes a bite of the Toffee Temptation cupcake

The Toffee Temptation had a distinct taste with crunchy toffee on top. The textures played really well together and made it one of my favorite cupcakes of the evening. However, while the Red Velvet is consistently their number one seller these days, my personal favorite cupcake was undoubtedly the Heavy Duty Chocolate. Rhonda and Sheetal load the rich chocolate cake with extra chunks of dark chocolate to make the cupcake explode with a chocolate overload. Once again, the cream cheese based icing pairs extremely well as it smoothes out the richness of the chocolate and allows the eater to taste just how delicious the whole thing really is. Heavy duty, yes, but nothing I couldn’t tackle over and over again. It would be worth it… despite my growing waistline. Decadent and delicious!

For more information about Sweet Wishes Café, you can visit them at 10889 Perkins Road, find them online at www.sweetwishescafe.com, follow them on twitter @SweetWishesCafe, like them on facebook.com/SweetWishesCafe, or give them a call at 225-757-6880. Enjoy!

Jay D. Ducote is the author of the blog Bite and Booze, which chronicles his culinary and indulgent cultural experiences around Baton Rouge, South Louisiana, and the world. It can be found at www.biteandbooze.com. You can also reach him by email at jay@biteandbooze.com, like the Bite and Booze fan page on facebook.com/biteandbooze, and follow him on Twitter @biteandbooze. 

Thanks to Eric Ducote of BRBeerScene.com for taking all the pictures for this article.

Things To Do
Baton Rouge

LSUCxC Inside the Communication Studios with Jay Ducote

If you missed the live show or the live ustream feed of my interview with LSU Communication Across the Curriculum (@lsucxc), you can watch/listen to the whole thing below!  This was recorded live in Studio 151, Coates Hall, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, La. on 11/17/2010.  There is a slight audio glitch at the very beginning but after that everything works fine.  Enjoy, and let me know what you think!

Here is a table of contents featuring the highlights for those who might not want to watch/listen to the whole thing!

2:15 Things get kicked off

3:00 When did I decide my passion and how I got started with Bite and Booze

6:00 How I decided to start a blog

8:35 How did I decide how I would promote Bite and Booze (Facebook, Twitter, and more)

9:15 Shout out to Foodbuzz

11:25 Town Favorites Magazine and other local publications and how that gives credibility, "just a blogger"

14:30 Communication and sense of community, community around food

16:00 Baton Rouge Social Media Association (@BRSocMe) shout out
21:45 Q: How many hours do I spend on the blog/blog activities during a typical week?

22:20 Shout out to the Tin Roof Brewing Company
23:00 Mention of video for Raising Cane's and talking about turning hobby into money
24:40 Q: Have you thought about moving or going anywhere else for your blog?  Do you get any travel opportunities from the blog?
27:35 Q: How do I write differently about something like tailgating where it is individual cooks vs writing about a restaurant or professional chefs? How do approach asking strangers for food, etc.?  Talking about filming the LSU Tailgating videos!
29:20 Q: Can you talk a little bit about your Twitter strategy?  Difference between Twitter and Facebook in communications and communities.  Giving BBQ some love, tailgating, etc.
34:55 Q: (I like this one, thanks Lindzee!) Do you feel it's creepy to just randomly reply or mention people on Twitter?
36:00 How do you monitor yourself online and see what is happening related to you and your blog?
40:20 Talking about the other Jay Ducotes in the world
41:05 Q: Are the great opportunities out there coming to me or am I having to actively seek them out?
42:15 My good advice for the day, mention of Ninja Snowballs Videos
44:05 Getting paid to do certain things but not others... a little journalistic integrity
44:50 Tony Chachere's/CSS Tailgating Cook-off
47:00 What should other people be trying to do right now to be successful?  Attitude about networking.  "What can I do for you" attitude?
48:20 "What's Cookin'?" - That's for you, Tommy.
48:50 Q: How can vote for you in the cook-off?
49:40 Q: Who are the other two finalists competing with you in the cook-off?

And that's it.  Thanks to everybody at LSU HHS, CxC, and more that invited me to speak and put "Inside the Communication Studio" on.  I really appreciate the opportunity, and I look forward to doing it again in the future!  Feel free to share this with all your friends who may have missed it!

Homecoming Tailgating: On Campus for LSU vs ULM

This past weekend I found quite a few treats around campus, though tailgating was a little slow compared to the week before when Bama was in town.  Still, I ate well as I came across a gumbo cook-off and a group that had boiled crabs, boiled shrimp, jambalaya, and white beans.  I also got to hang out with Mike the Tiger and watch the Golden Band from Tiger Land start their march.  Enjoy, and Geaux Tigers!

Make sure to check us out again for the Ole Miss game on November 20th!  It is the last home game of the year, and I'll be competing in the Tony Chachere's Tailgating Cook-off.  Voting will be going on from November 19th to 30th, so make sure to a true Louisianian by voting early and often!

Schedule:

LSU vs. West Virginia

LSU vs. Tennessee

LSU vs. McNeese State

LSU vs. Alabama

LSU vs. ULM

LSU vs. Ole Miss

Tin Roof Beer rolls out in Baton Rouge

The Tin Roof Brewing Company is ready to roll out their first selections to draft beer starting tomorrow (Thursday, November 18, 2010), so naturally I got a sneak peak at what is in store for craft beer fans in Baton Rouge.  Setting up shop off of Nicholson Drive between LSU and Downtown, Tin Roof is starting with two brews to give us a thirst-quenching taste of local flavors.  The Voodoo Bengal Pale Ale is the beer that I'm most excited about.  It is a slightly hoppy American pale ale that is brewed with Louisiana's own Steen's Cane Syrup.  The beer has an excellent mild fruit nose and a beautiful balance between the malt, hops, and cane syrup taste.  For those who may not be as much of a hops enthusiast as I am, the Perfect Tin Amber provides a solid amber style beer with a nice malt presence.  Either way, you shouldn't be disappointed!

Voodoo Bengal Pale Ale (left) and Perfect Tin Amber (right)

Tin Roof's Brew Kettles

Tin Roof's Fermenting Tanks

The best news about everything is that the wait is over for Baton Rouge to be able to taste their city's very own beer!  This weekend William McGehee and Charles Caldwell at Tin Roof have a roll out planned in efforts to get a beer in as many hands of craft beer lovers and local product supporters as possible.  Here is the schedule:

Thursday 11/18

The Bulldog on Perkins, 4-9 PM

Friday 11/19
Happy's Downtown 4 - close with David Borne for your musical enjoyment
Mellow Mushroom on Burbank 5 -7
Chimes East on Coursey 5 - 7
Chimes LSU 7 - 9

Saturday 11/20
Walk-On's both locations... especially at the Burbank location after the Ole Miss football game!

Many of those featured times and places will also have specials like $3 pints (very good price for such small-batch local craft beer), free jambalaya, and more.  Check it out, bring a friend, drink plenty, and support a new Baton Rouge business!  CHEERS!

Tin Roof 1/6 barrel kegs ready to roll out to a bar near you!

Make sure you keep up with Tin Roof on Twitter and Facebook!  Tell them Bite and Booze sent you!

Things To Do
Baton Rouge

Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers Grand Opening - Store #94

Last Thursday, on Veteran's Day, I had the privilege of attending the grand opening ceremonies for the 94th Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers restaurant.  The event occurred at 8899 Florida Blvd., marking the 18th Raising Cane's in the Greater Baton Rouge area.  The kickoff event for the restaurant included a Veteran's Day tribute complete with the LSU Pershing Rifles, multiple Cane's crew member Veterans, and country music recording artist David St. Romain, a Veteran himself, singing the National Anthem.

Also in attendance were Raising Cane's Founder, CEO, Fry Cook, and Cashier Todd Graves, Baton Rouge Mayor-President Kip Holden, the Broadmoor High School cheerleaders, and the best fast-food mascot around, Raising Cane II!  Raising Cane's also presented a $1,000 check to the American Cancer Society and donated 15% of all proceeds from the day to the American Legion.  I teamed up with TOMMYStv to capture the ribbon cutting and grand opening on video.  Enjoy, and eat some chicken fingers!

Oh, and one more thing.  My friends at Raising Cane's left me with this gift basket to give away to a lucky reader of Bite and Booze!  Just post a comment below telling me how you order at Cane's.  For example, I go for the #1 Box Combo no slaw extra toast, as seen in the above video.  Also, make sure I know how to get in touch with you.  One winner will be chosen at random.  You have until the end of November to enter so I can get this puppy to somebody's home for the Holidays.  What is your One Love?

Raising Cane's to open restaurant #94 in Veteran's Day Style!

Raising Cane's, a now national chicken finger restaurant chain that got its start right here in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is set to celebrate the grand opening of the 94th Raising Cane's on Florida Boulevard tomorrow.  I'll be there to help them get started in sauced up style!  The new location, near Cortana Mall, will enter the marketplace with a Veteran's Day tribute starting at 9:30 AM.  The ceremony will feature a ribbon cutting and a fundraising event benefiting the American Legion. The LSU Pershing Rifles will present the colors and country music singer David St. Romain will sing the national anthem. The event will kick off a one day fundraiser for the American Legion Scholarship Fund. Raising Cane’s will donate 15 percent of net proceeds on Veteran’s Day from the Florida Boulevard restaurant for any customers mentioning the fundraiser. Additionally, Raising Cane’s will present a $1000 check to the American Cancer Society – a donation made on behalf of a customer who won the restaurant’s Give Back Giveaway.  Also set to be in attendance are Todd Graves, Raising Cane II, and Mayor-President Kip Holden.  Plus, if you come by early, I'm sure you'll find a free chicken finger or two!

The 94th Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers on Florida Blvd in Baton Rouge

WHO:    Todd Graves and yellow lab Cane II, Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers

LSU Pershing Rifles

Mayor-President Kip Holden

Adam Knapp, Baton Rouge Area Chamber

David St. Romain, Country Music singer and Nashville Star finalist

Percy Singleton, Cortana Mall General Manager

American Legion veterans

Broadmoor High cheerleaders

WHAT: Ribbon cutting at Cane’s 94^th restaurant

            Veterans’ Day ceremony including LSU Pershing Rifles presenting the colors

            Fundraiser for American Legion scholarship fund

            $1000 check presentation for American Cancer Society

WHEN: Thursday, November 11, 2010 9:15 A.M – guests arrive program begins at 9:30 a.m.

WHERE: Raising Cane’s 8899 Florida Blvd, Baton Rouge, La, 70815

Oh, and don't forget to get some of that fresh squeezed lemonade... though it actually may have been even better on a snowball like this:

Submit Your Flavor Contest - Semi-finals from Contrast Films on Vimeo.

LSU vs Alabama Tailgating: On Campus at LSU

LSU hasn't had a game day like this in a few years.  I just wish it could have been a night game!  Still, even early in the morning activity buzzed around the oak lined parking lots and front lawns of academic edifices.  While wandering around campus to check out some sights with Taylor Mathis, who contacted me to do his "Taylor Takes a Taste" tailgating tour at LSU, I quickly found a guy cooking an elephant right off of South Stadium Drive.  Chef Randy said the elephant's name was big Al.  Poor guy.  He got eaten by Tigers.  After I tried elephant for my first time, our crew went over to the RV lot on the other side of Nicholson Extension where I found Dynamite and Dwayne doing their best work with a deep fryer.  C'est Bon!  Check out the On Campus video from LSU vs Alabama!

Make sure to check us out again for the ULM game on November 13th!  We'll get plenty of footage for Homecoming!  If you'll be cooking something that I just have to check out, make sure to post a comment or let me know where to find you!

Schedule:

LSU vs. West Virginia

LSU vs. Tennessee

LSU vs. McNeese State

LSU vs. Alabama

LSU vs. ULM

LSU vs. Ole Miss

Blackberry Bourbon Boston Butt Claims Cook-off Victory in Round 1!

Bite and Booze's BBQ Recipe for
Blackberry Bourbon Bone-In Boston Butt 

 has finished the 
Tony Chachere’s Tailgate Cook-off in
FIRST PLACE!

After months of tireless voting, Jay Ducote's recipe, which represented LSU against the other 11 universities in the SEC, has claimed the top spot in the Tony Chachere's and Comcast Sports South Tailgating Cook-off!  The final tally for the top three after round one looked like this:

1. LSU - 75,357
2. Ole Miss - 67,475
3. Mississippi State - 66,440

I then cooked the recipe on campus at the LSU vs Ole Miss football game tailgate party in Baton Rouge on November 20th.  We filmed the cook-off for an episode of SportsNite that featured the recipes.  

The final round was also be determined by online voting, which I also won.

Below is a list of prizes for the top winner, LSU!  Thanks everyone!

1st prize
1 large Big Green Egg plus accessories
2 Tony Chachere's T-shirts
2 Tony Chachere's coozies
2 Tony Chachere's aprons
1 year Supply of Tony Chachere's Products
1 Cajun Country Cookbook full of Mr. Tony's Recipes
1 Ole Master Gift Set
1 Mr. Tony's Favorites Gift Set
1 Marinade Kit
A private Tony's Catered cooking event for 25 people ( values at $1500)

You can see more coverage about the recipe at the following links:

WBRZ Baton Rouge

LSU Reveille

Bite and Booze Video

Recipe Finalist Announcement

4th Annual Purple and Gold Wine Dinner at Galatoire's Bistro

Not too long ago I did a big blog post about a dinner I had at Galatoire's Bistro.  My good friend Brian Thom is the head bartender, and he was excited to host Eusebio Gongora, Chef Partner at Fleming's Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar, and I for an evening of cocktails, wine, and delicious food.  You can check out that blog post here.

Last month we filmed the bar scenes of the Ninja Snowballs FINALS video inside Galatoire's Bistro.  The dim lighting, high archways, and beautiful bar created a perfect setting for the dream sequence shoot as we made a play on the Mint Julep and Lemon Fluff snowball flavors by turning them into their appropriate cocktails, created by none other than Brian Thom.  You can catch that video below if you haven't seen it yet, and see all the other Ninja Snowballs videos here.

Submit A Flavor Contest - Finals from Contrast Films on Vimeo.

Now you have an AWESOME opportunity to enjoy Galatoire's Bistro for yourself.  Join me on Thursday, November 18th at 7:00 pm to kick-off the LSU-Ole Miss football weekend at the 4th Annual Purple and Gold Wine Dinner at Galatoire's Bistro, featuring the wines of Penfolds. Chef Roberto Bustillo will cook up items such as the Les is More braised lamb shank and Death Valley broiled scallops, just to name a few (Get it?  All the dishes have LSU vs Ole Miss themes, hence the Purple and Gold!). For more information and reservations, call Dana Abay at (225) 753-4864.  You can see the full menu below.  I assure you, it will be fantastic and worth every penny!!  Feel free to show that you are coming and invite friends on their Facebook event page too.  Hope to see you there!

Marx's Foods Iron Foodie 2010 on Foodie BlogRoll

UPDATE: I was selected as one of the top 25 entries, so I'll get to compete in the challenge!  Stay tuned to see what I come up with!

The Foodie BlogRoll has presented a challenge that struck me at my core.  Partnering with Marx Foods, a company dedicated to providing premium restaurant supply food products that now sells straight to the public as well, they have given 25 bloggers the opportunity to create a custom dish with superb products.  I can only hope to be one of the chosen 25!  To enter, I have to respond to these five questions, so let's get after it.

• Why do you want to compete in this challenge?

Jay with some Louisiana boiled shrimp

I love a good challenge.  Anything that will stretch my mind's culinary capacity and get me to be creative in the kitchen is a good thing.  The idea behind this contest, receiving a package of eight surprise ingredients and then having to create a signature dish using three of them, is really a foodie dream.  Oftentimes the best meals are spontaneous and just thrown together, showing off more art than science in the kitchen.  Being creative and playing with food is what it's all about, and I'd be excited to see what I could come up with the eight Marx Foods ingredients!  Maybe I'll get a little seafood online like from an online fish market. Perhaps there won't be any seafood at all, but instead a bunch of different herbs and spices for which I'll have to break out my professional cookware.  Only time will tell.  Either way, I'll make sure to cook up something great!

• Limitations of time/space notwithstanding, whose kitchen would you like to spend the day in & why? Julia Child, Thomas Keller, Ferran Adria, James Beard, Marie-Antoine Careme, or The Swedish Chef?

If I could spend a say in the kitchen with a chef it would be the late, great, legendary Justin Wilson.  Justin is in many ways the father of celebrity Cajun chefs.  He was an ambassador for Louisiana food for over 60 years contributing cook books, recipes, public television shows, songs, jokes, stories, and more.  Sadly, Justin, who was born in 1914, passed away in 2001.  If I could spend a day with him in his kitchen, I have no doubt that it would be a great time and that I'd learn a tremendous amount about Cajun cooking, "I garontee"!

• What morsel are you most likely to swipe from family & friends’ plates when they aren’t looking?

I like to get a little taste of everything at meals, so when I eat out at a restaurant or sit down to a big meal with family and friends, I like to sample as much as possible.  If somebody next to me or even across the table has something different than me, I'm gonna want a bite, no matter what it is.  Usually I'll offer to share some of mine in return for a bite off of their plate, but every now and then my fork just wanders over.  Sometimes it is something simple like a French fry or piece of buttery bread.  However, I've also been known to snag a shrimp, take a bite out of a burger, or swipe a morsel of juicy steak.  Don't worry though, it is all going to a good cause!

• Sum your childhood up in one meal.

Granny's pecan rolls

The meal to describe my childhood would begin with my mother's cheesy tortilla soup.  While I could eat it as a meal in itself, it would certainly have to be a starter to sum up my entire childhood.  The main course would be a Smörgåsbord of meats grilled over South Texas mesquite wood.  My father took me hunting a lot while I was growing up, and we always cooked outdoors at the deer camp over a mesquite fire with stars lighting up the Texas sky.  We'd grill steaks, ribs, venison chops, quail, dove, pork chops, and even an occasional rattle snake.  Mesquite barbeque would definitely have a place in my childhood meal.  For a side dish I'd have Granny's famous pecan rolls.  While typically a breakfast food, these sweet and nutty baked biscuits of deliciousness would go perfectly with the seasoned and smoky meats from the grill.  Finally, no meal is complete without dessert.  I'd give anything to end this childhood meal with one of Aunt Turtle's cheesecakes.  Her blueberry-banana cheesecake is a work of art, and if I'm not careful, I'll end up eating the whole thing even after this childhood memory feeding frenzy!

• The one mainstream food you can’t stand? 

People that are regular readers of Bite and Booze know one food I can't stand... pickles.  There is something about a cucumber soaked in vinegar that repulses me.  Pickles make me cringe at first taste or smell.  I can't even really watch other people eat pickles without my stomach getting a little queazy.  In Louisiana, we see a lot of fried pickles.  Everyone tells me that I'll love them... but I've given them a try, and nope, no good.  Dis-gust-ing!  Pickles often get misplaced on my burgers and poboys... and that is never fun.  The best thing for me to do is just avoid pickles at all cost.  Life is just better that way.

There!  I've done it.  Now I just hope that I'll be selected by the Foodie BlogRoll and Marx Foods as one of the 25 contestants!  Wish me luck!