Spice of Life: Conversation leads to craving for grillades
Last Modified: Tuesday, August 14, 2012 8:13 PM
By Eric Cormier / American Press
One of the awesome aspects of writing about food are the conversations that I engage in with friends and strangers alike routinely.
Normally, my mind ends up focusing on a dish that a fellow food lover talked about.
Here’s an example of that type of moment.
While visiting with Dr. Harold Bienvenu a few weeks ago, we started talking about old-fashioned Louisiana cooking.
Dr. Bienvenu asked me about grillades.
“I’ve eaten them. But it has been a while,” I told him.
“Guess what I had for breakfast?” he asked, with a little smirk on his face.
“Uh, I don’t know Doc. What did you have for breakfast today?”
He signed in a satisfied way and said, “grillades.”
Grillades are small pieces of fried meat. They are considered one of south Louisiana’s most traditional Creole and Cajun dishes.
In the book “The Picayune’s Creole Cookbook-Sesquicentennial Edition” editor Marcelle Bienvenu wrote, “The many octogenarians who walk our streets, and who have been practically raised on grillades, for it is a daily dish among the Creoles, are the best refutation of the outcry that is made in the North and West against Fried Meat. The great truth is that the Creoles know how to fry meat.”
Needless to say, Doc’s breakfast gem triggered a need in my body. If you have the same desire, hear is a grillades recipe that should make you happy.
Grillades with gravy
Ingredients
• A round steak• 2 tomatoes
• A large onion, sliced into pieces
• A clove of garlic, chopped fine
• A tablespoonful of flour
• 1/2 tablespoonful of vinegar
• Salt, pepper, cayenne
Directions
• Select a nice round steak and beat well. Cut into grillades of about four inches square and season highly with salt and pepper and cayenne.
• Put a tablespoonful of lard into the frying pan, and when it heats, add a chopped onion, one clove of garlic; and as these brown, add one tablespoonful of flour, making a brown roux.
• Then add two tomatoes, sliced, with their juices, and as this browns lay the grillades upon it.
• Cover closely, and as it browns on one side, turn on the other. Then add a half tablespoonful of vinegar and a cup of water. Stir well and set back on the stove and let it simmer slowly for about a half hour.
This is very nice served with Hominy at breakfast, or with red or white beats and rice at dinner.
From "The Picayune's Creole Cookbook-Sesquicentennial Edition"
Eric Cormier writes about food every Wednesday. Contact him at ecormier@americanpress.com or 494-4090.
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