-Funding for "Kevin Belton's Cookin' Louisiana" was provided by the L.E.

Phillips Family Foundation, Inc. -I'm Kevin Belton.

Today on "Cookin' Louisiana," we're headed to Evangeline Parish for some down-home Cajun food.

Now, to spice it up -- hot sauce with fermented peppers.

And then if you love some meat, sausage and pork jambalaya.

Now, if you like the pig like I do, cracklin cornbread.

Whoo, ça, c'est bon à manger!

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Oh, c'est chaud!

Très, très chaud!

Oh, hi, guys.

Welcome to my "Cookin' Louisiana" kitchen.

And thank you for joining me on this tasty tour of the state's best flavors and dishes.

Now, here's where we're gonna go today -- Evangeline Parish, a hub of Louisiana's Cajun tradition, including Cajun and Zydeco music and the Courir de Mardi Gras, a Cajun version of Carnival.

And of course, the parish is also home to authentic Cajun food, which is a rustic cuisine based on local available ingredients.

Now, we're gonna start things off today with homemade hot sauce.

This is Louisiana's favorite condiment.

Now, hot sauce -- don't be afraid of hot sauce.

We use it in cooking for flavor, okay?

It doesn't just have to be hot.

But here's the important thing.

You don't see me do this too often.

But I've learned over the years to wear gloves when you're dealing with peppers.

One time I was cutting up some peppers, and I cut them up, and I went and washed my hands.

But then I noticed in the sink I had some seeds.

Well, I picked up the seeds, threw them away.

And when I sat down to go read, I put my hand like this, and about 30 minutes later, I'm like, "Why is the side of my face burning?"

It was from the oil, from the peppers.

So today I'm using a jalapeño pepper.

You can make this as hot and as mild as you want, depending on the type pepper you use.

Where here I'm using a jalapeño pepper, you can use a Serrano, you can use an Anaheim, you could use a habanero -- totally depends on you.

And we just want to give these peppers a rough chop.

So they don't have to be pretty.

Just give them a cut in half.

Because we're making hot sauce.

Now, Mason jar.

Let's get our peppers in the Mason jar, and this is about a pound of peppers, okay?

Now, what you're gonna find is that as you go to put these in the jar, you're gonna have to mash them down.

All right, so let's just get those in here.

You can use a red jalapeño if you like.

Oh, look at you trying to run away from there.

Okay, see, this is also why you have the gloves on -- so you can just push that down.

You want to jam them in the jar.

And you can get them to fit.

It just takes a little force.

All right, come on, everybody down in there.

Just don't be afraid to press those down.

Now we're gonna make a brine.

This is going to brine, all right?

Now, here's the thing.

The origin of Louisiana's pepper-sauce industry dates back to the mid 19th century when soldiers returning from the Mexican-American War brought back red pepper seeds.

Those peppers from that area of Tabasco, Mexico, were cultivated in Louisiana, and hot sauce was born.

That's right, baby.

Okay?

Thank goodness.

That's why our food tastes so good, because remember -- not necessarily hot, but it's all about that flavor, okay?

Now, we want to leave a little bit of room.

That's why we press these down.

This is going to create a gas.

So you know what?

Sometimes I take my spoon, and the spoon kind of crushes them and mash them just a bit to get them further down in there.

But you need that little room at the top.

Now, here we have kosher salt -- three tablespoons of salt -- and it's important to use distilled water, okay?

Now, this is going to ferment.

Basically, we want to fill this all the way up.

We're gonna put a lid onto this.

Now, this has to sit somewhere cool, typically between 55 and 75 degrees.

Don't put it in direct sunlight, but just in a cool, dark place.

Now, because of the salt and the peppers, they're gonna ferment, all right?

And what's gonna happen is every day it will create gas.

That's why you wanted to leave that little space at the top.

So every day -- pick the same time of day -- just go in, pop your jar, let the gas escape, close it right back.

And you want to let it sit for at least a week to two weeks.

So we'll have this going.

You can see the difference.

Here is some I've already had going.

I usually let it go for a week to two weeks, but you can see how cloudy this is compared to where we start when they're fresh.

All right.

So let me just move this out of the way right quick.

So our peppers are already drained out of the jar.

Let's get them into our blender.

And you notice I reserved the brine, all right?

Now, I'm gonna get about a half a cup of brine in.... ...with about a half a cup of vinegar.

Now, most Louisiana hot sauces are vinegar-based hot sauces, okay?

And this is where you can adjust it to your taste, more brine will give it a saltier flavor.

More vinegar will give it an acidic flavor.

So it's totally up to you, okay?

So let's get our lid on.

And let's get this baby just pureed right quick.

[ Blender whirring ] Now, as we check this, see, I think we need a little more liquid, so let's get a little more brine in.

And I'm gonna put a little more vinegar.

You know, this is where I always say you can always add to something.

You can never take away from it.

It's one of these things where you can do it by taste, where it says a half a cup -- I wanted to start with a half a cup, but adjust it to where you want it.

[ Blender whirring ] I tell you what -- this looks so good.

Look at that vibrant color, and this smell is so wonderful.

So here -- let's bring our pot over.

Let's get our fire turned on.

Just pour this.

Watch your blade.

Just pour this right on into the pot.

Now, let's get this on the fire and get it up to a boil.

Once this boils, we're gonna turn it down and let it simmer for about 10 or 15 minutes.

Now, you see how thick this is?

We could add more brine or more vinegar to thin this out.

But once this comes to a boil, oh, it's gonna be so good.

Let's get cleaned up and get it ready to show you what it's gonna look like.

Now, here's what we have to decide -- do you want a super thick hot sauce, or do you want a thin hot sauce?

Let me show you.

Look, let's pour some in our strainer.

And I'm just gonna take our spoon, just kind of mash this and strain it a little bit.

Get that strained out of there.

See how that's coming out.

Now, some folks like to go ahead and have the hot sauce thick.

Some folks like to go ahead and have it where it's strained, where it's thin like this.

But guess what -- either way, it's good.

So we started off here.

We go to here, then we're gonna end up with it cooked, and finally, we have homemade Louisiana hot sauce.

I've got to tell you, this hot sauce will go great with our next dish -- sausage and pork jambalaya, a true Cajun classic.

On the Louisiana prairie in Central Acadiana.

Evangeline Parish celebrates its deeply rooted French Creole heritage and its Cajun way of life.

For nearly 60 years, Fred's Lounge in Mamou has honored Cajun musicians in a Saturday morning radio broadcast that is a true expression of joie de vivre.

-Cajun people are infectious people.

You want to be around them, you want to spend time with them, and it just because they have a love of -- of life, you know?

In their part of the world, they love life.

-This is going to be a jambalaya that is so fantastic.

Now, in the pan, I've started rendering some bacon.

Here's an option for you.

If you get your bacon crispy, take it out, and then you can put it in at the very end and just sprinkle on each portion, or leave it in the pan like I'm doing.

A little cubed pork.

I just took a nice pork loin.

We cut our pork up in cubes, and let's add it in with our bacon.

Now, this particular dish is gonna be really heavy on meat.

Usually in true Cajun country, something is either seafood or meat.

They don't mix in both.

You know, growing up with a Creole family, on part of my side of the family, they would mix sausage and seafood in the gumbos.

But the true Cajun side, either one or the other, not both.

So this is a little andouille sausage -- anything nice and firm.

[ Sizzling ] I like the edges to kind of start to brown off a little bit.

We get our smoked sausage in.

Now, this is the most seasoned piece of meat in Louisiana cooking -- tasso.

Tasso isn't your main meat, but it used to season and flavor a dish, whether it's omelets or pastas.

It's a piece of ham that is rubbed with white, red pepper, garlic, a little bit of brown sugar.

So this is gonna give us a wonderful depth of flavor.

While we have our marriage going on of our meats in the pan for these flavors just getting together, getting little brown edges on them, which is fine.

Let's talk about something that gives Louisiana food a lot of flavor, and that's the trinity -- onion, celery, green pepper.

They give us a flavor -- a lot of a flavor, and that's the Trinity.

Let me show you a little something.

With the onion, I just cut it in half, took the outer skin off.

Take your knife.

But you notice I'm not cutting all the way through, okay?

I'm leaving a little border.

Turn it this way.

Make a little cut like that, and now -- so basically we just want to pivot up and down and forward, so... And you notice I'm holding the knife by the blade because we want to make it an extension of our hand.

It's like an extension of our wrist, okay?

and this last piece that just turned over, let's just go ahead and give this a rough little cut.

All right, let's get this into the pot.

Now, gang, celery.

Oh, yes.

Let's just get this in.

And I'm also gonna use a little bell pepper, okay?

Ohh!

I really hope y'all are gonna like this jambalaya.

Matter of fact, if jambalaya is kind of reddish, that means it contains tomatoes and is a Creole jambalaya.

If it's brown, that's the true Cajun jambalaya.

So let's get our celery in.

Oh, the smell, the smell, the smell.

So look -- a little more onion.

A little more celery.

And look at the bell peppers.

I had a little bit of all of them, so why not add such great color?

The other thing you may have noticed was the fact that I didn't put everything in all at once, okay?

I put some of the onion in after I cut it.

Then I put some of the celery in after I cut it.

And guess what -- that created two different textures.

So one of the things -- if you want to make layers when you're cooking, stagger your vegetables, put half of the trinity in, let it saute for a while, then go in with the other half of the trinity.

See how our sausage -- we have those little brown edges on our sausage?

That's why we wanted that to brown off.

That means that's flavor.

Now that we're getting some moisture in the pan, we can go in with garlic, all right?

And who doesn't love garlic?

So remember, garlic doesn't need to sauté forever.

Garlic just needs to just heat up right quick.

Once you put garlic in a pan, in about 30 seconds, you should start to smell it.

And that's fine right there.

So let's season this jambalaya.

Of course, we're gonna use our Creole seasoning.

And I know you said, "Wow, that looks like a lot."

Remember, rice absorbs a lot of flavor.

We're gonna do a little salt.

And you don't think I forgot, did you?

Remember our hot sauce that we made?

Let's put in a little hot sauce.

We're gonna put in a little bit here to season, and we can always put some in at the end to serve on the dish.

I just want you to just take a moment.

Take a moment.

Take a moment.

Just look at that.

Just look down in that.

Just enjoy that with me for just a second.

Oh, isn't it great?

Okay.

A little beef stock.

And remember we talked about jambalaya being red or brown?

Well, for a nice, brown jambalaya, to give it extra little color, this is a prepared browning sauce that I'm using.

It adds color, but no flavor.

And you see how this is coming to a boil?

Remember, this is jambalaya.

The rice is gonna cook in here.

So now that it's boiling, let's get our rice in.

We want a long grain rice.

We get our rice in, and if you've ever been anywhere and they served you jambalaya where the rice was already cooked, that's not true jambalaya, True jambalaya, the rice cooks down in the pot to cook in these flavors.

Ohh!

This is gonna be great.

So let's cover it.

We're gonna turn it down and let it simmer for ten minutes.

Then after ten minutes, it has to rest for just a little bit, and I can't wait to show it to you.

This is gonna be so flavorful.

It's ready!

Oh, looky, looky, looky.

Now, I just have to give this one more little stir.

Ohh!

Let's put a little green onion in here.

Now, you could put this in early if you want.

I like to put it in toward the end.

Let's just give this a nice little stir.

By putting in the green onion and the parsley toward the end, that little bit of fresh pop of herbs -- it's a wonderful flavor.

So let's plate this.

Oh, I want to make sure I go down and get a little bit of all of that meat, a little bit of that tasso.

a little bit of that smoked sausage, a little bit of that -- that andouille, and, of course, that pork.

Oh, yeah, get it right there.

Wait!

I need a little piece of pork.

Come on with me!

Stay right there.

Here we are.

Let's do a little touch of green onion on there just for a little more color.

A little, tiny bit more parsley.

So there you have our sausage and pork jambalaya.

That's the quintessential one-pot rice dish.

Coming up next, cracklin cornbread.

This is gonna be a traditional cornbread filled with tasty bits of fried pork cracklins, or what we call "gratons."

You won't find any floats in Courir de Mardi Gras, a unique Mardi Gras celebration in the heart of Cajun country.

Rooted in French medieval history, on Mardi Gras Day, costumed and masked revelers go from house to house, singing and dancing in search of ingredients that will go into a big pot of communal gumbo.

Courir de Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday run -- a tasty, tasty Cajun tradition.

This is pork belly.

In Cajun country.

They would have a cochon de lait, when they would take the whole pig, and they would take the skin and fry it.

That's what cracklin is, or what we call "gratons."

So I'm gonna take some.

I have our oil heating up.

Just get this in the oil.

[ Sizzling ] This takes a while to cook, I just like to let it fry nice and slow.

Sometimes I let this go for about 45 minutes to an hour, then I take them out, and when I get ready for them, I pop them back in really hot oil, and it sears them and gives them that crunchy outside and a little seasoning, and there we have our little Cajun snack.

I'm gonna turn this on.

I have a little butter in our skillet, and I want this to melt.

But let's go ahead and get this cornbread together.

In our bowl, we have cornmeal, so to this we're gonna add a little flour, a little salt, and a little sugar.

So let's just get in a little -- little pinch of salt.

We're gonna get in some flour.

And we're also gonna get in a little bit of sugar.

You know, I don't know if y'all are a sweet or a savory-type cornbread lover.

I always like to put a little sugar in my cornbread.

The other thing I love to do is the fact that I like to use buttermilk.

Now, buttermilk gives it a little bit of a tang, you know?

buttermilk gives that cornbread that slightly tangy flavor.

Okay?

All right.

So here's our buttermilk.

What I'm gonna do -- I'm gonna take our eggs that I've beaten, put them right into our buttermilk, give this a nice little stir.

Get those guys together.

Oh, yes.

Now, look at our cracklin that I fried off.

Yeah, I could pour this into here, but notice I made a little hole right in the middle?

Let's get our -- some of our cracklin just right down on the middle there.

Oh, yeah!

Let's get in our buttermilk and egg.

Now, before I mix this, let me swirl my pan around.

What I'm doing -- I'm heating up the pan with this butter in it, all right?

The reason I'm doing this is because when the pan is hot and you pour that batter in, it gives a nice little crust.

Now, if we want, we could put this pan in our oven that's heating up.

In the oven, the pan will get hot, and the butter will melt.

I'm just doing it right here on top of the stove, okay?

So let's go ahead and stir this together.

Look at those little pieces of goodness down in there.

Cracklin was a treat, you know?

This is something that, by far, you cannot eat every day.

But I tell you what -- a special occasion, it's really, really nice.

Now, of course, I have some butter in the pan, but I'm also gonna put a little butter in our cornbread.

Everyone always asks me, "Why does your cornbread taste so good?"

Because I put butter in it.

Put a little butter in your batter.

You know, often, folks butter cornbread after it's cooked.

No, do it ahead.

All right, let's just get this stirred in right quick.

I'm gonna turn this fire up just a little bit to make sure that this is nice and hot.

And let's give our Cracklin just a stir right quick.

That looks really good, doesn't it?

Oh, don't worry, I'm gonna use you for something.

If you don't think you're gonna get used, you're gonna get used for something.

So let's go ahead and get you finished, worked in there.

All right, this looks great.

Our pan is hot, and now let's go ahead and get our batter in.

Let's pour in our cornbread.

[ Sizzling ] You hear that little bit of sizzle?

That's why I heated up that pan.

Okay, let's just smooth you out.

425-degree oven -- I have it preheating.

So this is gonna go in and bake to nothing but deliciousness.

Be good.

We'll see you in little bit.

425 degrees -- it's gonna be in there 25 to 30 minutes.

Or just get it cooked till it's done.

I can't wait to see it and taste it.

I had to let this cool so I could cut a piece to show you.

Now, to compliment our cornbread -- a little more cracklin.

Oh, look at that gratons right there.

Oh, doesn't that look good?

Delicious cornbread with a rich, meaty crunch -- the perfect way to end our stop in Evangeline Parish.

And you know what?

Thank you.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for hanging out with me on this culinary road trip.

Now, you got to keep that party rolling.

Bring the big flavors of Louisiana to your home.

So I'll see you next time for more "Cookin' Louisiana."

-The companion cookbook to "Kevin Belton's Cookin' Louisiana" is available for $28 plus shipping and handling.

You can also order an hour-long DVD of favorite dishes from the series for $19.95 plus shipping and handling.

Both the book and favorites DVD are available for $43.95 plus shipping and handling.

To order these items, call 1-866-360-4928, or order online at wyes.org.

[ Clanging ] ♪ -This is a breakfast sausage.

Don't be shy.

Come on, these are nice people.

Say hello.

See, these are nice people.

Say hello to the people.

♪ if I could place time in a bubble ♪ Let's get our fire on.

[ Starter clicking ] Because I didn't open the butane, it's not on.

So excuse me one moment while I go down here.

♪ Now, let's get our fire on.

We've had crawfish in a burger, so why not do something a little light?

You notice that I've gotten pretty since y'all last saw me.

No, all right.

I'm sorry.

Uh... ♪ ♪ -For more information about "Kevin Belton's Cookin' Louisiana," visit wyes.org.

Funding for "Kevin Belton's Cookin' Louisiana" was provided by the L.E.

Phillips Family Foundation, Inc.