Cajun Clark's Cookbook by - HTML preview

Small Game

"Soul Food" Brother Willie

When Willie was about 14, his Grandma bought him a .22 rifle with money he had earned. His old bb-gun was relegated to the back of the closet, and fishing did not hold the lure it once had; after all, now he could hunt small wild game indigenous to the poor dirt tobacco farm where he lived. So, whenever he wasn't in school, doing chores at home, working for his neighbors, and his grandma would let him he went huntin'. Yes, he was a good shot. He had to be, ammunition was expensive, and if he didn't bring home the "goods" more often than naught, he'd lose his huntin' privileges. 'Nuff said.

The following recipes appear in Soul Food Recipes. . .Learned On a North Carolina Tobacco Farm by Willie Crawford, and are used with permission. FYI, you can find his cookbook at http://chitterlings.com/. Thanks, "Soul Food" Brother Willie.--Caj

Venison Stew
4 pounds venison (I prefer hind quarter meat)
1 1/2 cups red wine vinegar
1 cup fresh mushrooms
2 tablespoons Lawry's Seasoned Salt
3 cups cooking sherry
2 cups beef stock
3/4 cup pearl onions, trimmed
Pinch ground allspice
2 whole bay leaves
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 cup celery
2 cups carrots
2 cups leeks
1 pinches ground oregano, chopped
1 pound fatback, diced
2 tablespoons sugar
1 small bottle cheap red wine
2 tablespoons butter

Preparation:
1. Pour half bottle of red wine and half the wine vinegar into a non-aluminum pan. Add bay leaves, allspice and vegetables.

2. Bring to a boil for 30 minutes. Cool to room temperature. This can be done overnight in the refrigerator, BUT allow to return to room temperature before adding meat.

3. Strain the mixture through cheesecloth. Discard the vegetables and spices in the cheesecloth.
4. Add two tablespoons sugar and 2 tablespoons seasoned salt to the liquid.

5. Cut venison into 2-inch cubes. Add to the strained mixture. Let mixture stand in the refrigerator for 24 hours.

 

6. Sauté mushrooms, onions and leeks in butter until limp. Add gravy, garlic, oregano and the remaining red wine.

 

7. Fry salt pork until crisp. Drain. Add salt pork to mushroom/gravy mixture.

8. Remove venison from marinade. Throw away marinade. Sauté venison until brown. Add to mushroom/gravy mixture. Place mixture in oven-proof casserole and cover.

9. Bake at 350ºF for two hours or until venison checks done.

 

Serve stew over wild rice with cranberry sauce on the side. Barbecue Young Goat

Don't laugh, but in this neck of the woods goats--pigs, too--escape from their pens in a flash. When they do, all to often they revert back to their undomesticated state. If captured by some neighbor down the road, attempts at domestication all to often fail, and that goat gets out of its pen to roam again--just ask Farmer John. And that's the truth.--Caj

Ingredients:
10 to 12 pounds goat
1--8 ounce can tomato sauce
3 potatoes, quartered
3 carrots, sliced
6 whole cloves
3 cups water
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon black pepper
3 tablespoons butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon sugar
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon cumin

1. Place cleaned pieces of goat in roasting pan.

 

2. Sprinkle with salt and pepper; bake at 350ºF (uncovered) for 30 minutes.

3. Place carrots and potatoes in pan around goat.
4. Prepare a baste of remaining ingredients. Simmer these ingredients separately in a saucepan for 30 minutes.

5. Pour sauce over goat and continue cooking for roughly 2 hours. Every halfhour brush baste across top of cooking goat.

 

Serve with rice, cornbread, etc. Fried Rabbit

Rabbit hunting was big near where I was raised. It was an inexpensive way to supplement our diets. I often grabbed my .22 as soon as I got home from school and headed for the woods. I'd sometimes get lucky and shoot a rabbit or squirrel. I never shot anything we couldn't eat. Here is my simple recipe for fried rabbit. It seems you can butter and fry just about anything. :) "Soul Food" Brother Willie.

Ingredients: Cut up rabbit Flour
Salt
Pepper
Garlic powder Cooking oil

1. Clean and cut the rabbit into pieces. Rinse thoroughly.

 

2. Sprinkle the seasoning on all pieces of the rabbit.

 

3. Dip the rabbit into the flour coating on all sides. If you want, just toss all of the pieces into a paper bag containing the flour.

 

4. Get the oil fairly hot.

 

5. Put in the rabbit and brown on 1-side.

 

6. Turn and brown the other side.

7. Turn heat down, and cook for another 20 to 30 minutes to ensure rabbit is thoroughly done. How long it takes depends on how old (tough) the rabbit is, and how high your flame is.

Serve with rice and your favorite vegetable.

 

Rocky Mountain Oysters

We raised pigs on our farm, and castrated most of the males as a way to encourage growth and good social behavior. Those who raised cattle did the same. Many people ate these testicles and considered them a delicacy. I never did but did watch a few

others prepare them. In my later years I tried MUCH more exotic dishes.--"Soul Food" Brother Willie.

If you happen upon a supply of these mountain oysters, here's how you prepare them:
2 pounds mountain oysters (pork or beef)
3 eggs
2 cups crushed saltine cracker crumbs
1 cup cooking oil
1 tablespoon seasoned salt

1. Remove skin from "oysters." It's easier if they're partially frozen.

 

2. Beat eggs in a bowl.

 

3. Sprinkle "oysters" with seasoned salt.

 

4. Dip in eggs, then in crushed cracker crumbs.

 

5. Heat oil over medium heat in frying pan.

 

6. Gently drop into oil and allow to brown. Turn and brown other side.

 

7. Remove from heat, drain and serve with rice, creamed potatoes, etc.

 

8. Can also be cooked in a deep fat fryer. Use a fairly low heat setting to cook them slowly. They should float to the top when done.

 

Can also be eaten as an hor d'ovre. Take to and office party as a conversation starter. :)

If you can't find mountain oysters in your local supermarkets, and insist on trying these delicacies, seek out local farmers, vets, or slaughter houses. Modern pig farming operations raise hundred, if not thousands of pigs. They want them to grow to market weight as soon as possible and castrate most of the males. They usually use very expensive "championship" boars as their breeding stock.--"Soul Food" Brother Willie.

Squirrel with Rice
Ingredients:
Several young cut up squirrels 1 cup uncooked rice
3 tablespoons bacon drippings 1 onion, diced
1 bell pepper, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper 1. Brown squirrel in skillet with bacon fat.

2. Remove squirrel from skillet and sauté garlic, onion, bell pepper, and celery in drippings.

 

3. Return squirrel to skillet.

 

4. Add remaining ingredients to skillet. Add enough water to fully cook rice. Cover and cook until rice is done and water is absorbed.

Note: If you have older squirrels, they will be tough! You will need to cook them for 15 to 20 minutes in a separate pot (with broth) before proceeding to Step 3. Young squirrels are best.

Hot Water Cornbread

Can't leave out this vital staple for stews and other fine dishes. Farmer John would never let me hear the end of it!--Caj
Ingredients:
3 cups white cornmeal
1/3 cup milk
1/3 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 pinch black pepper
2 cups boiling water
1/2 cup cooking oil

1. Boil water in small pot.

 

2. Mix meal, salt, sugar and baking powder in a mixing bowl.

 

3. Add milk and mix thoroughly.

 

4. Add oil, sprinkle pepper, and mix thoroughly.

 

5. Slowly stir in boiling water, a little at a time. You want it the consistency of a thick pancake batter.

 

6. Heat 1/4 cup cooking oil in cast iron skillet (medium-high heat).

 

7. Pour 1/4 cup batter into hot grease for each piece of bread.

 

8. Fry 2 to 3 minutes on each side (or until golden brown). 9. Drain on paper towels.

 

10. Serve hot. . .topped with butter. Goes great with nearly everything, and even works as a snack.

And finally, from Farmer John we have:
Hey Caj, listen up! Before your good Chief Cooks go scrambling down the trail through my recipes, they better pay strict attention to this WARNING: I like my food spicy, real spicy. So that being the case, and since this fact is reflected in my recipes, I'd suggest they go easy on the spices I use. Do a taste test, then add if desired. You can always add more, but it's pretty hard to get back an overdo.

"Thanks for the warning, Farmer John, always knew you were different, were one-of-a-kind. What's that? You're not finished? Well, excuse me, Farmer J. The floor is yours!"

You've been playin' around out in cyberspace too long, Caj. Every thing is rush, rush, rush. Click, click, click. Relax and pay 'tench.
Before we continue, which means before you get too far into my favorite foods, another explanation is in order.

Whether I'm cookin' raccoon ("coon") or opossum ("possum") certain basics apply. Everything I know about skinnin', cleanin' and fixin' I learned while growin' up. In this part of the country, when you live in the "real" country, huntin' is a part of life. But I was taught, as many of us were, to only hunt those birds or mammals that are good for food. Or to put it another way, ya don't kill somethin' just to kill it. And before you ask, this is the same trainin' we're givin' our kids today.

Now, if you happen to be given one of these potential feasts, you better hope the person giving it to you knew how to clean it, and did so. If not, you'll be spending some time skinnin', gettin' rid of glands, entrails and all that good stuff. Once you have this chore finished, you can get to cookin' it.

Most nearly all us "connoisseurs" use a lot of spices in our marinades, then again we season to taste during or after the cookin's done. We also know that the older--many times the bigger--the game, the longer ya got to marinate it.

Once marinated, and usually the next day, I'll boil a raccoon or opossum down. Cover it with water, simmer it for a couple hours. This little trick reduces the fat, and give you some good meat for the next step: roasting, broiling, smoking or barbecuing. That's right, you parboil (your fancy word), the finish cooking by whatever method strikes your fancy.
Squirrels and rabbits can be marinated, but it's not really that necessary; especially if ya got a case of the hongrys. I usually turn these delights into a stew, gumbo or fry 'em. Dang, I'm gettin' hongry. I'm outta here, Caj.

"Thanks, Farmer J. Well, there you have it. Bon Appetit!" Caj.

Tough Squirrel Stew
6 squirrels, cut up
1 pound Cajun smoked sausage, cut into 1-inch slices
1 bell pepper, chopped
2 onions, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 quart chicken stock
1 small can cream of mushroom soup
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
2 tablespoons oil
1 tablespoon Tabasco sauce

* Heat oil; brown sausage. Season squirrel.

 

* Remove sausage; brown squirrel pieces well. Remove squirrel.

 

* Sauté onions, bell pepper and celery until soft; then remove.

 

* Place squirrel, sausage and veggies back into pot; add about 1-pint of chicken stock to pot.

 

* Bring to slow boil; lower heat to low-medium and simmer slowly.

 

* After 45 minutes, add cream of mushroom soup and amount of chicken stock to cover contents in pot. Stirring well, as soup will want to stick.

 

* Cook and additional 30 to 45 minutes, or until squirrel is tender.

 

* Serve over rice or mashed potatoes (white or sweet).

Hold it! Caj. Before you get too carried away going through my recipes, let's get one thing straight, on the table. Recipes for raccoons can also be used for opossums. In other words, "possum" recipes work just as well for "coons." Just remember, sweet taters go with possum; white taters or spuds go with coon. You can just about swap squirrel for rabbit; nearly. All depends on whether ya got a wild hare or a domesticated rabbit. Got it? Good. Kinda thought you would. Now carry on.

Raccoon Sauce Piquant
5 or 6 pounds raccoon meat, cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes
3 pints or so cold water
32 ounces canned whole tomatoes
1 teaspoon garlic, finely chopped
6 ounces tomato sauce
1/2 cup celery, finely chopped
12 ounces mushrooms, including liquid
1/2 cups shallots, finely chopped
4 or 5 white onions, depending on size, finely chopped
1/3 cup bell pepper, finely chopped
1/4 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
Cayenne pepper to taste
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

Parboil raccoon. Then fry in minimum oil until tender; about 30 minutes more or less. Remove; set aside. Make a roux of 6 tablespoons to equal amount flour. When deep (not dark) brown, add onion. Cook until transparent but don't burn. Add 3 pints cold water and bring to a boil. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, celery, bell pepper, shallots, garlic, mushrooms. Let slow boil about 15 minutes. Add fried wild game meat, parsley, salt and pepper to taste. Let simmer over low heat for at least 1 hour. Great served over hot rice; noodles work fine, too.

Fried Rabbit in Breadcrumbs
1--rabbit, cleaned and cut in serving pieces
3 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
6 tablespoons bread crumbs, seasoned work nicely
1 egg
1 teaspoon water
Fresh parsley
Oil for frying

Put milk in a bowl. Mix flour, salt and pepper together in another bowl or paper bag. Dip rabbit in milk, then in flour mixture; coat thoroughly. Set aside for 10 to 15 minutes to allow seasonings to penetrate.

Combine egg and water in one bowl; breadcrumbs in another. Dip rabbit first in egg mixture, then in breadcrumbs; coating thoroughly.

Put some oil in a large frying pan or cast iron skillet, enough to do some cookin'. Heat oil until it reaches about 360ºF.
Fry rabbit for about 20 minutes, or until tender when pierced with a fork. Drain on paper towels. Garnish with parsley on serving dish. Consider serving with sautéed potatoes and a green salad.

Squirrel Jambalaya
1 squirrel, cut into serving pieces Salt
Cayenne pepper
4 tablespoons oil
2 large onions, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/4 bell pepper, chopped
4 tablespoons parsley, chopped 2 cups uncooked rise
1 1/2 cups water
2 tablespoons salt

Season squirrel well; sauté in oil until brown; remove from skillet. Sauté onions, celery, garlic, bell pepper and parsley until tender. Replace squirrel in skillet; cover and cook on low heat for about 20 minutes or 'til tender. Add rice, water and salt; stir well. Cook on low heat for about 30 minutes, or 'til rice is done.

Roasted Possum
1 dressed possum
3 red pepper pods, or Cajun Seasoning
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon sage
2 tablespoons lemon juice
4 large yams (sweet taters), peeled and quartered
1/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger

Place possum in a large pot with pepper pods or Cajun Seasoning. Cover with cold water, bring to boil; simmer for at least 1-hour, maybe longer depending on fat content and age of possum. Remove and place on rack in cast iron Dutch oven. (Roasting pan will work, but it doesn't seem quite as well.) Add 1 cup water. Sprinkle possum with salt, pepper, sage and lemon juice.

Place yams around roast. Combine sugar, cinnamon and ginger; sprinkle on top of yams. Cover and cook over very low heat on top of stove; or, bake at 325ºF for 2 hours--or until the meat is crisp and brown.

 

Variation: Boil down whole possum; stuff with taters; prepare honey glaze; roast; use same spices.

Barbecued Raccoon
1 Coon
1 bunch celery
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 large red onions, quartered
3 hot red peppers
1 cup vinegar
3 tablespoons salt

Separate and wash celery. Place all ingredients in pot with enough water to cover coon. Bring to slow boil; cook until tender, or until fork goes in easily--about 1 to 2 hours depending upon size and age of coon. Remove meat from pot, cut off front and back legs; cut remainder into four pieces. Place on rack, brush with your favorite barbeque sauce. Place in 400ºF oven; turn and baste frequently with barbecue sauce until a golden brown--45 minutes to 1 hour.

"Look what I found, Farmer John. Haven't had this tasty treat since I was in Germany 40 years ago. Give it a try, it's worth the effort," Caj.

Hasen Pfeffer
1 pound or so of rabbit, deboned
Vinegar, garlic wine vinegar preferred
Water
1 large onion, sliced
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
1 whole clove
1 bay leaf
Butter
1 cup thick sour cream

Place rabbit meat in jar, cover with equal parts of vinegar and water. Add one large sliced onion; salt and pepper to taste; clove and bay leaf. Place jar in refrigerator for 2 to 3 days. Remove meat; brown in hot butter, turning often. Gradually add some marinade. Let simmer until meat is tender. Just before serving, stir in 1 cup of thick sour cream. Bon Appetit!

And now a final word from our sponsor...

da ol' mon Caj

Is your interest piqued? Good, you have just been introduced to a very few of the mouth watering dishes you'll find in his one-of-a-kind cookbook you can see at http://www.cajunclarks.com

To give you a fuller understanding of the scope of the recipes you'll find, here's another small sampling: There's skillet pizza, skillet pineapple upside-down cake, skillet peach cobbler, skillet you-name-it. Then there's Cajun gumbo, jambalaya, fried turkey; soul food, like chitterlings, collards, hot water cornbread; and everything you'll ever want or need to know about beef and pork ribs, including rubs and marinades. But don't forget to take a look at the hundred or more chicken and pork chop recipes. And if your sweet-tooth happens to be on a rampage, you'll find more cookies, cakes, pies, puddings, cobblers, tea cakes and candies than you'll have time to make in the next couple of years. Yep, you got it: recipes, recipes, and more recipes--some more than 100-years old; still others that came about only because of rationing during WW II. Whew!

Finally, you should know: This is NOT your mother's cookbook, it never was intended to be. Nor is this cookbook for everyone, it never was intended to be.

Cajun Clark's Cookbook is for the select few who enjoy something unique, something different. Who enjoy humor, a good "read," and over 1,160+ mouthwatering, easy-to-prepare recipes. In other words, if you want to be entertained, this is YOUR cookbook. With that said...

This one-of-a-kind cookbook is filled irrelevant and irreverent comments and commentary, good thing da ol' mon Caj has a recipe for humor. Check it out, it's also available in CDR. And as a print version that comes in a 1-1/2 inch 3-ring binder; which means it makes a good door stop, boat anchor or piece of exercise equipment--just don't drop it on your foot. :)

Well there you have it. Enjoy or better yet, Bon Appetit! Cajun Clark's Cookbook: One Inch From the Top