2023 Spring Garden - May 6 update

It's been a long time since my last post here. There have been several highs and several lows.

Highs: my daughter got married, my younger son got married, a couple of my nephews got married, more grandchildren came into our lives, and LSU won a national championship in football with Joe Burrow winning the Heisman. I also won three kayak bass fishing tournaments including my 2nd consecutive"Bass on the Fly" world championship, as well as placed in five other kayak bass tournaments.

Lows: I came down with Covid-induced pneumonia in August 2021 and spent 6 weeks in the hospital. My sister and I also lost our mother (not Covid related) who was as close to being a saint as anyone I've ever known. She was a pillar of the Cecilia community and St. Joseph Catholic Church. Our family truly appreciated the outpouring of love from so many folks who knew her.

Since it's May, it's time for a garden update. This year here in the west Cenla area we had a late freeze so the plants didn't get into the ground until late March. But the plots have really become productive the last couple of years and growth has been nothing short of amazing. The secret?  It's actually a few things:

• I've gone from adding "topsoil" to strictly adding cow manure - 2 bags per plot. 
• Adding ag lime a month before planting. The lime unlocks the nutrients locked in the low pH soil.
• Stocking earthworms into the garden.  I learned at TOFGA that they can really transform a garden!
• Eliminating plastic barrier.  While it was breathable, it seemed to repel some water as my plants would wilt a bit after only a few days without water.  Since eliminating the barrier, I don't have to water quite as often.

In the photo, the plants up front on the first plot are Celebrity tomatos, the back plants on the first plot are Cherry 100 tomatos. The other side of the plots have bell peppers. The plants on the back end of the 2nd plot are Sweet Slice cucumbers and eggplant. The Celebrity tomatos would be taller - so would the bell peppers - but I learned a trick that trimming the top causes earlier maturation of fruit. On the bell peppers, it also causes multiple limbs to sprout which pays big production numbers in the Fall.

As for the citrus and blueberries, the late freeze hurt both. The only variety with any berries are the Premieres. One of the Washington navels has a few oranges. Everything else - barren!  The freeze also knocked out any fruit for the dozens of wild elderberries we have on our property. Oh well, maybe next year!

2019 Spring Garden - May 6 update

It's time for my annual Cinco de Mayo spring garden update. Here's how it goes: I have two square food gardening plots measuring 4x16 feet. Each year at this time, I take a photo of the TPC plot (tomato-pepper-cucumber) which alternates each year between the two plots. I then compare the current photo to past photos to determine the progress of the garden.

If you look back at the post from May, 2018, you'll see that this year's crops lag behind those of last year. Last year we had record cold and much below normal temperatures that delayed the planting until late March. This year, we had a much milder winter, but it was a sustained cold. We had two nights of frost the first week of April.

But it's rainfall, not temperatures that are the main culprit for this year's underperforming veggies.  We've had 144 percent of normal preciptation so far in 2019. Great for ducks, crawfish and mosquitos. Not so great for gardens.

According to multiple sources, too much rain and overcast skies can slow a plant's growth as well as leach nutrients from the soil. For that reason, I've taken to adding Jobe's Organic Fertilizer to the TPC plot in the last week. As poor as my plants look now compared to past years, they REALLY looked poor prior to adding the Jobes. It's made a big difference.

Then last night, I added earthworms to the garden. While there's already a few in the beds, my experience is that adding worms greatly boosts plant and fruit production.

Sadly, the weather prognosticators are predicing heavy rainfall over the next several days. Seems like we can't get a break here in Louisiana.

Easter Sunday 2019 - Beer Can Chicken

We had a big family gathering at the homestead for Easter Sunday. Two of our kids, all of my wife's siblings and their husbands and kids, her father, my sister and her husband, and my mother.

My wife picked up a pork roast to cook in the oven, but she knew that wouldn't be enough meat for everyone. So she asked if I'd do a chicken on the grill. Well I decided to do two chickens. Better safe than sorry. Besides, when done right, there are never complaints about having beer can chicken (BCC) for leftovers.

I've done BCC many times, so I thought it would be nice to share my method.  Preparation begins with fresh-picked rosemary from our herb garden, mixed with Balsamic Vignerette salad dressing. The bird is saturated with this mix, then placed in a zip lock bag in the refrigerator for 24 hours.

On early Sunday morning, I took the bird out and lightly washed off the rosemary, then rubbed the bird down with salt, cayenne pepper and a light dash of olive oil.

I don't use beer cans, but rather a product called the "Chicken Tipper" made by a sheet metal shop in my hometown of Cecilia. The aluminum is much thicker and heavier than a beer can and can support a large chicken. I place the Tipper in a pan - with a little water in the pan - to help catch the drippings for gravy. The water insures that the drippings won't dry up.

Inside the Tipper I add grape juice. Most recipes call for wine or beer, but I find that juice adds more flavor while not drying out the meat. There are many, many opinions on this, but that's my observation.

I preheat the Akorn grill to 325 degrees, and set the temperature probe into the thickest part of the bird, with the alarm set for 165 degrees. Once the internal temperature is reached, I wait a few minutes to take off the grill. Then I place the bird in an aluminum pan and cover with aluminum foil.  This was a technique I read about in one of the grilling forums. Seems to extend the "internal cooking" of the bird but without drying out the meat.

The marinating and seasoning of the bird helps in the flavor. But anything you cook on an Akorn, Big Green Egg, Kamado or other domed charcoal grill will have that great smoky flavor that brings folks back for seconds.

2018 Spring Garden - May 6 update

2018 May 6 TPC plot

2015 May 5 TPC plot

We've had an unusually cold and wet winter and early spring here in central Louisiana. In fact, the average daily temperature up until April 15th was 9 degrees below normal. Let's put it this way... during the Little Ice Age - which peaked in the 17th century - the average annual temperatures were only 2-3 degrees cooler than the 20th century!

Before you start looking at igloos for your next home, realize that this was just an abnormality. Temperatures in late April moderated to near normal and the forecast for May looks to be slightly above normal. But just to give readers something to think about, check out these articles on why another ice age could be a possibility: sun growing colder and demise of the Gulf Stream.

How has this cold winter affected my spring garden? I looked back and found only one other photo for this time in May and that was from 3 years ago. Even so, it's quite telling. I knew my cucumber plants were extremely sluggish this Spring. They're in the 2018 photo.  Behind the bell pepper plants on the left.  So short they can't even be seen.  Compare to those in the 2015 photo.  

Conversely, the tomatoes may be my best crop ever for this time of year. Plants are thick and full of small fruit.  That's because I supplemented my garden bed with a bag of Azomite which I picked up at the Texas Organic Farmers and Growers Association (TOFGA) Conference. Azomite is a natural rock dust that contains over 70 minerals and trace elements. Research has shown that it benefits many plants, but especially tomatoes. Leaves are greener and fruit production higher. If this warm weather pattern continues, we should be eating tomatoes by Memorial Day... if not sooner!

Cucumbers are a tropical vegetable. Even though we had no freezes or hard frost after I planted in mid-March, we had MANY nights were the  temperature dipped into the upper 30s or low 40s. And many days where the high temperature never got above 70 degrees. According to guidelines, cucumbers shouldn't even be put into the ground until soil temperatures are at least 70 degrees.

However, I believe that putting the cucumbers in early as I did has helped the plants establish a good root system. That's the thing about cukes - they can have a tough start, but if the root system is set, then the plants will grow rapidly and fruit heavily once conditions are right.

Kurt Loup's world-famous gumbo

With another blast of frigid arctic air moving in for a full week I thought now would be a good time to share a gumbo recipe from my old friend, Kurt Loup.  Over the last couple decades, it's made quite an impression on a whole lot of folks.  Kurt used to make this gumbo for the first few years of the Bayou Coast Kayak Fishing Club's  Paddlepalooza tournament.  

I also prepared it one year at the Little Mo Fly Fishing Fest and another year at the Federation of Fly Fishers (FFF) Southeastern Council expo.  At the Southeastern event, I had folks taking french bread and scooping up the residues on the bottom of the pot!

Here is Kurt's recipe for chicken and sausage.  For a seafood version, see below. The base recipe is the same for either version. Makes about 1 1/2 gallons.

2 cups onion
1 cup green bell peppers
1/2 cup celery
3 cups okra
1 pod of garlic
2 tablespoons oil
1 1/2 cups dark roux (1 cup flour, 1/2 cup oil) or
approximately 3-4 large tablespoons Savoie's roux
1 bunch green onions
2 tablespoons parsley
8 bay leaves
black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons file'
6 cups water or chicken stock
3 Knorr chicken bouillon cubes (if not using chicken stock)
Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning to taste
1/2 pound andouille sausage
1/2 smoked pork sausage
2 pounds boneless and skinless chicken
(3-4 pounds if with bones)

OR for the seafood version, substitute the last 3 ingredients above with...
6-12 cracked and cleaned crabs depending on size
2 lbs. peeled shrimp

Sauté first six ingredients until soft. Add roux, stirring until blended. Add stock and bring to a boil.When boiling, add remaining ingredients. Simmer for at least 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Ca c'est bon!

Mother's Day brisket

One of my resolutions for 2017 was to post more on food. In addition to our garden, and involvement with the local Farmers Market, Em and I do a lot of cooking and it seems a shame not to share.

This past weekend was not only Mother's Day, it was my daughter Cokie's Masters graduation from Southeastern (outstanding grad student in Health Sciences, Magna Cum Laude - Oh, Lawdy!) and my sister and BIL's anniversary. We decided to have a big celebration at my house.

The top two suggestions for entree were Shrimp & Grits and Brisket. Em said, "We can do both!".  With one problem...  Em's S&G are awesome, but in the 3 years I've owned my Akorn grill I've never done a slow meat cook of any kind.

So I went to the web and researched. There are several great forums, articles, and videos on cooking brisket. Enough to make it somewhat confusing. But what I learned was that I needed to make a few "modifications" to my grill.

1) A thick pizza stone. This sits on a lower grate. A 14" round stone leaves about 2 inches of spacing between edge of stone and interior of pit. The stone not only deflects direct heat to the meat, but it also acts like a heat sink, stabilizing and holding heat in.

2) It was suggested to wrap the stone in heavy duty aluminum foil. More often than not, the stone breaks when close to flame. The foil keeps in one piece.

3) A dual-probe meat thermometer, for measuring meat temperature and one for grill temp. Turns out the cost of a remote unit was only slightly more than a regular unit, so I went with the remote set. A wise choice on my part!

4) A couple of cheap aluminum pans from the dollar store.

5. Wood chunks - NOT chips! Also, after reading much heated debate, I went with briquets over charcoal chunks. Again, a very wise decision!

When it comes to rubbings and coatings, I believe there are more options here than there are stars in the Milky Way. So I went "All out Stubbs" for no particular reason other than I love Stubbs products.

I bought a 12-pound packer and rubbed it down with half-half Stubbs Mopping Sauce and Stubbs Original. I then sprinkled Stubbs Beef Rub on the mixed sauce and rubbed it in a bit. I then wrapped up the brisket in Saran and stuck it in the fridge overnight.

The next evening about 7pm, I started my fire. Built a mound in the bottom of my Akorn using 7 pounds of briquets (which turned out to be 5 pounds more than I needed) and about 15 wood chunks (which was about twice what I needed).  I then lit a small starter cube in the middle and let it burn a few coals hot. Then I placed the lower grate, the foiled pizza stone, a foil tray to catch drippings, and then the Akorn cast iron grate on which the brisket would sit. I also coated the iron grate with Pam Grill spray to prevent sticking.

When the temp got to 200, I put the brisket on and stuck the other probe into the thick end of the meat. On the Akorn, you have to be careful because the temp can overshoot your target. It requires "braking" the temp and making minor adjustments.

By about 8:30pm, everything was going great. The grill temp was a steady 230 degrees. It stayed that way until the very end! I went inside and fell asleep on the sofa watching a movie.

Earlier that night, a fox came into our yard and drove Belle crazy. Well about 4:00am, she goes crazy again and woke me up. I quickly checked my remote hoping I didn't miss anything. Turns out the interior was at 173, just 2 degrees short of my alarm.

So while I was up, I opened the grill (first time!) and saw this beautiful black piece of meat. I put it into another foil pan which had heavy duty aluminum foil in it, and wrapped the foil around the meat. Stuck the probe back into the thick part, put the pan on the grill, and set the new alarm temp to 200.

At 6:00am, Belle woke me up again, this time a deer. Doggone wildlife know something about brisket because when I looked at the remote, it was showing 196. So I pulled the pan off the grill, stuck it into an ice chest and let it sit inside for an hour. Then I put the pan into the top oven in my house, with no heat on, just letting it cool down albeit slowly.

The true test came when my brother-in-law showed up, the Barbecue King of Cecilia. I knew there was NO chance I could do as well as he could, just tried to make it palatable. He and his two sons (my nephews) each took a slice and tasted. "Whatever you did, document it. This is the best brisket I've had". Tears rolled from my eyes, lol.  

Of course later my younger son TigerJake would show up, he who now lives in Texas. He samples the meat then tells me that there's a couple of Texas joints that do better. 

All I know is that when my 85-year old mother can cut a slice of brisket using her fork, it's got to be tender!

A few post-cook observations:

1. There was this film on the inside of my Akorn. It looked like a shiny coating that was peeling off. Except the grill never had an inside coating, it's porcelain. I did some searching on the web and from what I gather, this could've been a by-product of too much wood/smoke at a low temp. I will say I've never seen so much smoke as came out that grill during this cook. Looked like I was burning diesel fuel.

2. The pizza stone cracked. But the foil kept it together. From what I've read, it doesn't matter how much it cracks. As long as it stays together in the foil, it can be reused infinite times. There is a type of pizza stone made from Corderite that doesn't crack. But it requires seasoning a couple times, and later, special cleaning. Otherwise, it can create a bad stink when heated!  Will stick with the broken stone, lol.

3. I probably used too much wood. While it gave the meat a nice smoke taste, everything else stunk up smoke. Like I said, I'd never seen that much smoke - from anything!

4. The remote thermometer is a must-have! Not having to open the pit but once during the cook was a blessing!

Can't wait to do this again. Next time I'll take more photos.