contest BEGIN! Bayou Battle II - Roux'd Boy Throwdown

Bayou Battle II - Roux'd Boy

Yup, that's a po' boy with a roux.

Here's the deal. You must create a "saucy" po' boy combing the elements of the traditional po' boy with the elements of a traditional roux-based dish (gumbo, etouffee). The idea is to marry the best of the po' boy with the best of roux-based dishes. The end result should be a saucy and spicy masterpiece of overflowing, overstuffed, sloppy but presentable mouth-watering ingenuity!

You can do this however you like as long as there is a po' boy with a roux element. You can take a fried catfish po' boy and ladle seafood gumbo on top, or you can make the whole po' boy roux-based, with a gumbo that would make a good sandwich. You can layer, or you can combine. You can serve it dressed or undressed. Rice, no rice? This is all up to you!
 
FYI
 
Traditional po' boys are fried catfish, oyster, or shrimp, as well as the roast beef and gravy po' boy, which yes, has a roux-based gravy. So if you choose that, make it Roux'der! Served on bagettes, dressed or undressed (lettuce, tomato, pickle, mayo).

Gumbos are roux-based and traditionally seafood only, seafood and sausage, or meat only, with okra (as thickener). Some meat-based gumbos are chicken, duck, squirrel, and rabbit. Seafood-based gumbo generally has shrimp, crab (whole or meat), and sometimes oysters. With the exception of sausage and ham, beef and pork are almost never used.

Etouffee is roux-based and traditionally made using different shellfish such as crab, shrimp, or the most popular version of the dish being crawfish etouffee.
 
As well as the roux base, they usually include the holy trinity.

Here is a limited list of some common ingredients in Cajun and Creole cooking: Redfish, catfish, oysters, shrimp, gator, crawfish, blue crab, andouille, tasso, chaurice, chicken, turkey, duck, squirrel, rabbit, and other game/wild proteins. Okra, filé powder, pecans, corn, red beans, rice, tomatoes, onion, bell peppers, celery, garlic, cayenne, creole mustard, hot sauce!
 
Experimentation is welcome as long as it stays within the confines of Cajun/Creole cooking!

Hint: We know you want to spice it up with other peppers but cayenne is usually an essential flavor.

How will you serve up your Roux'd Boy?
 

READ: The 5 Rules for an eligible entry
 
PoL: .42 (Hey, if we could purchase Louisiana for 42 cents an acre... surely you can scrape up 42 cents for a Roux'd Boy!)
 
I WANT THESE TO BE SO EPIC I AM ALLOWING 3 FINAL PICS, ONE FOR THE AWESOME!
 
ENDS: SUNDAY 10 PM EST

I'm in

There is a good chance I am in if I have time on Sunday. Competing against Phil might be tough though.

Thanks for the vote of confidence, Jeff, but you give me too much credit. I'm actually struggling to figure out what to do! My inner coon ass says "it's just a po' boy!" but truth be told, the roux based gravy completely changes the dynamic. Not sure if I've got the creative juices to make a gravy swimmin' po' boy that ISN'T your average roast beef!

Liar!

moi???? lol

Ok, this is my business card:
 

 
Why not a pizza as container? And not a standard pizza but a type i wanted to do for some time... If that happens (and it's not so possible) could be nice to see...
Quite a strange idea i had...
Hoping to stay withing limits allowed (otherwise i'll be happy eating!)
 
Roughly:
For roux part: butter and wheat, then aasiago and milk... Asiago is so  good with minced meat...
 
Gumbo part: minced meat with beans and tomato... Still decinding if putting loads of onions while cooking or cook onion alone. And bacon (i just wanted to experiment bacon on that).
Here i put hot thing, At the moment i have only some powder and a sauce... Mad Dog 357 Silver... It has cayenne peppers.
 
And next pizza: volcano type! Use above ingredients as filling, maybe with mozz to keep wet... Some pepperoni to help forming crater...
At the beginning i was thinking about panuozzo to mimic a baguette but this is more experimental!
 
Po boy part? Well, when i saw fried catfish and fried shrimps... I say fried cheese (cured with breadcrumbs)! Above pizza after cooking in the crater, hoping there will be one!
If no crater i'll remove some cooked dough...
 
If that's not allowed i'm going to eat it anyway!

Do your thing! It's not expected everyone understands Cajun/Creole cooking... some Italiano for good measure... good luck.

Laissez les bons temps rouler Essegi!!!

Ingredients and PoL:

Missing roasted breadcrumbs, salt, black pepper and Mad Dog 357 Silver. Probably other too.

Ingredients refined:
 

Minced meat, tomato puree, garlic, onions, sage, rosemary, black pepper, Mad Dog 357 Silver, fire oil, bacon, beans
 

Cheese sauce
 
Fried cheese:

 
Making pizza:

 

 
(lol i thought to have edited previous post instead posting a new one...)

i cant wait to see that all baked and ready to eat.

Volcano madness!
I really didn't know what to do... So i suppose it's a good chanche to experiment that volcano pizza i wanted to make.
When i saw fried catfish on poboy stuff i wanted fried cheese (never done before)...
Then i saw read beans, onions and meat... So i made that chiliike recipe adding bacon, it was a bit that i wanted to try that...
 
Pizza dough:

• 500g sifted flour
• 5g yeast (more than usual)
• 12g salt
• 300g water

water temp+flour temp+home temp should be near 55°C.
 
I wanted to put more yeast tha usual since i needed thta thing rise during cooking.... Normally 1-2 g is enough.
Trick: work 400g of flour with yeast and water for 5 mins.
Add salt to the remaining 100g of flour, then mix and knead for 10 minutes.

Wait 8 hours.
Form 2 balls of dough.
Wait other 4 hours before flatten.
 
Cheese sauce!
150g Asiago
1/2 L milk
30g butter
1-2 tablespoons of flour
 
Heat milk with grated or finely chopped Asiago.
Melt butter, when melt add flour an stir well.
When it boils add milk-Asiago mix to butter-flour mix. Cook a bit and stir well
 
I've used a bit more than half of that.
For a moment i thought to retire from TD and to go to market, buy some bresaola and eat that. 
 
Meat, beans and other!

• Minced young beef meat: 400-500g
• beans, 2 box
• Sage, some leaves
• 2 onions
• garlic, 2 cloves
• rosemary
• Mad Dog 357 Silver, 1 drop
• Fire oil (made with 7pod, Trinidad Scorpion, Calabrese peppers, Mad Dog 357 silver)
• Smoked Bacon, 300g
• Tomato puree

Fry bacon so it lose some fat. Remove it and, throw away liquid and add fire oil. No more cooking at the momenti (sort of marinade)
On another pan cook on water for 1-2 mins onios + salt, black pepper and a drop of Mad Dog 357 Silver then fry that, add garlic, rosemary, and sage, all chopped.
After a while add minced meat, cook it, add beans and bacon. Cook a bit to dry that. Add tomato puree. Cook a bit. That time i avoided to make that too dried.
I used 10% of that... need to invite someone to finish all that stuff!!!
 
Cheese! What else do you need?

• Cheese: 1 galbanino (because is very good fo that and easy to use for its form: http://www.galbani.it/img_din/header_spot_v2.jpg). Provolone should be excellent at that.
• 1 egg
• roasted breadcrumbs
• 1-2 tablespoons of milk

Whip milk with egg.
Chop cheese in 2 cm thick slices.
Bathe cheese in milk-egg mix and coat with breadcrumbs. Repeat. I've done that a third time.
Put in fridge (so when you fry it it's more difficult to melt)
Fry it in a frying pan with oil, possibly it should be ready when pizza is ready.
Or eat that while waiting, it's just so good!
 
Volcano Pizza!!!!
Hand flatten 2 balls of dough.
On one:
Put cream cheese.
Put meat, beans, bacon and onion stuff.
Put some chopped mozzarella (let's say 150-200g).
Cover with other flattened dough.
Put some tomato puree in center and some pepperoni slices.
Cook, max oven temp (~275 °C) until crust is colored.
 
Here just after cooking:

 
Break ceiling and put fried cheese inside. Top with pomodorini and arugola:

 
Slice and PoL:

 
Pretty satisfied with bacon flavour, very strong.

The Volcano is AWESOME!

Even though that's a No Boy it looks good!

pol
 

 

 

 

 

 
 

Go Key!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

some prep pics.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Stuff it with loads of garlic
 


Allow me to introduce some authentic Louisiana into the thread...
 

 
 

My Po' Knives
 
                  So after some research, I decided to do several oyster things on this one. I don't normally have oysters around, so this was interesting. After 3 trips to various stores, I finally managed to locate some. 3 broken or chipped knives and a cut finger later, I finally got some oysters shucked. Then I got to work on the various types of oysters I was making. I think I wanted to see how using different dishes might work together. Since a roux was required, I went with an Oyster Gumbo. However, after similar 3 trips or so produced no file powder-and I was guessing at what might happen if I added okra instead-I got there in the end.  I used a peanut butter colored roux for this dish. Next, I decided to bread some oysters and fry them in sunflower oil. Last, I decided to make a Bienville/Bechamel sauce, and cook some oysters in the oven with said sauce. A layer of rice was also added to the final sandwich.
 
Ingredient List
 
live oysters
Italian bread
black pepper
white pepper
sea salt
paprika
cayenne pepper
garlic
bay leaves
basil
parlsey
Crystal hot sauce
Fiesty Parrot El Jefe hot sauce
Chicken bouillon cubes
Panko Bread Crumbs
Mediterranean Oil
Sunflower Oil
Rice
Corn Meal
Pimientos
Egg
Celery
Onions
Green Peppers
Okra
Garlic cloves
Milk
Flour
Butter
Mozzarella cheese
Rice Vinegar
White grape juice
 
To shuck some oysters without wanting to throw them out window:
 
1. Place an oyster on a flat surface. Wrap something around the edge of the non-hinged side (I used paper towel.) How you do this is up to you. The main thing is not breaking your knives. After a few accidents, I figured out that the best method that works for me was taking the sharp point of a knife and carefully digging it straight into the gap between the back hinge parts. Once you get far enough in, the oyster will release a bit of liquid. At this point, you should attempt to pry up the top of the shell slightly. How you do this is your prerogative,  but the goal is not to end up with 3 slightly or completely broken knives. Once you have done this, you should cut along the top of the shell to sever the connection that holds the oyster to this shell. Remove the top of the shell, and repeat this process with the bottom shell. Leave any liquid present inside the shell, and wipe away any mud residue from the rim of the oyster.
 
To prepare the Oyster Gumbo:
 
0. In advance, prepare a quart of chicken stock.
1. To make roux, combine 1 cup Mediterranean oil and 3/4 cup flour in pan. On low heat, cook roux for 35 minutes, whisking constantly.
2. Add onion pieces, celery pieces, green bell pepper slices, and okra pieces to roux. Use whatever utensils necessary to stir mixture for another 15 minutes.
3. In the pan, add 1 quart chicken stock to roux/vegetable mixture. Let this simmer for 1 hour.
4. Add fresh oysters, oyster juices, salt as needed, pepper as needed, and 2 bay leaves-simmer for 15 more minutes.
5. Remove from heat and sprinkle with parsley. Add some crystal hot pepper sauce.
6. Let gumbo rest for 15 minutes
 
To prepare fried oysters:
 
1. In a bowl, combine 1 cup buttermilk (I had to make some,) 1 egg beaten, 1 tablespoon el jefe hot sauce, 1 tablespoon crystal sauce, 1 teaspoon basil, 1 teaspoon garlic, and 1 teaspoon white pepper. To this mixture add fresh oysters and their liquid, and let soak in refrigerator for 15 minutes.
2. When ready, in a separate bowl combine 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs, 1/4 cup corn meal, 1/4 cup flour, 2 tablespoons basil, 2 tablespoons garlic, 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper powder, 1/2 teaspoon paprika, salt as needed, and pepper as needed.
3. Heat some oil in a cast iron skillet to 350 degrees.
4.Drain oysters from soaking mixture and dredge through breading mixture.
5. Cook 3 minutes per side. Some experimentation may be necessary.
 
To prepare Oysters Bienville:
 
0. In advance, scald 1 1/2 cup milk  (heat on stove until sides bubble.) Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
1. To prepare Bienville sauce, in this case, you first need to make a Bechamel sauce. Add 2 tablespoons butter, 2 tablespoons flour, and salt/pepper as desired. Bring to a boil.
3. Now you are ready to prepare Bienville sauce. Met 1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) butter in pan. To this add a quantity of onion pieces, green bell pepper slices, and 2 cloves garlic pieces. Cook for about 8 minutes or so, or until limp. Add 1/2 cup white grape approximately, and bring mixture to boil.  Add 1 chopped pimiento, approximately 2/3 cup grate cheese, salt/pepper as desired, and 1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs. Simmer this mixture for 20 minutes.
4. When ready, drain liquid from some fresh oysters in the bottom shell and place on a foil lined cookie sheet. Add a quantity of prepared Bienville sauce on top of oysters.   
5. Cook in oven for 10 minutes.
 
To assemble:
 
0. In advance, you will want to make some rice. So add a cup of rice to 2 cups water, and cook 15 minutes. Stir when done.
1/2. In advance, you may also want to broil some bread pieces with butter. I did this by slicing an Italian loaf, buttering them, and broiling pieces for 3 minutes at 400 degress.
1. Place some fried oyster on bottom on bread. Layer on some Oysters Bienville, removing the shells-then add a layer of cooked white rice. Lastly, add some of the Oyster Gumbo.