A long time ago, Justin Wilson worked in Chicago and other places as a safety engineer. He says that`s why he wears red suspenders with his red alligator belt: ”I don`t take chances.”
But he did tell a lecture audience at the most recent Taste of Chicago that Cajun cooking ”is to take whatever you have in hand and create a dish with it and make it taste good.” He learned that firsthand at the age of 8 when he began helping his mother in the kitchen. One evening, company dropped in and she had nothing but cucumbers in the house. With spices, onions and a few scraps, she produced a dish that had the visitors raving.
Cooking that way would not seem to be a pastime for the overly cautious. To hundreds of thousands who watch his syndicated cooking show on public television, Wilson is the nation`s premiere Cajun chef, the man who makes Louisiana cuisine seem daring and fun.
Perhaps because half of his ancestors were Acadian, Wilson easily slips into a sing-song bayou dialect. As if to certify his authenticity even further, he laces nearly all his cooking with cayenne pepper and/or Louisiana hot sauce. By dint of his showmanship alone, Wilson attracts a lot of viewers who couldn`t even prepare a raw oyster (hint: sprinkle some Louisiana hot sauce on it).
In the jam-packed demonstration tent at Taste of Chicago, the 76-year-old Wilson declared, ”I`m glad for you to see me!” and immediately launched into rapid-fire storytelling.
He told about another, long-ago visit to Chicago and how he filled out the hotel registration card with great care (” `cuz some people can read readin` but they can`t read writin` ”). ”Just when I got through, the biggest damn bedbug I never saw before or again in my life hopped right across my name.
”I backed up four or three steps and I looked that clerk right on the eye with both eyes and I told him: `I been bit by a flea in Shreveport, La.;
bled by a spider in Alexandria, La.; and kicked by policemens in New Or-lee-ohns, La. But that`s the very first time I had a bedbug look up my room number in my life, I garontee!”
Wilson told about a pal who gently broke the news of a fatal auto accident by going around to the victim`s house and asking the woman who answered the door, ”Are you the widow Boudreau?”
He related how a man turned up in town with a brand-new Cadillac automobile and told an admiring buddy, ”I got this car for my wife.” The friend was intrigued. ”I wonder what they`d give me for mine,” he mused.
Some of the stories wore whiskers and a few might have offended 1990s sensibilities, but Justin Wilson sniffs at fashion trends. He has been touring the country promoting his latest cookbook, ”Justin Wilson`s Homegrown Louisiana Cookin` ” (Macmillan, $19.95) with the assumption that Cajun and Creole are just as hot as ever.
”Everybody says, `Will this craze keep on?` ” he reported with a wince. ”But this craze has been going on for many many years. When I lived in Chicago in 1943, I cooked for my boss, and he loved it then.
”Cajun cooking is not a craze. Cajun cooking is just something people are going to do from now on. Has Italian cooking ever worn out? I was in Chicago when pizza first started here. It`s still goin` good.”
On another day, in a Fairmont Hotel suite that not even the most persistent bedbug would ever find, Wilson sipped cabernet sauvignon, watched the Cubs (”We`re big Cubs fans”) and engaged in a cheerful argument with Jeannine Meeds Wilson, his thirtysomething wife and collaborator.
A visitor had remarked that hosts in Chicago frequently try their hand at gumbo with results ranging from mildly interesting to disastrous. Could he shed some light on the matter?
Jeannine, who always carries in her purse a bottle of Durkee`s Red Hot cayenne pepper sauce and a corkscrew, shook her head vigorously. ”I wouldn`t have a gumbo now,” she said.
”I would,” Justin countered.
”I just wouldn`t make it,” she persisted. ”It takes time. It makes the house hot. It`s a winter dish. Corn soup would be good for right now, because the corn`s coming up and it doesn`t take a long time to cook.”
Jeannine won the debate, but Justin slipped in a gumbo recipe, anyway. People could set it aside for the cool weather and make their guests believe they had stumbled into the big Wilson house on the shores of Lake
Pontchartrain.
Sometime down the road, they would like to renovate their sprawling house and turn it into a sort of Cajun camp. ”What we want is a cooking school for adults,” Jeannine said. ”Ten people at a time could come down and spend a week with Justin and do what he does-cook and catch crab and sail and fish.” ”And drink a little wine,” her husband added, winking broadly. ”I know this. People love entertainment, love to have fun and let their hair down till they trip over it.”
Naturally, so much fun makes people hungry. Of course, Justin Wilson has the cure for all those growling ”belly-stomachs.” That he`ll garontee.
CORN SOUP
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 1 1/2 hours
Yield: 8 to 10 servings
Wilson recommends this soup when the days are long and the corn is high. The roux and stocks called for in the recipe follow.
1/4 cup vegetable oil or shortening
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup chopped bell pepper
6 cups ham or chicken stock or water
2 cups freshly cut corn or canned corn with juice
2 cups peeled, seeded and chopped fresh or canned tomatoes
1 cup chopped ham
1 tablespoon minced garlic
Salt to taste
Louisiana hot sauce or ground cayenne pepper to taste
1. In a medium-sized pot over medium heat, heat the oil, then add the flour and make a caramel-colored roux. This will take about 30 minutes.
2. To the cooked roux add the onions, parsley and bell pepper, stirring after each addition; stir and cook until the onions are clear.
3. Add 1 cup of the stock and stir well to form a thick, smooth paste. Add the remainder of the stock and stir to mix well.
4. Add the corn, tomatoes, ham and garlic then stir in the salt and hot sauce.
5. Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer at least 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
Note: In testing the recipe, we found it was not necessary to cook the soup for an hour. It was ready to eat after about 35 minutes.
ROUX
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 30 to 45 minutes
Yield: variable
Wilson uses 3 parts flour to 1 part oil for a thick roux and 2 parts flour to 1 part oil for a thin roux.
1 part oil (shortening), bacon drippings, olive oil, cooking oil, lard, or a combination of these
2-3 parts all-purpose flour
1. Mix the flour and oil in a heavy pot. A black iron or Magnalite skillet works best.
2. Cook on medium heat slowly as the roux changes from a cream color all the way to a dark chocolate color. After the roux is past a medium brown, you have to stir the roux constantly to keep it from burning. For some gravies and sauces, it is not as important to make the roux so dark. Even so, Wilson says, ”I usually make my lightest roux about the color of the water in the Mississippi at Baton Rouge.”
CHICKEN STOCK
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 60 minutes
Yield: about 1 gallon
This will keep in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 weeks or can be frozen and kept even longer.
1 chicken or other fowl or its scraps and bones
1 cup dry white wine
Water
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
3 sprigs parsley with stems
Ground cayenne pepper to taste
Salt to taste
1. Place the chicken or fowl scraps in a large stockpot and pour in the wine and enough water to cover. Put the lid on and bring to a boil. Skim off any scum that may form.
2. Lower the heat and add the vegetables, pepper and salt. Keep the pot covered and simmer for 1 hour.
3. Remove the chicken or scraps and let cool, then remove any meat left on the bones and reserve it for other uses.
4. Return the bones and the skin to the stockpot and simmer for at least 2 hours. Remove any scum and strain the stock into containers and cover.
HAM STOCK
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 3 to 4 hours
Yield: about 1 gallon
This can be used with vegetables, pork or legumes, as well as in the corn soup.
1 cup dry white wine
Ham trimmings and cracked bones
Water
2 medium-sized onions, coarsely chopped
1 cup coarsely chopped celery
5-6 carrots, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon coarsely chopped garlic
1 whole cayenne pepper or 1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1. In a large stockpot, place the wine, ham bones and trimmings and enough water to cover.
2. Cover and bring to a boil. Skim off any scum that may form. Reduce the heat to low, add vegetables and seasonings.
3. Cover and simmer for 3 to 4 hours, removing scum as it forms.
4. Remove the large bones and strain into containers and cover. Remove any unwanted fat after the stock is chilled. This will keep in the
refrigerator 3 to 4 weeks, or it can be frozen and kept even longer.
CHICKEN ANDOUILLE GUMBO
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 3 hours
Yield: 8 to 10 servings
This is a basic gumbo recipe, originally formulated for rabbit meat but suited, says Wilson, to chicken as well. Polish sausage may be substituted for the andouille.
3 pounds chicken, boiled and deboned, stock reserved
1/2 cup oil or shortening
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 cups chopped onion
1 cup chopped green onions
1/2 cup chopped bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
10 cups reserved chicken stock or water
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 cup dry white wine
1 pound andouille or Polish sausage, sliced 1/4 inch thick
Salt to taste
Louisiana hot sauce or ground cayenne pepper to taste
Cooked rice for serving
1. In a heavy pot, heat the oil over medium heat, then stir in the flour to make a roux. Stir occasionally and continue cooking over medium heat; once the roux starts to brown, you will need to stir it constantly, until it reaches a dark chocolate color. This should take about 45 minutes.
2. Add the onions, green onions, bell pepper, and parsley, stirring after each addition. Continue cooking until the onions are clear, stirring occasionally.
3. Add 1 cup of the stock to the roux and stir until it forms a thick paste. Add the remaining stock, garlic, and wine. Stir well, then add the sausage and chicken. Add the salt and hot sauce.
4. Cover and cook over low heat at least 3 hours, or until you can`t wait any longer, stirring occasionally.
5. Serve over rice. Leftovers can be frozen in smaller portions.
Note: In the test kitchen, we found that 7 cups of water was sufficient. Also, we simmered the gumbo gently without the cover for a more intense flavor and thicker consistency.
